LIFTING TO THE SPECTRAL BALL WITH INTERPOLATION RAFAEL B. ANDRIST 5 Abstract. Wegivenecessaryandsufficientconditionsforsolving 1 the spectral Nevanlinna–Pick lifting problem. This reduces the 0 spectral Nevanlinna–Pick problem to a jet interpolation problem 2 into the symmetrized polydisc. b e F 2 1. Introduction 1 The spectral ball is the set of square matrices with spectral radius ] V less than 1. It appears naturally in Control Theory [BFT89,BFT91], C but is also of theoretical interest in Several Complex Variables. . h Definition 1.1. The spectral ball of dimension n ∈ N is defined to be t a m Ω := {A ∈ Mat(n×n; C) : ρ(A) < 1} n [ where ρ denotes the spectral radius, i.e. the modulus of the largest 2 eigenvalue. v 5 4 Note that in dimension n = 1, the spectral ball is just the unit disc. 1 We will assume throughout the paper that n ≥ 2. 7 0 The Nevanlinna–Pick problem is an interpolation problem for holo- 1. morphic functions on the unit disc D. The classical Nevanlinna–Pick 0 problem for holomorphic functions D → D with interpolation in a finite 5 set of points has been solved by Pick [Pic15] and Nevanlinna [Nev20]. 1 : The spectral Nevanlinna–Pick problem is the analogue interpolation v i problem for holomorphic maps D → Ω : X n Given m ∈ N distinct points a ,...,a ∈ D, decide r 1 m a whether there is a holomorphic map F: D → Ω such n that F(a ) = A , j = 1,...,m j j for given matrices A ,...,A ∈ Ω . 1 m n 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. 30E05 (primary), and 32Q55, 32M10 (secondary). Key words and phrases. spectral ball, Nevanlinna-Pick, symmetrized polydisc, Oka principle, interpolation. Acknowledgements: TheauthorwouldliketothankFrankKutzschebauch(Uni- versity of Bern) and Franc Forstneriˇc (University of Ljubljana) for interesting and helpful discussions. 1 2 RAFAEL B. ANDRIST It has been studied by many authors, in particular by Agler and Young for dimension n = 2 and generic interpolation points [AY00,AY04]. Bercovici[Ber03]hasfoundsolutionsforn = 2,andCostara[Cos05]has found solutions for generic interpolation points in higher dimensions. In general, the problem is still open. The spectral ball Ω can also be understood in the following way: n Denote by σ ,...,σ : Cn → C the elementary symmetric polynomials 1 n in n complex variables. Let EV: Mat(n×n; C) → Cn assign to each matrix a vector of its eigenvalues. Then we denote by π := σ ◦ 1 1 EV,...,π := σ ◦ EV the elementary symmetric polynomials in the n n eigenvalues. By symmetrizing we avoid any ambiguities of the order of eigenvalues and obtain a polynomial map π = (π ,...,π ), symmetric 1 n in the entries of matrices in Mat(n×n; C), actually n χ (λ) = λn + (−1)j ·π (A)·λn−j A X j j=1 where χ denotes the characteristic polynomial of A. A Now we can consider the holomorphic surjection π: Ω → G of the n n spectral ball onto the symmetrized polydisc G := (σ ,...,σ )(Dn). A n 1 n genericfibre, i.e.afibreaboveabasepointwithnomultipleeigenvalues, consists exactly of one equivalence class of similar matrices. Thus, a generic fibre is actually a SL (C)-homogeneous manifold where the n group SL (C) acts by conjugation. A singular fibre decomposes into n several strata which are SL (C)-homogeneous manifolds as well, but n not necessarily connected. Given this holomorphic surjection, it is natural to consider a weaker version of the spectral Nevanlinna–Pick problem, which is called the spectral Nevanlinna–Pick lifting problem: Given m ∈ N distinct points a ,...,a ∈ D, and a 1 m holomorphic map f: D → G with f(a ) = π(A ) for n j j given matrices A ,...,A ∈ Ω , decide whether there 1 m n is a holomorphic map F: D → Ω such that n F(a ) = A , j = 1,...,m. j j i.e. such that the following diagram commutes: Ω n ?? ✤ ⑧ ✤ F ⑧⑧ ✤✤✤ π ⑧ ✤✤ ⑧ f (cid:15)(cid:15) D // G n a ,...,a 7→ π(A ),...,π(A ) 1 m 1 m When this lifting problem is solved, the spectral Nevanlinna–Pick problem reduces to an interpolation problem D → G . In contrast to n the spectral ball, the symmetrized polydisc G is a taut domain, and n LIFTING TO THE SPECTRAL BALL WITH INTERPOLATION 3 should be more accessible with techniques from hyperbolic geometry. Solutions to this lifting problem have been found for dimensions n = 2,3byNikolov, PflugandThomas[NPT11]andrecentlyfordimensions n = 4,5 by Nikolov, Thomas and Tran [NTT14]. They also provide the solution to a localised version of the spectral Nevanlinna–Pick lifting problem: Proposition 1.2 ([NTT14, Proposition 7]). Let f ∈ O(U,Gn), where U is a neighborhood of p ∈ D, and let M ∈ Ω . Then there exists a n neighborhood U′ ⊂ U of p and F ∈ O(U′,Ω ) such that π ◦ F = f, n F(p) = M and F(v) is cyclic for v ∈ U′ \{p} if and only if dk dλkχf(v)(λ)(cid:12)(cid:12) = O((v−p)dnj−k(Bj)), 0 ≤ k ≤ nj −1, 1 ≤ j ≤ s (cid:12)λ=λj (cid:12) (∗) where B ∈ Mat(n ×n ; C),...,B ∈ Mat(n ×n ; C) are the Jor- 1 1 1 s s s dan blocks of M ≃ B ⊕···⊕B and 1 s d (B ) = min d ∈ N : ∃x ,...x ∈ Cns.t. ℓ j n 1 d dimspan Bk1x ,...Bkdx ; k ,...,k ≥ 0 ≥ ℓ C 1 d 1 d o (cid:8) (cid:9) A matrix M ∈ Mat(n×n; C) is called cyclic, if it admits a cyclic vector x ∈ Cn, i.e. span Mk ·x, k ∈ N = Cn. This is equivalent to C (cid:8) (cid:9) saying that there is only one Jordan block per eigenvalue in the Jordan block decomposition of M. Remark 1.3. It is easy to see that the condition (∗) is necessary: it is a direct consequence of the factorisation π ◦ F = f on the jet level, explicitly stated using the Jordan block decomposition. In this paper we prove that the solution of the localised spectral Nevanlinna–Pick lifting problem implies the global one: Theorem 1.4. The spectral Nevanlinna–Pick lifting problem can be solved if and only if it can be solved locally around the interpolation points which means that (∗) holds for each interpolation point. As a by-product of the proof we obtain (see Corollary 3.2) that the spectral ball admits no bounded from above strictly plurisubharmonic functions, but non-constant bounded holomorphic functions. 4 RAFAEL B. ANDRIST 2. Oka Theory InthissectionweprovidesomebackgroundinOkatheorythatwillbe needed in the proof of the main theorem. The goal is to find conditions for the existence of holomorphic liftings or holomorphic sections. We first recall the following equivalence: Remark 2.1. For a holomorphic surjection π: Z → X and a holo- morphic map f: Y → X, we denote the pull-back of Z under f by ∗ f (Z) = {(y,z) ∈ Y ×Z : f(y) = π(z)} Together with the natural projections to the first resp. second factor ∗ ∗ ∗ f (π): f (Z) → Y resp. f (Z) → Z we obtain the following commu- tative diagram ∗ f (Z) // Z f∗(π) ✤✤✤✤✤ __❄❄❄f∗(F) F ⑧⑧⑧?? ✤✤✤✤✤ π (cid:15)(cid:15)✤✤ ❄❄ ⑧⑧f (cid:15)(cid:15)✤✤ Y Y // X We see that the existence of the lifting F is equivalent to the existence of the lifting f∗(F), y 7→ (y,F(y)). Thus, the lifting problem can always be reduced to finding a section of f∗(Z) → Y. The crucial ingredient will be an Oka theorem for branched holo- morphic maps due to Forstneriˇc. From [For03] we