Similarity vs unitary similarity and perturbation analysis of sign characteristics: complex and real indefinite inner products (Q2496662)

The author studies the connections between similarity and unitary similarity for self-adjoint and unitary matrices in the context of indefinite inner products over the complex numbers and over the real numbers. Let \(H\) be an invertible Hermitian \(n\times n\) matrix. Define an inner product \([x,y]_H=(Hx,y)\), where \(x,y\in{\mathbb C}^n\). The author finds the exact number of \(H\)-unitary similarity classes in any class of \(H\)-selfadjoint or \(H\)-unitary matrices \(A\) and she identifies when similarity implies \(H\)-unitary similarity. The author also shows, if \(A\) is \(H\)-selfadjoint, then there exists \(\varepsilon>0\) such that every \(H\)-selfadjoint or \(H\)-unitary (as the case may be) matrix \(B\) such that \(\| B-A\| <\varepsilon\), is actually \(H\)-unitarily similar to \(A\). She provides a formula for one such \(\varepsilon\). She develops an alternative description of the sign characteristic of real \(H\)-skewadjoint matrices, and gives a perturbation analysis of the sign characteristic, under perturbations that preserve the Jordan structure of the matrix. The paper contains many more results on related topics.