Asymptotic estimates on the von Neumann inequality for homogeneous polynomials

Abstract

By the von Neumann inequality for homogeneous polynomials there exists a positive constant $C_{k,q}(n)$ such that for every $k$-homogeneous polynomial $p$ in $n$ variables and every $n$-tuple of commuting operators $(T_1,\dots ,T_n)$ with ${\sum }_{i=1}^n\Vert T_i{\Vert }^q\le 1$ we have \[ \|p(T_1, \dots, T_n)\|_{\mathcal L(\mathcal H)} \leq C_{k,q}(n) \; \sup\{ |p(z_1, \dots, z_n)| : \textstyle \sum_{i=1}^{n} \vert z_{i} \vert^{q} \leq 1 \}\,. \] For fixed $k$ and $q$, we study the asymptotic growth of the smallest constant $C_{k,q}(n)$ as $n$ (the number of variables/operators) tends to infinity. For $q=\infty$, we obtain the correct asymptotic behavior of this constant (answering a question posed by Dixon in the seventies). For $2\le q<\infty$ we improve some lower bounds given by Mantero and Tonge, and prove the asymptotic behavior up to a logarithmic factor. To achieve this we provide estimates of the norm of homogeneous unimodular Steiner polynomials, i.e. polynomials such that the multi-indices corresponding to the nonzero coefficients form partial Steiner systems.

14 pages, Accepted in Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik (Crelle's Journal)