Norm inequalities for commutators of positive operators and applications (Q2475967)

This short article presents some very nice results. Let \(X\) and \(Y\) be two bounded linear Hilbert space operators. In the general case, one can estimate the norm of their commutator by the triangle inequality, \[ \| XY- YX\|\leq 2\| X\|\,\| Y\|. \] The author shows that, if one of the operators is positive, this can be improved to \[ \| XY- YX\|\leq\| X\|\,\| Y\|. \] The result can be extended to generalized commutators -- if \(X\) and \(Z\) are positive, then \[ \| XY- YZ\|\leq\max(\| X\|,\| Z\|)\| Y\|. \] Several interesting corollaries are given, three of them for self-commutators. A recent paper by the author deals with unitary invariant norms of commutators [J.~Funct.\ Anal.\ 250, No.\,1, 132--143 (2007; Zbl 1131.47009)]. It is interesting to compare the above inequality to a classical one: if \(X\) and \(Y\) are selfadjoint and \(XY- YX\) is semidefinite, then \[ \| XY- YX\|\leq (2/\pi)\| X\|\,\| Y\| \] [see, for instance, \textit{C. R.\ Putnam}, ``Commutation properties of Hilbert space operators'' (Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete 36; Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag) (1967; Zbl 0149.35104)].