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Sep 18

## General properties of symmetric matrices

Here we consider properties of symmetric matrices that will be used to prove their diagonalizability.

### What are the differences between $R^n$$R^n$ and $C^n?$$C^n?$

Vectors in both spaces have $n$ coordinates. In $R^n$ we can multiply vectors by real numbers and in $C^n$ - by complex numbers. This affects the notions of linear combinations, linear independence, dimension and scalar product. We indicate only the differences to watch for.

If in $C^n$ we multiply vectors only by real numbers, it becomes a space of dimension $2n.$ Let's take $n=1$ to see why.

Example 1. If we take $e=1,$ then any complex number $c=a+ib$ is a multiple of $e:$ $c=c1=ce$ with the scaling coefficient $c.$ Thus, $C$ is a one-dimensional space in this sense. On the other hand, if only multiplication by real numbers is allowed, then we can take $e_1=1,$ $e_2=i$ as a basis and then $c=ae_1+be_2$ and $C$ is two-dimensional. To avoid confusion, just use scaling by the right numbers.

The scalar product in $R^n$ is given by $x\cdot y=\sum x_iy_i$ and in $C^n$ by $x\cdot y=\sum x_i\bar{y}_i.$ As a result, for the second scalar product we have $x\cdot (c_1y+c_2z)=\bar{c}_1x\cdot y+\bar{c}_2x\cdot z$ for complex $c_1,c_2$ (some people call this antilinearity, to distinguish it from linearity $x\cdot (ay+bz)=ax\cdot y+bx\cdot z$ for real $a,b$).

Definition 1. For a matrix $A$ with possibly complex entries we denote $A'=\overline{A^T}.$ The matrix $A'$ is called an adjoint or a conjugate of $A.$

Exercise 1. Prove that $(Ax)\cdot y=x\cdot(A'y),$ for any $x,y\in C^n.$

Proof. For complex numbers we have $\overline{\bar{c}}=c,$ $\overline{c_1c_2}=\bar{c}_1\bar{c}_2.$ Therefore

$(Ax)\cdot y=(Ax)^T\bar{y}=x^TA^T\bar{y}=x^T\overline{\overline{(A^T)}}\bar{y}=x^T\overline{(\overline{A^T}y)}=x\cdot(A'y).$

Thus, when considering matrices in $C^n,$ conjugation should be used instead of transposition. In particular, instead of symmetry $A=A^T$ the equation $A=A'$ should be used. Matrices satisfying the last equation are called self-adjoint. The theory of self-adjoint matrices in $C^n$ is very similar to that of symmetric matrices in $R^n.$ Keeping in mind two applications (regression analysis and optimization), we consider only square matrices with real entries. Even in this case one is forced to work with $C^n$ from time to time because, in general, eigenvalues can be complex numbers.

### General properties of symmetric matrices

$A$ is assumed a square matrix with real entries. When we extend $A$ from $R^n$ to $C^n,$ $Ax$ is defined by the same expression as before but $x$ is allowed to be from $C^n$ and the scalar product in $R^n$ is replaced by the scalar product in $C^n.$ The extension is denoted $A_C.$

Exercise 2. If $A$ is symmetric, then all eigenvalues of $A_C$ are real.

Proof. Suppose $\lambda$ is an eigenvalue of $A_C.$ Using Exercise 1 and the symmetry of $A$ we have

$\lambda x\cdot x=(Ax)\cdot x=x\cdot(Ax)=x\cdot(\lambda x)=\bar{\lambda}x\cdot x.$

Since $x\cdot x=\|x\|^2>0,$ we have $\lambda =\bar{\lambda}.$ This shows that $\lambda$ is real.

Exercise 3. If $A$ is symmetric, then it has at least one real eigenvector.

Proof. We know that $A_C$ has at least one complex eigenvalue $\lambda$. By Exercise 2, this eigenvalue must be real. Thus, we have $Ax=\lambda x$ with some nonzero $x\in C^n.$ Separating real and imaginary parts of $x,$ we have $x=u+iv,$ $Au=\lambda u,$ $Av=\lambda v$ with some $u,v\in R^n.$ At least one of $u,v$ is not zero. Thus a real eigenvector exists.

We need to generalize Exercise 3 to the case when $A$ acts in a subspace. This is done in the next two exercises.

Definition 2. A subspace $L$ is called an invariant subspace of $A$ if $AL\subseteq L.$

Example 2. If $x$ is an eigenvector of $A,$ then the subspace $L$ spanned by $x$ is an invariant subspace of $A.$ This is because $x\in L$ implies $Ax=\lambda x\in L.$

Exercise 4. If $A$ is symmetric and $L$ is a non-trivial invariant subspace of $A$, then $A$ has an eigenvector in $L.$

Proof. By the definition of an invariant subspace, the restriction of $A$ to $L$ defined by $A_Lx=Ax,$ $x\in L,$ acts from $L$ to $L$. By Exercise 3, applied to $A_L,$ it has an eigenvector in $L$, which is also an eigenvector of $A.$

Exercise 5. a) If $\lambda$ is an (real) eigenvalue of $A_R,$ then it is an eigenvalue of $A_C.$ b) If $\lambda$ is a real eigenvalue of $A_C,$ then it is an eigenvalue of $A_R.$ This is summarized as $\sigma(A_R)=\sigma (A_C)\cap R,$ see the spectrum notation.

See if you can prove this yourself following the ideas used above.