A criterion for the existence of common invariant subspaces of matrices (Q1595115)

It is shown that square matrices \(A\) and \(B\) have a common invariant subspace \(W\) of dimension \(k\geq 1\) if and only if for some scalar \(s\), \(A+sI\) and \(B+sI\) are invertible and their \(k\)th compounds have a common eigenvector, which is a Grassmann representative for \(W\). The applicability of this criterion and its ability to yield a basis for the common invariant subspace are investigated.