# Show that the eigenvalues of a non-symmetric matrix built from positive matrices have positive real parts

Let $$A, B, C \in \mathbb{R}^{n\times n}$$ such that $$N = \begin{bmatrix} A & B\\ B^{\top} & C\end{bmatrix}$$ is a symmetric positive definite matrix. I'm trying to show that the following matrix

$$M = \begin{bmatrix} A & B & 0\\ B^{\top} & C & -B^{\top} \\ - A & -B & A\end{bmatrix}$$ has eigenvalues with positive real part. Numerical tests suggest this is true, but I cannot prove it.

Edit It is not true that $$M + M^\top$$ has positive eigenvalues, i.e. that $$\langle x, Mx\rangle \geq 0$$ for all $$x$$, which is (?) a sufficient condition for $$M$$ to have eigenvalues with positive real parts.

Edit 2 After further numerical tests, letting $$\lambda_{\min}$$ the smallest eigenvalue of $$N$$, and $$v_{\min}$$ the smallest real part of the eigenvalues of $$M$$, it seems like we should have a bound like $$v_{\min} \geq \rho \cdot \lambda_{\min}$$ where the constant $$\rho$$ is $$\simeq 0.963$$.

Edit 3 I expect that we can answer the question by finding the right factorization for $$M$$. For instance it is easy to show that $$\begin{bmatrix} A & B & -A\\ B^{\top} & C & -B^{\top} \\ - A & -B & A\end{bmatrix}$$ has positive eigenvalues since it equals $$\begin{bmatrix} I & 0 & -I \\ 0& I & 0\end{bmatrix}^{\top}N \begin{bmatrix} I & 0 & -I \\ 0& I & 0\end{bmatrix}$$

• Even when n = 1, I am at a loss to prove the result, the closed form expression for the eigenvalues is not informative wolframalpha.com/input/…
– PAb
Nov 3, 2021 at 13:29
• Did you notice the identity $\det M=\det A\det N$ ? Nov 5, 2021 at 10:58
• Thanks ! No I did not. However I think the relationship does not hold anymore when subtracting $\lambda Id$ from $M$, so the eigenvalues of $M$ are not those of $N$ and $A$. But maybe we can manage to use this identity to prove the expected result.
– PAb
Nov 5, 2021 at 11:28

A simple brute force method worked (even though I'm not happy with this).

Let $$\zeta=\xi+i\eta$$ be a non-positive eigenvalue of $$M$$ and $$\left[\begin{matrix} x & y & z \end{matrix}\right]^T$$ be a corresponding eigenvector. This gives equations \begin{align} Ax + By \qquad &= \zeta x \\ B^Tx + Cy - B^Tz &= \zeta y\\ -Ax -By + Az &= \zeta z \end{align} From the first and the third, one obtains $$z = -\zeta(\zeta-A)^{-1}x \mbox{ and } x-z = (1+\zeta(\zeta-A)^{-1})x.$$ To ease the notation, put $$A(\zeta):=1+\zeta(\zeta-A)^{-1}=(2\zeta-A)(\zeta-A)^{-1}$$. From the second, $$y = (\zeta-C)^{-1}B^T(x-z) = (\zeta-C)^{-1}B^T A(\zeta) x.$$ By combining with the first, one obtains $$(\zeta-A)x = By = B(\zeta-C)^{-1}B^T A(\zeta)x.$$ Note that the imaginary part of $$(\zeta- C)^{-1}$$ is $$\Im\frac{1}{\zeta- C}=\Im\frac{\bar{\zeta}-C}{|\zeta-C|^2} =-\eta\frac{1}{|\zeta-C|^2}.$$ Take the inner product with $$A(\zeta)x$$ and look at the imaginary part: $$\Im \langle (\zeta-A)x,A(\zeta)x\rangle = -\eta \langle B|\zeta-C|^{-2}B^TA(\zeta)x,A(\zeta)x\rangle.$$ Now, since \begin{align*} A(\bar{\zeta})(\zeta-A) &= \frac{(2\bar{\zeta}-A)(\zeta-A)^2}{|\zeta-A|^2} \\ &=\frac{2|\zeta|^2\zeta-4|\zeta|^2A+2\bar{\zeta}A^2-\zeta^2A+2\zeta A^2-A^3}{|\zeta-A|^2}, \end{align*} one obtains $$2\eta\langle \frac{|\zeta|^2-\xi A }{|\zeta-A|^2}x,x\rangle =-\eta \langle B|\zeta-C|^{-2}B^TA(\zeta)x,A(\zeta)x\rangle.$$ Hence, unless $$\eta=0$$, $$\xi\geq\frac{|\zeta|^2}{\|A\|}>0.$$ Let's deal with the case $$\eta=0$$. Suppose for a contradiction that $$\xi\le0$$. Then \begin{align*} \langle A(\xi)(-\xi+A)x,x\rangle &= \langle B(-\xi+C)^{-1}B^T A(\xi)x,A(\xi)x\rangle\\ &\le \langle BC^{-1}B^T A(\xi)x,A(\xi)x\rangle\\ &< \langle A A(\xi)x,A(\xi)x\rangle, \end{align*} but this is in contradiction with the fact that $$A(\xi)\succ0$$ and $$-\xi + A\succeq A(\xi)A$$.

