Symmetrization of complex normal matrices (Q1323984)

It is shown that any complex normal matrix \(A\) can be made symmetric by means of the unitary similarity transformation \(B = W^*AW\), \(W \in U(n)\), \(B=B^ T\) for which the unitary matrix \(W\) and the symmetric matrix \(B\) can be determined by means of a finite process which uses arithmetic operations and takes the square roots of nonnegative numbers. A proof is given. It is also shown that any pair of commutative Hermitian matrices \(H_ 1\) and \(H_ 2\) can be made real by means of a one-time unitary transformation \(S_ 1 = W^*H_ 1 W\), \(S_ 2 = W^*H_ 2W\), \(W \in U(n)\), where the unitary matrix \(W\) and the real symmetric matrices \(S_ 1\) and \(S_ 2\) can be found by means of a finite process.