Kostant's convexity theorem and the compact classical groups

Abstract

The relationship between the classical Schur-Horn's theorem on the diagonal elements of a Hermitian matrix with prescribed eigenvalues and Kostant's convexity theorem in the context of Lie groups. By using Kostant's convexity theorem, we work out the statements on the special orthogonal group and the symplectic group explicitly. Schur-Horn's result can be stated in terms of a set of inequalities. The counterpart in the Lie-theoretic context is related to a partial ordering, introduced by Atiyah and Bott, defined on the closed fundamental Weyl chamber. Some results of Thompson on the diagonal elements of a matrix with prescribed singular values are recovered. Thompson-Poon's theorem on the convex hull of Hermitian matrices with prescribed eigenvalues is also generalized. Then a result of Atiyah-Bott is recovered.