recall the following definitions: Definition 2.2. A point z ∈ Z is a branching point of a holomorphic surjection between complex spaces π: Z → X if π is not submersive in z. The branching locus of π is denoted by brπ and consists of all branching points. For maps between complex spaces, also Z and sing π−1(X ) are included in brπ by convention. sing Definition 2.3. Aholomorphicsurjectionπ: Z → X betweencomplex spaces is called an elliptic submersion over an open subset V ⊆ X if reg (1) π|π−1(V) is a submersion of complex manifolds (2) each point x ∈ V has an open neighborhood U ⊆ V such that there exists a holomorphic vector bundle E → π−1(U) together with a so-called holomorphic dominating spray s: E → π−1(U) satisfying the following conditions for each z ∈ π−1(U): (a) s(E ) ⊆ Z z π(z) (b) s(O ) = z z (c) the derivative ds: T E → T Z maps the subspace E ⊆ 0z z z T E surjectively onto the vertical tangent space kerd π. 0z z A examination of the proof in [For03] shows that a small variation of the statement of [For03, Theorem 2.1] is valid with exactly the same proof: LIFTING TO THE SPECTRAL BALL WITH INTERPOLATION 5 Theorem 2.4. Let X be a Stein space and π: Z → X be a holomorphic map of a complex space Z onto X. Assume that Z \brπ is an elliptic submersion over X. Let X be a (possibly empty) closed subvariety 0 of X. Given a continuous section F: X → Z which is holomorphic in an open set containing X and such that F(X \ X ) ⊆ Z \ brπ, 0 0 there is for any k ∈ N a homotopy of continuous sections F : X → t Z, t ∈ [0,1], such that F = F, for each t ∈ [0,1] the section F is 0 t holomorphic in a neighborhood of X and tangent to order k along X , 0 0 and F is holomorphic on X. If F is holomorphic in a neighborhood of 1 K ∪X for some compact, holomorphically convex subset K of X then 0 we can choose F to be holomorphic in a neighborhood of K ∪X and t 0 to approximate F = F uniformly on K. 0 Remark 2.5. The difference to [For03, Theorem 2.1] is only that we allow X to be smaller than π(brπ) provided that the section over 0 X \π(brπ) does not hit the branching locus brπ. 0 3. Proof In case of the spectral Nevanlinna–Pick lifting problem, we have X = G ,Y = D,Z = Ω , and X := {a ,...,a } is a closed subvariety n n 0 1 m inD. WenotethatY isindeedSteinandthatπ isanellipticsubmersion in the cyclic matrices since the largest strata of all fibres are SL (C)- n homogeneous spaces of dimension n, see for example [For11, Example 5.5.13]. We write down the spray explicitly for any U ⊆ G : we n choose the bundle E := sl (C) × π−1(U) → π−1(U) with the natural n projection, and define the spray s: E → π−1(U) as (B,A) 7→ exp(B)·A·exp(−B) The derivative in (0,A), evaluated for a tangent vector C, is then given by the adjoint representation of sl (C): n d s(C) = [A,C] (0,A) and the conditions of the elliptic submersion are easily verified. Now, by remark 2.1 and the fact that the pullback of an elliptic submersion is still an elliptic submersion (see [For03, Lemma 3.1]) we translate the problem of finding a lifting F: X → Z with π ◦ F = f into a problem of finding a section of f∗(π): f∗(Ω ) → D. n Due to a lack of reference, we also include the following lemma and its proof: Lemma 3.1. Each fibre, the largest stratum of each fibre and also each connected component of any stratum of each fibre of π: Ω → G is C- n n connected. Proof. Given any two similar matrices B and C, we can connect them throughfinitelymanyholomorphicimagesofcomplexlines: thereexists 