On bundles of matrix pencils under strict equivalence (Q2104961): Difference between revisions

Let \(A\) and \(B\) be two \(m\times n\) matrices over \(\mathbb{C}\). Consider the orbit of the pencil \(L(\lambda ):=A+B\lambda \) (where \(\lambda \) is an indeterminant) under the action of the group \(\mathrm{GL}_{m}(\mathbb{C})\times \mathrm{GL}_{n}(\mathbb{C)}\) defined by \(L(\lambda )\longmapsto PL(\lambda )Q\) for all \(P\in \mathrm{GL}_{m}(\mathbb{C})\) and \(Q\in \mathrm{GL}_{n}(\mathbb{C)}\); this is denoted by \(\mathcal{O}(L(\lambda ))\). Pairs \((A,B)\) for which the pencils \( A+B\lambda \) lie in the same orbit are said to be strictly equivalent. The (normal) rank \(r_{L}\) of \(L(\lambda )\) is the rank of \(L(\lambda )\) over the field \(\mathbb{C}\left( \lambda \right) \) and a complex number \(\mu \in \mathbb{C}\) is a (finite) eigenvalue of \(L(\lambda )\) if \(\mathrm{rank}(L(\mu ))<r_{L} \). We write \(\mathbb{\bar{C}}:=\mathbb{C}\cup \{\infty \}\) and say that \(\infty \) is an infinite eigenvalue of \(L(\lambda )\) if \(\mathrm{rank}(B)<r_{L}\). A classical theorem states that in each orbit there is an (essentially unique) pencil of a special form called the Kronecker canonical form (KCF). The KCF for \(L(\lambda )\) is a block diagonal matrix where the various blocks (not necessarily square) are associated with the eigenvalues of \( L(\lambda )\). The bundle \(\mathcal{B}(L(\lambda ))\) containing \(L(\lambda )\) consists of all pencils of the same shape as \(L(\lambda )\) whose KCFs can be obtained by replacing the eigenvalues by other elements of \(\mathbb{\bar{C}}\) under the condition that equal eigenvalues are replaced by equal values and different eigenvalues by different values. Thus bundles form a partition of the set of all \(m\times n\) pencils and each bundle is a union of disjoint orbits of strictly equivalent pencils. The set of all \(m\times n\) pencils can be identified with \(\mathbb{C}^{2mn}\) and so has a natural topology. The authors answer the following questions: (1) given two pencils determine when the closures of their bundles satisfy \(\mathcal{\bar{B}} (L_{1})\subseteq \mathcal{\bar{B}}(L_{2})\); (2) show that each bundle is open in its own closure. The answer to (1) reads roughly as: the relation holds if and only if the KCF for \(L_{1}\) can be obtained from the KCF for \(L_{2}\) by replacing equal eigenvalues of \(L_{2}\) by equal values from \(\mathbb{\bar{C}} \) (without the condition that different eigenvalues are replaced by different eigenvalues). The proof of (2) relies on the fact that \(\mathcal{ \bar{B}}(L)\setminus \mathcal{B}(L)\) is a union of a finite number of orbits.