A Tutorial on Matrix Perturbation Theory (using compact matrix notation)

Abstract: Analytic perturbation theory for matrices and operators is an immensely useful mathematical technique. Most elementary introductions to this method have their background in the physics literature, and quantum mechanics in particular. In this note, we give an introduction to this method that is independent of any physics notions, and relies purely on concepts from linear algebra. An additional feature of this presentation is that matrix notation and methods are used throughout. In particular, we formulate the equations for each term of the analytic expansions of eigenvalues and eigenvectors as {\em matrix equations}, namely Sylvester equations in particular. Solvability conditions and explicit expressions for solutions of such matrix equations are given, and expressions for each term in the analytic expansions are given in terms of those solutions. This unified treatment simplifies somewhat the complex notation that is commonly seen in the literature, and in particular, provides relatively compact expressions for the non-Hermitian and degenerate cases, as well as for higher order terms.