On the Toeplitz and polar decompositions of an involutive matrix (Q2218186)

The Toeplitz decomposition of a square complex matrix \(A\) is its representation in the form \(A=B+iC, B=B^\ast , C=C^\ast.\) The Hermitian matrices \(B\) and \(C\) are determined uniquely by the formulas \(B={\frac{1}{2}}(A+A^\ast), C={\frac{1}{2i}}(A-A^\ast).\) The polar decompositions of \(A\) are its representations of the form \(A = PU = UQ.\) Here, \(U\) is a unitary matrix, and the Hermitian matrices \(P\) and \(Q\) are positive semi-definite. Moreover, \(P=(AA^\ast)^{1/2} , \,\, Q=(A^\ast A)^{1/2}.\) The main result that the author obtains is the following: Theorem. Assume that an involution \(A\) is not a Hermitian matrix. Then, by a unitary similarity transformation, \(A\) can be brought to a block diagonal matrix in which the first order blocks are either \(1\) or \(-1\). The other blocks have even orders. Every block of order \(2k\) is associated with a pair of eigenvalues \(\pm\cosh t\) of the matrix \(B\) and the corresponding pair of eigenvalues \(\pm\sinh t\) of \(C\). Each of these eigenvalues is of multiplicity \(k\).