Non-commutative positive kernels and their matrix evaluations (Q5713201)

Let \({\mathcal F}_N\) denote the free semigroup with \(N\) generators \(g_1,\ldots,g_N\), the unit element \(\emptyset\) and the semigroup multiplication \(ww'=g_{j_1}\cdots g_{j_m}g_{k_1}\cdots g_{k_l}\) for \(w=g_{j_1}\cdots g_{j_m}\) and \(w'=g_{k_1}\cdots g_{k_l}\). For a word \(w=g_{j_1}\cdots g_{j_m}\in\mathcal{F}_N\) and for non-commuting indeterminates \(z_1,\ldots,z_N\), let \(w^\top:=g_{j_m}\cdots g_{j_1}\) and \(z^w=z_{j_1}\cdots z_{j_m}\), \(z^\emptyset=1\). Given a Hilbert space \(\mathcal{E}\), let \(\mathcal{L}(\mathcal{E})\) denote the \(C^*\)-algebra of bounded linear operators on \(\mathcal{E}\). A formal power series in \(2N\) non-commuting indeterminates \(z=(z_1,\ldots,z_N)\) and \(z'=(z'_1,\ldots,z'_N)\), with coefficients in \(\mathcal{L}(\mathcal{E})\), \[ K(z,z')=\sum_{w,w'\in\mathcal{F}_N} K_{w,w'}z^w{{z'}^w}^\top, \] is called a positive non-commutative kernel if \((w,w')\mapsto K_{w,w'}\) is a positive \(\mathcal{L}(\mathcal{E})\)-valued kernel on \({\mathcal F}_N\), that is, \(\sum_{j,k=1}^l\langle K_{w^{(j)},w^{(k)}}h^{(k)},h^{(j)}\rangle_{\mathcal{E}}\geq 0\) for any integer \(l\), any words \(w^{(1)},\ldots,w^{(l)}\in{\mathcal F}_N\) and any vectors \(h^{(1)},\ldots,h^{(l)}\in\mathcal{E}\). Alternatively, there is a Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\) and a non-commutative formal power series \(H(z)=\sum_{w\in{\mathcal F}_N}H_wz^w\) with \(H_w\in{\mathcal L}({\mathcal H},{\mathcal E})\) such that \(K(z,z')=H(z)H(z')^*\) where \(({z'}^w)^*:={{z'}^w}^\top\). The set \({\text{Nilp}}_N(n):=\bigcup_{r=1}^\infty{\text{Nilp}}_N(n,r)\), with \({\text{Nilp}}_N(n,r)\) consisting of all \(N\)-tuples of \(n\times n\) matrices \(Z=(Z_1,\ldots,Z_N)\) with complex entries such that \(Z^w:=Z_{j_1}\cdots Z_{j_m}=0\) for all words \(w=g_{j_1}\cdots g_{j_m}\in{\mathcal F}_N\) of length \(|w|\geq r\), is called the set of jointly nilpotent \(N\)-tuples of \(n\times n\) matrices. It is shown that a formal power series in \(2N\) non-commuting indeterminates is a positive non-commutative kernel if and only if the kernel on \(N\)-tuples of matrices of any size obtained from this series by matrix substitution is positive. Two versions of this result are considered: substitutions by jointly nilpotent \(N\)-tuples of matrices, which do not lead to the question of convergence, and substitutions by \(N\)-tuples of matrices from a neighborhood of zero, where the series converges. In the first case, it is also proved that that the positivity of a non-commutative kernel is guaranteed by the positivity of its values on the pairs of coinciding jointly nilpotent \(N\)-tuples of matrices. This implies a factorization result for hereditary non-commuting polynomials \(K(z,z')\) such that \(K(Z,Z)\geq 0\) for all \(Z\in{\text{Nilp}}_N(n)\) \((n=1,2,\ldots)\).