On Horn's problem and its volume function

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Publication:2187299




Abstract: We consider an extended version of Horn's problem: given two orbits mathcalOalpha and of a linear representation of a compact Lie group, let AinmathcalOalpha, be independent and invariantly distributed random elements of the two orbits. The problem is to describe the probability distribution of the orbit of the sum A+B. We study in particular the familiar case of coadjoint orbits, and also the orbits of self-adjoint real, complex and quaternionic matrices under the conjugation actions of mathrmSO(n), mathrmSU(n) and mathrmUSp(n) respectively. The probability density can be expressed in terms of a function that we call the volume function. In this paper, (i) we relate this function to the symplectic or Riemannian geometry of the orbits, depending on the case; (ii) we discuss its non-analyticities and possible vanishing; (iii) in the coadjoint case, we study its relation to tensor product multiplicities (generalized Littlewood--Richardson coefficients) and show that it computes the volume of a family of convex polytopes introduced by Berenstein and Zelevinsky. These considerations are illustrated by a detailed study of the volume function for the coadjoint orbits of B2=mathfrakso(5).



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