In
linear algebra
Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as
:a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n=b,
linear maps such as
:(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \mapsto a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n,
and their representations in vector spaces and through matrix (mathemat ...
, a Hessenberg matrix is a special kind of
square matrix
In mathematics, a square matrix is a Matrix (mathematics), matrix with the same number of rows and columns. An ''n''-by-''n'' matrix is known as a square matrix of order Any two square matrices of the same order can be added and multiplied.
Squ ...
, one that is "almost"
triangular. To be exact, an upper Hessenberg matrix has zero entries below the first
subdiagonal
In linear algebra, the main diagonal (sometimes principal diagonal, primary diagonal, leading diagonal, major diagonal, or good diagonal) of a matrix A is the list of entries a_ where i = j. All off-diagonal elements are zero in a diagonal matrix ...
, and a lower Hessenberg matrix has zero entries above the first
superdiagonal. They are named after
Karl Hessenberg.
A Hessenberg decomposition is a
matrix decomposition of a matrix
into a
unitary matrix and a Hessenberg matrix
such that
where
denotes the
conjugate transpose
In mathematics, the conjugate transpose, also known as the Hermitian transpose, of an m \times n complex matrix \mathbf is an n \times m matrix obtained by transposing \mathbf and applying complex conjugation to each entry (the complex conjugate ...
.
Definitions
Upper Hessenberg matrix
A square
matrix
is said to be in upper Hessenberg form or to be an upper Hessenberg matrix if
for all
with
.
An upper Hessenberg matrix is called unreduced if all subdiagonal entries are nonzero, i.e. if
for all
.
Lower Hessenberg matrix
A square
matrix
is said to be in lower Hessenberg form or to be a lower Hessenberg matrix if its transpose
is an upper Hessenberg matrix or equivalently if
for all
with
.
A lower Hessenberg matrix is called unreduced if all superdiagonal entries are nonzero, i.e. if
for all
.
Examples
Consider the following matrices.
The matrix
is an upper unreduced Hessenberg matrix,
is a lower unreduced Hessenberg matrix and
is a lower Hessenberg matrix but is not unreduced.
Computer programming
Many linear algebra
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...
s require significantly less
computational effort when applied to
triangular matrices, and this improvement often carries over to Hessenberg matrices as well. If the constraints of a linear algebra problem do not allow a general matrix to be conveniently reduced to a triangular one, reduction to Hessenberg form is often the next best thing. In fact, reduction of any matrix to a Hessenberg form can be achieved in a finite number of steps (for example, through
Householder's transformation of unitary similarity transforms). Subsequent reduction of Hessenberg matrix to a triangular matrix can be achieved through iterative procedures, such as shifted
QR-factorization. In
eigenvalue algorithms, the Hessenberg matrix can be further reduced to a triangular matrix through Shifted QR-factorization combined with deflation steps. Reducing a general matrix to a Hessenberg matrix and then reducing further to a triangular matrix, instead of directly reducing a general matrix to a triangular matrix, often economizes the arithmetic involved in the
QR algorithm for eigenvalue problems.
Reduction to Hessenberg matrix
Householder transformations
Any
matrix can be transformed into a Hessenberg matrix by a similarity transformation using
Householder transformations. The following procedure for such a transformation is adapted from A Second Course In Linear Algebra by ''Garcia & Roger''.
Let
be any real or complex
matrix, then let
be the
submatrix of
constructed by removing the first row in
and let
be the first column of
. Construct the
householder matrix
where
This householder matrix will map
to
and as such, the block matrix
will map the matrix
to the matrix
which has only zeros below the second entry of the first column. Now construct
householder matrix
in a similar manner as
such that
maps the first column of
to
, where
is the submatrix of
constructed by removing the first row and the first column of
, then let
which maps
to the matrix
which has only zeros below the first and second entry of the subdiagonal. Now construct
and then
in a similar manner, but for the matrix
constructed by removing the first row and first column of
and proceed as in the previous steps. Continue like this for a total of
steps.
By construction of
, the first
columns of any
matrix are invariant under multiplication by
from the right. Hence, any matrix can be transformed to an upper Hessenberg matrix by a similarity transformation of the form
.
Jacobi (Givens) rotations
A
Jacobi rotation (also called Givens rotation) is an orthogonal matrix transformation in the form
:
where
,
, is the Jacobi rotation matrix with all matrix elements equal zero except for
::
One can zero the matrix element
by choosing
the rotation angle
to satisfy the equation
:
Now, the sequence of such Jacobi rotations with the following
:
reduces the matrix
to the lower Hessenberg form.
Properties
For
, it is
vacuously true that every
matrix is both upper Hessenberg, and lower Hessenberg.
The product of a Hessenberg matrix with a triangular matrix is again Hessenberg. More precisely, if
is upper Hessenberg and
is upper triangular, then
and
are upper Hessenberg.
A matrix that is both upper Hessenberg and lower Hessenberg is a
tridiagonal matrix
In linear algebra, a tridiagonal matrix is a band matrix that has nonzero elements only on the main diagonal, the subdiagonal/lower diagonal (the first diagonal below this), and the supradiagonal/upper diagonal (the first diagonal above the main ...
, of which the
Jacobi matrix is an important example. This includes the symmetric or Hermitian Hessenberg matrices. A Hermitian matrix can be reduced to tri-diagonal real symmetric matrices.
Hessenberg operator
The Hessenberg operator is an infinite dimensional Hessenberg matrix. It commonly occurs as the generalization of the
Jacobi operator to a system of
orthogonal polynomials
In mathematics, an orthogonal polynomial sequence is a family of polynomials such that any two different polynomials in the sequence are orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geom ...
for the space of
square-integrable holomorphic functions over some domain—that is, a
Bergman space. In this case, the Hessenberg operator is the right-
shift operator , given by
The
eigenvalue
In linear algebra, an eigenvector ( ) or characteristic vector is a vector that has its direction unchanged (or reversed) by a given linear transformation. More precisely, an eigenvector \mathbf v of a linear transformation T is scaled by a ...
s of each principal submatrix of the Hessenberg operator are given by the
characteristic polynomial
In linear algebra, the characteristic polynomial of a square matrix is a polynomial which is invariant under matrix similarity and has the eigenvalues as roots. It has the determinant and the trace of the matrix among its coefficients. The ...
for that submatrix. These polynomials are called the
Bergman polynomials, and provide an
orthogonal polynomial basis for Bergman space.
See also
*
Hessenberg variety
Notes
References
* .
* .
*
External links
Hessenberg matrixat
MathWorld
''MathWorld'' is an online mathematics reference work, created and largely written by Eric W. Weisstein. It is sponsored by and licensed to Wolfram Research, Inc. and was partially funded by the National Science Foundation's National Science ...
.
*
High performance algorithmsfor reduction to condensed (Hessenberg, tridiagonal, bidiagonal) form
Algorithm overview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hessenberg Matrix
Matrices (mathematics)