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59 votes
4 answers
5k views

When can one continuously prescribe a unit vector orthogonal to a given orthonormal system?

Let $1 \leq k < n$ be natural numbers. Given orthonormal vectors $u_1,\dots,u_k$ in ${\bf R}^n$, one can always find an additional unit vector $v \in {\bf R}^n$ that is orthogonal to the preceding ...
Terry Tao's user avatar
  • 114k
24 votes
2 answers
889 views

Simple conjecture about rational orthogonal matrices and lattices

The following conjecture grew out of thinking about topological phases of matter. Despite being very elementary to state, it has evaded proof both by me and by everyone I've asked so far. The ...
Philip Boyle Smith's user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
825 views

How much redundancy resides in an $n \times n$ orthogonal matrix?

Suppose one has an $n \times n$ orthogonal matrix $M$: $$ \left( \begin{array}{ccc} 0.239326 & 0.846726 & 0.475161 \\ 0.768893 & 0.13356 & -0.625272 \\ 0.592897 & -0....
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
17 votes
0 answers
433 views

Need explicit formula for certain "$q$-numbers" involving gcd's

The question is motivated by yet another possible approach to a combinatorial problem formulated previously in "Special" meanders. I'm not giving details of the connection as I believe the ...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
16 votes
7 answers
2k views

Is the linear span of special orthogonal matrices equal to the whole space of $N\times N$ matrices?

(Disclaimer : I know very well that $SO(N)$ has a Lie algebra of dimension $N(N-1)/2$ etc. This absolutely not the point of my question.) To make my problem more understandable, I start with the ...
Adam's user avatar
  • 355
15 votes
2 answers
478 views

matrix inequality with orthogonal matrices

I would like to know if for $A,B\in SO(3)$ the inequality $$ \|AB-BA\|_F\leq \|A-I\|_F\|B-I\|_F $$ holds, where $\|\cdot\|_F$ denotes the Frobenius norm and $I$ the identity matrix. Using the identity ...
Markus Sprecher's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
2k views

Measuring the "distance" of a matrix from a diagonal matrix

Let $A$ be a $N \times N$ symmetric positive semi-definite matrix with $N \geq 2$. Let $D$ be a diagonal matrix of dimension $N$. I would like to measure how much $A$ "is far" from $D$, i.e. ...
user9875321__'s user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
558 views

$2n \times 2n$ matrices with entries in $\{1, 0, -1\}$ with exactly $n$ zeroes in each row and each column with orthogonal rows and orthogonal columns

I am interested in answering the following question: Question For a given $n$, does there exist a $2n \times 2n$ matrix with entries in $\{1, 0, -1\}$ having orthogonal rows and columns with exactly $...
Konrad Burnik's user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
383 views

Probability of $\ell_1$-norms of vertices of the rotated Hamming cube

Let $O$ be a $d$-dimensional rotation matrix (i.e., it has real entries and $OO^T = O^TO = I$). Let $\mathbf{x}$ be a uniformly random bitstring of length $d$, i.e., $\mathbf{x} \sim U(\{0,1\}^d)$. In ...
arriopolis's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
3k views

Geodesics on SO(3)

I have two 3D rotations about the origin, represented as $3 \times 3$ orthogonal matrices $M_1$ and $M_2$ (specified by numerical entries), and I would like to interpolate (and compute) a continuous ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
565 views

Is there a "formula" for the point in $\text{SO}(n)$ which is closest to a given matrix?

$\newcommand{\Sig}{\Sigma}$ $\newcommand{\dist}{\operatorname{dist}}$ $\newcommand{\distSO}[1]{\dist(#1,\SO)}$ $\newcommand{\distO}[1]{\text{dist}(#1,\On)}$ $\newcommand{\tildistSO}[1]{\operatorname{...
Asaf Shachar's user avatar
  • 6,741
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is there a standard name for (non-square) matrices with orthonormal columns?

