| Abstract: | We show how Van Loan's method for annulling the (2,1) block of skew‐Hamiltonian matrices by symplectic‐orthogonal similarity transformation generalizes to general matrices and provides a numerical algorithm for solving the general quadratic matrix equation:  For skew‐Hamiltonian matrices we find their canonical form under a similarity transformation and find the class of all symplectic‐orthogonal similarity transformations for annulling the (2,1) block and simultaneously bringing the (1,1) block to Hessenberg form. We present a structure‐preserving algorithm for the solution of continuous‐time algebraic Riccati equation. Unlike other methods in the literature, the final transformed Hamiltonian matrix is not in Hamiltonian–Schur form. Three applications are presented: (a) for a special system of partial differential equations of second order for a single unknown function, we obtain the matrix of partial derivatives of second order of the unknown function by only algebraic operations and differentiation of functions; (b) for a similar transformation of a complex matrix into a symmetric (and three‐diagonal) one by applying only finite algebraic transformations; and (c) for finite‐step reduction of the eigenvalues–eigenvectors problem of a Hermitian matrix to the eigenvalues– eigenvectors problem of a real symmetric matrix of the same dimension. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
