Tensor Norm, Cubic Power and Gelfand Limit

Abstract

We establish two inequalities for the nuclear norm and the spectral norm of tensor products. The first inequality indicates that the nuclear norm of the square matrix is a matrix norm. We extend the concept of matrix norm to tensor norm. We show that the $1$-norm, the Frobenius norm and the nuclear norm of tensors are tensor norms, but the infinity norm and the spectral norm of tensors are not tensor norms. We introduce the cubic power for a general third order tensor, and show that a Gelfand formula holds for a general third order tensor. In that formula, for any norm, a common spectral radius-like limit exists for that third order tensor. We call such a limit the Gelfand limit. The Gelfand limit is zero if the third order tensor is nilpotent, and is one or zero if the third order tensor is idempotent. The Gelfand limit is not greater than any tensor norm of that third order tensor, and the cubic power of that third order tensor tends to zero as the power increases to infinity if and only if the Gelfand limit is less than one. The cubic power and the Gelfand limit can be extended to any higher odd order tensors.