One encounters often in numerics non-square matrices with orthonormal columns, i.e., $U\in\mathbb{R}^{m\times n}$, with $m > n$, such that $U^TU=I$ (but, clearly, $UU^T \neq I$). Is there a name ...
Federico Poloni's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
4k views

The space of positive definite orthogonal matrices

The matrix $\begin{bmatrix}1 & 0 \\ 0 & -1\end{bmatrix}$ is orthogonal and indefinite. $\begin{bmatrix}1 & 0 \\ 0 & 2\end{bmatrix}$ is positive definite and not orthonormal. and the ...
Pushpendre's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
519 views

Orthogonal basis of ${\bf Sym}_n(\mathbb R)$, made of orthogonal matrices

My question is motivated by this one, but within real matrices instead of complex ones. ${\bf Sym}_n(\mathbb R)$ is a vector space of dimension $N=\frac{n(n+1)}2$. Equipped with the scalar product $\...
Denis Serre's user avatar
  • 52.3k
8 votes
2 answers
642 views

Is it true $\left\|\log(RS)\right\|≤\left\|\log(R)+\log(S)\right\|$ for all $R,S \in \mathrm{SO}(3)$, where $\|\cdot\|$ is the Frobenius norm?

$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}$I asked this initially in math stack exchange, but thought to ask it here since it is more advanced and related to my research topic. I study optimization on Lie groups ...
Spencer Kraisler's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Conjecture on the existence of centrosymmetric Hadamard matrices

I work with centrosymmetric matrices and recently have started exploring the question of the existence of centrosymmetric Hadamard matrices. Definition: An $n \times m$ matrix $A = (a_{i,j})$ is ...
Konrad Burnik's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
484 views

A question about special linear group

Is there any way to find all matrices $G \in SL(n,\mathbb Z)$ such that there exists a matrix $A \in GL(n,\mathbb R)$ satisfying $$ AGA^{-1} \in SO(n,\mathbb R)? $$
Totoro's user avatar
  • 2,535
8 votes
2 answers
752 views

Computing Haar measure of matrices sampled from SO(n)

I am looking to sample uniform matrices from SO(n). I know that uniform matrices can be sampled from O(n) by taking the QR decomposition of Gaussian random square matrices and adjusting the sign of ...
magnesium's user avatar
  • 181
8 votes
2 answers
440 views

Show $\langle \log(R), \log(R^{-1}S) \rangle \geq \langle \log(R), \log(S) - \log(R) \rangle $ for all $R,S \in \mathrm{SO}(3)$

$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}$I have a similar question to one I asked a few days ago. Lately, I've been researching Lie groups equipped with bi-invariant Riemannian metrics. One common object is $\SO(...
Spencer Kraisler's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
201 views

When is a linear isomorphism of $M_n(\mathbb{C})$ given by unitary conjugation?

Let $M_n(\mathbb{C})$ represent the space of $n \times n$ matrices over $\mathbb{C}$. We will think of it as a $\mathbb{C}$-vector space. Notice that if $A \in M_n(\mathbb{C})$ is invertible, then the ...
Rahul Sarkar's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
221 views

What is special in dimension $2$ (When characterizing isometries using the cofactor matrix)?

Let $A$ be a real $n \times n$ matrix. Denote by $\operatorname{cof} A$ The cofactor matrix of $A$. By definition, $A (\operatorname{cof} A)^T=\det A \cdot I$. Thus, it is immediate that $A \in \...
Asaf Shachar's user avatar
  • 6,741
7 votes
2 answers
374 views

Proving a lemma for a decomposition of orthogonal matrices

Setting Consider two independent orthogonal matrices, which are decomposed into 4 blocks: \begin{align} Q_{1} = \left[\begin{array}{cc} A_{1} & B_{1}\\ C_{1} & D_{1} \end{array}\right] , \,Q_{...
Itay's user avatar
  • 673
7 votes
0 answers
224 views

Reference request: maximal determinant of matrices with pairwise orthogonal rows and entries in $\{1, 0, -1\}$

We know that "Hadamard maximal determinant problem" concerns the largest determinant of a matrix of oder $n$ with entries in $\{-1,1\}$ or $\{0, 1\}$. For $n=4k$, it is the Hadamard ...
Arun 's user avatar
  • 745
6 votes
3 answers
651 views

Real orthogonal and sign [closed]

I came across the following conjecture, reading a recent paper in the Monthly, an orthogonal matrix of order $n\neq 0 \pmod 4$ has a nonnegative (up to a scalar) row vector. It should be straight in ...
Toni Mhax's user avatar
  • 785
6 votes
3 answers
3k views

functions with orthogonal Jacobian

I'm working on a model that would require to use vectorial functions of $\mathbb{R}^n \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n$, such that $\forall x, y \in \mathbb{R}^n$, $\lVert \frac{df(x)}{dx}(y) \lVert_2 = \...
dhokas's user avatar
  • 163
6 votes
1 answer
508 views