ADDED: We assume $$\left[\begin{smallmatrix} A_0 & B_0 & \\ B_0^T & C_0\end{smallmatrix}\right]\succ 2\epsilon$$ and will show that any eigenvalue of $$\left[\begin{smallmatrix} A_0 & B_0 & \\ B_0^T & C_0 & -B_0^T \\ -A_0 & -B_0 & A_0 \end{smallmatrix}\right]$$ has its real part at least $$\epsilon$$. To ease notation, we consider $$A=A_0-2\epsilon$$ and $$C=C_0-2\epsilon$$ instead of $$A_0$$ and $$C_0$$. By the IVT trick, it suffices to show there is no solution for $$\left[\begin{matrix} A+2\epsilon & B & \\ B^T & C+2\epsilon & -B^T \\ -(A+2\epsilon) & -B & A+2\epsilon \end{matrix}\right] \left[\begin{matrix} x \\ y \\ z \end{matrix}\right] = (\epsilon+i\eta) \left[\begin{matrix} x \\ y \\ z \end{matrix}\right],$$ with $$\left[\begin{smallmatrix} A & B & \\ B^T & C\end{smallmatrix}\right]\succ 0$$, $$\epsilon>0$$, $$\eta\in\mathbb{R}$$, and $$\left[\begin{smallmatrix} x & y & z \end{smallmatrix}\right]\neq 0$$.

The first row + the third row: $$-\epsilon x + (A+\epsilon) z = i\eta (x+z).$$ Hence $$x-z=(1-\frac{\epsilon+i\eta}{A+\epsilon-i\eta})x =\frac{A-2i\eta}{A+\epsilon-i\eta}x=:A(\eta)x.$$ Together with the second row: $$y=-(C+\epsilon-i\eta)^{-1}B^T(x-z)=-(C+\epsilon-i\eta)^{-1}B^TA(\eta)x.$$ It follows that $$x\neq0$$. Together with the first row: \begin{align*} (A+\epsilon -i\eta) x = -By = B(C+\epsilon-i\eta)^{-1}B^TA(\eta)x \end{align*} and so $$$$\tag{\ast} \langle (A+\epsilon -i\eta) x,A(\eta)x\rangle = \langle B(C+\epsilon-i\eta)^{-1}B^TA(\eta)x, A(\eta)x\rangle.$$$$ Do some calculations: $$A(\eta)^*(A+\epsilon -i\eta) = |A+\epsilon-i\eta|^{-2}(A+\epsilon-i\eta)^2(A+2i\eta),$$ $$(A+\epsilon-i\eta)^2(A+2i\eta) = A^3 + 2 \epsilon A^2 + \epsilon^2 A + 3 \eta^2 A + 4\epsilon \eta^2 + 2i\eta (\epsilon A + \epsilon^2 - \eta^2),$$ $$A(\eta)^*B(C+\epsilon-i\eta)^{-1}B^TA(\eta) =A(\eta)^*B\frac{C+\epsilon +i\eta}{|C+\epsilon-i\eta|^2}B^TA(\eta),$$ $$A(\eta)^*B\frac{C+\epsilon}{|C+\epsilon-i\eta|^2}B^TA(\eta) \preceq A(\eta)^*B C^{-1} B^T A(\eta) \prec A|A(\eta)|^2,$$ $$A|A(\eta)|^2 = |A+\epsilon-i\eta|^{-2}(A^3+4\eta^2A).$$ Look at the real part of $$(\ast)$$: for $$w=|A+\epsilon-i\eta|^{-1}x$$, $$\langle(2\epsilon A^2+\epsilon^2A+4\epsilon\eta^2)w,w\rangle < \langle \eta^2Aw,w\rangle.$$ Look at the imaginary part of $$(\ast)$$: as $$\eta\neq0$$ from the previous inequality, $$\langle(\epsilon A + \epsilon^2 - \eta^2)w,w\rangle =\langle A(\eta)^*B\frac{1}{|C+\epsilon-i\eta|^2}B^TA(\eta)x,x\rangle/2 \geq0.$$ Combine the last two: \begin{align*} 2\epsilon \|Aw\|^2+\epsilon^2\langle Aw,w\rangle +4\epsilon\eta^2\|w\|^2 &< \eta^2\langle Aw,w\rangle\\ &\le (\epsilon \frac{\langle Aw,w\rangle}{\|w\|^2} +\epsilon^2)\langle Aw,w\rangle\\ &\le\epsilon\|Aw\|^2 +\epsilon^2\langle Aw,w\rangle. \end{align*} We arrive at a contradiction.

