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# Direct Search for Charged Higgs Bosons in Decays of Top Quarks

## Abstract

We present a search for charged Higgs bosons in decays of pair-produced top quarks in $`p\overline{p}`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s}=1.8`$ TeV recorded by the DØ detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. With no evidence for signal, we exclude most regions of the ($`M_{H^\pm }`$, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$) parameter space where the decay $`tH^+b`$ has a branching fraction $`>0.36`$ and $`B(H^\pm \tau \nu _\tau )`$ is large.

The standard model (SM) relies on the Higgs mechanism for gauge-invariant generation of particle masses . It contains a single complex scalar doublet field, whose only observable particle is the neutral Higgs boson, $`H^0`$. At present, no data limit the Higgs sector to a single doublet. In this Letter, we examine predictions of a two-Higgs-doublet model (THDM) that couples one doublet to up-type quarks and neutrinos, and the other to down-type quarks and charged leptons (Type-II model), just as in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM . For such coupling, flavor changing neutral currents are absent at tree-level . The additional degrees of freedom in this model provide a total of five observable Higgs fields: two neutral CP-even scalars $`h^0`$ and $`H^0`$, a neutral CP-odd scalar $`A^0`$, and two charged scalars $`H^\pm `$. In what follows, we report on a search for evidence of an extension of the Higgs sector, in the form of a $`H^\pm `$ boson, with the relevant parameters being its mass, $`M_{H^\pm }`$, and the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the doublets, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$.

In the SM, the primary decay of the $`t`$ quark is $`tW^+b`$. The addition of the second Higgs doublet provides the $`tH^+b`$ mode, with a branching fraction $`B(tH^+b)(m_t^2\mathrm{cot}^2\beta +m_b^2\mathrm{tan}^2\beta )+4m_t^2m_b^2`$. This function has a minimum when $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =\sqrt{m_t/m_b}`$, and is symmetric in $`\mathrm{log}_{10}(\mathrm{tan}\beta )`$ about this point. If $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ differs by about an order of magnitude from $`\sqrt{m_t/m_b}`$, the branching fraction becomes large, and decreases as $`M_{H^\pm }`$ increases. In this analysis, we assume $`B(tW^+b)+B(tH^+b)=1`$. The masses of the three neutral scalars are assumed to be large enough to be suppressed in $`H^\pm `$ decays. Also, at tree level, there are no direct $`H^\pm `$ couplings to SM vector bosons. The only available decays of $`H^\pm `$ are therefore fermionic, with coupling proportional to fermion mass. For $`M_{H^\pm }`$ below $`110`$ GeV, $`B(H^+\tau ^+\nu )0.96`$ for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta >2`$, and $`B(H^+c\overline{s})1`$ for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta <0.4`$. Because of large coupling to the top quark , $`B(H^+t^{}\overline{b}W^+b\overline{b})`$ becomes important and eventually dominant at higher values of $`M_{H^\pm }`$ for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta <\sqrt{m_t/m_b}`$ .

DØ has carried out two searches for $`tH^+b`$. An indirect search, which has been published , looked for a decrease in the $`t\overline{t}W^+W^{}b\overline{b}`$ signal expected from the SM, and the direct search, reported here, that searches for the $`H^\pm \tau ^\pm \nu `$ decay mode. Direct searches have been carried out by LEP experiments, and report a combined lower limit on $`M_{H^\pm }`$ of 78.6 GeV . CDF has also reported a direct search for $`H^\pm `$, setting an upper limit on $`B(tH^+b)`$ in the range of 0.5 to 0.6 at 95% confidence level (CL) for masses in the range 60 to 160 GeV, assuming $`B(H^+\tau \nu _\tau )=1`$ .

In addition to the limits from the Tevatron and LEP, limits have also been published based on quantum corrections for Type-II THDM in other processes. CLEO sets a limit of $`M_{H^\pm }>(244+63/(\mathrm{tan}\beta )^{1/3})`$ GeV at the 95% CL from their inclusive measurement of $`bs\gamma `$ . The L3 limit  on $`B\tau +\nu _\tau `$, leads Ref.  to set a 90% CL limit of 0.27 GeV$`{}_{}{}^{1}>(\mathrm{tan}\beta )/M_{H^\pm }`$. Finally, the branching ratios of $`\tau \nu _\tau K`$ and $`K\nu _{\mathrm{}}(\gamma )`$, yields a limit of 0.21 GeV$`{}_{}{}^{1}>(\mathrm{tan}\beta )/M_{H^\pm }`$ at the 90% CL . Although these limits exclude a larger part of available parameter space than our study, because of the difficulty of the measurements and ambiguities in theory, it is important to search for objects such as the $`H^\pm `$ in all possible channels, and not to defer entirely to theory.

This analysis uses the same formulation and Monte Carlo (MC) tools as our indirect search. The theory is a leading-order perturbative calculation, requiring the $`tH^+b`$ coupling to be $`<1`$, which limits the validity of our search to $`0.3<\mathrm{tan}\beta <150`$. In addition, the calculation is unreliable for small $`|m_tM_{H^\pm }|`$ and for large decay widths for $`t`$ and $`H^\pm `$. This further limits our search to $`M_{H^\pm }<160`$ GeV and $`B(tH^+b)<0.9`$.

A direct search for $`H^\pm `$ divides naturally into two regions : (1) small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, where final states are dominated by jets, with imbalance in transverse momentum ($`E_T`$), and (2) large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, where the final state contains up to two $`\tau `$ leptons and large missing transverse energy ($`E\text{/}_T`$). Because at small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ there is background from multijet production, we concentrate on large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ and $`t\overline{t}\tau \overline{\tau }\nu _\tau \overline{\nu }_\tau +`$jets final states. The experimental signature for $`tH^+b`$ is nearly identical to that for $`tW^+b`$. We therefore rely on the expected increase in absolute yield of $`\tau `$ leptons at high $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ to differentiate between the two modes.

The $`t\overline{t}`$ data for this analysis were obtained from $`p\overline{p}`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s}=1.8`$ TeV , and we consider both $`t\overline{t}H^+H^{}b\overline{b}`$ and $`t\overline{t}H^\pm W^{}b\overline{b}`$ channels. Identification of the $`\tau `$ relies on its hadronic decay modes, consisting primarily of one or three charged hadrons in a narrow jet, often accompanied by photons from $`\pi ^0`$ decays, and a $`\nu _\tau `$. There are two $`b`$ jets per event, and, when one of the top quarks decays to $`Wb`$, there are also two light quark jets (we consider only hadronic $`W`$ modes). The event signature is therefore jets + $`E\text{/}_T`$, with a roughly spherical distribution in the detector, and at least one narrow jet. Consequently, we rely on a multijet + $`E\text{/}_T`$ trigger, which comprises $`62.2\pm 3.1`$ pb<sup>-1</sup> of integrated luminosity ($``$). To reduce background, we use a set of loose selections, and then a neural network (NN) for more restrictive cuts. The loose criteria require that the event have $`E\text{/}_T>25`$ GeV, at least 4 jets, each with $`E_T>20`$ GeV, but no more than 8 jets with $`E_T>8`$ GeV.

We use a feed-forward NN  based on jetnet , with 3 input nodes, 7 hidden nodes, and 1 output node. The input variables are $`E\text{/}_T`$, and two of the three eigenvalues of the normalized momentum tensor. The NN is trained on both signal ($`tH^+b`$), and background. The sample for training on signal, $`t\overline{t}H^+H^{}b\overline{b}`$, is generated using isajet , with both $`H^+`$ and $`H^{}`$ decaying to $`\tau \nu _\tau `$, and the $`\tau `$ leptons to hadrons and $`\nu _\tau `$. The response of the NN is relatively insensitive to the $`M_{H^\pm }`$, we therefore use only one value, $`M_{H^\pm }=95`$ GeV. The same NN is also used for classifying $`t\overline{t}H^\pm W^{}b\overline{b}`$ channels, since the efficiency for this channel is comparable to that of the training sample.

The primary sources of background are mismeasured multijet events, and $`W+`$ $`3`$ jet events. We therefore train the NN on a sample of 25,000 multijet events from data; even if the $`H^\pm `$ exists, $`1`$ event is added to the sample. The $`W+`$ jets background is modeled using vecbos  for parton production, and isajet for hadronization. Figure 1 shows the separation achieved for $`H^\pm `$ signal relative to our main background from multijet events. The chosen NN cutoff of 0.91, is based on a series of MC experiments used to determine the maximum sensitivity for $`H^\pm `$. In the absence of signal, this also provides the maximum excluded area in $`(M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta )`$ space.

After applying the NN selection, we require that events have at least one hadronically decaying $`\tau `$ lepton. The selection used in this analysis follows that of our $`W\tau \nu _\tau `$ study . The principal requirement being the identification of one narrow jet in each event ($`\sqrt{\sigma _\eta ^2+\sigma _\varphi ^2}0.25`$, where the $`\sigma `$ correspond to the jet widths in $`\eta `$, pseudorapidity, and $`\varphi `$, azimuthal angle), with 1 to 7 charged tracks, $`10<E_T<60`$ GeV for jets of cone $`R=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }\eta ^2+\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi ^2}=0.5`$, and rejection of events with electrons or muons Ref. . In addition to the criteria in Ref. , we require that the discriminant $`\chi _b^2\chi _s^2>0`$, where $`\chi _s^2`$ and $`\chi _b`$ are the $`\chi ^2`$ determined from a covariance matrix calculated from $`W\tau \nu _\tau `$ MC, and a sample of multijet events respectively. The $`\chi ^2`$ for the multijet sample uses the leading jet in each event ($`E_T>20`$ GeV). To define the covariance matrix, we use the fact that $`\tau `$-jets are narrower than normal hadronic jets in the energy range of our search. The variables used are the energy in each of the first five layers of our calorimeter, the log of the total energy, the ratio of the sum of the transverse energy of the two calorimeter towers with highest $`E_T`$ to the total jet energy, and ratios of jet energies in the central $`3\times 3`$ and $`5\times 5`$ calorimeter towers to the total jet energy.

Because the measured values of $`\sigma _{t\overline{t}}`$ and $`m_t`$ are based on the assumption that $`B(tW^+b)=1`$, it may be regarded as specious to use either in calculating the expected number of events. For $`t\overline{t}`$ production, we therefore use a QCD calculation giving $`\sigma _{t\overline{t}}=5.5`$ pb . Any possible contamination from $`t\overline{t}H^\pm W^{}b\overline{b}`$, would affect the DØ $`m_t`$ measurement by $`<5\%`$ for $`M_{H^\pm }<140`$ GeV, we therefore use the value $`m_t=175`$ GeV . The selection efficiencies for signal and background are listed in Table I. Using this information, we expect $`1.1\pm 0.3`$ events from $`t\overline{t}`$, $`0.9\pm 0.3`$ from $`W+`$ jets and $`3.2\pm 1.5`$ from mulitjet background, while we observe 3 events in the data. The jet energy, modeling of signal, and $`\tau `$ identification, are the primary sources of systematic uncertainties. The first two are calculated as in Ref. , while uncertainty in $`\tau `$ identification is calculated as in Ref. .

Had $`H^\pm `$ bosons been produced in $`t\overline{t}`$ decays, then the number of $`t\overline{t}\tau +\mathrm{jets}`$ events would have exceeded expectation of the SM at high $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, because $`B(H^+\tau ^+\nu _\tau )=0.96`$ in this region, while $`B(W^+\tau \nu _\tau )=0.11`$. Consequently, large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ should be especially sensitive to contributions from $`H^\pm `$. However, our data agree with the SM. Hence, to set a limit, we calculate the probability for data to fluctuate to the expectation from $`H^\pm `$ sources. Figure 2 shows the number of events observed, the number expected from SM processes, and the excess from $`H^\pm `$ for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =150`$ and $`M_{H^\pm }=95`$ GeV, as a function of NN threshold. Above our NN cutoff of 0.91, there is clear inconsistency with the hypothesis of excess $`\tau `$ production from $`H^\pm `$ sources.

The probability that the number of expected events for a particular value of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ and $`M_{H^\pm }`$ has fluctuated to the number of observed events ($`n_{obs}`$), is given by the joint posterior probability density for $`M_{H^\pm }`$ and $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$:

$$P(M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta |n_{obs})G()G(n_B)G(A)\times P(n_{obs}|\mu )𝑑A𝑑n_B𝑑,$$
(1)
where $`G`$ represent Gaussian distributions, $`n_B`$ is the number of expected background events, and $`P(n_{obs}|\mu )`$ is the Poisson probability of $`n_{obs}`$ events, given expectation: $`\mu (M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta )=A(M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta )\sigma (t\overline{t})+n_B`$, where $`A(M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta )`$ is the sum of the products of the branching fractions and efficiencies from all sources of $`t\overline{t}`$ decay. For a particular $`M_{H^\pm }`$, and any $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, the value of $`A`$ is computed via MC (in leading-order). The probabilities from Eq. 1 are then parameterized as a function of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ for fixed values of $`M_{H^\pm }`$, and fitted as a function of $`M_{H^\pm }`$ to obtain $`P(M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta |n_{obs})`$, the Bayesian posterior probability density  shown in Fig. 3.

The prior probability distribution, as in the indirect search , is assumed to be uniform over the allowed regions of $`M_{H^\pm }`$ and $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{tan}\beta )`$ and zero elsewhere. This gives equal weight to all possible branching ratios in Type II THDM. We further impose a lower limit on $`M_{H^\pm }`$ of 75 GeV, to provide an overlap with the limit from LEP experiments. The CL exclusion boundary in the ($`M_{H^\pm }`$, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$) plane is obtained by integrating the probability density $`P(M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta |n_{obs})`$ around a contour of constant $`P`$, such that the volume under the surface enclosed by that contour constitutes 95% of the volume under the full $`P(M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta |n_{obs})`$ surface. A 10% change in the $`t\overline{t}`$ cross section changes the excluded region by 10%, with the larger cross section yielding greater exclusion. The limits are shown in Fig. 4, along with results from our indirect DØ search, under the same assumptions. The exclusion region correspond to parameters that are $`<5\%`$ likely. Because the indirect search excludes simultaneously both large and small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, the exclusion contour at high $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ represents approximately 2.5% of the volume under that posterior probability density surface. Also shown in Fig. 4 are the frequentist limits, wherein a point in the ($`M_{H^\pm }`$, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$) plane is excluded when $`P(n_{obs}|M_{H^\pm },\mathrm{tan}\beta )<`$ 5%, which is related to the posterior probability through Bayes theorem . Although the frequentist and Bayesian exclusion contours are shown on the same plot, they represent entirely different notions of probability .

