Group Invariance and Convex Matrix Analysis

Certain interesting classes of functions on a real inner product space are invariant under an associated group of orthogonal linear transformations. This invariance can be made explicit via a simple decomposition. For example, rotationally invariant functions on R² are just even functions of the Euclidean norm, and functions on the Hermitian matrices (with trace inner product) which are invariant under unitary similarity transformations are just symmetric functions of the eigenvalues. We develop a framework for answering geometric and analytic (both classical and nonsmooth) questions about such a function by answering the corresponding question for the (much simpler) function appearing in the decomposition. The aim is to understand and extend the foundations of eigenvalue optimization, matrix approximation, and semidefinite programming.