Principal curvatures of $\mathbb{R}^{n^2}$-embedded SO(n)

It's well known that the sectional curvatures of a Lie group, endowed with a left-invariant metric have a nice closed-form formula $k(X,Y) = \frac{1}{4} \|[X Y]\|^2$. I'm wondering if the following (...
Andy Mack's user avatar
  • 265
6 votes
3 answers
247 views

On $XX'=I$ such that $AX=XB$ is true

Given list of symmetric matrices $\{A_i,B_i\}_{i=1}^r\in\Bbb R^{n\times n}$ where $r\in\Bbb N$ is arbitrary what is a good description of collection of $X\in\Bbb R^{n\times n}$ such that $$XX'=I$$ $$...
Turbo's user avatar
  • 13.9k
6 votes
1 answer
193 views

What is the term for this type of matrix?

Is there an established term for the following type of square matrices? $\begin{pmatrix} c & c & c & c & \cdots & c & c \\ c & a & b & b & \cdots & b & ...
vog's user avatar
  • 202
6 votes
1 answer
370 views

Can we choose smoothly the singular vectors of a matrix?

$\newcommand{\GLm}{\text{GL}_n^-}$Let $A$ be a real $n \times n$ matrix with non-positive determinant. Suppose that the smallest singular value of $A$ is strictly smaller than all the others (it has ...
Asaf Shachar's user avatar
  • 6,741
6 votes
2 answers
236 views

Bounding the non-multiplicativity of isometric projection

Every $A \in \text{GL}_n(\mathbb{R})$ has a unique Polar decomposition: $A=O_AP_A$, $O \in \operatorname{O}_n, P \in \operatorname{Psym}_n$. In particular the orthogonal factor is given by $$O_A=A(\...
Asaf Shachar's user avatar
  • 6,741
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

orthogonal group in characteristic 2

Let $O(2,\mathbb{Z}_2)$ be the orthogonal group of order two matrices. On $\mathbb{Z}_2$ there should exist just one odd quadratic form, hence the stabilizer subgroup $O^-$ of an odd quadratic for ...
IMeasy's user avatar
  • 3,779
6 votes
1 answer
986 views

LU decomposition for orthogonal or unitary matrices?

Is there any references on LU decomposition for orthogonal or unitary matrices? It seems to me that the diagonal entries of $U$ has some nice structure regarding to the Euler angles of the original ...
JJJZZZZZ's user avatar
  • 380
6 votes
1 answer
332 views

How can I solve an orthogonal-constrained Sylvester equation?

I am currently facing a Sylvester equation $AX+XB = C$ where $A$, $B$, $C$ are all symmetric and a special constraint here is that $X$ should be orthogonal. The Sylvester equation itself may not ...
lisi's user avatar
  • 101
5 votes
4 answers
3k views

Parametrization of O(3)

Is there a simple way to parametrize the orthogonal group O(3) of 3 by 3 orthogonal matrices?
user10621's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why decompose a function with eigenvectors of Laplace operator? [closed]

On periodic domain, people always use Fourier basis, which eigenvectors of Laplace operator. On sphere, people use spherical harmonics, which also are eigenvectors of Laplace operator. In applied ...
Po C.'s user avatar
  • 487
5 votes
2 answers
495 views

Existence of parametrizations of rational orthogonal matrices

I suppose that there are formulas which parametrize all the orthogonal matrices with rational coefficients. Does anyone know anything about it? And what are some publications that discuss this? Thanks....
jose luis leal's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
822 views

Generalization of Jordan's Lemma $A^2=B^2=I$ can be 2-block diagonalized

One of Jordan's lemma states that if two orthogonal matrices $A,B$ are such that $A^2=B^2=I$, then they can be co-diagonalized by block of size 2. (the proof is easy, consider $x$ an eigenvector of $A+...
MarcO's user avatar
  • 583
5 votes
1 answer
3k views

Positive definite matrices diagonalised by orthogonal matrices that are also involutions

Let $A$ be a positive definite matrix. Then, $A$ is diagonalized by an orthogonal matrix $P$. I want to know when this matrix is also an involution, i.e., $P^2 = I$. If there is any ...
GA316's user avatar
  • 1,269
5 votes
1 answer
214 views

When does isometric projection respect multiplication?

