Faculteit Wiskunde en Informatica, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,
De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
e-mail: ran@cs.vu.nl
Department of Mathematics, The College of William and Mary,
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, USA
e-mail: lxrodm@math.wm.edu
Abstract. Certain continuity properties of the factors in generalized polar decompositions of real and complex matrices are studied. A complete characterization is given of those generalized polar decompositions that persist under small perturbations in the matrix and in the scalar product. Connections are made with quadratic matrix equations, and with stability properties of certain invariant subspaces.
1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 15A23.