In mathematics, a nonlinear eigenproblem, sometimes nonlinear eigenvalue problem, is a generalization of the (ordinary) eigenvalue problem to equations that depend nonlinearly on the eigenvalue. Specifically, it refers to equations of the form

M ( λ ) x = 0 , {\displaystyle M(\lambda )x=0,}

where x ≠ 0 {\displaystyle x\neq 0} is a vector, and M {\displaystyle M} is a matrix-valued function of the number λ {\displaystyle \lambda }. The number λ {\displaystyle \lambda } is known as the (nonlinear) eigenvalue, the vector x {\displaystyle x} as the (nonlinear) eigenvector, and ( λ , x ) {\displaystyle (\lambda ,x)} as the eigenpair. The matrix M ( λ ) {\displaystyle M(\lambda )} is singular at an eigenvalue λ {\displaystyle \lambda }.

Definition

In the discipline of numerical linear algebra the following definition is typically used.

Let Ω ⊆ C {\displaystyle \Omega \subseteq \mathbb {C} }, and let M : Ω → C n × n {\displaystyle M:\Omega \rightarrow \mathbb {C} ^{n\times n}} be a function that maps scalars to matrices. A scalar λ ∈ C {\displaystyle \lambda \in \mathbb {C} } is called an eigenvalue, and a nonzero vector x ∈ C n {\displaystyle x\in \mathbb {C} ^{n}} is called a right eigenvector if M ( λ ) x = 0 {\displaystyle M(\lambda )x=0}. Moreover, a nonzero vector y ∈ C n {\displaystyle y\in \mathbb {C} ^{n}} is called a left eigenvector if y H M ( λ ) = 0 H {\displaystyle y^{H}M(\lambda )=0^{H}}, where the superscript H {\displaystyle ^{H}} denotes the Hermitian transpose. The definition of the eigenvalue is equivalent to det ( M ( λ ) ) = 0 {\displaystyle \det(M(\lambda ))=0}, where det ( ) {\displaystyle \det()} denotes the determinant.

The function M {\displaystyle M} is usually required to be a holomorphic function of λ {\displaystyle \lambda } (in some domain Ω {\displaystyle \Omega }).

In general, M ( λ ) {\displaystyle M(\lambda )} could be a linear map, but most commonly it is a finite-dimensional, usually square, matrix.

Definition: The problem is said to be regular if there exists a z ∈ Ω {\displaystyle z\in \Omega } such that det ( M ( z ) ) ≠ 0 {\displaystyle \det(M(z))\neq 0}. Otherwise it is said to be singular.

Definition: An eigenvalue λ {\displaystyle \lambda } is said to have algebraic multiplicity k {\displaystyle k} if k {\displaystyle k} is the smallest integer such that the k {\displaystyle k}th derivative of det ( M ( z ) ) {\displaystyle \det(M(z))} with respect to z {\displaystyle z}, in λ {\displaystyle \lambda } is nonzero. In formulas that d k det ( M ( z ) ) d z k | z = λ ≠ 0 {\displaystyle \left.{\frac {d^{k}\det(M(z))}{dz^{k}}}\right|_{z=\lambda }\neq 0} but d ℓ det ( M ( z ) ) d z ℓ | z = λ = 0 {\displaystyle \left.{\frac {d^{\ell }\det(M(z))}{dz^{\ell }}}\right|_{z=\lambda }=0} for ℓ = 0 , 1 , 2 , … , k − 1 {\displaystyle \ell =0,1,2,\dots ,k-1}.

Definition: The geometric multiplicity of an eigenvalue λ {\displaystyle \lambda } is the dimension of the nullspace of M ( λ ) {\displaystyle M(\lambda )}.

Special cases

The following examples are special cases of the nonlinear eigenproblem.

  • The (ordinary) eigenvalue problem: M ( λ ) = A − λ I . {\displaystyle M(\lambda )=A-\lambda I.}
  • The generalized eigenvalue problem: M ( λ ) = A − λ B . {\displaystyle M(\lambda )=A-\lambda B.}
  • The quadratic eigenvalue problem: M ( λ ) = A 0 + λ A 1 + λ 2 A 2 . {\displaystyle M(\lambda )=A_{0}+\lambda A_{1}+\lambda ^{2}A_{2}.}
  • The polynomial eigenvalue problem: M ( λ ) = ∑ i = 0 m λ i A i . {\displaystyle M(\lambda )=\sum _{i=0}^{m}\lambda ^{i}A_{i}.}
  • The rational eigenvalue problem: M ( λ ) = ∑ i = 0 m 1 A i λ i + ∑ i = 1 m 2 B i r i ( λ ) , {\displaystyle M(\lambda )=\sum _{i=0}^{m_{1}}A_{i}\lambda ^{i}+\sum _{i=1}^{m_{2}}B_{i}r_{i}(\lambda ),} where r i ( λ ) {\displaystyle r_{i}(\lambda )} are rational functions.
  • The delay eigenvalue problem: M ( λ ) = − I λ + A 0 + ∑ i = 1 m A i e − τ i λ , {\displaystyle M(\lambda )=-I\lambda +A_{0}+\sum _{i=1}^{m}A_{i}e^{-\tau _{i}\lambda },} where τ 1 , τ 2 , … , τ m {\displaystyle \tau _{1},\tau _{2},\dots ,\tau _{m}} are given scalars, known as delays.

