On the characterization of almost strictly totally positive matrices

A nonsingular matrix is called almost strictly totally positive when all its minors are nonnegative and, furthermore, these minors are strictly positive if and only if their diagonal entries are strictly positive. Almost strictly totally positive matrices are useful in Approximation Theory and Computer Aided Geometric Design to generate bases of functions with good shape preserving properties. In this paper we give an algorithmic characterization of these matrices. Moreover, we provide a determinantal characterization of them in terms of the positivity of a very reduced number of their minors and also in terms of their factorizations.     

Nonsingular almost strictly sign regular matrices

The class of nonsingular almost strictly totally positive matrices has been characterized [M. Gasca, J.M. Peña, Characterizations and decompositions of almost strictly positive matrices, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 28 (2006) 1–8]. In this paper, we discuss the class of almost strictly sign regular matrices that includes almost strictly totally positive matrices. A characterization is provided for these matrices in terms of their nontrivial minors using consecutive rows and consecutive columns. In particular, we present a characterization of certain almost strictly sign regular matrices in terms of a very reduced number of boundary almost trivial minors.     

Characterizations of rectangular totally and strictly totally positive matrices

An n×m real matrix A is said to be totally positive (strictly totally positive) if every minor is nonnegative (positive). In this paper, we study characterizations of these classes of matrices by minors, by their full rank factorization and by their thin QR factorization.     

Intervals of totally nonnegative matrices

Totally nonnegative matrices, i.e., matrices having all their minors nonnegative, and matrix intervals with respect to the checkerboard ordering are considered. It is proven that if the two bound matrices of such a matrix interval are nonsingular and totally nonnegative (and in addition all their zero minors are identical) then all matrices from this interval are also nonsingular and totally nonnegative (with identical zero minors).     

Intervals of Totally Nonnegative and Related Matrices

We consider the class of the totally nonnegative matrices, i.e., the matrices having all their minors nonnegative, and intervals of matrices with respect to the chequerboard partial ordering, which results from the usual entrywise partial ordering if we reverse the inequality sign in all components having odd index sum. For these intervals we study the following conjecture: If the left and right endpoints of an interval are nonsingular and totally nonnegative then all matrices taken from the interval are nonsingular and totally nonnegative. We present a new class of the totally nonnegative matrices for which this conjecture holds true. Similar results for classes of related matrices are also given.     

Total nonpositivity of nonsingular matrices

In this paper, nonsingular totally nonpositive matrices are studied and new characterizations are provided in terms of the signs of minors with consecutive initial rows or consecutive initial columns. These characterizations extend an existing characterization that uses some restrictive hypotheses.     

The LU-factorization of totally positive matrices

An n × n real matrix A is an STP (strictly totally positive) matrix if all its minors are strictly positive. An n × n real triangular matrix A is a ΔSTP matrix if all its nontrivial minors are strictly positive. It is proved that A is an STP matrix iff A = LU where L is a lower triangular matrix, U is an upper triangular matrix, and both L and U are ΔSTP matrices. Several related results are proved. These results lead to simple proofs of many of the determinantal properties of STP matrices.     

Almost strictly totally positive matrices

A determinantal identity, frequently used in the study of totally positive matrices, is extended, and then used to re-prove the well-known univariate knot insertion formula for B-splines. Also we introduce a class of matrices, intermediate between totally positive and strictly totally positive matrices. The determinantal identity is used to show any minor of such matrices is positive if and only if its diagonal entries are positive. Among others, this class of matrices includes B-splines collocation matrices and Hurwitz matrices.This author acknowledges a sabbatical stay at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in 1990, which was supported by a DGICYT grant from Spain.     

Totally nonnegative cells and matrix Poisson varieties

We describe explicitly the admissible families of minors for the totally nonnegative cells of real matrices, that is, the families of minors that produce nonempty cells in the cell decompositions of spaces of totally nonnegative matrices introduced by A. Postnikov. In order to do this, we relate the totally nonnegative cells to torus orbits of symplectic leaves of the Poisson varieties of complex matrices. In particular, we describe the minors that vanish on a torus orbit of symplectic leaves, we prove that such families of minors are exactly the admissible families, and we show that the nonempty totally nonnegative cells are the intersections of the torus orbits of symplectic leaves with the spaces of totally nonnegative matrices.     

