Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Let ${{\mathcal{H}}_{n}}$ be the real linear space of $n\,\times \,n$ complex Hermitian matrices. The unitary (similarity) orbit $\mathcal{U}\left( C \right)$ of $C\,\in \,{{\mathcal{H}}_{n}}$ is the collection of all matrices unitarily similar to $C$. We characterize those $C\,\in \,{{\mathcal{H}}_{n}}$ such that every matrix in the convex hull of $\mathcal{U}\left( C \right)$ can be written as the average of two matrices in $\mathcal{U}\left( C \right)$. The result is used to study spectral properties of submatrices of matrices in $\mathcal{U}\left( C \right)$, the convexity of images of $\mathcal{U}\left( C \right)$ under linear transformations, and some related questions concerning the joint $C$-numerical range of Hermitian matrices. Analogous results on real symmetric matrices are also discussed.