6 RAFAEL B. ANDRIST a finite number of matrices Q ,...,Q ∈ sl (C) such that 1 s n C = exp(Q )···exp(Q )·B ·exp(−Q )···exp(−Q ). s 1 1 s Byappendingacomplextimeparametert infrontofeachQ weobtain s s s lines connecting B to C. This proves that the largest stratum (hence also a generic fibre) or any connected component of a stratum is C- connected. For the connectedness of a singular fibre it is now sufficient to connect the strata. This can be done by introducing parameters in the off-diagonal entries of the Jordan-block decomposition. (cid:3) We obtain the following corollary which will however not play any role in the proof of the main theorem: Corollary 3.2. The spectral ball Ω ,n ≥ 2, is a union of immersed n complex lines. Hence there exists no bounded from above strictly pluri- subharmonic function on Ω . n Proof. Thepull-back ofany(strictly) plurisubharmonic functiontoany of these complex lines is (strictly) subharmonic, and Liouville’s Theo- rem applies. (cid:3) Now we are ready to prove Theorem 1.4: First we need understand the branching locus of the pull-back of π: Ω → D by f, f∗(π): f∗(Ω ) → D. Let (z,A) ∈ f∗(Ω ) ⊂ D×Ω ⊂ n n n n C × Cn2. Assume that (z,A) ∈ f∗(Ω ) is a singularity. This means n that the derivative of the defining equations of f∗(Ω ) has not full rank n in (z,A), ∃v ∈ Mat(n×1; C),v 6= 0, : (f′(z),−d π)⊺ ·v = 0 A But then also (d π)⊺ · v = 0 and necessarily A ∈ brπ. Assume that A (z,A) ∈ f∗(Ω ) is a branching point of f∗(π) which projects (z,A) to n z, i.e. for d f∗(π) = (1,0,...,0)t it holds outside singularities that (z,A) ∃w ∈ Mat(n×1; C),w 6= 0, : (f′(z),−d π)⊺ ·w = (1,0,...,0)⊺ A But then again (d π)⊺ · w = 0 and necessarily A ∈ brπ. Hence, A ∗ ∗ brf (π) which by definition includes also the singularities of f (Ω ), n is contained in the pull-back of brπ, and no new branching points are introduced. Theorem 2.4 gives the desired section f∗(F) = g , once the existence 1 of g is clear. Proposition 1.2 provides the necessary local liftings in 0 each point a ,...,a which are pulled back by f to local holomorphic 1 m sections such that they do not hit brf∗(π) except forpossibly theinter- polation point itself. Choosing the neighborhoods for the local sections small enough and contractible, we achieve that g is holomorphic in a 0 neighborhood U of X . 0 It remains to show that we can extend g as continuous section over 0 D\U. Since all the components of U are contractible, this is equivalent LIFTING TO THE SPECTRAL BALL WITH INTERPOLATION 7 to find a continuous section g which interpolates the points. We can 0 connect the finitely many points a ,...,a by arcs such that the union 1 m γ of these arcs is homeomorphic to an interval, and then contract the unit disc to γ. Since all the fibres are connected (even C-connected by Lemma 3.1) there is no topological obstruction to construct a contin- uous interpolating section γ → Ω . n We have proved Theorem 1.4. References [AY00] J. Agler and N. J. Young, The two-point spectral Nevanlinna-Pick prob- lem,IntegralEquationsOperatorTheory 37(2000),no.4,375–385,DOI 10.1007/BF01192826. MR1780117 (2001g:47025) [AY04] Jim Agler and N. J. Young, The two-by-two spectral Nevanlinna-Pick problem,Trans.Amer.Math.Soc.356(2004),no.2,573–585(electronic), DOI 10.1090/S0002-9947-03-03083-6. 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MR1511844 Rafael B. Andrist, Fachbereich C – Mathematik, Bergische Univer- sita¨t Wuppertal, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]