Maximal Plurisubharmonic Functions and Fujii-Seo Determinants in Hilbert spaces

TL;DR

This paper introduces a basis-independent determinant density for plurisubharmonic functions in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, linking it to the Levi form's spectral properties and maximality criteria.

Contribution

It develops a novel determinant density based on Fujii--Seo determinants, providing a basis-independent characterization of Levi form degeneracy in infinite dimensions.

Findings

The Fujii--Seo determinant density equals the infimum of the Levi form spectrum.

Maximal plurisubharmonic functions have zero determinant density.

Comparison principles are established under ellipticity bounds.

Abstract

Let $H$ be a complex Hilbert space and let $\Omega\subset H$ be a domain. In infinite dimensions, there is no canonical complex Monge--Amp\`ere operator and no basis-free determinant of the Levi form. Hence, a determinant-type characterization of maximal plurisubharmonic functions is not immediate. We propose to use the normalized determinants of Fujii and Seo: for a bounded strictly positive operator $A$ and a unit vector $x\in H$, we set $\Delta_x(A):=\exp\bigl(\langle (\log A)x,x\rangle\bigr)$, and we extend this naturally to non-invertible positive operators. We show that, for strictly positive operators, inequalities for $\Delta_x$ precisely describe the chaotic order $\log A\ge \log B$, and we combine this observation with Kantorovich--Specht type bounds for positive operators. For $u\in \mathcal{PSH}(\Omega)\cap C^2(\Omega)$ we define the \emph{Fujii--Seo determinant density} \[ \operatorname{FSD}(u)(a):=\inf_{\|x\|=1}\Delta_x\!\bigl(D'D''u(a)\bigr),\qquad a\in\Omega, \] and identify it with the lower spectral endpoint $\inf\sigma(D'D''u(a))$. Thus, $\operatorname{FSD}(u)$ is precisely the infimum of the spectrum of the Levi form, and its vanishing gives a basis-independent criterion for pointwise degeneracy of the Levi form. We prove that maximality implies $\operatorname{FSD}(u)\equiv 0$, give sufficient global degeneracy criteria for maximality, and establish several comparison principles for $C^2$ plurisubharmonic functions, including results under uniform ellipticity bounds on the Levi form.