On eigenvalues of rectangular matrices

Given a (k+1)-tuple A,B ₁, ..., B _k of m×n matrices with m ≤ n, we call the set of all k-tuples of complex numbers {λ ₁, ..., λ k} such that the linear combination A+λ ₁ B ₁+λ ₂ B ₂+ ... +λ _k B _k has rank smaller than m the eigenvalue locus of the latter pencil. Motivated primarily by applications to multiparameter generalizations of the Heine-Stieltjes spectral problem, we study a number of properties of the eigenvalue locus in the most important case k = n−m+1.