Jordan chains

Definition: Let ( λ 0 , x 0 ) {\displaystyle (\lambda _{0},x_{0})} be an eigenpair. A tuple of vectors ( x 0 , x 1 , … , x r − 1 ) ∈ C n × C n × ⋯ × C n {\displaystyle (x_{0},x_{1},\dots ,x_{r-1})\in \mathbb {C} ^{n}\times \mathbb {C} ^{n}\times \dots \times \mathbb {C} ^{n}} is called a Jordan chain if∑ k = 0 ℓ M ( k ) ( λ 0 ) x ℓ − k = 0 , {\displaystyle \sum _{k=0}^{\ell }M^{(k)}(\lambda _{0})x_{\ell -k}=0,}for ℓ = 0 , 1 , … , r − 1 {\displaystyle \ell =0,1,\dots ,r-1}, where M ( k ) ( λ 0 ) {\displaystyle M^{(k)}(\lambda _{0})} denotes the k {\displaystyle k}th derivative of M {\displaystyle M} with respect to λ {\displaystyle \lambda } and evaluated in λ = λ 0 {\displaystyle \lambda =\lambda _{0}}. The vectors x 0 , x 1 , … , x r − 1 {\displaystyle x_{0},x_{1},\dots ,x_{r-1}} are called generalized eigenvectors, r {\displaystyle r} is called the length of the Jordan chain, and the maximal length a Jordan chain starting with x 0 {\displaystyle x_{0}} is called the rank of x 0 {\displaystyle x_{0}}.

Theorem: A tuple of vectors ( x 0 , x 1 , … , x r − 1 ) ∈ C n × C n × ⋯ × C n {\displaystyle (x_{0},x_{1},\dots ,x_{r-1})\in \mathbb {C} ^{n}\times \mathbb {C} ^{n}\times \dots \times \mathbb {C} ^{n}} is a Jordan chain if and only if the function M ( λ ) χ ℓ ( λ ) {\displaystyle M(\lambda )\chi _{\ell }(\lambda )} has a root in λ = λ 0 {\displaystyle \lambda =\lambda _{0}} and the root is of multiplicity at least ℓ {\displaystyle \ell } for ℓ = 0 , 1 , … , r − 1 {\displaystyle \ell =0,1,\dots ,r-1}, where the vector valued function χ ℓ ( λ ) {\displaystyle \chi _{\ell }(\lambda )} is defined asχ ℓ ( λ ) = ∑ k = 0 ℓ x k ( λ − λ 0 ) k . {\displaystyle \chi _{\ell }(\lambda )=\sum _{k=0}^{\ell }x_{k}(\lambda -\lambda _{0})^{k}.}

Mathematical software

  • The eigenvalue solver package SLEPc contains C-implementations of many numerical methods for nonlinear eigenvalue problems.
  • The is a MATLAB package containing many nonlinear eigenvalue problems with various properties.
  • The is a software package for standard eigenvalue problems as well as nonlinear eigenvalue problems, designed from density-matrix representation in quantum mechanics combined with contour integration techniques.
  • The MATLAB toolbox contains an implementation of fully rational Krylov with a dynamically constructed rational interpolant.
  • The MATLAB toolbox contains an implementation of the compact rational Krylov algorithm that exploits the Kronecker structure of the linearization pencils.
  • The MATLAB toolbox contains an implementation of CORK with rational approximation by set-valued AAA.
  • The MATLAB toolbox (Rational Krylov Toolbox) contains implementations of the rational Krylov method for nonlinear eigenvalue problems as well as features for rational approximation.
  • The Julia package contains many implementations of various numerical methods for nonlinear eigenvalue problems, as well as many benchmark problems.
  • The review paper of Güttel & Tisseur contains MATLAB code snippets implementing basic Newton-type methods and contour integration methods for nonlinear eigenproblems.

Eigenvector nonlinearity

Eigenvector nonlinearities is a related, but different, form of nonlinearity that is sometimes studied. In this case the function M {\displaystyle M} maps vectors to matrices, or sometimes hermitian matrices to hermitian matrices.

Further reading