On sums of projections (Q5916340)

A bounded linear Hilbert space operator \(P\) is an orthogonal projection, if \(P= P^*= P^2\). Given a number \(n\in\mathbb{N}\), an open problem in operator theory is to describe the selfadjoint operators which are sums of \(n\) orthogonal projections. The authors study here this problem for operators of the form \(\alpha I\), where \(\alpha\in \mathbb{R}\), and \(I\) is the identity operator in a separable Hilbert space. The main result of the paper is a description of the set \(\Sigma_n= \{\alpha\in\mathbb{R}\mid\exists\) orthogonal projections \(P_1,P_2,\dots, P_n\) with \(\Sigma_k P_k= \alpha I\}\). The authors also study the problem of describing (up to unitary equivalence) the collection of orthogonal projections \(P_1,P_2,\dots, P_n\) for which \(\Sigma_k P_k=\alpha I\), for a given \(\alpha\in \Sigma_n\).