In summary, our direct search for charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays shows no evidence of signal for $`M_{H^\pm }<150`$ GeV. The region of small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ does not provide $`\tau `$ leptons through couplings to $`H^\pm `$, and therefore cannot be excluded. At large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, we extend the exclusion region beyond that of our indirect search. Assuming $`m_t`$ = 175 GeV and $`\sigma (t\overline{t})`$ = 5.5 pb, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta >32.0`$ is excluded at the 95% CL, for $`M_{H^\pm }=75`$ GeV. The limits are less stringent at larger $`M_{H^\pm }`$, until $`M_{H^\pm }=150`$ GeV, where no limit can be set. Using the results of this Letter and those of our indirect search, we exclude $`B(tH^+b)>0.36`$ at 95% CL in the region $`0.3<\mathrm{tan}\beta <150`$, and $`M_{H^\pm }<160`$ GeV.

We thank the staffs at Fermilab and collaborating institutions, and acknowledge support from the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation (USA), Commissariat à L’Energie Atomique and CNRS/Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (France), Ministry for Science and Technology and Ministry for Atomic Energy (Russia), CAPES and CNPq (Brazil), Departments of Atomic Energy and Science and Education (India), Colciencias (Colombia), CONACyT (Mexico), Ministry of Education and KOSEF (Korea), CONICET and UBACyT (Argentina), The Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), PPARC (United Kingdom), Ministry of Education (Czech Republic), and the A.P. Sloan Foundation.


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# Cycles and 1-unconditional matrices

## 1 Introduction

The starting point for this investigation has been the following isometric question on the Schatten-von-Neumann class $`S^p`$.

###### Question 1.1.

Which matrix coefficients of an operator $`xS^p`$ must vanish so that the norm of $`x`$ does not depend on the argument, or on the sign, of the remaining nonzero matrix coefficients ?

Let $`C`$ be the set of columns and $`R`$ be the set of rows for coordinates in the matrix. Let $`IR\times C`$ be the set of matrix coordinates of the nonzero matrix coefficients of $`x`$. Question 1.1 describes the notion of a complex, or real, $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence $`(\mathrm{e}_{rc})_{(r,c)I}`$ of elementary matrices in $`S^p`$.

By a convexity argument, Question 1.1 is equivalent to the following question on Schur multiplication.

###### Question 1.2.

Which matrix coefficients of an operator $`xS^p`$ must vanish so that for all matrices $`\phi `$ of complex, or real, numbers $`\phi xsup|\phi _{rc}|x`$, where $``$ is the entrywise (or Schur or Hadamard) product given by $`(\phi x)_{rc}=\phi _{rc}x_{rc}`$ ?

In the case $`p=\mathrm{}`$, Grothendieck’s inequality yields an estimation for the norm of Schur multiplication by $`\phi `$ in terms of the projective tensor product $`\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$: it is equivalent to the supremum of the norm of the tensors whose coefficient matrices are finite submatrices of $`\phi `$. In the framework of tensor algebras over discrete spaces, Question 1.2 turns out to describe as well the isometric counterpart to Varopoulos’ $`V`$-Sidon sets as well as to his sets of $`V`$-interpolation. The following isometric question has however a different answer.

###### Question 1.3.

Which coefficients of a tensor $`u\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$ must vanish so that the norm of $`u`$ is the maximal modulus of its coefficients ?

In our answer to Question 1.2, $`S^p`$ and Schur multiplication are treated as a non commutative analogue to $`L^p`$ and convolution. The main step is a careful study of the Schatten-von-Neumann norm $`x=\left(tr(x^{}x)^{p/2}\right)^{1/p}`$ for $`p`$ an even integer. The rule of matrix multiplication provides an expression for this norm as a series in the matrix coefficients of $`x`$ and their complex conjugate, indexed by the $`p`$-uples $`(v_1,v_2,\mathrm{},v_p)`$ satisfying $`(v_{2i1},v_{2i}),(v_{2i+1},v_{2i})I`$. Those are best understood as closed walks of length $`p`$ on the bipartite graph $`G`$ canonically associated to $`I`$: its vertex classes are $`C`$ and $`R`$ and its edges are given by the couples in $`I`$. A structure theorem for closed walks and a detailed study of the particular case in which $`G`$ is a cycle yield the two following theorems.

###### Theorem 1.4.

Let $`p]0,\mathrm{}]\{2,4,6,\mathrm{}\}`$. If the sequence of elementary matrices $`(\mathrm{e}_{rc})_{(r,c)I}`$ is a real $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$, then $`G`$ contains no cycle. In this case, $`I`$ is even a set of $`V`$-interpolation with constant $`1`$: every sequence $`\phi \mathrm{}_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ may be interpolated by a tensor $`u\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$ such that $`u=\phi `$.

###### Theorem 1.5.

Let $`p\{2,4,6,\mathrm{}\}`$. The sequence $`(\mathrm{e}_{rc})_{(r,c)I}`$ is a complex, or real, $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$ if and only if $`G`$ contains no cycle of length $`4,6,\mathrm{},p`$.

If $`C`$ and $`R`$ are finite, extremal graphs without cycles of given lengths remain an ongoing area of research in Graph theory.

These results provide a complete description of the situation in which $`(\mathrm{e}_{rc})_{(r,c)I}`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basis of the space $`S_I^p`$ it spans in $`S^p`$. If this is not the case, $`S_I^p`$ might still admit some other $`1`$-unconditional basis. This leads to the following more general question.

###### Question 1.6.

For which sets $`I`$ does $`S_I^p`$ admit some kind of almost $`1`$-unconditional Schauder decomposition ?

The metric unconditional approximation property $`(umap)`$ provides a formal definition for the object of Question 1.6. We obtain the following results.

###### Theorem 1.7.

Let $`p[1,\mathrm{}]\{2,4,6,\mathrm{}\}`$. If $`S_I^p`$ has real $`(umap)`$, then the distance of any two vertices $`cC`$ and $`rR`$ is asymptotically infinite in $`G`$: their distance becomes arbitrarily large by deleting a finite number of edges from $`G`$.

###### Theorem 1.8.

Let $`p\{2,4,6,\mathrm{}\}`$. The space $`S_I^p`$ has complex, or real, $`(umap)`$ if and only if any two vertices at distance $`2j+1p/2`$ are asymptotically at distance at least $`p2j+1`$.

We now turn to a detailed description of this article. In Section 2, we provide tools for the computation of Schur multiplier norms. Section 3 characterizes idempotent Schur multipliers and $`0,1`$-tensors in $`\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$ of norm one. In Section 4, we define the complex and real unconditional constants of basic sequences of elementary matrices and show that they are not equal in general. Section 5 looks back on Varopoulos’ results about tensor algebras over discrete spaces. Section 6 puts the connection between $`p`$-trace norm and closed walks of length $`p`$ in the concrete form of closed walk relations. In Section 7, we compute the norm of relative Schur multipliers by signs in the case that $`G`$ is a cycle, and estimate the corresponding unconditional constants. Section 8 is dedicated to a proof of Th. 1.4 and an answer to Question 1.3. Section 9 establishes Th. 1.5. In Section 10, we study the metric unconditional approximation property for spaces $`S_I^p`$. The final section provides four kinds of examples: sets obtained by a transfer of $`n`$-independent subsets of a discrete abelian group, Hankel sets, Steiner systems and Tits’ generalized polygons.

###### Terminology.

$`C`$ is the set of columns and $`R`$ is the set of rows, both finite or countable and if necessary indexed by natural numbers. $`V`$, the set of vertices, is their disjoint union $`CR`$. An edge on $`V`$ is a pair $`\{v,w\}V`$. A graph on $`V`$ is given by a set of edges $`E`$. A bipartite graph on $`V`$ with vertex classes $`C`$ and $`R`$ has only edges $`\{r,c\}`$ such that $`cC`$ and $`rR`$ and may therefore be given alternatively by the set of couples $`I=\{(r,c)R\times C:\{r,c\}E\}`$. Two graphs are disjoint if so are the sets of vertices of their edges. $`I`$ is a row section if $`(r,c),(r,c^{})Ic=c^{}`$, and a column section if $`(r,c),(r^{},c)Ir=r^{}`$.

A walk of length $`s0`$ in a graph is a sequence $`(v_0,\mathrm{},v_s)`$ of $`s+1`$ vertices such that $`\{v_0,v_1\},\mathrm{},\{v_{s1},v_s\}`$ are edges of the graph. A walk is a path if its vertices are pairwise distinct. The distance of two vertices in a graph is the minimal length of a path in the graph that joins the two vertices; it is infinite if no such path exists. A closed walk of length $`p`$ in a graph is a sequence $`(v_1,\mathrm{},v_p)`$ of $`p`$ vertices such that $`\{v_1,v_2\},\mathrm{},\{v_{p1},v_p\},\{v_p,v_1\}`$ are edges of the graph. Note that $`p`$ is necessarily even if the graph is bipartite. A closed walk is a cycle if its vertices are pairwise distinct. We take the convention that the first vertex of a closed walk or a cycle on $`V=CR`$ is a column vertex: $`v_1C`$. We shall identify a path and a cycle with their set of edges $`\{r,c\}`$ or the corresponding set of couples $`(r,c)`$.

A bipartite graph on $`V`$ is a tree if its vertices may be indexed by a set $`W`$ of finite words over some set of letters $`A`$ in the following way:

* $`\mathrm{}W`$ and every beginning of a word in $`W`$ is also in $`W`$: if $`wW\{\mathrm{}\}`$, then $`w`$ is the concatenation $`w^{}a`$ of a word $`w^{}W`$ with a letter $`aA`$;
* words of even (vs. odd) length index row (vs. column) vertices;
* a pair of vertices is an edge exactly if the length of their indices differs by one.

A forest is a union of pairwise disjoint trees; equivalently, it is a cycle free graph.

###### Notation.

$`𝕋=\{z:|z|=1\}`$. Given an index set $`I`$ and $`qI`$, $`\mathrm{e}_q`$ is the sequence defined on $`I`$ as the indicator function $`\chi _{\{q\}}`$ of the singleton $`\{q\}`$.

Let $`I=R\times C`$ and $`q=(r,c)`$. Then $`\mathrm{e}_q=\mathrm{e}_{rc}`$ is the elementary matrix identified with the operator from $`\mathrm{}_C^2`$ to $`\mathrm{}_R^2`$ that maps $`\mathrm{e}_c`$ on $`\mathrm{e}_r`$ and all other basis vectors on $`0`$. The matrix coefficient at coordinate $`q`$ of an operator $`x`$ from $`\mathrm{}_C^2`$ to $`\mathrm{}_R^2`$ is $`x_q=tr\mathrm{e}_q^{}x`$ and its matrix representation is $`(x_q)_{qR\times C}=_{qR\times C}x_q\mathrm{e}_q`$.

The Schatten-von-Neumann class $`S^p`$, $`0<p<\mathrm{}`$, is the space of those compact operators $`x`$ from $`\mathrm{}_C^2`$ to $`\mathrm{}_R^2`$ such that $`x_p^p=tr|x|^p=tr(x^{}x)^{p/2}<\mathrm{}`$. $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ is the space of compact operators with the operator norm. $`S^p`$ is a quasi-normed space, and a Banach space if $`p1`$. The unit ball of a Banach space $`X`$ is denoted by $`B_X`$.

For $`IR\times C`$, the entry space $`S_I^p`$ is the space of those $`xS^p`$ whose support $`\{qR\times C:x_q0\}`$ is a subset of $`I`$. $`S_I^p`$ is also the closed subspace of $`S^p`$ spanned by $`(\mathrm{e}_q)_{qI}`$.

The $`S^p`$-valued Schatten-von-Neumann class $`S^p(S^p)`$ is the space of those compact operators $`x`$ from $`\mathrm{}_C^2`$ to $`\mathrm{}_R^2(S^p)`$ such that $`x_p^p=tr(tr|x|^p)<\mathrm{}`$, where the inner trace is the $`S^p`$-valued analogue of the usual trace $`x`$: such operators have an $`S^p`$-valued matrix representation. $`S^p(S^p)`$ can be identified with the space of compact operators $`x`$ from $`\mathrm{}_C^2(\mathrm{}_2)=\mathrm{}_2_2\mathrm{}_C^2`$ to $`\mathrm{}_R^2(\mathrm{}_2)=\mathrm{}_2_2\mathrm{}_R^2`$ such that $`x_p^p=trtr|x|^p<\mathrm{}`$; the matrix coefficient of $`x`$ at $`q`$ is then $`x_q=(\mathrm{Id}_{S^p}tr)\left((\mathrm{Id}_\mathrm{}_2\mathrm{e}_q^{})x\right)`$ and its matrix representation is $`_{qR\times C}x_q\mathrm{e}_q`$.

A relative Schur multiplier on $`S_I^p`$ is a sequence $`\phi =(\phi _q)_{qI}^I`$ such that the operator $`M_\phi `$ defined by $`\mathrm{e}_q\phi _q\mathrm{e}_q`$ for $`qI`$ is bounded on $`S_I^p`$. The Schur multiplier $`\phi `$ is furthermore completely bounded (c.b. for short) on $`S_I^p`$ if $`\mathrm{Id}_{S^p}M_\phi `$, that is the operator defined by $`x_q\mathrm{e}_q\phi _qx_q\mathrm{e}_q`$ for $`x_qS^p`$ and $`qI`$, is bounded on $`S_I^p(S^p)`$ (see \[19, Lemma 1.7\]). Note that $`\phi `$ is a Schur multiplier on $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ if and only if it is a Schur multiplier on the space of bounded operators from $`\mathrm{}_C^2`$ to $`\mathrm{}_R^2`$ and that it automatically is c.b. \[20, Th. 5.1\].

Let $`X,Y`$ be Banach spaces and $`uXY`$. Its projective tensor norm is given by

$$u_{X\stackrel{}{}Y}=inf\{\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}x_jy_j:u=\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}x_jy_j\}$$

and $`X\stackrel{}{}Y`$ is the completion of $`XY`$ with respect to this norm. Note that $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}^n\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}^mc_0\stackrel{}{}c_0\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}`$. The injective tensor norm of $`u`$ is given by

$$u_{X\stackrel{}{}Y}=\underset{(\xi ,\eta )B_X^{}\times B_Y^{}}{sup}|\xi \eta ,u|$$

and $`X\stackrel{}{}Y`$ is the completion of $`XY`$ with respect to this norm. Note that if $`X`$ and $`Y`$ are both finite dimensional, then

$$(X\stackrel{}{}Y)^{}=X^{}\stackrel{}{}Y^{}\mathrm{and}(X\stackrel{}{}Y)^{}=X^{}\stackrel{}{}Y^{};$$

further $`(c_0\stackrel{}{}c_0)^{}=\mathrm{}_1\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_1`$ and $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}`$ is a closed $`w^{}`$-dense subspace of $`(\mathrm{}_1\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_1)^{}`$. If $`X`$ is a sequence space on $`C`$ and $`Y`$ is a sequence space on $`R`$, then the coefficient of the tensor $`u`$ at $`(r,c)`$ is $`\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r,u`$. Its support is the set of coordinates $`(r,c)`$ of its nonvanishing coefficients.

