Isometric Embeddability of $S_q^m$ into $S_p^n$

In this paper, we study existence of isometric embedding of $S_q^m$ into $S_p^n,$ where $1\leq p\neq q\leq \infty$ and $n\geq m\geq 2.$ We show that for all $n\geq m\geq 2$ if there exists a linear isometry from $S_q^m$ into $S_p^n$, where $(q,p)\in(1,\infty]\times(1,\infty) \cup(1,\infty)\setminus\{3\}\times\{1,\infty\}$ and $p\neq q,$ then we must have $q=2.$ This mostly generalizes a classical result of Lyubich and Vaserstein. We also show that whenever $S_q$ embeds isometrically into $S_p$ for $(q,p)\in \left(1,\infty\right)\times\left[2,\infty \right)\cup[4,\infty)\times\{1\} \cup\{\infty\}\times\left( 1,\infty\right)\cup[2,\infty)\times\{\infty\}$ with $p\neq q,$ we must have $q=2.$ Thus, our work complements work of Junge, Parcet, Xu and others on isometric and almost isometric embedding theory on non-commutative $L_p$-spaces. Our methods rely on several new ingredients related to perturbation theory of linear operators, namely Kato-Rellich theorem, theory of multiple operator integrals and Birkhoff-James orthogonality, followed by thorough and careful case by case analysis. The question whether for $m\geq 2$ and $1<q<2,$ $S_q^m$ embeds isometrically into $S_\infty^n$, was left open in \textit{Bull. London Math. Soc.} 52 (2020) 437-447.