Inequalities between \(\|f(A + B)\|\) and \(\|f(A) + f(B)\|\) (Q852637)

The conjecture posed by \textit{J. S. Aujla} and \textit{F. C. Silva} [Linear Algebra Appl. 369, 217--233 (2003; Zbl 1031.47007)] is proved. It is shown that for any \(m\)-tuple of positive-semidefinite complex \(n\times n\) matrices \(A_j\) and for any non-negative convex function \(f\) on \([0,\infty)\) with \(f(0)=0\) the inequality \(\| f(A_1)+f(A_2)+ \cdots + f(A_m)\| \leqslant \| f (A_1+ A_2 + \cdots +A_m)\| \) holds for any unitary invariant norm \(\| {\cdot}\| \). It is also proved that \(\| f(A_1)+ f(A_2) + \cdots + f(A_m)\| \geqslant f(\| A_1+A_2+\cdots + A_m\| )\), where \(f\) is a non-negative concave function on \([0,\infty)\) and \(\| {\cdot}\| \) is normalized. Moreover, suppose \(A_1, \dotsc, A_m\in B({\mathcal H}_1)_+\), where \(B({\mathcal H}_1)_+\) denotes the positive cone of all bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space \({\mathcal H}\); suppose \(f:[0,\infty) \to [0,\infty)\) is a concave function. Then, for any pseudonorm \(N\), \(N(f(A_1)+\cdots + f(A_m)) \geqslant f(N(A_1+\cdots +A_m))\). If \(f\) is a convex function with \(f(0)=0\), the inequality is reversed.