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fewfew4
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Maximum Rotation Made By A Symmetric Positive Definite Matrix?

Say we have some symmetric positive definite $n\times n$ matrix $M$ with $n$ distinct eigenvalues $\{\lambda_1,...,\lambda_n\}$. Is there a general formula for the maximum angle $\theta$ for which $M$ can rotate some vector, in terms of matrix invariants?

I worked out the $2\times 2$ case and the answer is $$\theta=\text{arccos}\Big(2\sqrt{\frac{\text{det}M}{(\text{tr}M)^2}}\Big)$$

In general, the answer is $$\theta=\text{arccos}\Bigg(\min_{v\neq0}\frac{v^TMv}{||v||\cdot||Mv||}\Bigg)$$

However I would like to find an answer analogous to the $2\times 2$ case for the general $n\times n$ case.

In trying to work out the $3\times 3$ case, the minimization procedure became extremely complicated. The best I could do was the case where two of the eigenvalues are equal $\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\lambda_2$. In that case, the angle turns out to be the same angle you would calculate for a $2\times 2$ matrix with the same eigenvalues $\lambda_1,\lambda_2$.

In fact, upon further analysis it should be true that for an $n\times n$ matrix with $k$ distinct eigenvalues, the formula for $\theta$ is equal to that which you would get from a $k\times k$ matrix with the corresponding eigenvalues.

Edit: Using the above fact, my guess for the $3\times 3$ case with $3$ distinct eigenvalues is $$\theta=\text{arccos}\Bigg(2\sqrt{\frac{6\text{det}M}{(\text{tr}M)^3-\text{tr}M^3}}\Bigg)$$

But I am unsure how to prove this.

fewfew4
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