## 2 Relative Schur multipliers

The following proposition is a straightforward consequence of .

###### Proposition 2.1.

Let $`IR\times C`$ and $`\phi `$ be a Schur multiplier on $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ with norm $`D`$. Then $`\phi `$ is also a c.b. Schur multiplier on $`S_I^p`$ for every $`p]0,\mathrm{}]`$, with c.b. norm bounded by $`D`$.

###### Proof.

We may assume $`D=1`$. Let $`R^{}\times C^{}`$ be any finite subset of $`R\times C`$. By \[16, Th. 3.2\], there exist vectors $`w_c`$ and $`v_r`$ of norm at most $`1`$ in a Hilbert space $`H`$ such that $`\phi _{rc}=w_c,v_r`$ for every $`(r,c)IR^{}\times C^{}`$. If we define $`W:\mathrm{}_C^{}^2\mathrm{}_C^{}^2(H)`$ and $`V:\mathrm{}_R^{}^2\mathrm{}_R^{}^2(H)`$ by $`W\zeta =(\zeta _cw_c)_{cC^{}}`$ and $`V\eta =(\eta _rv_r)_{rR^{}}`$, then $`V`$ and $`W`$ have norm at most $`1`$, and the proposition follows from the factorization

$$M_\phi x=V^{}(x\mathrm{Id}_H)W$$

for every $`x`$ with support in $`IR^{}\times C^{}`$. ∎

###### Remark 2.2.

Éric Ricard showed us an elementary proof that a Schur multiplier on $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ is automatically c.b., included here by his kind permission. A Schur multiplier $`\phi `$ is bounded on $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ by a constant $`D`$ if and only if

$$\xi B_{S_I^{\mathrm{}}}\eta B_{\mathrm{}_R^2}\zeta B_{\mathrm{}_C^2}\left|\underset{(r,c)I}{}\eta _r\phi _{rc}\xi _{rc}\zeta _c\right|D.$$
(1)
It is furthermore completely bounded on $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ by $`D`$ if

$$xB_{S_I^{\mathrm{}}(S^{\mathrm{}})}yB_{\mathrm{}_R^2(\mathrm{}_2)}zB_{\mathrm{}_C^2(\mathrm{}_2)}\left|\underset{(r,c)I}{}\phi _{rc}y_r,x_{rc}z_c\right|D.$$
(2)
Now, given $`x,y,z`$ as quantified in Ineq. $`(\text{2})`$, let $`\xi _{rc}=y_r/y_r,x_{rc}z_c/z_c`$, $`\eta _r=y_r_\mathrm{}_2`$, $`\zeta _c=z_c_\mathrm{}_2`$. Then $`\eta _{\mathrm{}_R^2},\zeta _{\mathrm{}_C^2}1`$ and

$`\xi `$ $`=`$ $`sup\{\left|{\displaystyle \underset{(r,c)I}{}}\alpha _ry_r/y_r_\mathrm{}_2,x_{rc}\beta _cz_c/z_c_\mathrm{}_2\right|:\alpha B_{\mathrm{}_R^2},\beta B_{\mathrm{}_C^2}\}`$
$``$ $`x\underset{\alpha B_{\mathrm{}_R^2}}{sup}\left(\alpha _ry_r/y_r_\mathrm{}_2\right)_{\mathrm{}_R^2(\mathrm{}_2)}\underset{\beta B_{\mathrm{}_C^2}}{sup}\left(\beta _cz_c/z_c_\mathrm{}_2\right)_{\mathrm{}_C^2(\mathrm{}_2)}1,`$
so that Ineq. $`(\text{1})`$ implies Ineq. $`(\text{2})`$.

The fact that the canonical basis of an $`\mathrm{}^2`$ space is $`1`$-unconditional yields that Schatten-von-Neumann norms are matrix unconditional in the terminology of :

$$\zeta 𝕋^C\eta 𝕋^R\underset{(r,c)R\times C}{}\zeta _c\eta _ra_{rc}\mathrm{e}_{rc}_p=\underset{(r,c)R\times C}{}a_{rc}\mathrm{e}_{rc}_p$$
(3)
for every finitely supported sequence of complex or $`S^p`$-valued coefficients $`a_{rc}`$. This shows that if $`\zeta \mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}`$, $`\eta \mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$, then the c.b. norm of the elementary Schur multiplier $`(\zeta _c\eta _r)_{(r,c)I}`$ is bounded by $`\zeta _\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\eta _\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$ on every $`S_I^p`$.

The following proposition relates Fourier multipliers to Herz-Schur multipliers in the fashion of \[20, Th. 6.4\] and will be very useful in the exact computation of the norm of certain relative Schur multipliers.

###### Proposition 2.3.

Let $`0<p\mathrm{}`$, let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ be a finite abelian group and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Let $`R=C=\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`I=\{(r,c)\mathrm{\Gamma }\times \mathrm{\Gamma }:rc\mathrm{\Lambda }\}`$. Let $`G=\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}`$, so that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the group of characters on $`G`$. Let $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p`$ be the subspace of $`\mathrm{}_G^p`$ spanned by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Then, for every sequence $`\phi `$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the norm of the relative Fourier multiplier $`\phi `$ (the norm of the linear operator $`C_\phi `$ defined by $`C_\phi \gamma =\phi _\gamma \gamma `$) on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p`$ is bounded by the norm of the relative Schur multiplier $`\stackrel{˘}{\phi }=(\phi _{rc})_{(r,c)I}`$ on $`S_I^p`$, and their c.b. norms are equal.

###### Proof.

For every $`f\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p`$, consider the multiplication operator $`T_f`$ on $`\mathrm{}_G^2`$ defined by $`T_fh=fh`$. $`T_f`$ is diagonal for the canonical basis $`(\mathrm{e}_g)_{gG}`$, so that $`T_f_p=f_{\mathrm{}_G^p}`$. In the basis $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, its matrix representation is $`T_f=_{(r,c)I}\widehat{f}(rc)\mathrm{e}_{rc}`$, so that $`T_fS_I^p`$ and $`M_{\stackrel{˘}{\phi }}T_f=T_{C_\phi f}`$. The norm of $`\phi `$ on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p`$ is therefore the norm of $`\stackrel{˘}{\phi }`$ on the subspace of Toeplitz matrices in $`S_I^p`$. Furthermore, the c.b. norm of $`\phi `$ on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p`$ is the norm of the Fourier multiplier $`\phi `$ on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p(S^p)`$ (\[19, Prop. 8.1.1\]). For all $`a_qS^p`$ and $`g`$ in $`G`$, we have

$$\underset{qI}{}a_q\mathrm{e}_q_p=\underset{(r,c)I}{}r(g)c(g)^1a_{rc}\mathrm{e}_{rc}_p$$

by matrix unconditionality (Eq. $`(\text{3})`$), so that

$$\underset{qI}{}\stackrel{˘}{\phi }_qa_q\mathrm{e}_q_p=\underset{\gamma \mathrm{\Lambda }}{}\phi _\gamma \left(\underset{\begin{array}{c}(r,c)I\\ rc=\gamma \end{array}}{}a_{rc}\mathrm{e}_{rc}\right)\gamma _{\mathrm{}_G^p(S^p(S^p))}.$$

It remains to note that $`S^p(S^p)=S^p(\mathrm{}_\mathrm{\Gamma }^2(\mathrm{}_2))`$. ∎

Éric Ricard proposed the following device for computing the c.b. norm of a Schur multiplier, included here by his kind permission.

###### Proposition 2.4.

Let $`I=\times `$ and $`\phi =(\phi _q)_{qI}`$ be the matrix representation of a positive operator. Then the c.b. norm of the Schur multiplier $`\phi `$ on $`S^p`$ is $`sup_n|\phi _{nn}|`$ for any $`p]0,\mathrm{}]`$.

###### Proof.

If $`\phi `$ is positive, then $`M_\phi `$ is a positive operator on $`B(\mathrm{}^2)`$. Henceforth its norm on $`B(\mathrm{}^2)`$ is attained at $`\mathrm{Id}`$, and $`\phi \mathrm{Id}_{\mathrm{}}=sup_n|\phi _{nn}|`$. This quantity is furthermore a lower bound on all $`S^p`$. ∎

## 3 Idempotent Schur multipliers of norm one

A Schur multiplier is idempotent if it is the indicator function $`\chi _I`$ of some set $`IR\times C`$; if $`\chi _I`$ is a Schur multiplier on $`S^p`$, then it is a projection of $`S^p`$ onto $`S_I^p`$. Idempotent Schur multipliers on $`S^p`$ and tensors in $`\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$ with $`0,1`$ coefficients of norm $`1`$ may be characterized by the combinatorics of $`I`$.

###### Proposition 3.1.

Let $`IR\times C`$ be nonempty and $`0<p2<\mathrm{}`$. The following are equivalent.

* For every finite rectangle set $`R^{}\times C^{}`$ intersecting $`I`$

$$\underset{(r,c)IR^{}\times C^{}}{}\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r_{\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}}=1.$$
* $`S_I^p`$ is completely $`1`$-complemented in $`S^p`$.
* $`S_I^p`$ is $`1`$-complemented in $`S^p`$.
* $`I`$ is a union of pairwise row and column disjoint rectangle sets, i.e. complete bipartite graphs: there are pairwise disjoint sets $`R_jR`$ and pairwise disjoint sets $`C_jC`$ such that $`I=R_j\times C_j`$.

###### Proof.

$`(b)(c)`$ is trivial.

$`(a)(b)`$. The c.b. norm of a Schur multiplier $`\phi `$ on $`S^p`$ is the supremum of the c.b. norm of its restrictions $`\phi ^{}=(\phi _q)_{qR^{}\times C^{}}`$ to finite rectangle sets $`R^{}\times C^{}`$. Furthermore, the c.b. norm of an elementary Schur multiplier $`(\eta _c\zeta _r)_{(r,c)R\times C}=\eta \zeta `$ on $`S^p`$ equals $`\eta _\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\zeta _\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$.

$`(c)(d)`$. If $`I`$ is not a union of pairwise row and column disjoint rectangle sets, then there are $`r_0,r_1R`$, $`c_0,c_1C`$ such that $`(r_0,c_0),(r_0,c_1),(r_1,c_0)I`$ and $`(r_1,c_1)I`$. Let $`x(t)`$, $`t`$, be the operator from $`\mathrm{}_{\{c_0,c_1\}}^2`$ to $`\mathrm{}_{\{r_0,r_1\}}^2`$ with matrix $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& \sqrt{2}\\ \sqrt{2}& t\end{array}\right)`$. Its eigenvalues are

$$\frac{1+t+\sqrt{92t+t^2}}{2}=2+\frac{t}{3}+o(t),\frac{1+t\sqrt{92t+t^2}}{2}=1+\frac{2t}{3}+o(t),$$

so that

$$x(t)_{\mathrm{}}=2+\frac{t}{3}+o(t),x(t)_p^p=2^p+1+\frac{p}{6}(2^p4)t+o(t)\mathrm{for}0<p<\mathrm{}$$
(4)
and therefore $`P_Ix(t)_p=x(0)_p>x(t)_p`$ for some $`t0`$ if $`p2`$.

$`(d)(a)`$. Suppose $`(d)`$ and let $`R^{}\times C^{}`$ intersect $`I`$. Then there are pairwise disjoint sets $`R_j`$ and pairwise disjoint sets $`C_j`$ such that $`IR^{}\times C^{}=R_1\times C_1\mathrm{}R_n\times C_n`$ and

$$\underset{(r,c)IR^{}\times C^{}}{}\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r=\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}\chi _{C_j}\chi _{R_j}=\underset{ϵ_j=\pm 1}{average}\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}ϵ_j\chi _{C_j}\right)\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}ϵ_j\chi _{R_j}\right)$$

which is an average of elementary tensors of norm $`1`$, so that its projective tensor norm is bounded by $`1`$, and actually is equal to $`1`$. ∎

###### Remark 3.2.

Note that the proof of Prop. 3.1 shows that the norm of a projection $`M_{\chi _I}:S^{\mathrm{}}S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ is either $`1`$ or at least $`2/\sqrt{3}`$, as

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& \sqrt{2}\\ \sqrt{2}& 1\end{array}\right)_{\mathrm{}}=\sqrt{3},\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& \sqrt{2}\\ \sqrt{2}& 0\end{array}\right)_{\mathrm{}}=2.$$

This is a non commutative analogue to the fact that an idempotent measure on a locally compact abelian group $`G`$ has either norm $`1`$ or at least $`\sqrt{5}/2`$ (\[24, Th. 3.7.2\]). $`M_{\chi _I}`$ actually equals $`2/\sqrt{3}`$ for $`I=\{(0,0),(0,1),(1,0)\}`$, as shown in \[12, Lemma 3\]. In fact, the following decomposition holds:

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{e}_0\mathrm{e}_0+\mathrm{e}_0\mathrm{e}_1+\mathrm{e}_1\mathrm{e}_0=\hfill \\ \hfill \left((\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /12},\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /4})(\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /12},\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /4})+(\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /12},\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /4})(\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /12},\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /4})\right)/\sqrt{3}.\end{array}$$

###### Remark 3.3.

The equivalence of $`(c)`$ with $`(d)`$ has been obtained independently by Banks and Harcharras .

## 4 Unconditional basic sequences

###### Definition 4.1.

Let $`0<p\mathrm{}`$ and $`IR\times C`$. Let $`𝕊=𝕋`$ (vs. $`𝕊=\{1,1\}`$).

