A Bauer-Fike theorem for the joint spectrum of commuting matrices (Q1194293)

If \(A=(A_ 1,A_ 2,\dots,A_ m)\) is a set of commuting \(n\times n\) matrices \(A_ j\), an element \(\lambda\) of \(\mathbb{C}^ m\) is a joint eigenvalue of \(A\) if \(A_ j x=\lambda_ j x\), \(1\leq j\leq m\), for some common eigenvector \(x\). Given two \(m\)-tuples \(A=(A_ 1,\dots,A_ m)\) and \(B=(B_ 1,\dots,B_ m)\) of commuting \(n\times n\) matrices, the author considers the problem of finding \(\varepsilon>0\) such that there is a joint eigenvalue of \(B\) within a distance \(\varepsilon\) of each joint eigenvalue of \(A\). He defines the Clifford operator \(\text{Cliff}(A)\) to be \(i\sum_{j=1}^ m A_ j\otimes e_ j\), where \(e_ 1,e_ 2,\dots,e_ m\) are the generators of a Clifford algebra over \(\mathbb{R}\). If each \(A_ j=A_{1j}+iA_{2j}\) such that \(\pi(A)=(A_{11},\dots,A_{1m},A_{21},\dots,A_{2m})\) is a \(2m\)- tuple of commuting matrices with real spectra, then \(\pi(A)\) is called a partition of \(A\). Among the results proved is: Theorem 6.3. Let \(A=(A_ 1\dots,A_ m)\) and \(B=(B_ 1,\dots,B_ m)\) be \(m\)-tuples of \(n\times n\) commuting matrices. Let the \(B_ j\) be normal, let \(\pi(A)\) be a partition of \(A\) and let \(\pi(B)\) be the semisimple partition of \(B\). For each joint eigenvalue \(\alpha\) of \(A\) there is a joint eigenvalue \(\beta\) of \(B\) such that \(|\alpha- \beta|\leq \| \text{Cliff}(\pi(A)-\pi(B))\|\). This generalizes the well-known Bauer-Fike theorem [\textit{F. L. Bauer} and \textit{C. T. Fike}, Numer. Math. 2, 137-141 (1960; Zbl 0101.255)].