English

Testing von Neumann inequalities with nilpotent matrices

Functional Analysis 2025-11-20 v3 Complex Variables

Abstract

We give an elementary proof of the folklore result that the Agler norm of a function is determined by its norm on commuting tuples of nilpotent matrices. The proof is variation on a standard cone separation argument. The topic is closely related to the Eschmeier-Patton-Putinar formulation of Carath\'eodory-Fej\'er interpolation.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.15671,
  title  = {Testing von Neumann inequalities with nilpotent matrices},
  author = {Greg Knese},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.15671},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Added some context to the main theorem, included an example and additional reference. Incorporated referee suggestions

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:18:39.462Z