Polynomial numerical hulls of matrices (Q2463611)

Let \(M_n\) be the set of all \(n \times n\) complex matrices. The polynomial numerical hull of order \(k\) of a matrix \(A \in M_n\) is defined by \[ V^k(A) = \{\xi \in {\mathbb C}: | p(\xi)| \leq \| p(A)\| ~ \text{for}~\text{all}~p(z)\in P_k[{\mathbb C}]\}, \] where \(P_k[{\mathbb C}]\) is the set of complex polynomials with degree at most \(k\). The joint numerical range of \((A_1, \cdots , A_m) \in M_n \times \cdots \times M_n\) is defined by \[ W(A_1, \cdots, A_m) = \{(x^*A_1x, \cdots , x^*A_mx): x \in {\mathbb C}^n, x^*x = 1\}. \] It is known that \[ V^k(A) = \{\zeta \in {\mathbb C}: (0, \cdots , 0) \in \text{conv}~ W((A -\zeta I)^2, (A-\zeta I)^2, \cdots, (A-\zeta I)^k)\}; \] see \textit{V. Faber, W. Joubert, E. Knill} and \textit{T. Manteuffel} [SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 17, No.4, 707--729 (1996; Zbl 0862.65019)]. The authors use the joint numerical range to study the polynomial numerical hulls. They give an analytic description of \(V^2(A)\) when \(A\) is normal and use the result to prove that for a normal matrix \(A\) with at least four eigenvalues the spectrum \(\sigma(A)\) of \(A\) is equal to \(V^2(A)\) if and only if \(V^2(A)\) is finite. They also show that a unitary matrix \(A\) satisfies \(V^2(A)= \sigma(A)\) if and only if its eigenvalues lie in a semicircle including end points. When \(A = \text{diag}(1,w, \cdots, w^{n-1})\) with \(w = e^{i2\pi/n}\), they determine \(V^k(A)\) for \(k \in {2}\cup\{j \in {\mathbb N}: j \geq n/2\}\). A discussion of matrices whose squares are Hermitian is also given.