Polynomial contractions and Lyapunov regularity

The purpose of this note is twofold: to introduce the notion of polynomial contraction for a linear nonautonomous dynamics with discrete time, and to show that it persists under sufficiently small linear and nonlinear perturbations. The notion of polynomial contraction mimics the notion of exponential contraction, but with the exponential decay replaced by a polynomial decay. We show that this behavior is exhibited by a large class of dynamics, by giving necessary conditions in terms of “polynomial” Lyapunov exponents. Finally, we establish the persistence of the asymptotic stability of a polynomial contraction under sufficiently small linear and nonlinear perturbations. We also consider the case of nonuniform polynomial contractions, for which the Lyapunov stability is not uniform.     

A metric approach to asymptotic analysis

We introduce a notion of “firm” (or uniform) asymptotic cone to an unbounded subset of a normed space. We relate this notion to a concept of “firm” asymptotic function. We use these notions to study boundedness properties which can be applied to continuity questions for some operations on sets and functions. Such questions arise in stability analysis of Hamilton-Jacobi equations. We present some other applications such as an extension of a theorem of Dieudonné and existence results in optimization and fixed point theory.     

Lyapunov exponents of free operators

Lyapunov exponents of a dynamical system are a useful tool to gauge the stability and complexity of the system. This paper offers a definition of Lyapunov exponents for a sequence of free linear operators. The definition is based on the concept of the extended Fuglede-Kadison determinant. We establish the existence of Lyapunov exponents, derive formulas for their calculation, and show that Lyapunov exponents of free variables are additive with respect to operator product. We illustrate these results using an example of free operators whose singular values are distributed by the Marchenko-Pastur law, and relate this example to C.M. Newman's “triangle” law for the distribution of Lyapunov exponents of large random matrices with independent Gaussian entries. As an interesting by-product of our results, we derive a relation between the extended Fuglede-Kadison determinant and Voiculescu's S-transform.     

Delay dependent stability analysis of neutral systems with mixed time-varying delays and nonlinear perturbations

This paper is concerned with the problem of stability of neutral systems with interval time-varying delays and nonlinear perturbations. The uncertainties under consideration are nonlinear time-varying parameter perturbations and norm-bounded uncertainties. A new delay-dependent stability condition is derived in terms of linear matrix inequality by constructing a new Lyapunov functional and using some integral inequalities without introducing any free-weighting matrices. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and less conservativeness of the proposed methods.     

Novel delay-dependent asymptotical stability of neutral systems with nonlinear perturbations

This paper address the asymptotical stability of neutral systems with nonlinear perturbations. Some novel delay-dependent asymptotical stability criteria are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The resulting delay-dependent stability criteria are less conservative than the previous ones, owing to the introduction of free-weighting matrices, based on a class of novel augment Lyapunov functionals. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate that the derived conditions are much less conservative than those given in the literature.     

On the stability of invariant sets of systems with impulse effect

A system of differential equations with impulse effect is considered. It is assumed that this system has an invariant set M$M$. By means of the direct Lyapunov method, the necessary and sufficient conditions of its uniform asymptotic stability are obtained. The conditions on the perturbations of right hand sides of differential equations and impulse effects, under which the uniform asymptotic stability of the invariant set M$M$ of the “nonperturbed” system implies the uniform asymptotic stability of the invariant set of the “perturbed” system, are obtained. The stability properties of invariant sets of periodic systems are also studied.     

Stochastic stability of Markovian jumping genetic regulatory networks with mixed time delays

In this paper, the stability analysis problem is investigated for a class of Markovian jumping genetic regulatory networks (GRNs) with mixed time delays (discrete time delays and distributed time delays) and stochastic perturbations. The main purpose of the addressed stability analysis problem is to establish some easy-to-verify conditions under which the dynamics of the true concentrations of the messenger ribonucleic acid and protein is asymptotically stable. By utilizing a more general Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional based on the idea of “delay decomposing” and the LMI (linear matrix inequality) technique, we derive sufficient delay-dependent conditions ensuring the asymptotically stability of the GRNs with mixed time delays and noise perturbations in terms of LMI. Finally, simulation examples are exploited to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed theoretical results.     

Randomly generating portfolio-selection covariance matrices with specified distributional characteristics

In portfolio selection, there is often the need for procedures to generate “realistic” covariance matrices for security returns, for example to test and benchmark optimization algorithms. For application in portfolio optimization, such a procedure should allow the entries in the matrices to have distributional characteristics which we would consider “realistic” for security returns. Deriving motivation from the fact that a covariance matrix can be viewed as stemming from a matrix of factor loadings, a procedure is developed for the random generation of covariance matrices (a) whose off-diagonal (covariance) entries possess a pre-specified expected value and standard deviation and (b) whose main diagonal (variance) entries possess a likely different pre-specified expected value and standard deviation. The paper concludes with a discussion about the futility one would likely encounter if one simply tried to invent a valid covariance matrix in the absence of a procedure such as in this paper.     

Further results on robust stability of neutral system with mixed time-varying delays and nonlinear perturbations

This paper studies delay-dependent robust stability problem for neutral system with mixed time-varying delays. The uncertainties under consideration are nonlinear time-varying parameter perturbations and norm-bounded uncertainties, respectively. Based on Lyapunov functional approach and linear matrix inequality technology, some improved delay-dependent stability conditions are derived by introducing free-weighting matrices. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and less conservativeness of the proposed methods.     

