Impossibility of dimension reduction in the nuclear norm

Let $\mathsf{S}_1$ (the Schatten--von Neumann trace class) denote the Banach space of all compact linear operators $T:\ell_2\to \ell_2$ whose nuclear norm $\|T\|_{\mathsf{S}_1}=\sum_{j=1}^\infty\sigma_j(T)$ is finite, where $\{\sigma_j(T)\}_{j=1}^\infty$ are the singular values of $T$. We prove that for arbitrarily large $n\in \mathbb{N}$ there exists a subset $\mathcal{C}\subseteq \mathsf{S}_1$ with $|\mathcal{C}|=n$ that cannot be embedded with bi-Lipschitz distortion $O(1)$ into any $n^{o(1)}$-dimensional linear subspace of $\mathsf{S}_1$. $\mathcal{C}$ is not even a $O(1)$-Lipschitz quotient of any subset of any $n^{o(1)}$-dimensional linear subspace of $\mathsf{S}_1$. Thus, $\mathsf{S}_1$ does not admit a dimension reduction result \'a la Johnson and Lindenstrauss (1984), which complements the work of Harrow, Montanaro and Short (2011) on the limitations of quantum dimension reduction under the assumption that the embedding into low dimensions is a quantum channel. Such a statement was previously known with $\mathsf{S}_1$ replaced by the Banach space $\ell_1$ of absolutely summable sequences via the work of Brinkman and Charikar (2003). In fact, the above set $\mathcal{C}$ can be taken to be the same set as the one that Brinkman and Charikar considered, viewed as a collection of diagonal matrices in $\mathsf{S}_1$. The challenge is to demonstrate that $\mathcal{C}$ cannot be faithfully realized in an arbitrary low-dimensional subspace of $\mathsf{S}_1$, while Brinkman and Charikar obtained such an assertion only for subspaces of $\mathsf{S}_1$ that consist of diagonal operators (i.e., subspaces of $\ell_1$). We establish this by proving that the Markov 2-convexity constant of any finite dimensional linear subspace $X$ of $\mathsf{S}_1$ is at most a universal constant multiple of $\sqrt{\log \mathrm{dim}(X)}$

Bounds on Dimension Reduction in the Nuclear Norm

$\newcommand{\schs}{\scriptstyle{\mathsf{S}}_1}$For all $n \ge 1$, we give an explicit construction of $m \times m$ matrices $A_1,\ldots,A_n$ with $m = 2^{\lfloor n/2 \rfloor}$ such that for any $d$ and $d \times d$ matrices $A'_1,\ldots,A'_n$ that satisfy \|A'_i-A'_j\|_{\schs} \,\leq\, \|A_i-A_j\|_{\schs}\,\leq\, (1+\delta) \|A'_i-A'_j\|_{\schs} for all $i,j\in\{1,\ldots,n\}$ and small enough $\delta = O(n^{-c})$, where $c> 0$ is a universal constant, it must be the case that $d \ge 2^{\lfloor n/2\rfloor -1}$. This stands in contrast to the metric theory of commutative $\ell_p$ spaces, as it is known that for any $p\geq 1$, any $n$ points in $\ell_p$ embed exactly in $\ell_p^d$ for $d=n(n-1)/2$. Our proof is based on matrices derived from a representation of the Clifford algebra generated by $n$ anti-commuting Hermitian matrices that square to identity, and borrows ideas from the analysis of nonlocal games in quantum information theory.Comment: 16 page

Bounds on Dimension Reduction in the Nuclear Norm

For all n ≥ 1, we give an explicit construction of m × m matrices A_1,…,A_n with m = 2^([n/2]) such that for any d and d × d matrices A′_1,…,A′_n that satisfy ∥A_′i−A′_j∥S_1 ≤ ∥A_i−A_j∥S_1 ≤ (1+δ)∥A′_i−A′_j∥S_1 for all i,j∈{1,…,n} and small enough δ = O(n^(−c)), where c > 0 is a universal constant, it must be the case that d ≥ 2^([n/2]−1). This stands in contrast to the metric theory of commutative ℓ_p spaces, as it is known that for any p ≥ 1, any n points in ℓ_p embed exactly in ℓ^d_p for d = n(n−1)/2. Our proof is based on matrices derived from a representation of the Clifford algebra generated by n anti-commuting Hermitian matrices that square to identity, and borrows ideas from the analysis of nonlocal games in quantum information theory

Bounds on Dimension Reduction in the Nuclear Norm

For all n ≥ 1, we give an explicit construction of m × m matrices A_1,…,A_n with m = 2^([n/2]) such that for any d and d × d matrices A′_1,…,A′_n that satisfy ∥A_′i−A′_j∥S_1 ≤ ∥A_i−A_j∥S_1 ≤ (1+δ)∥A′_i−A′_j∥S_1 for all i,j∈{1,…,n} and small enough δ = O(n^(−c)), where c > 0 is a universal constant, it must be the case that d ≥ 2^([n/2]−1). This stands in contrast to the metric theory of commutative ℓ_p spaces, as it is known that for any p ≥ 1, any n points in ℓ_p embed exactly in ℓ^d_p for d = n(n−1)/2. Our proof is based on matrices derived from a representation of the Clifford algebra generated by n anti-commuting Hermitian matrices that square to identity, and borrows ideas from the analysis of nonlocal games in quantum information theory