Singular values, norms, and commutators (Q847219)

Let \(A_i, B_i, X_i\,(1\leq i\leq n)\) be bounded linear operators on a separable Hilbert space such that all \(X_i\)'s are compact. The authors extend a result of \textit{O.\,Hirzallah} [Linear Algebra Appl.\ 431, No.\,9, 1571--1578 (2009; Zbl 1172.47025)] by proving that the singular values of \(\sum_{i=1}^n A_iX_iB_i\) are dominated by those of \(\left(\sum_{i=1}^n \|A_i\|\,\|B_i\|\right) \left(\oplus_{i=1}^n X_i\right)\), where \(\|\cdot\|\) denotes the usual operator norm. They show that, if \(A\) and \(B\) are selfadjoint operators such that \(a_1 \leq A \leq a_2\) and \(b_1 \leq B \leq b_2\) for some real numbers \(a_1, a_2, b_1, b_2\) and if \(X\) is compact, then the singular values of the generalized commutator \(AX - XB\) are dominated by those of \(\max\{b_2-a_1, a_2-b_1\}(X \oplus X)\). This inequality proves a recent conjecture by \textit{F.\,Kittaneh} [Linear Algebra Appl.\ 430, No.\,8--9, 2362--2367 (2009; Zbl 1162.47010)]