An extension of the Toeplitz--Hausdorff theorem (Q1429072)

Let \(A\) be a bounded linear operator on the complex Hilbert space \(H\) and let \(\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle\) denote the inner product in \(H\). It is shown that, for any \(x_0\) in \(H\) and \(r> 0\), the set \(\{\langle Ax, x\rangle:\| x- x_0\|= r\}\) is convex in the complex plane. This generalizes the classical Toeplitz-Hausdorff theorem on the convexity of the numerical range of \(A\) (which corresponds to the case of \(x_0= 0\) and \(r=1\)). The proof follows the idea originally due to \textit{F. Hausdorff} [Math. Z. 3, 314--316 (1919; JFM 47.0088.02)] by checking that the intersection of the asserted set with any straight line in the plane is connected. This is further reduced to proving the connectedness for Hermitian \(A\) on a two-dimensional \(H\). The corresponding result for operators on a real space \(H\) is false.