Corners of normal matrices (Q861766)

Normal matrices \(N\) of size \(2n\) are considered, which are partitioned into blocks of size \(n\) as \(N=\left[\begin{matrix} A&B\\ C&D\end{matrix}\right]\). The Hermitian and the unitary matrices have the property \(| | | B| | | =| | | C| | | \) for all unitarily invariant norms \(| | | \cdot| | | \). It is emphasized that this is not true for arbitrary normal matrices; in this case one obtains \(| | B| | \leq\sqrt{n}| | C| | \) where \(| | \cdot| | \) is the spectral norm. It is proved that there exists a normal matrix \(N\) with \(| | B| | =\sqrt{n}| | C| | \) if and only if \(n\leq3\). Unitary completions of matrices of the form \(\left[\begin{matrix} ?&B\\B&?\end{matrix}\right]\) and \(\left[\begin{matrix} ?&B\\B^*&?\end{matrix}\right]\) are proposed for the case \(| | B| | \leq1\), as well as normal completions for these matrices in the general case. It is shown that if \(| | | B| | | =| | | C| | | \) for all unitarily invariant norms, then the matrix \(\left[\begin{matrix} ?&B\\ C&?\end{matrix}\right]\) has a completion that is a scalar multiple of a unitary matrix.