Conjugate-normal matrices with conjugate-normal submatrices

In studying the reduction of a complex n × n matrix A to its Hessenberg form by the Arnoldi algorithm, T. Huckle discovered that an irreducible Hessenberg normal matrix with a normal leading principal m × m submatrix, where 1 < m < n, actually is tridiagonal. We prove a similar assertion for the conjugate-normal matrices, which play the same role in the theory of unitary congruences as the conventional normal matrices in the theory of unitary similarities. This fact is stated as a purely matrix-theoretic theorem, without any reference to Arnoldi-like algorithms. Bibliography: 2 titles. __________ Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 346, 2007, pp. 21–25.