• Thanks a lot for the nice answer ! I'll try to derive a bound using the same technique :)
– PAb
Nov 10, 2021 at 11:25
• If you combine Michael Renardy's IVT trick with the above proof, you get some estimate like Edit 2 (I think I confirmed it for $\rho=0.5$ by hand). Nov 11, 2021 at 14:10
• Once again, thank you so much: your help is invaluable!
– PAb
Nov 12, 2021 at 10:10

This post is the solution to the limit case, as suggested by Denis Serre, where the Schur complement $$S=C-B^TA^{-1}B$$ is zero. This means that $$W:=A^{-1/2}BC^{-1/2}$$ is an orthogonal matrix. Now put $$S=\operatorname{diag}(A^{1/2}, C^{1/2}W^T, A^{1/2})$$ and consider $$N:=S^{-1}MS =\left[\begin{matrix} A & D & 0 \\ A & D & -A \\ -A & -D & A \end{matrix}\right],$$ where $$D:=WCW^T\succ0$$. Note that the second and the third rows are the same modulo the negative sign. Suppose $$\zeta=\xi+i\eta$$ is a nonzero eigenvalue of $$M$$. Then the corresponding eigenvector for $$N$$ is of the form $$\left[\begin{matrix} x & y & -y \end{matrix}\right]^T$$ with nonzero vectors $$x$$ and $$y$$. This gives equations $$Ax + Dy = \zeta x$$ and $$Ax + Dy + Ay = \zeta y.$$ It follows that $$\zeta x = (\zeta-A)y$$ and $$\zeta Dy=\zeta (\zeta-A)x = (\zeta-A)^2y=(\zeta^2-2\zeta A +A^2)y.$$ Take the inner product with $$y$$ and look at the imaginary part of it: $$\eta \langle Dy,y\rangle = 2\xi\eta \langle y,y\rangle - 2\eta \langle Ay,y\rangle.$$ Thus, one has $$\xi>0$$, provided that $$\eta\neq0$$. One still has the same conclusion for $$\eta=0$$ because $$\zeta Dy=(\zeta-A)^2y$$.

• I got the full answer, but leave this as a record. Nov 8, 2021 at 14:07

This is only for the case n=1. Clearly the claim is true if B=0. Hence it suffices to show that there is never a zero or purely imaginary eigenvalue. The case of a zero eigenvalue leads to $$a(ac-b^2)=0$$, but this quantity is positive by assumption. The case of a purely imaginary eigenvalue $$iy$$ leads to the pair of equations $$A(AC-B^2)-y^2(2A+C)=0,$$ $$-A^2+2(B^2-AC)+y^2=0.$$ By elimination we conclude that $$(y^2-A^2)/2=y^2(2A+C)/A.$$ This is a contradiction, since the left hand side is less than $$y^2/2$$, and the right hand side is greater than $$2y^2$$.

• Thanks. I don't understand the "it suffices..." part: why can't this matrix have an eigenvalue with non-zero real part?
– PAb
Nov 5, 2021 at 10:37
• PAb: If it ever had an eigenvalue with negative real part, then, for some B, it would have an eigenvalue with zero real part (intermediate value theorem). Nov 5, 2021 at 11:09
• Thanks, that's a neat trick then ! So the 1d case is solved. However, I don't see how we can adapt this to the general case.
– PAb
Nov 5, 2021 at 11:51

Since there is not much progress on this question, let me give a partial result and a direct consequence.

Denote $$S=C-B^TA^{-1}B$$ the Schur complement of $$A$$ in $$N$$, which is positive definite. Then $$M$$ factorizes $$UL$$ with $$U=\begin{pmatrix} A & B & 0 \\ 0 & S & -B^T \\ 0 & 0 & A \end{pmatrix},\qquad L=\begin{pmatrix} I & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & I & 0 \\ -I & 0 & I \end{pmatrix}.$$ We derive the formula $$\det M=\det U\det L=(\det A)^2\det S$$, that is $$\det M=\det A\cdot\det N.$$

I have also been interested in the limit case where $$S=0$$, because if the OP's statement is true, then it remains true for this limit. Denoting $$K=A^{-1}B$$, one finds the characteristic polynomial $$\chi_M(X)=X^n\det((XI-A)^2-XKK^TA).$$ This raises the sub-question:

Assume that $$A,H$$ are symmetric and positive definite. Is it true that the roots of $$\det((XI-A)^2-XHA)$$ have a positive real part ?

The answer is obviously positive when $$H=h^2I$$. Could this polynomial be the characteristic polynomial of some matrix $$Q$$ such that $$Q+Q^T$$ is positive definite ?

• Thanks a lot for your help !
– PAb
Nov 10, 2021 at 11:25