* $`I`$ is an unconditional basic sequence in $`S_p`$ if there is a constant $`D`$ s.t.

$$\underset{qI}{}ϵ_qa_q\mathrm{e}_q_pD\underset{qI}{}a_q\mathrm{e}_q_p$$
(5)
for every choice of signs $`ϵ_q𝕊`$ and every finitely supported sequence of complex coefficients $`a_q`$. Its complex (vs. real) unconditional constant is the least such $`D`$.
* $`I`$ is a completely unconditional basic sequence in $`S_p`$ if there is a constant $`D`$ s.t. $`(\text{5})`$ holds for every choice of signs $`ϵ_q𝕊`$ and every finitely supported sequence of operator coefficients $`a_qS^p`$. Its complex (vs. real) complete unconditional constant is the least such $`D`$.
* $`I`$ is a complex (vs. real, complex completely, real completely) $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S_p`$ if its complex (vs. real, complex complete, real complete) unconditional constant is $`1`$: Inequality $`(\text{5})`$ turns into the equality

$$\underset{qI}{}ϵ_qa_q\mathrm{e}_q_p=\underset{qI}{}a_q\mathrm{e}_q_p.$$
(6)

If Inequality $`(\text{5})`$ holds for every real choice of signs, then it also holds for every complex choice of signs at the cost of replacing $`D`$ by $`D\pi /2`$ (see ), so that there is no need to distinguish between complex and real unconditional basic sequences.

The notions defined in $`(a)`$ and $`(b)`$ are called $`\sigma (p)`$ and complete $`\sigma (p)`$ sets in \[8, §4\] and  (see also the survey \[21, § 9\]). The notions defined in $`(c)`$ are their isometric counterparts.

By \[25, proof of Cor. 4\], the real unconditional constant of any basis of $`S_I^p`$ cannot be lower than a fourth of the real unconditional constant of $`I`$ in $`S^p`$.

###### Example 4.2.

A single column $`R\times \{c\}`$, a single row $`\{r\}\times C`$, the diagonal set $`\{(\mathrm{row}n,\mathrm{col}n)\}_n`$ if $`R`$ and $`C`$ are copies of $``$, are $`1`$-unconditional basic sequences in all $`S^p`$. In fact, every column section and every row section (this is the terminology of \[30, Def. 4.3\]) is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence; note that the length of every path in the corresponding graph is at most 2.

Note that the set $`I`$ is a (completely) $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$ if and only if the set of relative Schur multipliers by signs on $`S_I^p`$ define (complete) isometries. This yields by Cor. 2.1

###### Proposition 4.3.

Let $`IR\times C`$ and $`0<p\mathrm{}`$. If $`I`$ is a real (vs. complex) $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$, then $`I`$ is also a real (vs. complex) completely $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$.

###### Example 4.4.

If $`R=C=\{0,\mathrm{},n1\}`$, $`1p\mathrm{}`$ and $`I=R\times C`$, then the complex unconditional constant of the basis of elementary matrices in $`S^p`$ is $`n^{|1/21/p|}`$ and coincides with its complete unconditional constant (see \[19, Lemma 8.1.5\]). This is also the real unconditional constant if $`n=2^k`$ is a power of $`2`$ as it is then the norm of the Schur multiplier with matrix the $`k`$th tensor power $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 1& 1\end{array}\right)^k`$ (the $`k`$th Walsh matrix) on $`S^p`$. Let us now show that if $`n=3`$, the real unconditional constant of the basis of elementary matrices in $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ is $`5/3`$ and differs from its complex unconditional constant, $`\sqrt{3}`$. In fact, because the canonical bases of $`\mathrm{}_C^2`$ and $`\mathrm{}_R^2`$ are symmetric, the norm of a Schur multiplier by real signs turns out to equal the norm of one of the three following Schur multipliers:

$$\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 1& 1\\ 1& 1& 1\\ 1& 1& 1\end{array}\right),\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 1& 1\\ 1& 1& 1\\ 1& 1& 1\end{array}\right),\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 1& 1\\ 1& 1& 1\\ 1& 1& 1\end{array}\right).$$

The first norm is $`1`$, the second one is $`\sqrt{2}`$ by comparison with the Schur multiplier $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 1& 1\end{array}\right)`$, and the third one is by Prop. 2.3 the norm of the Fourier multiplier $`\phi =(1,1,1)`$ on $`\mathrm{}_G^{\mathrm{}}`$ with $`G`$ the group of third roots of unity: as this multiplier acts by convolution with $`f=(1/3,2/3,2/3)`$, its norm is $`f_{\mathrm{}_G^1}=5/3`$. This may also be seen using Prop. 2.4, as we have the following decomposition in positive matrices:

$$\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 1& 1\\ 1& 1& 1\\ 1& 1& 1\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1/3& 1/3& 1/3\\ 1/3& 1/3& 1/3\\ 1/3& 1/3& 1/3\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}4/3& 2/3& 2/3\\ 2/3& 4/3& 2/3\\ 2/3& 2/3& 4/3\end{array}\right).$$

By complex interpolation, the real unconditional constant of the basis of elementary matrices is in fact strictly less than its complex counterpart in all $`S^p`$.

## 5 Varopoulos’ characterization of unconditional matrices in $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$

Our results may be seen as the isometric counterpart to results by Varopoulos  on tensor algebras over discrete spaces and their generalization to $`S^p`$. He characterized unconditional basic sequences of elementary matrices in $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ in his study of the projective tensor product $`c_0\stackrel{}{}c_0`$. We gather up his results in the next theorem, as they are difficult to extract from the literature.

###### Theorem 5.1.

Let $`IR\times C`$. The following are equivalent.

* $`I`$ is an unconditional basic sequence in $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$.
* $`I`$ is an interpolation set for Schur multipliers on $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$: every bounded sequence on $`I`$ is the restriction of a Schur multiplier on $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$.
* $`I`$ is a $`V`$-Sidon set as defined in \[30, Def. 4.1\]: every null sequence on $`I`$ is the restriction of the sequence of coefficients of a tensor in $`c_0(C)\stackrel{}{}c_0(R)`$.
* The coefficients of every tensor in $`\mathrm{}_C^1\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^1`$ with support in $`I`$ form an absolutely convergent series.
* $`(z_cz_r)_{(r,c)I}`$ is a Sidon set in the dual of $`𝕋^{CR}`$, that is an unconditional basic sequence in $`𝒞(𝕋^{CR})`$.
* There is a constant $`\lambda `$ such that for all $`R^{}R`$ and $`C^{}C`$ with $`n`$ elements $`\mathrm{\#}[IR^{}\times C^{}]\lambda n`$.
* $`I`$ is a finite union of forests.
* $`I`$ is a finite union of row sections and column sections.
* Every bounded sequence supported by $`I`$ is a Schur multiplier on $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$.

###### Sketch of proof.

$`(a)(b)`$. If $`(a)`$ holds, every sequence of signs $`ϵ\{1,1\}^I`$ is a Schur multiplier on $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$. By a convexity argument, this implies that every bounded sequence is a Schur multiplier on $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$, which may be extended to a Schur multiplier on $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ with the same norm by \[16, Cor. 3.3\].

$`(b)(c)`$ holds by Grothendieck’s inequality (see \[20, § 5\]) and an approximation argument.

$`(d)`$ is but the formulation dual to $`(c)`$ (see \[28, § 6.2\]).

$`(d)(e)`$. A computation yields

$$\underset{(r,c)I}{}\phi _{rc}\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r_{\mathrm{}_C^1\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^1}=\underset{z𝕋^{CR}}{sup}\left|\underset{(r,c)I}{}\phi _{rc}z_cz_r\right|.$$
(7)
$`(e)(f)`$ is \[30, Th. 4.2\]. (The proof can be found in \[28, § 6.3\] and in \[29, § 5\].)

$`(f)(g)`$, $`(f)(h)`$ can be found in \[29, Th. 6.1\].

$`(g)(h)`$. In fact, a forest is a bisection in the terminology of \[30, Def. 4.3\]: it is the union of a row section $`I_R`$ with a column section $`I_C`$. It suffices to prove this for a tree: let the vertices of its edges be indexed by words as described in the Terminology; then let $`I_R`$ be the set of its elements of the form $`(v_{wa},v_w)`$ with $`w`$ of odd length and $`a`$ a letter, and let $`I_C`$ be the set of its elements of the form $`(v_w,v_{wa})`$ with $`w`$ of even length and $`a`$ a letter.

$`(h)(i)`$ is \[29, Th. 4.5\]. Note that row sections and column sections form $`1`$-unconditional basic sequences in $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ and are $`1`$-complemented in $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ by Proposition 3.1.

$`(i)(a)`$ follows from the open mapping theorem. ∎

## 6 Closed walk relations

We now introduce and study the combinatorial objects that we need in order to analyze the expansion of the function defined by

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_I(ϵ,a)=\underset{qI}{}ϵ_qa_q\mathrm{e}_q_p^p$$
(8)
for $`IR\times C`$, a positive even integer $`p=2k`$, signs $`ϵ𝕋`$ and coefficients $`a_q`$, of which only a finite number are nonzero. In fact,

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_I(ϵ,a)`$ $`=`$ $`tr\left({\displaystyle \underset{(r,c),(r^{},c^{})I}{}}(ϵ_{rc}a_{rc}\mathrm{e}_{rc})^{}(ϵ_{r^{}c^{}}a_{r^{}c^{}}\mathrm{e}_{r^{}c^{}})\right)^k`$
$`=`$ $`tr{\displaystyle \underset{\begin{array}{c}(r_1,c_1),(r_1^{},c_1^{}),\mathrm{},\\ (r_k,c_k),(r_k^{},c_k^{})I\end{array}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}}(ϵ_{r_ic_i}^1\overline{a_{r_ic_i}}\mathrm{e}_{c_ir_i})(ϵ_{r_i^{}c_i^{}}a_{r_i^{}c_i^{}}\mathrm{e}_{r_i^{}c_i^{}})`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\begin{array}{c}(r_1,c_1),(r_1,c_2),\mathrm{},\\ (r_k,c_k),(r_k,c_{k+1})I\end{array}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}}ϵ_{r_ic_i}^1ϵ_{r_ic_{i+1}}\overline{a_{r_ic_i}}a_{r_ic_{i+1}}(\text{where}c_{k+1}=c_1).`$
The latter sum runs over all closed walks $`(c_1,r_1,c_2,\mathrm{},c_k,r_k)`$ of length $`p`$ in the graph $`I`$. Its terms have the form $`ϵ^{\beta \alpha }\overline{a}^\alpha a^\beta `$ in multinomial notation. The attempt to describe those couples $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$ that effectively arise in this expansion yields the following definition.

###### Definition 6.1.

Let $`p=2k0`$ be an even integer and $`IR\times C`$.

* Let $`\mathrm{A}_k^I=\{\alpha ^I:_{qI}\alpha _q=k\}`$ and set

$$\mathrm{P}_k^I=\{(\alpha ,\beta )\mathrm{A}_k^I\times \mathrm{A}_k^I:r_c\alpha _{rc}=_c\beta _{rc}\text{and}c_r\alpha _{rc}=_r\beta _{rc}\}.$$
* Two couples $`(\alpha ^1,\beta ^1)\mathrm{P}_{k_1}^I`$, $`(\alpha ^2,\beta ^2)\mathrm{P}_{k_2}^I`$ are row and column disjoint if $`k_1,k_21`$ and

$$(r,c),(r^{},c)I\alpha _{rc}^1\alpha _{r^{}c}^2=0,(r,c),(r,c^{})I\alpha _{rc}^1\alpha _{rc^{}}^2=0.$$
* The set $`𝒫_k^I`$ of closed walk relations of length $`p`$ in $`I`$ is the subset of those $`(\alpha ,\beta )\mathrm{P}_k^I`$ that cannot be decomposed into the sum of two row and column disjoint couples.

###### Example 6.2.

Let $`R=C=\{0,1,2,3\}`$ and $`I=R\times C`$. The couple $`(\mathrm{e}_{00}+\mathrm{e}_{11}+\mathrm{e}_{22}+\mathrm{e}_{33},\mathrm{e}_{01}+\mathrm{e}_{10}+\mathrm{e}_{23}+\mathrm{e}_{32})`$ is an element of $`\mathrm{P}_4^I𝒫_4^I`$: it is the sum of the two row and column disjoint closed walk relations $`(\mathrm{e}_{00}+\mathrm{e}_{11},\mathrm{e}_{01}+\mathrm{e}_{10}),(\mathrm{e}_{22}+\mathrm{e}_{33},\mathrm{e}_{23}+\mathrm{e}_{32})`$.

The next proposition shows that, for our purpose, closed walk relations describe entirely closed walks.

###### Proposition 6.3.

Let $`p=2k0`$ be an even integer and $`IR\times C`$. The mapping $`P=(c_1,r_1,c_2,r_2,\mathrm{},c_k,r_k)(C\times R)^k(\alpha ,\beta )\mathrm{A}_k^I\times \mathrm{A}_k^I`$ with

$`\alpha _q`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\#}[i\{1,\mathrm{},k\}:(r_i,c_i)=q]`$
$`\beta _q`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\#}[i\{1,\mathrm{},k\}:(r_i,c_{i+1})=q](\text{where}c_{k+1}=c_1)`$
is a surjection of the set of closed walks in the graph $`I`$ of length $`p`$ onto the set $`𝒫_k^I`$ of closed walk relations of length $`p`$ in $`I`$. We shall write $`P(\alpha ,\beta )`$ and call $`n_{\alpha \beta }`$ the number of closed walks of length $`p`$ mapped on $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`(\alpha ,\beta )𝒫_k^I`$. If $`k=0`$, the empty closed walk suits. Suppose $`k1`$; we have to find a closed walk of length $`p`$ that is mapped on $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$. Consider a walk $`(c_1,r_1,c_2,r_2,\mathrm{},c_j,r_j,c_{j+1})`$ in $`I`$ such that $`\alpha _q^1=\mathrm{\#}\{i:(r_i,c_i)=q\}\alpha _q`$ and $`\beta _q^1=\mathrm{\#}\{i:(r_i,c_{i+1})=q\}\beta _q`$ for every $`qR\times C`$, and furthermore $`j`$ is maximal. We claim $`(a)`$ that $`c_{j+1}=c_1`$ and $`(b)`$ that $`j=k`$. Let $`(\alpha ^2,\beta ^2)=(\alpha ,\beta )(\alpha ^1,\beta ^1)`$.

$`(a)`$. If $`c_{j+1}c_1`$, then $`_r\alpha _{rc_{j+1}}^2=_r\beta _{rc_{j+1}}^2+11`$. Thus there is $`r_{j+1}`$ such that $`\alpha _{r_{j+1}c_{j+1}}^21`$. But then $`_c\beta _{r_{j+1}c}^2=_c\alpha _{r_{j+1}c}^21`$ and there is $`c_{j+2}`$ such that $`\beta _{r_{j+1}c_{j+2}}^21`$: $`j`$ is not maximal.

