Proof of the BMV Conjecture
Complex Variables
2012-08-20 v3
Abstract
We prove the BMV (Bessis, Moussa, Villani, 1975) conjecture, which states that the function t -> Tr exp(A-tB), t \geq 0, is the Laplace transform of a positive measure on [0,\infty) if A and B are n x n Hermitian matrices and B is positive semidefinite. A semi-explicit representation for this measure is given.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1107.4875,
title = {Proof of the BMV Conjecture},
author = {Herbert R. Stahl},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1107.4875},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
Instead of the asymptotic analysis in Section 4 and the use of the Post-Widder formulae in Section 5 for the proof of the representation of the measure \mu_{A,B} in Theorem 2, this representation is now verified by direct calculations (see Subsection 4.2). As a consequence also Section 3 could be shortened, and the whole paper has become much shorter. The main result remains unchanged