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I am aware that the state space realization of a dynamical system is not unique. So if we have a dynamical system:

$\dot{x} = Ax + Bu$

$y = Cx$

Then we can write it as

$\begin{bmatrix} \dot{x}\\y \end{bmatrix} = G \begin{bmatrix}x\\u\end{bmatrix} $

where G is

$G = \begin{bmatrix} A \ \ \ \ | & B\\ \hline C \ \ \ \ | & 0 \end{bmatrix} $

but one can also formulate it as

$G = \begin{bmatrix} TAT^{-1} \ \ | & TB\\ \hline CT^{-1} \ \ \ \ \ | & 0 \end{bmatrix}$

for any invertible matrix $T$.

I need to show that these two realizations of $G$ have the same Euclidean norm. I have found a video showing how similarity transformations preserve the trace and the determinant, but they did just an example problem, without doing the proof.

Edit:

It has been given that $G \in \mathcal{RH}_2$, where $\mathcal{RH}_2$ is a set of all real rational, strictly proper and stable transfer matrices. It is a Hilbert Space with the inner product:

$\langle F,G \rangle = \sup_{\sigma > 0} \left\{ \frac{1}{2\pi}\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} trace \left\{ F^* (\sigma+j\omega) G(\sigma+j\omega) \right\} d\omega \right\}$

and the corresponding norm given by

${{\left\Vert F \right\Vert}_{2}}^2 = \frac{1}{2\pi} \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} trace \left\{ F^*(j\omega)F(j\omega) \right\}d\omega$

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    Whatever it is that you're trying to prove, you will probably find it helpful to observe that $$ G' = \left[ \begin{array}{c|c} T&0\ \hline 0&1 \end{array} \right]G \left[ \begin{array}{c|c} T&0\ \hline 0&1 \end{array} \right]^{-1} $$ – Ben Grossmann May 01 '20 at 20:59
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    Based on your edit, it seems as though the question is asking you to prove something that, as I showed, is not true. Could you check what the definition of $\mathcal{RH}_2$ is? – Ben Grossmann May 01 '20 at 23:11
  • I just added the definition of $\mathcal{RH}_2$ in the question. –  May 02 '20 at 00:10

3 Answers3

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The problem here is really the notation.

This is adding to the answer by obareey a bit more details. Given a linear system

$$ \begin{align} \dot{x} &= A x + B u \\ y &= C x + D u \\ \end{align} $$

In this question $D = 0$, but that doesn't really change anything. Then i.e. this is wrong:

$$ G = \left[ \begin{array}{c|c} A&B\\ \hline C&D \end{array} \right] $$

As mentioned by obareey, $G$ is not a real matrix but instead a transfer function matrix. Often this is written instead like

$$ G(s) \sim \left[ \begin{array}{c|c} A&B\\ \hline C&D \end{array} \right] $$

sometimes also written as

$$ G(s) \triangleq \left[ \begin{array}{c|c} A&B\\ \hline C&D \end{array} \right] \text{ or } G(s) \overset{s}= \left[ \begin{array}{c|c} A&B\\ \hline C&D \end{array} \right] $$

Unfortunatly the notation varies and I have seen all of these. Some authors even use an equal sign, which makes things really confusing (or: wrong). However they really all mean the same, namely that $G(s) = C(s I - A)^{-1} B + D$ and $I$ is an identity matrix.

The $2$-norm of a general MIMO transfer function is

$$ \Vert G(s) \Vert_2 = \Big( \frac{1}{2 \pi} \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \text{trace} \big[ G(j \omega)^H G(j \omega) \big] d \omega \Big)^{1/2} $$

so of course $\Vert G(s) \Vert_2 = \Vert \widetilde{G}(s) \Vert_2$ when $G(s) = \widetilde{G}(s)$, assuming that $A$ is stable so that the integral exists, i.e. $\Vert G(s) \Vert_2 < \infty$. So all you need to show is that

$$ C(s I - A)^{-1} B + D = \widetilde{C}(s I - \widetilde{A})^{-1} \widetilde{B} + \widetilde{D} $$

using an invertible $T$ and

$$ \begin{align} \widetilde{A} &= T A T^{-1} \\ \widetilde{B} &= T B \\ \widetilde{C} &= C T^{-1} \\ \widetilde{D} &= D \end{align} $$

This is standard realization theory. You can check that both transfer functions are the same:

$$ \begin{align} \widetilde{G}(s) &= \widetilde{C}(s I - \widetilde{A})^{-1} \widetilde{B} + \widetilde{D} \\ &= C T^{-1}(s I - T A T^{-1})^{-1} T B + D \\ &= C \big(T^{-1}(s I - T A T^{-1})T\big)^{-1}B + D \\ &= C \big(T^{-1} s I T - T^{-1} T A T^{-1} T\big)^{-1}B + D \\ &= C(s I - A)^{-1} B + D \\ &= G(s) \end{align} $$

because $T^{-1} s I T = s(T^{-1} I T) = s(T^{-1} T) = s I$ since $T^{-1} T = I$ and the fact that $(K_1 K_2 K_3)^{-1} = K_3^{-1} K_2^{-1} K_1^{-1}$ for some invertible matrices $K_1, K_2, K_3$.

