English

Relative Kubo-Ando Means of Completely Positive Maps

Operator Algebras 2026-05-19 v2 Functional Analysis

Abstract

We develop a Kubo--Ando theory on order intervals of completely positive maps. Using Arveson's Radon--Nikodym theorem as a structural tool, we define relative Kubo--Ando means ΦσΩΨ\Phi\sigma_\Omega\Psi for completely positive maps dominated by a common ambient map Ω\Omega. The special choice Ω=Φ+Ψ\Omega=\Phi+\Psi yields an intrinsic mean of two completely positive maps. We prove that these means are independent of the chosen Stinespring representation and satisfy the expected order-theoretic properties, including monotonicity, transformer inequalities, Jensen-type inequalities, data processing, and monotonicity with respect to the ambient map. For the geometric mean, we obtain a block-positivity characterization and show that the intrinsic geometric mean vanishes exactly when the two maps have no nonzero common completely positive submap. Finally, we compare the construction with existing finite-dimensional and form-theoretic approaches: for maps between matrix algebras it agrees with the Choi-matrix mean, and in the geometric case it agrees with Okayasu's Pusz--Woronowicz mean on their common domain.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.11701,
  title  = {Relative Kubo-Ando Means of Completely Positive Maps},
  author = {Mohsen Kian},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.11701},
  year   = {2026}
}