Congruence and Conjunctivity of Matrices

Congruence of arbitrary square matrices over an arbitrary field is treated here by elementary classical methods, and likewise for conjunctivity of arbitrary square matrices over an arbitrary field with involution. Uniqueness results are emphasized, since they are largely neglected in the literature. In particular, it is shown that a matrix S is congruent [conjunctive] to S₀⊕S₁ with S₁ nonsingular, and that if S₁ here is of maximal size among all nonsingular matrices R₁ for which R₀⊕R₁ is congruent [conjunctive] to S, then the congruence [conjunctivity] class of S determines that of S₁. Partially canonical forms (most of them already known) are derived, to the extent that they do not depend on the field. Nearly canonical forms are derived for “neutral” matrices (those congruent or conjunctive with block matrices $\text{O}\text{N}\text{M}\text{O}$ with the two zero blocks being square). For a neutral matrix S over a field F,the F-congruence [F-conjunctivity] class of S is determined by the F-equivalence class of the pencil S+tS' [S+tS¹] and, if the pencil is nonsingular, by the F[t]-equivalence class of S+tS' [S+tS¹].