$`(b)`$. Suppose $`j<k`$. Then $`(\alpha ^1,\beta ^1)\mathrm{P}_j^I`$ and $`(\alpha ^2,\beta ^2)\mathrm{P}_{kj}^I`$. By hypothesis, they are not row and column disjoint: there are $`r,c,c^{}`$ such that $`\alpha _{rc}^1\alpha _{rc^{}}^21`$ or $`r,r^{},c`$ such that $`\alpha _{rc}^1\alpha _{r^{}c}^21`$. By interchanging $`R`$ and $`C`$, by relabeling the vertices, we may suppose without loss of generality that for $`r_1^{}=r_j`$ there is $`c_1^{}`$ such that $`\alpha _{r_1^{}c_1^{}}^21`$. Then there is $`c_2^{}`$ such that $`\beta _{r_1^{}c_2^{}}^21`$. By the argument used in Claim $`(a)`$, there is a closed walk $`(c_1^{},r_1^{},c_2^{},\mathrm{},c_j^{}^{},r_j^{}^{})`$ such that $`\mathrm{\#}\{i:(r_i^{},c_i^{})=q\}\alpha _q^2`$ and $`\mathrm{\#}\{i:(r_i^{},c_{i+1}^{})=q\}\beta _q^2`$ (with $`c_{j^{}+1}^{}=c_1^{}`$). Then the closed walk

$$(c_1,r_1,c_2,r_2,\mathrm{},c_j,r_j,c_2^{},r_2^{},\mathrm{},c_j^{}^{},r_j^{}^{},c_1^{},r_1^{})$$

shows that $`j`$ is not maximal. ∎

###### Example 6.4.

Let $`I=R\times C=\{0,1\}\times \{0,1\}`$. The closed walk relation $`(\mathrm{e}_{00}+\mathrm{e}_{11},\mathrm{e}_{01}+\mathrm{e}_{10})𝒫_2^I`$ has two preimages by the surjection of Prop. 6.3: the two cycles $`(\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1})`$ and $`(\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$. The closed walk relation $`(2\mathrm{e}_{00}+2\mathrm{e}_{01},2\mathrm{e}_{00}+2\mathrm{e}_{01})`$ has six preimages: closed walk $`(\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ and three other like ones, $`(\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ and another like one.

We are now in position to state the following theorem, a matrix counterpart to the computation presented in \[13, Prop. 2.5$`(ii)`$\].

###### Theorem 6.5.

Let $`p=2k`$ be a positive even integer and $`IR\times C`$.

* The function $`\mathrm{\Phi }_I`$ in Eq. $`(\text{8})`$ has the expansion

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_I(ϵ,a)=tr\left|\underset{qI}{}ϵ_qa_q\mathrm{e}_q\right|^p=\underset{(\alpha ,\beta )𝒫_k^I}{}n_{\alpha \beta }ϵ^{\beta \alpha }\overline{a}^\alpha a^\beta ,$$
(9)
where $`n_{\alpha \beta }1`$ for every $`(\alpha ,\beta )𝒫_k^I`$.
* If the $`a_q`$ are coefficients in $`S^p`$, then

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Phi }_I(ϵ,a)=tr\left(tr\left|\underset{qI}{}ϵ_qa_q\mathrm{e}_q\right|^p\right)\hfill \\ \hfill =\underset{(\alpha ,\beta )𝒫_k^I}{}ϵ^{\beta \alpha }\underset{(c_1,r_1,\mathrm{},c_k,r_k)(\alpha ,\beta )}{}\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}a_{r_ic_i}^{}a_{r_ic_{i+1}}(\mathrm{with}c_{k+1}=c_1).\end{array}$$
(10)

###### Proof.

This follows from Def. 6.1 and Prop. 6.3. ∎

Note that the the edges of a closed walk $`P(\alpha ,\beta )`$ are precisely those $`\{r,c\}`$ such that $`\alpha _{rc}+\beta _{rc}1`$. $`P`$ is a cycle if and only if has not length $`0`$ or $`2`$ and $`_r\alpha _{rc}1`$ for all $`c`$ and $`_c\alpha _{rc}1`$ for all $`r`$. We now show how to decompose closed walks into cycles.

###### Proposition 6.6.

Let $`P=(c_1,r_1,c_2,r_2,\mathrm{},c_k,r_k)(\alpha ,\beta )`$ be a closed walk.

* If $`r_i=r_j`$ (vs. $`c_i=c_j`$) for some $`ij`$, then $`P`$ is the juxtaposition of two nonempty closed walks $`P_1(\alpha ^1,\beta ^1)`$ and $`P_2(\alpha ^2,\beta ^2)`$ such that $`(\alpha ,\beta )=(\alpha ^1,\beta ^1)+(\alpha ^2,\beta ^2)`$ and $`_c\alpha _{r_ic}^1,_c\alpha _{r_ic}^21`$ (vs. $`_r\alpha _{rc_i}^1,_r\alpha _{rc_i}^21`$.)
* $`P`$ is the juxtaposition of closed walks $`P_j(\alpha ^j,\beta ^j)`$ such that $`_r\alpha _{rc}^j\{0,1\}`$ for all $`c`$, $`_c\alpha _{rc}^j\{0,1\}`$ for all $`r`$ and $`(\alpha ,\beta )=(\alpha ^j,\beta ^j)`$.
* There are cycles $`P_j(\alpha ^j,\beta ^j)`$ and $`\gamma `$ such that $`(\alpha ,\beta )=(\gamma ,\gamma )+(\alpha ^j,\beta ^j)`$.

###### Proof.

$`(a)`$. If $`r_i=r_j`$ for $`i<j`$, we may suppose $`j=k`$: consider then $`P_1=(c_1,r_1,\mathrm{},c_i,r_i)`$ and $`P_2=(c_{i+1},r_{i+1},\mathrm{},c_k,r_k)`$. If $`c_i=c_j`$ for $`i<j`$, we may suppose $`i=1`$: consider then $`P_1=(c_1,r_1,\mathrm{},c_{j1},r_{j1})`$ and $`P_2=(c_j,r_j,\mathrm{},c_k,r_k)`$.

$`(b)`$. Use $`(a)`$ in a maximality argument.

$`(c)`$. Note that the closed walks $`P_j`$ in $`(b)`$ are either cycles or of length $`2`$; in the latter case $`P_j=q(\mathrm{e}_q,\mathrm{e}_q)`$ for some $`qI`$. ∎

## 7 Schur multipliers on a cycle

We can realize a cycle of even length $`2s`$, $`s2`$, in the following convenient way. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=/s`$. Then the adjacency relation of integers modulo $`s`$ turns $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ into the cycle $`(0,1,\mathrm{},s1)`$ of length $`s`$. We double this cycle into the bipartite cycle $`(\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{},\mathrm{col}s1,\mathrm{row}s1)`$ on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, corresponding to the set of couples $`I=\{(i,i),(i,i+1):i\mathrm{\Gamma }\}\mathrm{\Gamma }\times \mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the group dual to $`G=\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}=\{z:z^s=1\}`$. We shall consider the space $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p`$ spanned by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\{1,z\}`$ in $`\mathrm{}_G^p`$, where $`z`$ is the identical function on $`G`$: its norm is given by $`a+bz_{\mathrm{}_G^p}=\left(_{z^s=1}|a+bz|^p\right)^{1/p}`$.

###### Proposition 7.1.

Let $`ϵ𝕋^I`$ be a Schur multiplier by signs on $`S_I^p`$.

* $`ϵ`$ has the same norm as the Schur multiplier $`\widehat{ϵ}`$ given by $`\widehat{ϵ}_q=1`$ for $`q(s1,0)`$ and $`\widehat{ϵ}_{s1,0}=\overline{ϵ_{00}}ϵ_{01}\mathrm{}\overline{ϵ_{s1,s1}}ϵ_{s1,0}`$.
* $`ϵ`$ has the same norm as $`\stackrel{ˇ}{ϵ}`$ given by $`\stackrel{ˇ}{ϵ}_{ii}=1`$ and $`\stackrel{ˇ}{ϵ}_{i,i+1}=\vartheta `$ with $`\vartheta ^s=\widehat{ϵ}_{s1,0}`$.
* The norm of $`ϵ`$ on $`S_I^p`$ is bounded below by the norm of the relative Fourier multiplier $`\mu :a+bza+\vartheta bz`$ on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p`$; their c.b. norms are equal.
* The norm of $`ϵ`$ on $`S_I^1`$ and on $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ is equal to the norm of $`\mu `$ on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^1`$ and on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^{\mathrm{}}`$: this norm is $`\mathrm{max}_{z^s=1}|\vartheta +z|/|1+\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /s}|`$.
* $`ϵ`$ defines an isometry on $`S_I^p`$ if and only if $`\overline{ϵ_{00}}ϵ_{01}\mathrm{}\overline{ϵ_{s1,s1}}ϵ_{s1,0}=1`$ or $`p/2\{1,2,\mathrm{},s1\}`$.

###### Proof.

$`(a)`$ and $`(b)`$ follow from the matrix unconditionality of Schatten-von-Neumann norms (see Eq. $`(\text{3})`$). $`(c)`$ follows from Prop. 2.3.

$`(d)`$. Let $`a=1`$ if $`s`$ is even and $`a=\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /s}`$ if $`s`$ is odd. Then $`a+z_{\mathrm{}_G^1}=2\mathrm{cot}(\pi /2s)`$ and $`a+\vartheta z_{\mathrm{}_G^1}=\mathrm{max}_{z^s=1}|\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /s}+\vartheta z|/\mathrm{sin}(\pi /2s)`$ and this yields a lower bound on the norm of $`\mu `$ on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^1`$.

The c.b. norm of $`\mu `$ on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^{\mathrm{}}`$ is equal to its norm and thus to the maximum of $`f_\vartheta (r,t)=r\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}t}+\vartheta z_{\mathrm{}}/r\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}t}+z_{\mathrm{}}`$ for $`r0`$ and $`t[\pi ,\pi ]`$. As $`f_\vartheta =f_{\omega \vartheta }`$ if $`\omega ^s=1`$ and $`f_{\overline{\vartheta }}(r,t)=f_\vartheta (r,t)`$, we may suppose that $`u=\mathrm{arg}\vartheta [0,\pi /s]`$. We may also restrict our study to $`t[u/2\pi /s,u/2+\pi /s]`$ and further to $`t[u/2,u/2+\pi /s]`$, as $`f_\vartheta (r,t)1`$ if $`t[u/2\pi /s,u/2]`$. In that case $`f_\vartheta (r,t)=|r\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}t}+\vartheta |/|r\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\mathrm{min}(t,2\pi /st)}+1|`$. It turns out that $`f_\vartheta (r,t)`$ is maximal if $`r=1`$ and, as $`f_\vartheta (1,t)=\mathrm{cos}\left((ut)/2\right)/\mathrm{cos}\left(\mathrm{min}(t/2,\pi /st/2)\right)`$ is increasing for $`t[u/2,\pi /s]`$ and decreasing for $`t[\pi /s,u/2+\pi /s]`$, this maximum is $`f_\vartheta (1,\pi /s)`$.

$`(e)`$. If $`p`$ is not an even integer and $`\vartheta ^s1`$, then $`\mu `$ is not an isometry on $`\mathrm{}_{G,\mathrm{\Lambda }}^p`$: otherwise the functions $`z`$ and $`\vartheta z`$ would have the same distribution by the Plotkin-Rudin Equimeasurability Theorem \[23, Th. I\].

If $`p\{2,4,\mathrm{},2s2\}`$, then $`I`$ contains no cycle of length $`lp`$, so that by Prop. 6.6$`(c)`$, every closed walk $`P(\alpha ,\beta )`$ satisfies $`\alpha =\beta `$ and the function $`\mathrm{\Phi }_I(ϵ,a)`$ of Eq. $`(\text{9})`$ is constant in $`ϵ`$.

If $`p\{2s,2s+2,\mathrm{}\}`$, the closed walk relation

$$(\alpha ,\beta )=(\underset{i\mathrm{\Gamma }}{}\mathrm{e}_{ii},\underset{i\mathrm{\Gamma }}{}\mathrm{e}_{i,i+1})+(p/2s)(\mathrm{e}_{00},\mathrm{e}_{00})$$

satisfies $`n_{\alpha \beta }1`$ by Prop. 6.3. Then the coefficient of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_I(ϵ,a)`$ in $`\overline{a}^\alpha a^\beta `$ equals $`n_{\alpha \beta }\overline{ϵ_{00}}ϵ_{01}\mathrm{}\overline{ϵ_{s1,s1}}ϵ_{s1,0}`$ and must equal the same quantity with $`ϵ`$ replaced by $`1`$ if $`ϵ`$ defines an isometry on $`S_I^p`$. ∎

###### Remark 7.2.

See \[11, p. 245\] for a similar application of the Plotkin-Rudin Equimeasurability Theorem in $`(e)`$.

The real unconditional constant of $`I`$ is therefore the norm of $`\stackrel{ˇ}{ϵ}`$ with $`\vartheta =\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\pi /s}`$, and the complex unconditional constant is the maximum of the norm of $`\stackrel{ˇ}{ϵ}`$ for $`\mathrm{arg}\vartheta [0,\pi /s]`$ (note that the Schur multipliers $`ϵ`$ and $`\overline{ϵ}=(\overline{ϵ_q})_{qI}`$ have the same norm on $`S_I^p`$). This yields

###### Corollary 7.3.

Let $`0<p\mathrm{}`$ and $`s2`$. Let $`I`$ be the cycle of length $`2s`$.

* $`I`$ is a real $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$ if and only if $`p\{2,4,\mathrm{},2s2\}`$.
* The real and complex unconditional constants of $`I`$ in the spaces $`S^1`$ and $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ equal $`\mathrm{sec}\pi /2s`$.

## 8 1-unconditional matrices in $`S^p`$, $`p`$ not an even integer

We now state the announced isometric counterpart to Varopoulos’ characterization of unconditional matrices in $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ (Section 5) and its generalization to $`S^p`$ for $`p`$ not an even integer.

###### Theorem 8.1.

Let $`IR\times C`$ be nonempty and $`p]0,\mathrm{}]2`$. The following are equivalent.