Torus-invariant prime ideals in quantum matrices, totally nonnegative cells and symplectic leaves

The algebra of quantum matrices of a given size supports a rational torus action by automorphisms. It follows from work of Letzter and the first named author that to understand the prime and primitive spectra of this algebra, the first step is to understand the prime ideals that are invariant under the torus action. In this paper, we prove that a family of quantum minors is the set of all quantum minors that belong to a given torus-invariant prime ideal of a quantum matrix algebra if and only if the corresponding family of minors defines a non-empty totally nonnegative cell in the space of totally nonnegative real matrices of the appropriate size. As a corollary, we obtain explicit generating sets of quantum minors for the torus-invariant prime ideals of quantum matrices in the case where the quantisation parameter q is transcendental over ${\mathbb{Q}}$ .     

Diagonal dominance, Schur complements and some classes of H-matrices and P-matrices

We analyze a class of matrices generalizing strictly diagonally dominant matrices and included in the important class of H-matrices. Adequate pivoting strategies and the corresponding Schur complements are studied. A new class of matrices with all their principal minors positive is presented.     

Efficient Recognition of Totally Nonnegative Matrix Cells

The space of m×p totally nonnegative real matrices has a stratification into totally nonnegative cells. The largest such cell is the space of totally positive matrices. There is a well-known criterion due to Gasca and Peña for testing a real matrix for total positivity. This criterion involves testing mp minors. In contrast, there is no known small set of minors for testing for total nonnegativity. In this paper, we show that for each of the totally nonnegative cells there is a test for membership which only involves mp minors, thus extending the Gasca and Peña result to all totally nonnegative cells.     

Interlacing properties of the eigenvalues of some matrix classes

We establish the eigenvalue interlacing property (i.e. the smallest real eigenvalue of a matrix is less than the smallest real eigenvalue of any of its principal submatrices) for the class of matrices introduced by Kotelyansky (all principal and almost principal minors of these matrices are positive). We show that certain generalizations of Kotelyansky and totally positive matrices possess this property. We also prove some interlacing inequalities for the other eigenvalues of Kotelyansky matrices.     

The approximation of a totally positive band matrix by a strictly banded totally positive one

Every nonsingular totally positive m-banded matrix is shown to be the product of m totally positive one-banded matrices and, therefore, the limit of strictly m-banded totally positive matrices. This result is then extended to (bi)infinite m-banded totally positive matrices with linearly independent rows and columns. In the process, such matrices are shown to possess at least one diagonal whose principal sections are all nonzero. As a consequence, such matrices are seen to be approximable by strictly m-banded totally positive ones.     

Necessary conditions and a sufficient condition for the Fischer-Hadamard inequalities

It is well known that a matrix, all of whose principal minors are positive, satisfies the Fischer-Hadamard inequalities if and only if it is weakly sign symmetric. In this paper we consider the general case of matrices whose principal minors may be nonpositive. Necessary conditions and a sufficient condition for the Fischer-Hadamard inequalities to hold are given in the general case.     

M-matrix products having positive principal minors

Sufficient conditions are given for powers and products of M-matrices to have all principal minors positive. Several of these conditions involve directed graphs of the matrices. In particular we show that if A and B are irreducible M-matrices which have longest simple circuit of length two with A+B having no simple circuit longer than three, then the product AB has all principal minors positive.     

A generalization of the variation diminishing property

For totally positive matrices, a new variation diminishing property on the sign of consecutive minors is obtained. this property is used to show shape preserving properties of curves generated by totally positive bases and, in particular, of B-spline curves.     

A generalization of the variation diminishing property

For totally positive matrices, a new variation diminishing property on the sign of consecutive minors is obtained. this property is used to show shape preserving properties of curves generated by totally positive bases and, in particular, of B-spline curves. Partially supported by DGICYT PS93-0310.     

The width and integer optimization on simplices with bounded minors of the constraint matrices

In this paper, we will show that the width of simplices defined by systems of linear inequalities can be computed in polynomial time if some minors of their constraint matrices are bounded. Additionally, we present some quasi-polynomial-time and polynomial-time algorithms to solve the integer linear optimization problem defined on simplices minus all their integer vertices assuming that some minors of the constraint matrices of the simplices are bounded.     

Total unimodularity and the Euler-subgraph problem

We give a short treatment (including proofs) of all known characterizations by way of forbidden structures of totally unimodular matrices, i.e. matrices whose square minors have determinants of 0, +1, or −1 only. A generalization of a known topological characterization gives rise to a new combinatorial optimization problem which is introduced here and called the Euler-subgraph problem.