The $p$-norm of circulant matrices

Abstract: In this note we study the induced $p$-norm of circulant matrices $A(n,\pm a, b)$, acting as operators on the Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^n$. For circulant matrices whose entries are nonnegative real numbers, in particular for $A(n,a,b)$, we provide an explicit formula for the $p$-norm, $1 \leq p \leq \infty$. The calculation for $A(n,-a,b)$ is more complex. The 2-norm is precisely determined. As for the other values of $p$, two different categories of upper and lower bounds are obtained. These bounds are optimal at the end points (i.e. $p=1$ and $p = \infty$) as well as at $p=2$.