Any maximal monotone operator can be characterized by a convex function. The family of such convex functions is invariant under a transformation connected with the Fenchel-Legendre conjugation. We prove that there exist a convex representation of the operator which is a fixed point of this conjugation.
Recently the behavior of operator monotone functions on unbounded intervals with respect to the relation of strictly positivity has been investigated. In this paper we deeply study such behavior not only for operator monotone functions but also for operator convex functions on bounded intervals. More precisely, we prove that if $f$ is a nonlinear operator convex function on a bounded interval $(a,b)$ and $A, B$ are bounded linear operators acting on a Hilbert space with spectra in $(a,b)$ and $A-B$ is invertible, then $sf(A)+(1-s)f(B)>f(sA+(1-s)B)$. A short proof for a similar known result concerning a nonconstant operator monotone function on $[0,infty)$ is presented. Another purpose is to find a lower bound for $f(A)-f(B)$, where $f$ is a nonconstant operator monotone function, by using a key lemma. We also give an estimation of the Furuta inequality, which is an excellent extension of the Lowner--Heinz inequality.
This paper concerns three classes of real-valued functions on intervals, operator monotone functions, operator convex functions, and strongly operator convex functions. Strongly operator convex functions were previously treated in [3] and [4], where operator algebraic semicontinuity theory or operator theory were substantially used. In this paper we provide an alternate treatment that uses only operator inequalities (or even just matrix inequalities). We also show that if t_0 is a point in the domain of a continuous function f, then f is operator monotone if and only if (f(t) - f(t_0))/(t - t_0) is strongly operator convex. Using this and previously known results, we provide some methods for constructing new functions in one of the three classes from old ones. We also include some discussion of completely monotone functions in this context and some results on the operator convexity or strong operator convexity of phi circ f when f is operator convex or strongly operator convex.
We study the relations between some geometric properties of maximal monotone operators and generic geometric and analytical properties of the functions on the associate Fitzpatrick family of convex representations. We also investigate under which conditions a convex function represents a maximal monotone operator with bounded range and provide an example of a non type (D) operator on this class.
In a recent paper in Journal of Convex Analysis the authors studied, in non-reflexive Banach spaces, a class of maximal monotone operators, characterized by the existence of a function in Fitzpatricks family of the operator which conjugate is above the duality product. This property was used to prove that such operators satisfies a restricted version of Brondsted-Rockafellar property. In this work we will prove that if a single Fitzpatrick function of a maximal monotone operator has a conjugate above the duality product, then all Fitzpatrick function of the operator have a conjugate above the duality product. As a consequence, the family of maximal monotone operators with this property is just the class NI, previously defined and studied by Simons. We will also prove that an auxiliary condition used by the authors to prove the restricted Brondsted-Rockafellar property is equivalent to the assumption of the conjugate of the Fitzpatrick function to majorize the duality product.
Conjugation, or Legendre transformation, is a basic tool in convex analysis, rational mechanics, economics and optimization. It maps a function on a linear topological space into another one, defined in the dual of the linear space by coupling these space by meas of the duality product. Generalized conjugation extends classical conjugation to any pair of domains, using an arbitrary coupling function between these spaces. This generalization of conjugation is now being widely used in optima transportation problems, variational analysis and also optimization. If the coupled spaces are equal, generalized conjugations define order reversing maps of a family of functions into itself. In this case, is natural to ask for the existence of fixed points of the conjugation, that is, functions which are equal to their (generalized) conjugateds. Here we prove that any generalized symmetric conjugation has fixed points. The basic tool of the proof is a variational principle involving the order reversing feature of the conjugation. As an application of this abstract result, we will extend to real linear topological spaces a fixed-point theorem for Fitzpatricks functions, previously proved in Banach spaces.