Every $A \in \text{GL}_n(\mathbb{R})$ has a unique orthogonal polar factor $O_A=A(\sqrt{A^TA})^{-1}$, ( $A=O_AP_A$, $O \in \operatorname{O}_n, P \in \operatorname{Psym}_n$see Polar decomposition). ...
Asaf Shachar's user avatar
  • 6,741
4 votes
4 answers
2k views

I want a smooth orthogonalization process

The following question is related to research I am doing on reinforcement learning on manifolds. I have a set of basis vectors $\boldsymbol{B} = \{\boldsymbol{b}_1,\dots,\boldsymbol{b}_k\}$ that span ...
Jabby's user avatar
  • 155
4 votes
2 answers
890 views

Partitioning an orthogonal matrix into full rank square submatrices

Let $U$ be an $n \times n$ orthogonal matrix. Given an arbitrary partition ${\mathcal P}_c=\{y_1,y_2,\ldots,y_k\}$ of the columns of $U$, does there always exist a corresponding partition ${\mathcal ...
David Shuman's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
632 views

Optimization problem on trace with both the positive semi definite and non positive semidefinite matrix

Given two $N \times N$ symmetric matrices $A, B$, where $A$ is positive semidefinite while $B$ is not positive semidefinite. I am interested in solving unitary constrained trace maximization problem: ...
Sandeep Kumar's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
334 views

Distribution of Submatrix of Orthogonal Matrix

Let $O$ be a matrix sampled from the Haar measure on $O(n)$. Let $X$ be the upperleft $k\times k$ submatrix of $O$. In a physics research project I am interested in the distribution of $X$, say $\rho(...
Junkai Dong's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
332 views

Parametrizing quotient of matrices by the orthogonal group

I am trying to parametrize the collection of $d\times m$ real matrices quotient $d\times d$ orthogonal matrices. Formally, define $\sim$ on $\mathbb{R}^{d\times m}$ by $X\sim Y$ if there exists an ...
Min Wu's user avatar
  • 461
4 votes
0 answers
1k views

Can an orthogonal matrix move monotonically toward a signed permutation matrix?

The question is motivated by this question on Mathematics SE. Let $A \in O(n)$ be an orthogonal matrix that is not a signed permutation matrix, and let $P$ be the nearest signed permutation matrix to $...
ryanriess's user avatar
  • 209
4 votes
0 answers
538 views

Orthogonal similarity of adjacency matrices of graphs which are cospectral and have a common equitable partition

Let $G$ and $H$ be two undirected graphs of the same order (i.e., they have the same number of vertices). Denote by $A_G$ and $A_H$ the corresponding adjacency matrices. Furthermore, denote by $\bar G$...
Sirolf's user avatar
  • 493
3 votes
2 answers
569 views

What do you call a scaled orthogonal map?

What do you call a linear map of the form $\alpha X$, where $\alpha\in\Bbb R$ and $X\in\mathrm O(V)$ is an orthogonal map ($V$ being some linear space with inner product)? Are there established names, ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
3 votes
1 answer
416 views

What's the best orthonormal matrix to align two matrices in the operator norm sense?

Let $A,B \in R^{n\times r}$ with $A^\top B $ invertible. It is known that \begin{equation} UV^\top :=\arg\min_{R \in \mathcal{O}^{r\times r}}\|AR-B\|_\mathrm{F}, \end{equation} where $USV^\top$ is ...
Wuchen's user avatar
  • 515
3 votes
1 answer
687 views

Upper bound on the sectional curvature of the orthogonal group

Consider the orthogonal group $O(n)$ as a Riemannian manifold endowed with the usual (bi-invariant) metric $\langle P, Q \rangle_A = \textrm{Tr}\ P^\top Q$ for tangent vectors $P, Q$, with $$T_A O(n) =...
Călin's user avatar
  • 281
3 votes
2 answers
676 views

Parametrising a sparse orthogonal matrix

I need to find a way to parametrise a matrix that is both sparse (to some degree) and orthogonal, i.e., I am looking for a parametrisation that describes $A \in \mathbb{R}^{n\times m}$ such that $AA^𝑇...
HesterJ's user avatar
  • 123