Frame representations and Parseval duals with applications to Gabor frames

Let be a frame for a Hilbert space . We investigate the conditions under which there exists a dual frame for which is also a Parseval (or tight) frame. We show that the existence of a Parseval dual is equivalent to the problem whether can be dilated to an orthonormal basis (under an oblique projection). A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of Parseval duals is obtained in terms of the frame excess. For a frame induced by a projective unitary representation of a group , it is possible that can have a Parseval dual, but does not have a Parseval dual of the same type. The primary aim of this paper is to present a complete characterization for all the projective unitary representations such that every frame (with a necessary lower frame bound condition) has a Parseval dual of the same type. As an application of this characterization together with a result about lattice tiling, we prove that every Gabor frame (again with the same necessary lower frame bound condition) has a Parseval dual of the same type if and only if the volume of the fundamental domain of is less than or equal to .