On the BMV conjecture for \(2 \times 2\) matrices and the exponential convexity of the function \({\cosh (\sqrt{at^2+b})}\) (Q522985)

The BMV conjecture states that for \(n \times n\) Hermitian matrices \(A\) and \(B\) the function \(f_{A,B}(t) = \operatorname{trace}( e^{t A+B})\) is exponentially convex. The authors consider the case \(n=2\). The proof is based only on the Lie product formula for the exponential of the sum of two matrices and on the commutation relations for the Pauli matrices. The authors define the trace-exponential function generated by the pair \(A\), \(B\). They show that in order to prove the BMV conjecture for arbitrary pair \(A\), \(B\) of Hermitian \(2\times 2\) matrices, it is sufficient to prove this conjecture only for pairs \(A_0\), \(B_0\) that satisfy conditions \(A_0=0\), \(B_0=0\) and \(A_0\cdot B_0=0\) for traces of these matrices. They also proved that under these assumptions there exists an unitary matrix \(U\) which transforms matrices \(A_0\), \(B_0\) into a certain multiple of the Pauli matrices. Then, the trace-exponential function generated by the pairs of these Pauli matrices is exponentially convex. This is actually the main theorem of the paper given with the full proof. The final theorem of the paper is the theorem on the integral representation of certain \(2 \times 2\) matrix functions.