* $`I`$ is a complex completely $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$.
* $`I`$ is a complex $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$.
* $`I`$ is a real $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$.
* $`I`$ is a forest.
* For each $`ϵ𝕋^I`$ there are $`\zeta 𝕋^C`$ and $`\eta 𝕋^R`$ such that $`ϵ_{rc}=\zeta (c)\eta (r)`$ for all $`(r,c)I`$.
* For each $`ϵ\{1,1\}^I`$ there are $`\zeta \{1,1\}^C`$ and $`\eta \{1,1\}^R`$ such that $`ϵ_{rc}=\zeta (c)\eta (r)`$ for all $`(r,c)I`$.
* $`I`$ is a set of $`V`$-interpolation of constant $`1`$: for all $`\phi \mathrm{}_I^{\mathrm{}}`$

$$inf\{\underset{(r,c)R\times C}{}\stackrel{~}{\phi }_{rc}\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r_{\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}}:\stackrel{~}{\phi }|_I=\phi \}=\underset{qI}{sup}|\phi _q|.$$
(11)
* $`I`$ is a $`V`$-Sidon set of constant $`1`$: for all $`\phi c_0(I)`$

$$inf\{\underset{(r,c)R\times C}{}\stackrel{~}{\phi }_{rc}\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r_{c_0(C)\stackrel{}{}c_0(R)}:\stackrel{~}{\phi }|_I=\phi \}=\underset{qI}{sup}|\phi _q|.$$
(12)
* For every tensor $`u=_{(r,c)I}\phi _{rc}\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r`$ in $`\mathrm{}_C^1\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^1`$ with support in $`I`$ we have $`u_{\mathrm{}_C^1\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^1}=_{(r,c)I}|\phi _{rc}|`$.
* $`(z_cz_r)_{(r,c)I}`$ is a Sidon set of constant $`1`$ in the dual of $`𝕋^{CR}`$, that is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`𝒞(𝕋^{CR})`$.
* For all $`R^{}R`$ and $`C^{}C`$ with $`k1`$ elements $`\mathrm{\#}[IR^{}\times C^{}]2k1`$.
* $`I`$ is an isometric interpolation set for Schur multipliers on $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$: every $`\phi \mathrm{}_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ is the restriction of a Schur multiplier on $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ with norm $`M_\phi =\phi _\mathrm{}_I^{\mathrm{}}`$.

###### Proof.

$`(a)(b)(c)`$ is trivial.

$`(c)(d)`$. Suppose that $`I`$ contains a cycle $`(c_0,r_0,\mathrm{},c_{s1},r_{s1})`$ with $`s2`$. Cor. 7.3$`(a)`$ shows that $`I`$ is not a real $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$.

$`(d)(k)`$. A tree on $`2k`$ vertices has exactly $`2k1`$ edges, so that a forest $`I`$ satisfies $`(k)`$. Conversely, a cycle of length $`2s`$ is a graph with $`s`$ row vertices, $`s`$ column vertices and $`2s`$ edges.

$`(d)(e)`$. Let $`I`$ be a tree and index the vertices of its edges by words $`wW`$ as described in the Terminology, so that $`I`$ is a set of form

$$\{(v_{\mathrm{}},v_a),(v_{ab},v_a),(v_{ab},v_{abc}),\mathrm{}\}\mathrm{with}\mathrm{},a,ab,abc,\mathrm{}W.$$

Define inductively $`\eta `$ and $`\zeta `$: let $`\eta (v_{\mathrm{}})=1`$; suppose that $`\eta `$ and $`\zeta `$ have been defined for all $`v_w`$ such that the length of $`wW`$ is at most $`2n`$. We then set for all words $`w`$ of length $`2n`$ and all letters $`a,b`$ such that $`w,wa,wabW`$:

$$\zeta (v_{wa})=ϵ(v_w,v_{wa})/\eta (v_w),\eta (v_{wab})=ϵ(v_{wab},v_{wa})/\zeta (v_{wa}).$$

If $`I`$ is a union of pairwise disjoint trees, we may define $`\eta `$ and $`\zeta `$ on each tree separately; we may finally extend $`\eta `$ to $`R`$ and $`\zeta `$ to $`C`$ in an arbitrary manner.

$`(d)(f)`$ may be proved as $`(d)(e)`$.

$`(f)(c)`$. If $`(f)`$ holds, then every Schur multiplier by signs $`ϵ\{1,1\}^I`$ is simple in the sense that $`M_ϵx=D_\eta xD_\zeta `$ with $`D_\zeta `$ (vs. $`D_\eta `$) the diagonal operator on $`\mathrm{}_C^2`$ (vs. $`\mathrm{}_R^2`$) of multiplication by $`\zeta `$ (vs. $`\eta `$), so that the c.b. norm of $`M_ϵ`$ on any $`S_I^p`$ is $`\zeta _\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\eta _\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}=1`$.

$`(e)(g)`$. If $`(e)`$ holds, every $`\phi 𝕋^I\mathrm{}_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ may be extended to an elementary tensor $`\zeta \eta `$ of norm $`1`$. $`(g)`$ follows because every element of $`\mathrm{}_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ with norm $`1`$ is the half sum of two elements of $`𝕋^I`$: note that $`\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}t}\mathrm{cos}u=\left(\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}(t+u)}+\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}(tu)}\right)/2`$.

$`(g)(h)`$. It suffices to check Equality $`(\text{12})`$ for $`\phi `$ with support contained in a finite rectangle set $`R^{}\times C^{}`$. As $`\mathrm{}_C^{}^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{}^{\mathrm{}}`$ is $`1`$-complemented in $`\mathrm{}_C^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_R^{\mathrm{}}`$, Eq. $`(\text{11})`$ yields Eq. $`(\text{12})`$.

$`(h)(i)`$ because they are dual statements.

$`(i)(j)`$. Use Equality $`(\text{7})`$.

$`(h)(l)`$ may be deduced by the argument of Prop. 3.1$`(a)(b)`$.

$`(l)(a)`$. Taking sign sequences $`\phi 𝕋^I`$ in $`(l)`$ shows that all relative Schur multipliers by signs on $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ define isometries. Apply Prop. 4.3. ∎

###### Remark 8.2.

The equivalence of $`(e)`$ with $`(j)`$ may also be shown as a consequence of the characterization of Sidon sets of constant $`1`$ in .

Let us now answer Question 1.3.

###### Corollary 8.3.

Let $`IR\times C`$. The following are equivalent.

* For all $`\phi c_0(I)`$ one has $`_{(r,c)I}\phi _{rc}\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r_{c_0(C)\stackrel{}{}c_0(R)}=sup_{qI}|\phi _q|`$.
* There are pairwise disjoint sets $`R_jR`$ and pairwise disjoint sets $`C_jC`$ such that $`R_j`$ or $`C_j`$ is a singleton for each $`j`$ and $`I=R_j\times C_j`$.
* $`I`$ is a union of pairwise disjoint star graphs: every path in $`I`$ has length at most $`2`$.

###### Proof.

$`(a)(b)`$ follows from Prop. 3.1$`(a)(d)`$ and Th. 8.1$`(g)(d)`$.

$`(b)(c)`$. $`(b)`$ holds if and only if $`(r,c),(r^{},c),(r,c^{})I(r=r^{}\mathrm{or}c=c^{})`$ and therefore if and only if $`(c)`$ holds.

$`(b)(a)`$. Suppose $`(b)`$ and let $`\phi c_0(I)`$. Let $`\alpha _j=sup_{(r,c)R_j\times C_j}|\phi _{rc}|^{1/2}`$. If $`\alpha _j=0`$, let us define $`\varrho ^j=0`$ and $`\gamma ^j=0`$. Otherwise, if $`R_j`$ is a singleton $`\{r\}`$, let us define $`\varrho ^j=\alpha _j\mathrm{e}_r`$ and $`\gamma ^j`$ by $`\gamma _c^j=\phi _{rc}/\alpha _j`$ if $`cC_j`$ and $`\gamma _c^j=0`$ otherwise. Otherwise, $`C_j`$ is a singleton $`\{c\}`$ and we define $`\gamma ^j=\alpha _j\mathrm{e}_c`$ and $`\varrho ^j`$ by $`\varrho _r^j=\phi _{rc}/\alpha _j`$ if $`rR_j`$ and $`\varrho _r^j=0`$ otherwise. Note that the $`\gamma ^j`$ have pairwise disjoint support and are null sequences, as well as the $`\varrho ^j`$. Then

$$\underset{(r,c)I}{}\phi _{rc}\mathrm{e}_c\mathrm{e}_r=\underset{j}{}\gamma ^j\varrho ^j=\underset{ϵ_j=\pm 1}{average}\left(\underset{j}{}ϵ_j\gamma ^j\right)\left(\underset{j}{}ϵ_j\varrho ^j\right)$$

is an average of elementary tensors in $`c_0(C)\stackrel{}{}c_0(R)`$ of norm $`sup_{qI}|\phi _q|`$, so that this average is also bounded by this norm, which obviously is a lower bound. ∎

## 9 1-unconditional matrices in $`S^p`$, $`p`$ an even integer

Let us now prove Theorem 1.5 as a consequence of Theorem 6.5 together with Proposition 6.6$`(c)`$.

###### Theorem 9.1.

Let $`IR\times C`$ and $`p=2k`$ a positive even integer. The following assertions are equivalent.

* $`I`$ is a complex completely $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$.
* $`I`$ is a complex $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$.
* For every finite subset $`FI`$ there is an operator $`xS^p`$, whose support $`S`$ contains $`F`$, such that $`ϵ_qx_q\mathrm{e}_q_p`$ does not depend on the complex choice of signs $`ϵ𝕋^S`$.
* $`I`$ is a real $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$.
* For every finite subset $`FI`$ there is an operator $`xS^p`$ with real matrix coefficients, whose support $`S`$ contains $`F`$, such that $`ϵ_qx_q\mathrm{e}_q_p`$ does not depend on the real choice of signs $`ϵ\{1,1\}^S`$.
* Every closed walk $`P(\alpha ,\beta )`$ of length $`2s2k`$ in $`I`$ satisfies $`\alpha =\beta `$.
* $`I`$ does not contain any cycle of length $`2s2k`$ as a subgraph.
* For each $`v,wV`$ there is at most one path in $`I`$ of length $`lk`$ that joins $`v`$ to $`w`$.

###### Proof.

$`(a)(b)(c)`$, $`(b)(d)(e)`$ are trivial.

$`(c)(g)`$. Suppose that $`I`$ contains a cycle $`P(\gamma ,\delta )`$ of length $`2s2k`$: the corresponding set of couples is $`F=\{q:\gamma _q+\delta _q=1\}`$. Let $`x`$ be as in $`(c)`$ and let $`(\alpha ,\beta )=(\gamma ,\delta )+(ks)(\mathrm{e}_q,\mathrm{e}_q)`$ for some arbitrary $`qF`$. Then $`(\alpha ,\beta )𝒫_k^S`$. Consider $`f(ϵ)=ϵ_qx_q\mathrm{e}_q_p^p`$ as a function on the group $`𝕋^S`$. Then the Fourier coefficient of $`f`$ at the Steinhaus character $`ϵ^{\beta \alpha }`$ is, by Th. 6.5$`(a)`$,

$`{\displaystyle \{n_{\epsilon \zeta }\overline{x}^\epsilon x^\zeta :(\epsilon ,\zeta )𝒫_k^S\mathrm{and}\zeta \epsilon =\beta \alpha \}}`$
$`=`$ $`\overline{x}^\gamma x^\delta {\displaystyle \{n_{\epsilon \zeta }\overline{x}^{\epsilon \gamma }x^{\zeta \delta }:(\epsilon ,\zeta )𝒫_k^S\mathrm{and}\zeta \delta =\epsilon \gamma \}}.`$
(Note that $`\beta \alpha =\delta \gamma `$.) As this last sum has only positive terms and contains at least the term corresponding to $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$, $`f`$ cannot be constant.

$`(e)(g)`$. Let $`P(\gamma ,\delta )`$, $`F=\{q:\gamma _q+\delta _q=1\}`$ and $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$ be as in the proof of the implication $`(c)(h)`$. Let $`x`$ be as in $`(e)`$. Consider $`f(ϵ)=ϵ_qx_q\mathrm{e}_q_p^p`$ as a function on the group $`\{1,1\}^S`$. Then the Fourier coefficient $`\widehat{f}(ϵ^{\beta \alpha })`$ of $`f`$ at the Walsh character $`ϵ^{\beta \alpha }`$ is, by Th. 6.5$`(a)`$,

$`{\displaystyle \{n_{\epsilon \zeta }x^{\epsilon +\zeta }:(\epsilon ,\zeta )𝒫_k^S\mathrm{and}\zeta \epsilon \beta \alpha (mod2)\}}`$
$`=`$ $`x^{\gamma +\delta }{\displaystyle \{n_{\epsilon \zeta }x^{\epsilon +\zeta \gamma \delta }:(\epsilon ,\zeta )𝒫_k^S\mathrm{and}\zeta \epsilon \delta \gamma (mod2)\}}.`$
As this last sum has only positive terms and contains at least the term corresponding to $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$, $`f`$ cannot be constant.

$`(f)(g)`$. Apply Prop. 6.6$`(c)`$.

$`(g)(h)`$. If $`I`$ contains a cycle $`(v_0,\mathrm{},v_{2s1})`$, then $`I`$ contains two distinct paths $`(v_0,\mathrm{},v_s)`$, $`(v_0,v_{2s1},\mathrm{},v_s)`$ of length $`s`$ from $`v_0`$ to $`v_s`$. If $`I`$ contains two distinct paths $`(v_0,\mathrm{},v_l)`$, $`(v_0^{},\mathrm{},v_l^{}^{})`$ with $`v_0=v_0^{}`$, $`v_l=v_l^{}^{}`$ and $`l,l^{}k`$, let $`a`$ be minimal such that $`v_av_a^{}`$, let $`ba`$ be minimal such that $`v_b\{v_a^{},\mathrm{},v_l^{}^{}\}`$ and let $`da`$ be minimal such that $`v_d^{}=v_b`$. Then $`(v_{a1},\mathrm{},v_b,v_{d1}^{},\mathrm{},v_a^{})`$ is a cycle in $`I`$ of length $`2s2k`$.

$`(f)(a)`$ holds by Theorem 6.5$`(b)`$: If each $`(\alpha ,\beta )𝒫_k^I`$ satisfies $`\alpha =\beta `$, then Eq. $`(\text{10})`$ shows that $`\mathrm{\Phi }_I(ϵ,z)`$ as defined in Eq. $`(\text{8})`$ is constant in $`ϵ`$. ∎

###### Remark 9.2.

The equivalence $`(b)(g)`$ is a non commutative analogue to \[13, Prop. 2.5$`(ii)`$\].

