Numerical methods for ordinary differential equations on matrix manifolds

In recent years differential systems whose solutions evolve on manifolds of matrices have acquired a certain relevance in numerical analysis. A classical example of such a differential system is the well-known Toda flow. This paper is a partial survey of numerical methods recently proposed for approximating the solutions of ordinary differential systems evolving on matrix manifolds. In particular, some results recently obtained by the author jointly with his co-workers will be presented. We will discuss numerical techniques for isospectral and isodynamical flows where the eigenvalues of the solutions are preserved during the evolution and numerical methods for ODEs on the orthogonal group or evolving on a more general quadratic group, like the symplectic or Lorentz group. We mention some results for systems evolving on the Stiefel manifold and also review results for the numerical solution of ODEs evolving on the general linear group of matrices.