On semiconvexity properties of rotationally invariant functions in two dimensions

summary:Let $f$ be a function defined on the set ${\mathbf M}^{2\times 2}$ of all $2$ by $2$ matrices that is invariant with respect to left and right multiplications of its argument by proper orthogonal matrices. The function $f$ can be represented as a function $\tilde{f}$ of the signed singular values of its matrix argument. The paper expresses the ordinary convexity, polyconvexity, and rank 1 convexity of $f$ in terms of its representation $\tilde{f}.