Centers of sets with symmetry or cyclicity properties (Q456947)

Let \(E\) be a finite-dimensional Euclidean vector space over the real field \({\mathbb R}\) and let \({\mathcal M}\) be a family of nonempty subsets of \(E\) which is stable under linear isometries of \(E\). The authors call a function \(\rho:{\mathcal M}\to E\) which commutes with all linear isometries on \(E\), i.e., \[ \rho(U(M))=U\rho(M)\qquad \text{ for }M\in{\mathcal M} \text{ and linear isometry }U, \] a centrality function, and its value, \(\rho(M)\), a center of a set \(M\in{\mathcal M}\) (induced by \(\rho\)). By appropriately choosing \({\mathcal M}\) and \(\rho\), this definition includes the common centers such as the incenter and circumcenter of cones. It is easy to see that \(\rho(M)\) is a fixed point for every linear isometry \(U\) which leaves \(M\) invariant. Namely, if \(U(M)\subseteq M\) then, by comparing dimensions, \(U(M)=M\) and so \(\rho(M)=\rho(U(M))=U\rho(M)\) is a fixed point of \(U\). This enables one to localize the center of symmetric sets, and as a proof of the concept, the authors deduce that if \(M\) is invariant under permutation matrices, then \(\rho(M)\in{\mathbb R}(1,\dots,1)^t\). The remainder of the paper relates the symmetries of tensor products of cones to their factors. For example, it is shown that if a reflection \(R_{L_i}\) over a subspace \(L_i\subseteq {\mathbb R}^{n_i}\) leaves the cone \(K_i\subseteq{\mathbb R}^{n_i}\) (\(i=1,2\)) invariant, then the reflection over \[ L_1\nabla L_2:=\{A\in M_{n_1\times n_2}({\mathbb R}) : R_{L_1} AR_{L_2}=A\} \] leaves the cone \(K_1\otimes K_2\subseteq M_{n_1\times n_2}({\mathbb R})\) invariant. Likewise, the cone of monotone matrices \(K_1\uparrow K_2:=\{A\in M_{n_1\times n_2}({\mathbb R}): AK_1\subseteq K_2\}\) is invariant under the reflection over \[ L_2\nabla L_1=\{A\in M_{n_1\times n_2}({\mathbb R}): A(L_1)\subseteq L_2 \text{ and } A(L_1^\bot) \subseteq L_2^\bot\}. \] Similar expressions are derived for symmetries of a cone \({\mathcal P}(K):=\{\sum x_ix_i^t:x_i\in K\}\) (\(K\subseteq{\mathbb R}^n\)) and its dual cone of \(K\)-copositive matrices \({\mathcal Q}(K):=\{A\in S_n({\mathbb R}):x^tAx\geq0\text{ for all }x\in K\}\); both are regarded inside the space of symmetric matrices \(S_n({\mathbb R})\) with the usual inner product. For applications, the authors call a cone \(K\) to be fully symmetric if it is invariant under reflections over \(n-1\) hyperplanes spanned by vectors from some orthonormal basis \(\{e_1,\dots,e_n\}\) of \(E\). It is then shown that the incenter and circumcenter coincide on fully symmetric cones, and in particular, they coincide on cone \(K_1\otimes K_2\) as well as on cone \(K_1\uparrow K_2\), provided that \(K_1\) and \(K_2\) are fully symmetric cones. Likewise it is shown that if a proper cone \(K\) is permutation-invariant, then the incenter of \({\mathcal P}(K)\) and \({\mathcal Q}(K)\) both lie in the two-dimensional linear subspace Lin\(\{I_n,\pmb{1}_n\}\), spanned by the identity matrix and a matrix, where every entry equals one. A similar result is derived in the case that \(K\) is a revolution cone, and an explicit formula for the inradius and incenter is given for \({\mathcal P}(K)\) in the case that \(K\) is a self-dual revolution cone.