A spectral theory for tensors (Q661140)

The authors introduce a generalization of the spectral theory for \(n\)-tensors, where \(n\geq2\) is a positive integer. A mathematical framework for high-order tensor algebra based on high-order product operator is proposed. This approach allows the authors to generalize the usual notions from linear algebra such as dot product, matrix adjoints, Hermicity and orthogonality. The paper also provides an algorithmic description of the characteristic polynomial of a matrix without assuming the definition of the determinant of matrices and shows how the description allows to define characteristic polynomials for tensors. In the final part of the paper an overview of the relationship between the present approach and earlier proposed tensor decompositions is presented.