Block matrices and symmetric perturbations (Q952051)

The author addresses the following problem: Assume that \(A\) is a symmetric \(n\times n\) matrix over the reals and \(y\) is a solution of a ``nearby'' linear system \((A+E)x=b\). Does it follow that \(y\) solves a ``nearby'' symmetric system \((A+F)x=b\)? Throughout the paper it is assumed that the given matrix \(A\) has an \(s\times s\) block structure. This block structure is used to define a matricial norm \(\mu\) for \(n\times n\) matrices. The main results show that each of the following conditions is sufficient for the existence of an appropriate symmetric matrix \(F\): (i) \(\mu(A)\) is diagonally dominant; (ii) \(A\) is symmetric positive definite.