Generalized rayleigh principle and its applications

In this paper, we mainly deal with cigenvalue problems of non-self-adjoint operator. To begin with, the generalized Rayleigh variational principle, the idea of which was due to Morse and Feshbach, is examined in detail and proved more strictly in mathematics. Then, other three equivalent formulations of it are presented. While applying them to approximate calculation we find the condition under which the above variational method can be identified as the same with Galerkin's one. After that we illustrate the generalized variational principle by considering the hydrodynamic stability of plane Poiseuille flow and Bénard convection. Finally, the Rayleigh quotient method is extended to the cases of non-self-adjoint matrix in order to determine its strong eigenvalne in linear algebra.