###### Remark 9.3.

In \[14, Th. 2.7\], the condition of Th. 9.1$`(f)`$ is visualized in another way: a closed walk $`P=(c_1,r_1,\mathrm{},c_s,r_s)(\alpha ,\beta )`$ in $`\times `$ is considered as the polygonal closed curve $`\gamma `$ in $``$ with sides parallel to the coordinate axes whose successive vertices are $`r_1+\mathrm{i}c_1`$, $`r_1+\mathrm{i}c_2`$, $`r_2+\mathrm{i}c_2`$, …, $`r_{s1}+\mathrm{i}c_s`$, $`r_s+\mathrm{i}c_s`$, $`r_s+\mathrm{i}c_1`$ and again $`r_1+\mathrm{i}c_1`$. Then $`\alpha =\beta `$ if and only if $`\gamma `$ is homologous (and homotopic) to zero with respect to the set of its points.

###### Remark 9.4.

One cannot drop the assumption that $`x`$ has real matrix coefficients in Th. 9.1$`(e)`$. Consider a $`2\times 2`$ matrix $`x`$. Then $`trx^{}x=|x_q|^2`$ and $`detx^{}x=|x_{00}x_{11}x_{01}x_{10}|^2`$. This shows that if $`\mathrm{}(\overline{x_{00}x_{11}}x_{01}x_{10})=0`$, e.g. $`x=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 1& \mathrm{i}\end{array}\right)`$, then the singular values of $`x`$ do not depend on the real sign of the matrix coefficients of $`x`$, whereas $`(\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1})`$ is a cycle of length $`4`$.

###### Remark 9.5.

Theorem 9.1$`(h)(a)`$ is the isometric counterpart to \[9, Th. 3.1\]. The following combinatorial problem arises naturally: if $`I`$ is such that the number of trails in $`I`$ of length $`k`$ between two given vertices is uniformly bounded, is it so that $`I`$ is the union of a finite number of sets $`I_j`$ such that there is at most one path of length at most $`k`$ in $`I_j`$ between two given vertices ? In the simplest case, $`k=2`$, Ilijas Farah and Dominique Lecomte  have deduced from  that it is not so.

## 10 Metric unconditional approximation property for $`S_I^p`$

Let $`R,C`$ be two copies of $``$. It is well known that no $`S^p`$ has an unconditional basis or just a local unconditional structure (see \[21, § 4\]). $`S^1`$ and $`S^{\mathrm{}}`$ cannot even be embedded in a space with unconditional basis. If $`1<p<\mathrm{}`$, then $`S^p`$ has the unconditional finite dimensional decomposition

$$\underset{n}{}S_{\{(r,c):rn,c=n\}}^pS_{\{(r,c):r=n+1,cn\}}^p$$

because the triangular projection associated to the idempotent Schur multiplier $`(\chi _{rc})`$ is bounded on $`S^p`$.

###### Definition 10.1.

Let $`X`$ be a separable Banach space and $`𝕊=𝕋`$ (vs. $`𝕊=\{1,1\}`$).

* A sequence $`(T_k)`$ of operators on $`X`$ is an approximating sequence if each $`T_k`$ has finite rank and $`T_kxx0`$ for every $`xX`$. An approximating sequence of commuting projections is a finite-dimensional decomposition.
* () The difference sequence $`(\mathrm{\Delta }T_k)`$ of $`(T_k)`$ is given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_1=T_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_k=T_kT_{k1}`$ for $`k2`$. $`X`$ has the unconditional approximation property $`(uap)`$ if there is an approximating sequence $`(T_k)`$ such that for some $`D`$

$$\underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}ϵ_k\mathrm{\Delta }T_kD\text{for all }n\text{ and }ϵ_k𝕊.$$
(13)
The complex (vs. real) unconditional constant of $`(T_k)`$ is the least such $`D`$.
* (\[4, § 3\], \[7, § 8\]) $`X`$ has the complex (vs. real) metric unconditional approximation property $`(umap)`$ if, for every $`\delta >0`$, it has an approximating sequence with complex (vs. real) unconditional constant $`1+\delta `$. By \[4, Th. 3.8\] and \[7, Lemma 8.1\], this is the case if and only if there is an approximating sequence $`(T_k)`$ such that

$$\underset{ϵ𝕊}{sup}T_k+ϵ(\mathrm{Id}T_k)1.$$
(14)

$`X`$ has $`(umap)`$ if and only if, for every given $`\delta >0`$, $`X`$ is isometric to a $`1`$-complemented subspace of a space with a $`(1+\delta )`$-unconditional finite-dimensional decomposition \[6, Cor. IV.4\]. If $`X`$ has $`(umap)`$, then, for any given $`\delta >0`$, $`X`$ is isometric to a subspace of a space with a $`(1+\delta )`$-unconditional basis.

###### Example 10.2.

The simplest example is the subspace in $`S^p`$ of operators with an upper triangular matrix. In fact, if $`IR\times C`$ is such that all columns $`IR\times \{c\}`$ (vs. all rows $`I\{r\}\times C`$) are finite, then $`S_I^p`$ admits a $`1`$-unconditional finite-dimensional decomposition in the corresponding finitely supported idempotent Schur multipliers $`\chi _{IR\times \{c\}}`$ (vs. $`\chi _{I\{r\}\times C}`$).

Our results on complete $`1`$-unconditional basic sequences yield the following theorem.

###### Theorem 10.3.

Let $`1p\mathrm{}`$. Let $`R_rR`$, $`r`$, be pairwise disjoint and finite. Let $`C_cC`$, $`c`$, be pairwise disjoint and finite. Let $`J\times `$ and $`I=_{(r,c)J}R_r\times C_c`$. Then the sequence of Schur multipliers $`(\chi _{R_r\times C_c})_{(r,c)J}`$ forms a complex $`1`$-unconditional finite-dimensional decomposition for $`S_I^p`$ if and only if $`J`$ is a forest or $`p`$ is an even integer and $`J`$ contains no cycle of length $`4,6,\mathrm{},p`$.

We may always suppose that approximating sequences on spaces $`S_I^p`$ are associated to Schur multipliers. More precisely, we have

###### Proposition 10.4.

Let $`1p\mathrm{}`$ and $`IR\times C`$. Let $`(T_n)`$ be an approximating sequence on $`S_I^p`$. Then there is a sequence of Schur multipliers $`(\phi _n)`$ with finite support such that $`(M_{\phi _n})`$ is an approximating sequence on $`S_I^p`$. If $`(T_n)`$ satisfies $`(\text{14})`$, then so does $`(M_{\phi _n})`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`\delta _n>0`$ be such that $`\delta _n0`$. As $`T_n`$ has finite rank, there is a finite $`R_n\times C_nR\times C`$ such that the projection $`P_n`$ of $`S_I^p`$ onto $`S_{IR_n\times C_n}^p`$ satisfies $`P_nT_nT_n<\delta _n`$. Let $`U_n=P_nT_n`$. Then $`U_n+ϵ(\mathrm{Id}U_n)<T_n+ϵ(\mathrm{Id}T_n)+2\delta _n`$ for all $`ϵ𝕊`$. For each $`\zeta 𝕋^{C_n}`$ (vs. $`\eta 𝕋^{R_n}`$), let $`D_\zeta `$ (vs. $`D_\eta `$) be the diagonal operator on $`\mathrm{}_{C_n}^2`$ (vs. $`\mathrm{}_{R_n}^2`$) of multiplication by $`\zeta `$ (vs. $`\eta `$): $`D_\zeta `$ and $`D_\eta `$ are unitary, so that $`xD_\eta xD_\zeta `$ is an isometric operation on $`S_{IR_n\times C_n}^p`$. Let $`V_n`$ be the operator defined by

$$V_n(x)=_{𝕋^{R_n}}d\eta _{𝕋^{C_n}}d\zeta D_\eta ^{}U_n(D_\eta xD_\zeta )D_\zeta ^{}.$$

Then, as $`U_nyy`$ uniformly on compact sets,

$$V_nxx=_{𝕋^{R_n}}d\eta _{𝕋^{C_n}}d\zeta D_\eta ^{}\left(U_n(D_\eta xD_\zeta )D_\eta xD_\zeta \right)D_\zeta ^{}0,$$

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill V_nx+ϵ(xV_nx)& =_{𝕋^{R_n}}d\eta _{𝕋^{C_n}}d\zeta D_\eta ^{}\left((U_n+ϵ(\mathrm{Id}U_n))(D_\eta xD_\zeta )\right)D_\zeta ^{}\hfill \\ & U_n+ϵ(\mathrm{Id}U_n)x\hfill \\ & \left(T_n+ϵ(\mathrm{Id}T_n)+2\delta _n\right)x.\hfill \end{array}$$

A computation shows that $`V_n`$ is the operator associated to the Schur multiplier $`\phi _n=\left(tr\mathrm{e}_q^{}U_n(\mathrm{e}_q)\right)_{qI}`$ whose support is contained in $`IR_n\times C_n`$. ∎

This proposition shows together with Cor. 2.1 the following results.

###### Corollary 10.5.

Let $`1p\mathrm{}`$ and $`IR\times C`$.

* If $`S_I^p`$ has $`(umap)`$, then some sequence of Schur multipliers realizes it.
* Let $`JI`$. If $`S_I^p`$ has $`(umap)`$, then so does $`S_J^p`$.
* If $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ has $`(umap)`$, then so does $`S_I^p`$.

The arguments of \[13, § 6.2\] show mutatis mutandis

###### Theorem 10.6.

Let $`1p\mathrm{}`$, $`IR\times C`$ and $`𝕊=𝕋`$ (vs. $`𝕊=\{1,1\}`$). Consider the following properties.

* $`S_I^p`$ has the property of $`\tau `$-unconditionality with $`\tau `$ the topology of pointwise convergence of matrix coefficients: for every $`xS_I^p`$ and every $`\tau `$-null sequence $`(y_n)`$

$$\underset{ϵ𝕊}{\mathrm{max}}x+ϵy_n_p\underset{ϵ𝕊}{\mathrm{min}}x+ϵy_n_p0.$$
* $`I`$ enjoys the property $`(𝒰)`$ of matrix block unconditionality in $`S^p`$: for each $`\delta >0`$ and finite $`FI`$, there is a finite $`GI`$ such that

$$xB_{S_F^p}yB_{S_{IG}^p}\underset{ϵ𝕊}{\mathrm{max}}x+ϵy_p\underset{ϵ𝕊}{\mathrm{min}}x+ϵy_p<\delta .$$
* $`S_I^p`$ has $`(umap)`$.

Then $`(c)(a)(b)`$. If $`1<p<\mathrm{}`$, then $`(b)(c)`$. If $`p=1`$, $`S_I^1`$ has $`(umap)`$ if and only if $`S_I^1`$ has $`(uap)`$ and $`I`$ enjoys $`(𝒰)`$ in $`S^1`$.

The case $`p=\mathrm{}`$ is extreme in the sense that the following properties are equivalent for $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$: to be a dual space, to be reflexive, to have a finite cotype, not to contain $`c_0`$, because they are equivalent for I not to contain any sequence $`(r_n,c_n)`$ with $`(r_n)`$ and $`(c_n)`$ injective, that is for $`I`$ to be contained in the union of a finite set of lines and a finite set of columns, so that $`S_I^{\mathrm{}}`$ is isomorphic to $`\mathrm{}_I^2`$.

Let us now introduce the asymptotic property on $`I`$ that reflects the combinatorics imposed by $`(umap)`$.

###### Definition 10.7.

Let $`IR\times C`$ and $`k1`$.

* $`I`$ enjoys property $`𝒥_k`$ if for every path $`P=(c_0,r_0,\mathrm{},c_j,r_j)`$ of odd length $`2j+1k`$ in $`I`$ there is a finite set $`R^{}\times C^{}`$ such that $`P`$ cannot be completed with edges in $`IR^{}\times C^{}`$ to a cycle of length $`2s\{4j+2,\mathrm{},2k\}`$.
* The asymptotic distance $`d_{\mathrm{}}(r,c)`$ of $`rR`$ and $`cC`$ in $`I`$ is the supremum, over all finite rectangle sets $`R^{}\times C^{}`$, of the distance from $`r`$ to $`c`$ in $`IR^{}\times C^{}`$.

The asymptotic distance takes its values in $`\{1,3,5,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}\}`$. Note that $`𝒥_k𝒥_{k1}`$ and that $`𝒥_1`$ is void. This implication is strict: let $`R,C`$ be two copies of $``$ and, given $`j1`$, consider the union $`I_j`$ of all paths $`(\text{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\text{row}nj+1,\text{col}nj+1,\mathrm{},\text{row}nj+j,\text{col}nj+j,\text{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ of length $`2j+1`$. Then $`I_j`$ contains no cycle of length $`2s\{4,\mathrm{},4j\}`$ and therefore enjoys $`𝒥_{2j}`$, but fails $`𝒥_{2j+1}`$; $`I_j\{(\text{row}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\text{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})\}`$ contains no cycle of length $`2s\{4,\mathrm{},2j\}`$ and thus enjoys $`𝒥_j`$, but fails $`𝒥_{j+1}`$. In particular, the properties $`𝒥_k`$, $`k2`$, are not stable under union with a singleton.

Let us now explicit the relationship between $`𝒥_k`$ and $`d_{\mathrm{}}`$.

###### Proposition 10.8.

Let $`IR\times C`$ and $`k1`$.

* $`I`$ enjoys $`𝒥_k`$ if and only if any two vertices $`rR`$ and $`cC`$ at distance $`2j+1k`$ satisfy $`d_{\mathrm{}}(r,c)2k2j+1`$.
* If $`d_{\mathrm{}}(r,c)2k+1`$ for all $`(r,c)R\times C`$, then $`I`$ enjoys $`𝒥_k`$.
* If $`d_{\mathrm{}}(r,c)k`$ for some $`(r,c)R\times C`$, then $`I`$ fails $`𝒥_k`$.
* $`I`$ enjoys $`𝒥_k`$ for every $`k`$ if and only if $`d_{\mathrm{}}(r,c)=\mathrm{}`$ for every $`(r,c)R\times C`$.

###### Proof.

$`(a)`$ is but a reformulation of the definition of$`𝒥_k`$ and implies $`(b)`$. $`(d)`$ is a consequence of $`(b)`$ and $`(c)`$.

$`(c)`$. If $`d_{\mathrm{}}(r,c)k`$, then there is $`0j(k1)/2`$ such that there are infinitely many paths of length $`2j+1`$ from $`c`$ to $`r`$: there is a path $`(c,r_1,c_1,\mathrm{},r_j,c_j,r)`$ that can be completed with edges outside any given finite set to a cycle of length $`4j+22k`$. ∎

###### Theorem 10.9.

Let $`IR\times C`$ and $`1p\mathrm{}`$. If $`p`$ is an even integer then $`S_I^p`$ has complex or real $`(umap)`$ if and only if $`I`$ enjoys $`𝒥_{p/2}`$. If $`p=\mathrm{}`$ or if $`p`$ is not an even integer, then $`S_I^p`$ has real $`(umap)`$ only if $`I`$ enjoys $`𝒥_k`$ for every $`k`$.

