Estimates for the Involution of Decomposable Elements of a Complex Banach Algebra

An element a of a complex Banach algebra with unit \(1I\) and with standard conditions on the norm (‖ab‖ ? ‖a‖ · ‖b‖ and ‖\(1I\)‖ = 1) is said to be Hermitian if ‖e ^ita ‖ = 1 for any real number t. An element is said to be decomposable if it admits a representation of the form a + ib in which a and b are Hermitian. The decomposable elements form a Banach Lie algebra (with respect to the commutator). The Hermitian components are determined uniquely, and hence this Lie algebra has the natural involution a + ib = x → x* = a ? ib. One can readily see that ‖x*‖ ? 2‖x‖. Among other things, we prove that ‖ x*‖ ? γ‖x‖, where γ < 2. In fact, the situation is treated in more detail: the original problem is included in a continuous family parametrized by the numerical radius of the element. Finding the exact value of the constant γ is reduced to a variational problem in the theory of entire functions of exponential type. Approximately, γ is equal to 1.92 ± 0.04.