Abstract. This paper shows that for unitary Hessenberg matrices the QR algorithm, with (an exceptional initial-value modification of) the Wilkinson shift, gives global convergence; moreover, the asymptotic rate of convergence is at least cubic, higher than that which can be shown to be quadratic only for Hermitian tridiagonal matrices, under no further assumption. A general mixed shift strategy with global convergence and cubic rates is also presented.

Abstract. In applying the QR algorithm to compute the eigenvalues of a unitary Hessenberg matrix, a projected Wilkinson shift of unit modulus is proposed and proved to give global convergence with (at least) a quadratic asymptotic rate for the QR iteration. Experimental testing demonstrates that the unimodular shift produces more efficient numerical convergence.

No abstract