So because $G(s) = \widetilde{G}(s)$ their $2$-norms are the same.

SampleTime
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  • could you please explain how $C T^{-1}(s I - T A T^{-1})^{-1} T B + D = C \big(T^{-1}(s I - T A T^{-1})T\big)^{-1}B + D \$. I am not sure how the T being multiplied by B can be taken inside the brackets. And thank you for your awesome answer –  May 02 '20 at 19:37
  • @lin_dude Yes, just define $K_1 = T$, $K_2 = s I - T A T^{-1}$ and $K_3 = T^{-1}$ and apply the formula for products of inverse matrices that I mentioned at the end of the post: $C K_1^{-1} K_2^{-1} K_3^{-1} B = C (K_3 K_2 K_1)^{-1}B$. – SampleTime May 02 '20 at 19:42
  • Forgive my inexperience with linear algebra but how would $K_2 = sI - TAT^{-1}$ be an invertible matrix? –  May 02 '20 at 20:18
  • @lin_dude Because its determinant (which is the characteristic polynomial of $A$, or the denominator of $G(s)$, which both are also invariant to similarity transformations) $\det(s I - T A T^{-1}) = \det(s I - A)$ is zero only at the poles of $G(s)$, where $G(s)$ is not defined anyway. – SampleTime May 03 '20 at 09:08
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In this context $G$ is not a matrix, but a representation of the system. The 2-norm is not a matrix norm, but a system norm. This 2-norm is still defined by the system's frequency response. Since the transfer function matrix (hence the frequency response) of the system is invariant under similarity transformations, its 2-norm also does not change.

obareey
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  • Hi, just curious, does the Markov property and the transition probabilities remain invariant under similarity transformations? – gary Dec 02 '25 at 17:53
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It is not the case that the transformed matrix $G$ will have the same $2$-norm. For instance, consider $$ A = \pmatrix{0&1\\0&0}, \quad B = \pmatrix{1\\0}, \quad C = \pmatrix{1&0}, \quad T = \pmatrix{2&0\\0&1}. $$ We find that the matrices in question are $$ G = \left[ \begin{array}{cc|c} 0&1&1\\ 0&0&0\\ \hline 1&0&0 \end{array} \right], \quad G' = \left[ \begin{array}{cc|c} 0&2&2\\ 0&0&0\\ \hline \frac 12&0&0 \end{array} \right]. $$ Verify that these two matrices do not have the same $2$-norm.


For an example of a stable system for which this occurs, it suffices to replace $A$ with the matrix $$ \pmatrix{-1&1\\0&-1} $$ in the above example.

Ben Grossmann
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  • Yes, the 2-norm of $G'$ would be 2 times the 2-norm of G. I might be missing something then. I will edit my question and include the problem statement as well. –  May 01 '20 at 20:53
  • @pip_pydude Could it be the case that $T$ is necessarily an orthogonal matrix in this context? – Ben Grossmann May 01 '20 at 20:57
  • Yes, that assumption can be made. How can we prove if that assumption is made. –  May 01 '20 at 21:07
  • I have added the problem statement to the question –  May 01 '20 at 21:10
  • @pip_pydude Ok! The fact that we're using the $2$-norm whose definition you added changes things a lot. – Ben Grossmann May 02 '20 at 00:24
  • @pip To clarify: does $F^*$ refer to the conjugate-transpose of $F$? – Ben Grossmann May 02 '20 at 00:24
  • @pip I'm a bit confused, actually. How would you define the "transfer matrix" of an input/state/output system? If we just want $Y = G(s) U$, then there would be no difference between the transfer matrix corresponding to a given state-space realization and the transfer matrix corresponding to the overall input/output system. – Ben Grossmann May 02 '20 at 00:32
  • @Omnomnomnom The transfer matrix is $G(s) = C(s I - A)^{-1} B + D$. The $I$ is identity matrix. Your example is invalid though, because your $A$ is not stable. – SampleTime May 02 '20 at 09:09
  • @SampleTime Stability doesn't make a difference; see my latest edit. Also, if $|G|_2$ is defined in terms of the transfer function $G$, then how does the phrase "$|G|_2$ is invariant to any state space realization of $G$" make sense? Apparently, the definition of $|G|_2$ has nothing to do with realizations. – Ben Grossmann May 02 '20 at 15:58
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    @SampleTime I guess, per your answer, that that's the point. Different realizations correspond to the same transfer function, and therefore the "2-norm of the transfer function" is the same for each. – Ben Grossmann May 02 '20 at 16:09
  • @Omnomnomnom Yes, I totally agree with you that the problem statement is strange: If the textbook did introduce realizations before, then it makes little sense to ask about the invariance of the 2-norm to different realizations, because by definition, the 2-norm is invariant to realizations (as it is defined in terms of the transfer function). If the textbook did not introduce realizations before, it is IMO a strange way to introduce them via the 2-norm... – SampleTime May 02 '20 at 16:13