Einige Bemerkungen über die polare Zerlegung einer regulären Matrix und die Geometrie der orthogonalen Gruppe. (Some remarks about the polar decomposition of a regular matrix and the geometry of the orthogonal group) (Q1821841)

Let A be a regular real \(n\times n\)-matrix. The polar decomposition \(A=US\), U orthogonal, S symmetric, \(S>0\) is characterized by the fact that U is the (unique) best orthogonal approximation of A, where \({\mathbb{R}}^{n\times n}\) is equipped with the Euclidean norm, i.e., \(\| A-U\| <\| A-V\|\) for all orthogonal \(V\neq U\). If, moreover, the matrix A*A has n different eigenvalues, then the distance function \(f_ A: V\to \| A-V\|^ 2\) defines a Morse-function on O(n).