The Complex and Real Spectral Theorems

Lemma. Let T be a normal linear operator on a finite-dimensional inner product space V ,

let be an eigenvalue of T , and let W = N (T I) denote the corresponding eigenspace.
Then W is T -invariant.
for
Proof. We have T (w) = w for w W . Since T is normal, this yields T (w) = w

w W . Now let x W and w W . Then

= hx, wi = 0.
hT (x), wi = hx, T (w)i = hx, wi
Therefore, T (x) W , as desired.
Theorem. Let T be a normal linear operator on a finite-dimensional inner product space
V , and assume that the characteristic polynomial of T splits. Then T is orthogonally diagonalizable.
Proof. We induct on n, the case n = 1 being trivial. Assume n > 1. Since the characteristic
polynomial of T splits, T has an eigenvalue . Let W = N (T I) denote the corresponding
eigenspace. Recall that V = W W by (our version of) Theorem 6.6. Let = {v1 , . . . , vk }
be an orthonormal basis for W . Since dim W > 0, we have dim W = dim V dim W <
dim V . Since W is T -invariant (by the lemma above), we may consider the operator TW .
By induction this operator is orthogonally diagonalizable; that is, there is an orthonormal
basis of W consisting of eigenvectors of TW . But for each x W , we have T (x) =
TW (x); that is, the vectors in are eigenvectors of T . It follows that is an orthonormal
basis for V consisting of eigenvectors of T . (Note that this proof avoids triangulizing and is
therefore substantially different from the books proof.)
Remark. What does the theorem say in practice? First, find the characteristic polynomial
and factor it to find
S the eigenvalues. Then find an orthonormal basis i for each eigenspace
Wi , and let = i i . By Lemma 6.15(d), is an orthonormal set. Moreover, since T is
diagonalizable, V is the direct sum of the eigenspaces of T by Theorem 5.11. Hence is a
basis for V by Theorem 5.10.
Corollary (Complex Spectral Theorem). Let T be a normal linear operator on a finitedimensional complex inner product space. Then T is orthogonally diagonalizable.
Proof. By the (so-called) Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, the characteristic polynomial
splits. Hence the result follows from the theorem above.
Lemma (Lemma (a), p. 373). Let T be a self-adjoint linear operator on a finitedimensional complex inner product space V . Then every eigenvalue of T is real.
Proof. Let be an eigenvalue, and let x be a corresponding eigenvector. Using Theorem
Since x 6= 0, this yields = ,
as
6.15, p. 371, we then have x = T (x) = T (x) = x.
desired.
Corollary (Real Spectral Theorem). Let T be a self-adjoint linear operator on an
n-dimensional real inner product space V . Then T is orthogonally diagonalizable.

Proof. Choose any orthonormal basis for T , and let A = [T ] . Let f (t) be the characteristic
polynomial of T (which is the same as the characteristic polynomial of A). (Now comes the
trick.) Define a linear operator U on Cn by U (x) = Ax (where vectors in Cn are written
as column vectors), and observe that the matrix representation of U in the standard basis
for Cn is A. Hence the characteristic polynomial of U is also f (t). However, since A = A ,
we have U = U (using the fact that the standard basis
Qn is an orthonormal basis!), and hence
the eigenvalues of U are all real. That is, f (t) = i=1 (i t), where the i are the (not
necessarily distinct) eigenvalues of U . Then, since the i are real, we have that f (t) splits
over R, whence T is orthogonally diagonalizable by the theorem above.