Lecture 10

[[lecture-data]]

EXAM 1

Exam 1 will cover chapter 1, 2, 3 and will likely be early-to-mid october. Finishing Chapter 2 today

2024-09-18

Readings

  • a
 

2. Chapter 2

Recall the definition of normal matrices: and recall triangular matrices are normal iff diagonal.

Lemma

Suppose are unitarily similar. Then is normal if and only if is normal.

for unitary. normal means . ie,

Say

UBU^*(UBU^*)^* &= (UBU^*)^*UBU^* \\ UBU^*UB^*U^* &= UB^*U^*UBU^* \\ UB B^*U^* &= UB^*BU^* \\ BB^* &= B^*B \end{aligned}$$ ie, $B$ is normal

(see unitarily similar matrices are simultaneously normal)

Unitarily Diagonalizable

is unitarily diagonalizable precisely when there exists unitary and diagonal such that

(see unitarily diagonalizable)

This means

  1. there exists not just linearly independent eigenvectors, but orthonormal eigenvectors!
  2. There is some rigid transformation from the standard basis to the “basis of the matrix”

Spectral Theorem for Normal Matrices

Consider any . Say the eigenvalues are . Then the following are equivalent:

  1. is normal
  2. is unitarily diagonalizable

(see spectral theorem for normal matrices)

Proof

is normal, then its Schur decomposition is automatically a diagonalization. Thus, if and are normal and unitarily similar, then they are simultaneously diagonalizable and thus they commute!

If

(see also normal, unitarily similar matrices are simultaneously diagonalizable)

(may help homework)

We call the “defect from normality”. And if this defect is , then is normal.

(see defect from normality)

Spectral Theorem for Hermitian Matrices

Let . is hermitian if and only if

  1. is unitarily diagonalizable and
  2. the spectrum of , is real.

(see spectral theorem for hermitian matrices)

) Suppose that is hermitian. Then is normal and hence is unitarily diagonalizable (by the spectral theorem for normal matrices).

(

Say where unitary and diagonal. Then

A &= A^* \\ UDU^* &= (UDU^*)^* \\ &= U^*D^*U \\ \implies D &= D^* \\ \implies d_{ii} &\in \mathbb{R} \;\;\forall\;\;i \end{aligned}$$ ($\impliedby$) Suppose $A$ is [[Concept Wiki/unitarily diagonalizable]] and the [[Concept Wiki/eigenvalue\|eigenvalues]] of $A$ are real. Then $A = UDU^*$. Eigenvalues of $A$ are real means that $D^*=D$. Thus $$A^* = (UDU^*)^* = UD^*U^* = UDU^* = A$$ ie, $A$ is [[Concept Wiki/hermitian]]! $\blacksquare$

Theorem

Suppose . is symmetric if and only if is real-orthogonally diagonalizable. That is, if we can write with orthogonal and diagonal.

Suppose is real-orthogonally diagonalizable. Say that for orthogonal and diagonal. Then

Suppose is symmetric. Then and is hermitian the eigenvalues of are real by the spectral theorem for hermitian matrices. Since is real and has real eigenvalues, this implies that has a real Schur decomposition. Say then that with orthogonal and upper triangular.

Since is hermitian, is normal by the spectral theorem for normal matrices. Note then that is unitarily similar to and unitarily similar matrices are simultaneously normal, we can say that is normal. Then, since triangular matrices are normal iff diagonal, this means that is diagonal!

That is, when we write this is a real orthogonal diagonalization!

(see matrices are symmetric if and only if they are real orthogonally diagonalizable)

are called skew hermitian. (see skew hermitian)

Exercise

Skew hermitian matrices have pure imaginary eigenvalues