Liberation of Projections

Abstract

We study the liberation process for projections: $(p,q)\mapsto (p_t,q)= (u_tpu_t^\ast,q)$ where $u_t$ is a free unitary Brownian motion freely independent from $\{p,q\}$. Its action on the operator-valued angle $qp_tq$ between the projections induces a flow on the corresponding spectral measures $μ_t$; we prove that the Cauchy transform of the measure satisfies a holomorphic PDE. We develop a theory of subordination for the boundary values of this PDE, and use it to show that the spectral measure $μ_t$ possesses a piecewise analytic density for any $t>0$ and any initial projections of trace $\frac12$. We us this to prove the Unification Conjecture for free entropy and information in this trace $\frac12$ setting.

53 pages