English

The joint numerical range of three hermitian $4\times 4$ matrices

Functional Analysis 2026-05-14 v2

Abstract

We analyze the joint numerical range WW of three hermitian matrices of order four. In the generic case, this three-dimensional convex set has a smooth boundary. We analyze non-generic structures. Fifteen possible classes regarding the numbers of non-elliptic faces in the boundary of WW are identified and an explicit example is presented for each class. Secondly, it is shown that a nonempty intersection of three mutually distinct one-dimensional faces is a corner point. Thirdly, introducing a tensor product structure into C4=C2C2\mathbb C^4=\mathbb C^2\otimes\mathbb C^2, one defines the separable joint numerical range - a subset of WW useful in studies of quantum entanglement. The boundary of the separable numerical range is compared with that of WW.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2510.27670,
  title  = {The joint numerical range of three hermitian $4\times 4$ matrices},
  author = {Piotr Pikul and Ilya Spitkovsky and Konrad Szymański and Stephan Weis and Karol Życzkowski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.27670},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

41 pp