Proscribed Normal Decompositions of Euclidean Jordan Algebras

Normal decomposition systems unify many results from convex matrix analysis regarding functions that are invariant with respect to a group of transformations -- particularly those matrix functions that are unitarily-invariant and the affiliated permutation-invariant "spectral functions" that depend only on eigenvalues. Spectral functions extend in a natural way to Euclidean Jordan algebras, and several authors have studied the problem of making a Euclidean Jordan algebra into a normal decomposition system. In particular it is known to be possible with respect to the "eigenvalues of" map when the algebra is essentially-simple. We show the converse, that essential-simplicity is essential to that process.