###### Proof.

Suppose that $`I`$ enjoys $`(𝒰)`$ in $`S^p`$ and fails $`𝒥_k`$. Then, for some $`sk`$, $`I`$ contains a sequence of cycles $`(c_0,r_0,\mathrm{},c_{j1},r_{j1},c_j^n,r_j^n,\mathrm{},c_{s1}^n,r_{s1}^n)`$ with the property that $`xy_p(1+1/n)x+y_p`$ for all $`x`$ with support in $`\{(r_0,c_0),(r_0,c_1),\mathrm{},(r_{j2},c_{j1}),(r_{j1},c_{j1})\}`$ and all $`y`$ with support in $`\{(r_{j1},c_j^n),(r_j^n,c_j^n),\mathrm{},(r_{s1}^n,c_{s1}^n),(r_{s1}^n,c_0)\}`$. With the notation of Section 7, this amounts to stating that the multiplier on $`I=\{(i,i),(i,i+1)\}/s\times /s`$ given by $`ϵ_{rc}=1`$ if $`r,c\{0,\mathrm{},j1\}`$ and $`ϵ_{rc}=1`$ otherwise actually is an isometry on $`S_I^p`$. As $`\overline{ϵ_{00}}ϵ_{01}\mathrm{}\overline{ϵ_{s1s1}}ϵ_{s\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}0}}=(1)^{2s2j+1}=1`$, this implies by Prop. 7.1$`(e)`$ that $`p/2\{1,2,\mathrm{},s1\}`$.

Suppose that $`I`$ enjoys $`𝒥_k`$. We claim that for every finite $`FI`$ there is a finite $`GI`$ such that every closed walk $`P(\alpha ,\beta )`$ of length $`2k`$ in $`I`$ satisfies $`_{qIG}\beta _q\alpha _q=0`$. That is, given a closed walk $`(v_0,\mathrm{},v_{2k1})`$ and $`0=a_0<b_0<\mathrm{}<a_m<b_m<a_{m+1}=2k`$ such that $`v_{a_i},\mathrm{},v_{b_i1}IG`$ and $`v_{b_i},\mathrm{},v_{a_{i+1}1}F`$,

$$\{i\{0,\mathrm{},m\}:a_i,b_i\text{even}\}=\{i\{0,\mathrm{},m\}:a_i,b_i\text{odd}\}.$$

Suppose that this is not true: then there is an $`sk`$, there are $`0=a_0<b_0<\mathrm{}<a_m<b_m<2s`$ and there are cycles $`(v_{a_0}^n,\mathrm{},v_{b_01}^n,v_{b_0},\mathrm{},v_{a_11},\mathrm{},v_{a_m}^n,\mathrm{},v_{b_m1}^n,v_{b_m},\mathrm{},v_{2s1})`$ such that the $`(v_i^n)_{n0}`$ are injective sequences of vertices and $`b_ia_i`$ is even for at least one index $`i`$: let us suppose so for $`i=0`$. If $`b_0a_0s1`$, consider the path $`P=(v_{b_0},\mathrm{},v_{a_01},v_{a_0}^0,\mathrm{},v_{b_m1}^0,v_{b_m},\mathrm{},v_{2s1})`$ of odd length $`2s1(b_0a_0)`$; if $`b_0a_0s1`$, consider the path $`P=(v_{2s1},v_{a_0}^0,\mathrm{},v_{b_01}^0,v_{b_0})`$ of odd length $`b_0a_0+1`$. Then $`P`$ can be completed with vertices outside any given finite set to a cycle of length at most $`2s`$ because $`(v_{2s1},v_{a_0}^n,\mathrm{},v_{b_01}^n,v_{b_0})`$ is a path of length $`b_0a_0+1`$ in $`I`$ for every $`n`$. This proves that $`I`$ fails $`𝒥_s`$.

The claim shows that $`I`$ enjoys $`(𝒰)`$ in $`S^p`$ for $`p=2k`$. In fact, if $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}𝕋^{F(IG)}`$ is defined by $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_q=1`$ for $`qF`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_q=ϵ𝕋`$ for $`qIG`$, then, with the notation of Th. 6.5,

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{F(IG)}(\stackrel{~}{ϵ},a)=\underset{(\alpha ,\beta )𝒫_k^{F(IG)}}{}n_{\alpha \beta }ϵ^{_{qIG}\beta _q\alpha _q}\overline{a}^\alpha a^\beta $$

does not depend on $`ϵ`$, so that $`x+ϵy_{2k}=x+y_{2k}`$ if $`xS_F^{2k}`$ and $`yS_{IG}^{2k}`$, and $`S_I^{2k}`$ has complex $`(umap)`$ by Th. 10.6$`(b)(c)`$. ∎

###### Remark 10.10.

This theorem is a non commutative analogue to \[13, Th. 7.5\].

## 11 Examples

One of Varopoulos’ motivations for the study of the projective tensor product $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}`$ are lacunary sets in a locally compact abelian group. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ be a discrete abelian group and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Let us say that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is $`n`$-independent if every element of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ admits at most one representation as the sum of $`n`$ elements of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, up to a permutation. Let $`G=\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}`$, so that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the group of characters on $`G`$. Then the computation presented in \[13, Prop. 2.5$`(ii)`$\] only in the case $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=`$ shows that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a complex $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`L^{2n}(G)`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is $`n`$-independent. Furthermore $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a complex $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`L^p(G)`$, $`p`$ not an even integer, or in $`𝒞(G)`$, if and only if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is $`n`$-independent for all $`n`$. Real $`1`$-unconditional basic sequences may be characterized in a similar way: the property replacing $`n`$-independence is that every element of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ admits at most one representation as the sum of $`n`$ elements of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, up to a permutation and up to an even element. Consequently, if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ contains no element of order $`2`$, then real $`1`$-unconditional basic sequences in $`L^p(G)`$ and in $`𝒞(G)`$ are also complex $`1`$-unconditional.

Results on lacunary sets in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ transfer to lacunary matrices in the following way.

###### Proposition 11.1.

Let $`R,C\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ be such that each element of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ admits at most one representation as the sum of an element of $`R`$ with an element of $`C`$, so that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }R+C`$ determines uniquely the set $`IR\times C`$ of all $`(r,c)`$ such that $`r+c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

* If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is $`n`$-independent, then $`I`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^{2n}`$.
* The converse holds if furthermore each element of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ admits at most one representation as a sum of $`n`$ elements of $`R`$ and $`n`$ elements of $`C`$, up to a permutation of the elements of $`R`$ and a permutation of the elements of $`C`$.

###### Proof.

$`(a)`$. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is $`n`$-independent, consider a closed walk $`P=(c_1,r_1,\mathrm{},c_n,r_n)`$ in $`I`$ with $`P(\alpha ,\beta )`$; as $`(r_1+c_1)+\mathrm{}+(r_n+c_n)=(r_1+c_2)+\mathrm{}+(r_{n1}+c_n)+(r_n+c_1)`$, $`(r_1+c_1,\mathrm{},r_n+c_n)`$ is a permutation of $`(r_1+c_2,\mathrm{},r_{n1}+c_n,r_n+c_1)`$. But then, by the hypothesis on $`R`$ and $`C`$, $`((r_1,c_1),\mathrm{},(r_n,c_n))`$ is a permutation of $`((r_1,c_2),\mathrm{},(r_{n1},c_n),(r_n,c_1))`$, so that $`\alpha =\beta `$: $`I`$ is a complex completely $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence by Th. 9.1$`(f)(a)`$.

$`(b)`$. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is not $`n`$-independent, then there are two $`n`$uples $`(r_1+c_1,\mathrm{},r_n+c_n)`$, $`(r_1^{}+c_1^{},\mathrm{},r_n^{}+c_n^{})I^n`$ that are not a permutation of each other such that $`(r_1+c_1)+\mathrm{}+(r_n+c_n)=(r_1^{}+c_1^{})+\mathrm{}+(r_n^{}+c_n^{})`$, so that if we set $`\alpha _q=\mathrm{\#}\{i:(r_i,c_i)=q\}`$ and $`\beta _q=\mathrm{\#}\{i:(r_i^{},c_i^{})=q\}`$ for each $`qR\times C`$, then $`\alpha \beta `$. But, by the hypothesis on $`R`$ and $`C`$, $`(r_1,\mathrm{},r_n)`$ is a permutation of $`(r_1^{},\mathrm{},r_n^{})`$ and $`(c_1,\mathrm{},c_n)`$ is a permutation of $`(c_1^{},\mathrm{},c_n^{})`$, so that

$$r_c\alpha _{rc}=\mathrm{\#}\{i:r_i=r\}=_c\beta _{rc},$$

$$c_r\alpha _{rc}=\mathrm{\#}\{i:c_i=c\}=_r\beta _{rc},$$

and $`(\alpha ,\beta )\mathrm{P}_s^I`$. Then $`(\alpha ,\beta )`$ is a sum of row and column disjoint closed walk relations $`(\alpha ^j,\beta ^j)`$ such that $`\alpha ^j\beta ^j`$ for at least one $`j`$: $`I`$ is not a real $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^{2n}`$ by Th. 9.1$`(d)(f)`$.∎

Harcharras  used Peller’s discovery  of the link between Fourier and Hankel Schur multipliers to produce unconditional basic sequences in $`S^p`$ that are unions of antidiagonals in $`\times `$. We have in our context the rather disappointing

###### Proposition 11.2.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`I=\{(r,c)\times :r+c\mathrm{\Lambda }\}`$.

* $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is $`2`$-independent if and only if $`I`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^4`$.
* If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ contains a set $`\{i,j,k\}`$ with three elements such that $`ij+k`$, $`ji+k`$ and $`ki+j`$, then $`I`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^p`$ only if $`p\{2,4\}`$.

###### Proof.

$`(a)`$. $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is $`2`$-independent if and only if $`i+l=j+k`$ with $`i,j,k,l\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has only trivial solutions. If this is the case, consider a closed walk $`P=(c_1,r_1,c_2,r_2)`$ in $`I`$. As $`(r_1+c_1)+(r_2+c_2)=(r_1+c_2)+(r_2+c_1)`$, we have $`c_1=c_2`$ or $`r_1=r_2`$, so that $`P`$ is not a cycle. Conversely, if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ contains a solution to $`i+l=j+k`$ with $`i<jk<l`$, then $`I`$ contains the cycle $`(\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}i,\mathrm{col}ki,\mathrm{row}j)`$.

$`(b)`$. We may suppose that $`k>i,j`$. Consider the cycle $`(\mathrm{col}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},\mathrm{row}i,\mathrm{col}ki,\mathrm{row}i+jk,\mathrm{col}kj,\mathrm{row}j)`$. ∎

Look up \[2, Def. I.3.1\] for the definition of a Steiner system and \[27, Def. 1.3.1\] for the definition of a generalized polygon.

###### Proposition 11.3.

Let $`2nm`$, $`IR\times C`$ with $`\mathrm{\#}C=n`$ and $`\mathrm{\#}R=m`$, and $`e=\mathrm{\#}I`$.

* If $`I`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^4`$, then

$$n1+\left(\frac{e}{m}1\right)+\left(\frac{e}{m}1\right)\left(\frac{e}{n}1\right),$$

that is $`e^2memn(n1)0`$. Equality holds if and only if $`I`$ is the incidence graph of a Steiner system $`S(2,e/m;n)`$ on $`n`$ points and $`m`$ blocks.
* If $`I`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^6`$, then

$$n1+\left(\frac{e}{m}1\right)+\left(\frac{e}{m}1\right)\left(\frac{e}{n}1\right)+\left(\frac{e}{m}1\right)^2\left(\frac{e}{n}1\right),$$

that is $`e^3(m+n)e^2+2mnem^2n^20`$. Equality holds if and only if $`I`$ is the incidence graph of the quadrangle (the cycle of length $`8`$) or of a generalized quadrangle with $`n`$ points and $`m`$ lines.
* If $`I`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^{2k}`$ with $`k1`$ an integer, then

$$n\underset{i=0}{\overset{k}{}}\left(\frac{e}{m}1\right)^{\frac{i}{2}}\left(\frac{e}{n}1\right)^{\frac{i}{2}}.$$
(15)
Equality holds if $`I`$ is the incidence graph of the $`(k+1)`$-gon (the cycle of length $`2k+2`$) or of a generalized $`(k+1)`$-gon with $`n`$ points and $`m`$ lines.

###### Proof.

By Theorem 9.1$`(b)(g)`$, $`I`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^{2k}`$, with $`k1`$ an integer, if and only if $`I`$ is a graph of girth $`2k+2`$ in the sense of . Therefore $`(a)`$ and $`(b)`$ are shown in \[15, Prop. 4, Th. 8, Rem. 10\]. Inequality $`(\text{15})`$ is \[10, Eq. (1)\] and the sufficient condition for equality follows from \[27, Lemma 1.5.4\]. ∎

Consult \[2, Tables A1.1, A5.1\] for examples of Steiner systems and \[27, Table 2.1\] for examples of generalized polygons. In both cases, the corresponding incidence graph is biregular: every vertex in $`R`$ has equal degree $`s+1`$ and every vertex in $`C`$ has equal degree $`t+1`$. Arbitrarily large generalized $`(k+1)`$-gons exist only if $`2k\{4,6,10,14\}`$ (\[27, Lemma 1.7.1\]); for $`2k\{6,10,14\}`$, it follows from \[27, Lemma 1.5.4\] that

$$n=(s+1)\frac{(st)^{(k+1)/2}1}{st1},m=(t+1)\frac{(st)^{(k+1)/2}1}{st1}.$$

###### Remark 11.4.

Let $`IR\times C`$ with $`\mathrm{\#}C=\mathrm{\#}R=n`$. Inequality $`(\text{15})`$ shows that if $`I`$ is a $`1`$-unconditional basic sequence in $`S^{2k}`$, then $`\mathrm{\#}In^{1+1/k}+(s1)n/s`$. If $`p\{4,6,10\}`$, the existence of $`1`$-unconditional basic sequences in $`S^{2k}`$ such that $`\mathrm{\#}In^{1+1/k}`$ is in fact an important open problem in Graph Theory.

Laboratoire de Mathématiques
Université de Franche-Comté
25030 Besançon cedex, France
neuwirth@math.univ-fcomte.fr

Key words: Schatten-von-Neumann class, $`1`$-unconditionality, $`V`$-Sidon set, cycle in a graph, metric unconditional approximation property.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 47B10, 46B15, 46B04, 43A46, 05C38, 46B28.