The robertson-taussky inequality revisited

Let a positive definite Hermitian matrix HεMⁿ(C) be decomposed as H=A + iB, with A, B ε M_nm(R). We give two new proofs of the inequality det H ≤ det A (with equality iff B = 0. each of which vields something futher. One exhibits majorization between the eigenvalues of A and H the other allows proof of the permanental analog per H≥per A.     

The Best Lower Bound for the Permanent of a Correlation Matrix of Rank Two

If 1≤k≤n, then Cor(n,k) denotes the set of all n×n real correlation matrices of rank not exceeding k. Grone and Pierce have shown that if A∈Cor (n, n-1), then per(A)≥n/(n-1). We show that if A∈Cor(n,2), then , and that this inequality is the best possible.     

On k-spaces of real matrices

It is shown that if W is a linear subspace of real n × n matrices, such that rank (A) = k for all 0 ≠ A ∈ W, then dim W≤ n. If dim W = n.5≤ n is prime, and 2 is primitive modulo n then k =1.     

Large spaces of symmetric matrices of bounded rank are decomposable

Let k and n be positive integers such that k≤n. Let S_n(F) denote the space of all n×n symmetric matrices over the field F with char F≠2. A subspace L of S_n(F) is said to be a k-subspace if rank A≤k for every AεL.

Now suppose that k is even, and write k=2r. We say a k∥-subspace of S_n(F) is decomposable if there exists in Fⁿ a subspace W of dimension n-r such that x^tAx=0 for every xεWAεL.

We show here, under some mild assumptions on kn and F, that every k∥-subspace of S_n(F) of sufficiently large dimension must be decomposable. This is an analogue of a result obtained by Atkinson and Lloyd for corresponding subspaces of F^m,n.     

Multiplicative properties of generalized matrix functions

We consider scalar-valued matrix functions for n×n matrices A=(a_ij) defined by Where G is a subgroup of S_n the group of permutations on n letters, and χ is a linear character of G. Two such functions are the permanent and the determinant. A function (1) is multiplicative on a semigroup S of n×n matrices if d(AB)=d(A)d(B) AB∈S.

With mild restrictions on the underlying scalar ring we show that every element of a semigroup containing the diagonal matrices on which (1) is multiplicative can have at most one nonzero diagonal(i.e., diagonal with all nonzero entries)and conversely, provided that χ is the principal character(χ≡1).     

The identity as a matrix commutator

If A is an n×n matrix over a field F of positive characteristic p, then I_n=AB-BA, for some matrix B, iff p divides the size of each Jordan block of A.     

Equality of higher numerical ranges of matrices and a conjecture of Kippenhahn on Hermitian pencils

Let M_n be the algebra of all n × n complex matrices. For 1 k n, the kth numerical range of A M_n is defined by W_k(A) = (1/k)∑_j^k=1x_j^*Ax_j : x₁, …, x_k is an orthonormal set in ⁿ]. It is known that tr A/n = W_n(A) W_n−1(A) W₁(A). We study the condition on A under which W_m(A) = W_k(A) for some given 1 m < k n. It turns out that this study is closely related to a conjecture of Kippenhahn on Hermitian pencils. A new class of counterexamples to the conjecture is constructed, based on the theory of the numerical range.     

Holes in random graphs

It is shown that for every >0 with the probability tending to 1 as n→∞ a random graph G(n,p) contains induced cycles of all lengths k, 3 ≤ k ≤ (1 − )n log c/c, provided c(n) = (n − 1)p(n)→∞.     

Spherical functions and immanants

Let λ be an irreducible character of S_n corresponding to the partition (r,s) of n. Let A be a positive semidefinite Hermitian n × n matrix. Let d_λ(A) and per(A) be the immanants corresponding to λ and to the trivial character of S_n, respectively. A proof of the inequality dλ(A)≤λ(id)per(A) is given.     

Linear transformations on matrices: The invariance of commuting pairs of matrices

Let L be a linear transformation on the set of all n×n matrices over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. It is shown that if AB=BA implies L(A)L(B)=L(B)L(A) and if either L is nonsingular or the implication in the hypothesis can also be reversed, then L is a sum of a scalar multiple of a similarity transformation and a linear functional times the identity transformation.     

