False under the hypotheses as printed. Nonzero coefficients do not ensure the two-column dominant-subspace condition.
For a counterexample, take , eigenvalues
and an orthonormal eigenbasis for which
The two displayed coefficient vectors are orthonormal and can be completed to an orthogonal matrix, so such a real symmetric matrix exists. Every and is nonzero, but
Indeed, with ,
is a nonzero multiple of , while the remaining direction in
is
Thus
By the simultaneous iteration interpretation of the QR algorithm, the leading two columns of the accumulated factor span this same space. The leading block is therefore an orthogonal-coordinate representation of the compression of to this space. Since
we have
for every relevant , rather than . Hence the requested Hausdorff convergence does not hold.
For completeness, the intended statement becomes true if one adds
Let consist of the first two columns of . The Accumulated QR factorization identity gives
After division by , every component along
tends to zero because of the strict spectral gap, while makes the two surviving dominant components independent. Therefore these two-dimensional subspaces converge to the dominant invariant subspace
There are two-by-two orthogonal matrices such that
Because
up to the harmless index convention at , we obtain
in the matrix 2-norm. Orthogonal similarity preserves the spectrum, and the stated spectral perturbation bound now gives
A tied largest modulus can prevent even direction convergence. With and ,
The two directions form a cycle; neither is an eigenvector. There is no dominant-modulus spectral gap. A tied modulus is not a universal failure: an initial eigenvector remains on its line, and preserves every direction. Subspace iteration addresses a separated cluster by targeting a dominant invariant subspace instead of one eigenvector.
An orthogonal start can fail despite a strict spectral gap. For and , the dominant component is zero, so and every iterate equals . The Rayleigh quotient is exactly and the eigenpair residual is zero, although the dominant eigenvalue is . Exact arithmetic never creates a missing component.[ref]
The third panel contrasts these failures with , , for which
Here the horizontal eigenvector direction converges with a strict spectral gap, while the normalized vectors alternate signs. This is the successful direction convergence described under sign and phase in power iteration.
For a nonorthogonal eigenbasis, even the word “orthogonal” must be used carefully. The diagonalizable matrix has right eigenvectors , , and dominant left eigenvector . For , the dominant coefficient is . The starting vector is nonorthogonal to but stays at the smaller eigenvalue ; is orthogonal to but has and converges to the dominant direction. The left eigenvector test, not the right-eigenvector inner product, controls the outcome.
A random vector drawn from a continuous probability distribution with a probability density function on the full real or complex vector space has with probability one. This avoids the exact missing-component hyperplane, but does not guarantee a large component or fast convergence. Floating-point arithmetic may seed a missing component, yet a structurally preserved zero can remain zero, so accidental perturbations are not a convergence guarantee.