4.II.10E

Linear Algebra
Part IB, 2008

What is meant by a Hermitian matrix? Show that if AA is Hermitian then all its eigenvalues are real and that there is an orthonormal basis for Cn\mathbb{C}^{n} consisting of eigenvectors of AA.

A Hermitian matrix is said to be positive definite if Ax,x>0\langle A x, x\rangle>0 for all x0x \neq 0. We write A>0A>0 in this case. Show that AA is positive definite if, and only if, all of its eigenvalues are positive. Show that if A>0A>0 then AA has a unique positive definite square root A\sqrt{A}.

Let A,BA, B be two positive definite Hermitian matrices with AB>0A-B>0. Writing C=AC=\sqrt{A} and X=ABX=\sqrt{A}-\sqrt{B}, show that CX+XC>0C X+X C>0. By considering eigenvalues of XX, or otherwise, show that X>0X>0.