Lipschitz continuity of square root of sum of matrix squares

linear algebralipschitz-functionsmatricesmatrix decomposition

Let $B\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times n}$ be a positive semi-definite matrix (i.e., $B \in \mathbb{S}^n_{\ge 0}$), and consider the map
$$
\mathbb{R}^{n\times n}\ni A \mapsto f(A):=(AA^\top +B)^{1/2}\in \mathbb{S}^n_{\ge 0},
$$

where $(\cdot)^{1/2}$ is unique positive semidefinite matrix square root. Is it possible to prove the map is Lipschitz continuous? How about local Lipschitz continuity?


The answer is affirmative for one-dimensional case. By discussing whether $B=0$ or not, one can easily show $f(A)$ is Lipschitz continuous.

In a multidimensional setting, if $B$ is positive definite, then the matrix square root $(\cdot)^{1/2}$ is Lipschitz continuous with the Lipschitz constant depending on the minimum eigenvalue of $B$, and hence the map $f$ is locally Lipschitz.

It is not clear to me how to relax the positive definite condition of $B$ for the locally Lipschitz continuity.

Best Answer

The mapping $g:X\mapsto |X|:=(XX^T)^{1/2}$ that maps a square matrix to its polar part is Lipschitz continuous. This was first proved in Araki and Yamagami (1981), An inequality for the Hilbert-Schmidt norm, Comm. Math. Phys, 81:89-98 (see theorem 1 on p.89 and its proof on p.90). The authors proved that $\|\,|X|-|Y|\,\|_F\le\sqrt{2}\|X-Y\|_F$. The Lipschitz constant $\sqrt{2}$ is the best possible in the general case, but it can be improved to $1$ when $X$ and $Y$ are self-adjoint. See also section 5 of Rajendra Bhatia (1994), Matrix Factorizations and Their Perturbations, Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 197-198:245-276.

Since $\pmatrix{f(A)&0\\ 0&0}=\left|\pmatrix{A&B^{1/2}\\ 0&0}\right|$, your $f$ is also Lipschitz continuous with the same constant $\sqrt{2}$, but I don't know whether this constant can be improved or not.

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