Riccati equations and Lie series

Lie series and a special matrix notation for first-order differential operators are used to show that the Lie group properties of matrix Riccati equations arise in a natural way. The Lie series notation makes it evident that the solutions of a matrix Riccati equation are curves in a group of nonlinear transformations that is a generalization of the linear fractional transformations familiar from the classical complex analysis. It is easy to obtain a linear representation of the Lie algebra of the nonlinear group of transformations and then this linearization leads directly to the standard linearization of the matrix Riccati equations. We note that the matrix Riccati equations considered here are of the general rectangular type.