Universal bounds for positive matrix semigroups (Q2804313)

It is a well-known result that a compact group of \(n \times n\) (real or complex) matrices is similar to a group whose elements are uniformly bounded in operator norm by \(1\). In [Stud. Math. 203, No. 1, 69--77 (2011; Zbl 1220.15016)], the first author et al. proved a corresponding result for compact semigroups: a compact semigroup of \(n \times n\) (real or complex) matrices is similar to a semigroup whose elements are bounded by \(\sqrt{n}\). Moreover, they presented counterexamples showing that this bound is optimal. In this paper, the authors consider analogous problems for semigroups of positive matrices. In particular, they show that every compact semigroup of positive matrices is similar (via a positive diagonal symmetry) to a semigroup bounded in norm by \(\sqrt{n}\), and then consider compact semigroups of positive matrices with additional conditions (such as commutativity, self-adjointness or rank conditions), obtaining strict improvements to the bound \(\sqrt{n}\) in some cases.