Matrix logarithm ($\log A$)

For a positive-definite Hermitian matrix with spectral decomposition $A=U\mathrm{diag}({\lambda }_j)U^{\ast }$, the matrix logarithm is $\log A=U\mathrm{diag}(\log {\lambda }_j)U^{\ast }$. More generally it is a branch of the inverse of the matrix exponential when such a branch exists.