How to prove that $|\det(A+B)|\leq2^n$ where $A,B$ are $n\times n$ unitary matrices

determinantlinear algebra

This is an exercise in linear algebra.

Suppose $A,B$ are $n\times n$ unitary matrices. Show that $|\det(A+B)|\leq2^n$.

THOUGHTS:

When $n=1$, this is trivially true since by the definition of unitary matrices, we must have $|A|=|B|=1$ and we can check case by case that
$|\det(A+B)|\leq2$.

But I am not able to proceed with the general case when $n>1$. All I know is that $\det(A)=\det(B)=1$ when $A$ and $B$ are both unitary. But since they are both matrices, I don't know how to relate this to the quantity $|\det(A+B)|$.

Can anyone help?

Best Answer

$|\det(A+B)| = |\det(A(I+A^{-1}B))| = |\det(I+A^{-1}B)|$. Now, $A^{-1}B$ is unitary, so it's eigenvalues lie on the unit circle $B_1(0)$. Thus the eigenvalues of $I+A^{-1}B$ lie in $1+B_1(0)\subset B_2(0)$. I think, that's all you need.