A Generalization of Powers–Størmer Inequality

Abstract

In this note, we prove the following inequality: \({2\Vert\Delta_{\eta\varphi}^{\frac s2}\xi_{\varphi}\Vert ^2 \ge \varphi(1)+\eta(1)- \vert\varphi-\eta\vert(1)}\) , where \({\varphi}\) and η are positive normal linear functionals over a von Neumann algebra. This is a generalization of the famous Powers–Stormer inequality (Powers and Stormer proved the inequality for \({L({\mathcal H})}\) in Commun Math Phys 16:1–33, 1970; Takesaki in Theory of Operator Algebras II, 2001). For matrices, this inequality was proven by Audenaert et al. (Phys Rev Lett 98:160501, 2007). We extend their result to general von Neumann algebras.