Distance Evaluation to the Set of Defective Matrices

We treat the problem of the Frobenius distance evaluation from a given matrix $ A \in \mathbb R^{n\times n} $ with distinct eigenvalues to the manifold of matrices with multiple eigenvalues. On restricting considerations to the rank $ 1 $ real perturbation matrices, we prove that the distance in question equals $ \sqrt{z_{\ast}} $ where $ z_{\ast} $ is a positive (generically, the least positive) zero of the algebraic equation $$ \mathcal F(z) = 0, \ \mbox{where} \ \mathcal F(z):= \mathcal D_λ \left( \det \left[ (λI - A)(λI - A^{\top})-z I_n \right] \right)/z^n $$ and $ \mathcal D_λ $ stands for the discriminant of the polynomial treated with respect to $λ$. In the framework of this approach we also provide the procedure for finding the nearest to $ A $ matrix with multiple eigenvalue. Generalization of the problem to the case of complex perturbations is also discussed. Several examples are presented clarifying the computational aspects of the approach.