The One Dimensional Free Poincaré Inequality

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the natural candidate for the one dimensional free Poincaré inequality. Two main strong points sustain this candidacy. One is the random matrix heuristic and the other the relations with the other free functional inequalities, namely, the free transportation and Log-Sobolev inequalities. As in the classical case the Poincaré is implied by the others. This investigation is driven by a nice lemma of Haagerup which relates logarithmic potentials and Chebyshev polynomials. The Poincaré inequality revolves around the counting number operator for the Chebyshev polynomials of first kind with respect to the arcsine law on $[-2,2]$. This counting number operator appears naturally in a representation of the minimum of the logarithmic potential with external fields as well as in the perturbation of logarithmic energy with external fields, which is the essential connection between all these inequalities.

Some things were corrected and a new proposition added. This will appear in Transactions of AM