Stability of symmetric systems under hyperbolic perturbations (Q1375402)

Let \({\mathcal L} (x_1,x_2, \dots,x_n) =\sum^n_{j=1} A_jx_j\), \(x=(x_1, x_2, \dots, x_n)\in \mathbb{R}^n\), be the symbol of a symmetric, first order hyperbolic \(m \times m\)-system with real constant coefficient matrices \(A_j\), \(j=1,2,3, \dots,n\). Its range \({\mathcal L} (\mathbb{R}^n)\) is a linear subspace of the space of all real symmetric \(m\times m\)-matrices, and it is assumed that \({\mathcal L} (\theta)\) is positive definite for some \(\theta\in \mathbb{R}^n\). Perturbations \(R\) of \({\mathcal L}\) are considered, which are real analytic near the origin, satisfy \(R(x)= O(| x|^2)\) as \(x\to 0\), and are such that all roots of \(\lambda \mapsto {\mathcal L} (x+\lambda \theta)+ R(x+ \lambda \theta)\) are real for all \(x\) near the origin. In a previous paper by the author it was demonstrated that if \({\mathcal L} (\mathbb{R}^n)\) has maximal dimension then \({\mathcal L} +R\) can be transformed into a symmetric symbol in a neighbourhood of the origin, i.e. there are real analytic matrix-valued functions \(A,B\) such that \(A(0) =B(0)^{-1}\) and \(A(x)\) \(({\mathcal L} +R)(x)\) \(B(x)\) is symmetric. Here the issue is re-considered for the case that the dimension of \({\mathcal L} (\mathbb{R}^n)\) is less than maximal. It is shown that if the dimension of \({\mathcal L} (\mathbb{R}^n)\) is larger then \({m(m-1) \over 2} +2\) then the result still holds at least generically. In the case \(m=3\) the result is still valid if the dimension of \({\mathcal L} (\mathbb{R}^n)\) is larger then 3.