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THE GEOMETRY OF MATHEMATICAL METHODS

Section 5.9 Matrix Decompositions

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Returning to our special matrices, we have shown that both Hermitian and unitary matrices admit orthonormal basis of eigenvectors. So suppose that
\begin{equation} M |v\rangle = \lambda |v\rangle , M |w\rangle = \mu |w\rangle , ..\text{.}\tag{5.9.1} \end{equation}
where \(|v\rangle\text{,}\) \(|w\rangle\text{,}\) ... satisfy (5.7.1). Then (5.7.3) is satisfied, and a similar argument shows that
\begin{equation} M = \lambda |v \rangle \langle v| + \mu |w \rangle \langle w| + ... ~\text{,}\tag{5.9.2} \end{equation}
so that we can expand any Hermitian or unitary matrix in terms of its eigenvalues and the projection operators formed from its eigenvectors.