Linear mappings which are rank-k nonincreasing, II

We prove the following result. Let F be an infinite field of characteristic other than two. Let k be a positive integer. Let S_n(F) denote the space of all n × n symmetric matrices with entries in F, and let T:S_n(F)→S_n(F) be a linear operator. Suppose that T is rank-k nonincreasing and its image contains a matrix with rank higher than K. Then, there exist λεF and PεF^n,n such that T(A)=λPAP^t for all AεS_n(F). λ can be chosen to be 1 if F is algebraically closed and ±1 if F=R, the real field.     

A theorem of the alternatives for the equation Ax + B|x| = b

The following theorem is proved: given square matrices A, D of the same size, D nonnegative, then either the equation Ax + B|x| = b has a unique solution for each B with |B| ≤ D and for each b, or the equation Ax + B₀|x| = 0 has a nontrivial solution for some matrix B₀ of a very special form, |B₀| ≤ D; the two alternatives exclude each other. Some consequences of this result are drawn. In particular, we define a λ to be an absolute eigenvalue of A if |Ax| = λ|x| for some x ≠ 0, and we prove that each square real matrix has an absolute eigenvalue.     

An inequality for M-matrices

If AB are n × n M matrices with dominant principal diagonal, we show that 3[det(A + B)]^1/n ≥ (det A)^1/n + (det B)^1/n.     

A matrix problem associated with computing Cohen-Macaulay type

Suppose A∈M_n×m(F), B∈M_n×t(F) for some field F. Define Г(AB) to be the set of n×n diagonal matrices D such that the column space of DA is contained in the column space of B. In this paper we determine dim Г(AB). For matrices AB of the same rank we provide an algorithm for computing dim Г(AB).     

On a conjecture of C. Johnson

Given a pair of n×n matricesA and B, one may form a polynomial P(A,B,λ) which generalizes the characteristic polynomial of BP(B,λ). In particular, when A=I (identity), P(A, B,λ) = P(B,λ), the characteristic polynomial of B. C. Johnson has conjectured [1] (among other things) that when A and B are hermitian and A is positive definite, then P(A,B,λ) has real roots. The case n=2 can be done by hand. In this paper we verify the conjecture for n=3.     

Boundedness and asymptotic behavior of the solutions of a fuzzy difference equation

In this paper we study the existence, the uniqueness, the boundedness and the asymptotic behavior of the positive solutions of the fuzzy difference equation x_n+1=∑_i=0^kA_i/x_n−i^p_i, where k{1,2,…,}, A_i, i{0,1,…,k}, are positive fuzzy numbers, p_i, i{0,1,…,k}, are positive constants and x_i, i{−k,−k+1,…,0}, are positive fuzzy numbers.     

Nonchordal positive semidefinite stochastic matrices

Let K_nbe the convex set of n×npositive semidefinite doubly stochastic matrices. If Aε k_n, the graph of A,G(A), is the graph on n vertices with (i,j) an edge if a_ij ≠ 0i≠ j. We are concerned with the extreme points in K_n. In many cases, the rank of Aand G(A) are enough to determine whether A is extreme in K_n. This is true, in particular, if G(A)is a special kind of nonchordal graph, i.e., if no two cycles in G(A)have a common edge.     

Linear transformations on tensor spaces

Let U⊗V denote the tensor product of two finite dimensional vector spaces U and V over an infinite field. Let k be a positive integer such that k≤dim U and k≤ dim V Let D_k denote the set of all non-zero elements of U⊗V of rank less than k. In this paper we study linear transformations T on U⊗V such that (TD_k)⊆D_k.     

On isometries of matrix spaces

Let A_kbe the group of isometries of the space of n-by-n matrices over reals (resp. complexes, quaternions) with respect to the Ky Fan k-norm (see the Introduction for the definitions). Let Γ⁰ be the group of transformations of this space consisting of all products of left and right multiplications by the elements of SO(n)(resp. U(n), Sp(n)). It is shown that, except for three particular casesA_k coincides with the normalizer of Γ in Δ group of isometries of the above matrix space with respect to the standard inner product. We also give an alternative treatment of the case D = Rn = 4k = 2 which was studied in detail by Johnson, Laffey, and Li [4].