[Math] Quick question: matrix with norm equal to spectral radius

eigenvalues-eigenvectorslinear algebramatricesspectral-radius

For $A\in \mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$, define:

the spectral radius

$$
\rho(A)=\max\{|\lambda|:\lambda \mbox{ is an eigenvalue of } A\}
$$

and the norm

$$
\|A\|=\max_{|x|=1}|A(x)|
$$
where |.| is the Euclidean norm on $\mathbb{C}^n$.

Problem: Find all $A\in \mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$ such that $\rho(A)=\|A\|$.

Thank you very much!

Best Answer

This is a solved problem. A complex square matrix $A$ is called radial if its spectral radius is equal to its spectral norm $\|A\|_2=\max_{\|v\|_2=1}\|Av\|_2$. A complete characterisation of radial matrices was found in

M. Goldberg and G. Zwas (1974), On matrices having equal spectral radius and spectral norm, Linear Algebra and Its Application, 8: 427-434.

The main result in this paper is that $A$ is radial if and only if $A$ is unitarily similar to a matrix of the form $$ \pmatrix{D&0\\ 0&L} $$ for some diagonal matrix $D$ and some lower triangular matrix $L$ such that $\|L\|_2\le\rho(A)$.

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