Schur analysis of matricial Hausdorff moment sequences

Abstract

We develop the algebraic instance of an algorithmic approach to the matricial Hausdorff moment problem on a compact interval [α,β] of the real axis. Our considerations are along the lines of the classical Schur algorithm and the treatment of the Hamburger moment problem on the real axis by Nevanlinna. More precisely, a transformation of matrix sequences is constructed, which transforms Hausdorff moment sequences into Hausdorff moment sequences reduced by 1 in length. It is shown that this transformation corresponds essentially to the left shift of the associated sequences of canonical moments. As an application, we show that a matricial version of the arcsine distribution can be used to characterize a certain centrality property of non-negative Hermitian measures on [α,β].