Generalizing Lee's conjecture on the sum of absolute values of matrices (Q6883489)

The paper studies norm inequalities comparing the sum of matrices with the sum of their absolute values, extending a problem posed by \textit{E.-Y. Lee} [Linear Algebra Appl. 433, No. 3, 580--584 (2010; Zbl 1196.15018)] in 2010. For complex matrices \(A_1,\dots,A_m\), the authors seek sharp constants \(c_p(m)\) such that\N\[\N\Bigl\|\sum_{k=1}^m A_k\Bigr\|_p \le c_p(m)\Bigl\|\sum_{k=1}^m |A_k|\Bigr\|_p\N\]\Nholds for the Schatten \(p\)-norm. The main result determines the optimal constant in the Frobenius case \(p=2\) for all \(m\ge2\), namely\N\[\Nc_2(m)=\sqrt{\frac{1+\sqrt{m}}{2}},\N\]\Nthereby generalizing Lee's conjecture from two matrices to arbitrary finite sums. Equality is shown to occur for families of rank-one matrices arising from equiangular systems. Moreover, the authors note that the result extends verbatim to Hilbert-Schmidt operators and, more generally, to tracial von Neumann algebras.\N\NThe second part of the paper addresses the general Schatten \(p\)-norm setting. Exact values of \(c_p(m)\) are obtained for \(p=1\) and \(p=\infty\), while for general \(p\ge1\) a unified upper bound \(c_p(m)\le (\sqrt{m})^{1-1/p}\) is established using tools from majorization theory, geometric convexity, and inequalities for unitarily invariant norms. Motivated by the rank-one extremal family, the authors propose an explicit conjectural formula for the optimal constant \(c_p(m)\), which is shown to recover all known cases.\N\NThe paper provides a natural and well-structured extension of recent work on Lee's conjecture and related norm inequalities, clarifying the role of equiangular systems in extremal behavior. The arguments are concise and largely self-contained, and the conjectural formulation for general \(p\) should be of interest to researchers working on matrix inequalities, Schatten norms, and related problems in operator theory.