Nonuniform exponential contractions and Lyapunov sequences

For a nonautonomous dynamics with discrete time obtained from the product of linear operators, we show that a nonuniform exponential contraction can be completely characterized in terms of what we call strict Lyapunov sequences. We note that nonuniform exponential contractions include as a very particular case the uniform exponential contractions that correspond to have a uniform asymptotic stability of the dynamics. We also obtain “inverse theorems” that give explicitly strict Lyapunov sequences for each nonuniform exponential contraction. Essentially, the Lyapunov sequences are obtained in terms of what are usually called Lyapunov norms, that is, norms with respect to which the behavior of a nonuniform exponential contraction becomes uniform. We also show how the characterization of nonuniform exponential contractions in terms of quadratic Lyapunov sequences can be used to establish in a very simple manner the persistence of the asymptotic stability of a nonuniform exponential contraction under sufficiently small linear or nonlinear perturbations. Moreover, we describe an appropriate version of our results in the context of ergodic theory showing that the existence of an eventually strict Lyapunov function implies that all Lyapunov exponents are negative almost everywhere.     

When do several linear operators share an invariant cone?

We establish a criterion for a finite family of matrices to possess a common invariant cone. The criterion reduces the problem of existence of an invariant cone to equality of two special numbers that depend on the family. In spite of theoretical simplicity, the practical use of the criterion may be difficult. We show that the problem of existence of a common invariant cone for four matrices with integral entries is algorithmically undecidable. Corollaries of the criterion, which give sufficient and necessary conditions, are derived. Finally, we introduce a “co-directional number” of several matrices. We prove that this parameter is close to zero iff there is a small perturbation of matrices, after which they get an invariant cone. An algorithm for its computation is presented.     

Fundamental results for pointfree convex geometry

Inspired by locale theory, we propose “pointfree convex geometry”. We introduce the notion of convexity algebra as a pointfree convexity space. There are two notions of a point for convexity algebra: one is a chain-prime meet-complete filter and the other is a maximal meet-complete filter. In this paper we show the following: (1) the former notion of a point induces a dual equivalence between the category of “spatial” convexity algebras and the category of “sober” convexity spaces as well as a dual adjunction between the category of convexity algebras and the category of convexity spaces; (2) the latter notion of point induces a dual equivalence between the category of “m-spatial” convexity algebras and the category of “m-sober” convexity spaces. We finally argue that the former notion of a point is more useful than the latter one from a category theoretic point of view and that the former notion of a point actually represents a polytope (or generic point) and the latter notion of a point properly represents a point. We also remark on the close relationships between pointfree convex geometry and domain theory.     

Some stochastic properties of “semi-magic” and “magic” Markov chains

Gustafson and Styan (Gustafson and Styan, Superstochastic matrices and Magic Markov chains, Linear Algebra Appl. 430 (2009) 2705-2715) examined the mathematical properties of superstochastic matrices, the transition matrices of “magic” Markov chains formed from scaled “magic squares”. This paper explores the main stochastic properties of such chains as well as “semi-magic” chains (with doubly-stochastic transition matrices). Stationary distribution, generalized inverses of Markovian kernels, mean first passage times, variances of the first passage times and expected times to mixing are considered. Some general results are developed, some observations from the chains generated by MATLAB are discussed, some conjectures are presented and some special cases, involving three and four states, are explored in detail.     

Unitarily achievable zero patterns and traces of words in A and A

Our primary objective is to identify a natural and substantial problem about unitary similarity on arbitrary complex matrices: which 0-patterns may be achieved for any given n-by-n complex matrix via some unitary similarity of it. To this end, certain restrictions on “achievable” 0-patterns are mentioned, both positional and, more important, on the maximum number of achievable 0’s. Prior results fitting this general question are mentioned, as well as the “first” unresolved pattern (for 3-by-3 matrices!). In the process a recent question is answered.A closely related additional objective is to mention the best known bound for the maximum length of words necessary for the application of Specht’s theorem about which pairs of complex matrices are unitarily similar, which seems not widely known to matrix theorists. In the process, we mention the number of words necessary for small size matrices.     

Max-algebra and pairwise comparison matrices, II

This paper is a continuation of our 2004 paper “Max-algebra and pairwise comparison matrices”, in which the max-eigenvector of a symmetrically reciprocal matrix was used to approximate such a matrix by a transitive matrix. This approximation was based on minimizing the maximal relative error. In a later paper by Dahl a different error measure was used and led to a slightly different approximating transitive matrix. Here some geometric properties of this approximation problem are discussed. These lead, among other results, to a new characterization of a max-eigenvector of an irreducible nonnegative matrix. The case of Toeplitz matrices is discussed in detail, and an application to music theory that uses Toeplitz symmetrically reciprocal matrices is given.     

Matrix convexity

The notion of a convex set is generalized. In the definition of ordinary convexity, sums of products of vectors and numbers are used. In the generalization considered in this paper, the role of numbers is played by matrices; this is why we call it matrix convexity.Translated from Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 64–69, January, 1995.     

On a “stability” in the linear complementarity problem

In this work we re-wrote the Linear Complementarity Problem in a formulation based on unknown projector operators. In particular, this formulation allows the introduction of a concept of “stability” that, in a certain way, might explain the way block pivotal algorithm performs.     

Wishart ratios with dependent structure: New members of the bimatrix beta type IV

In multivariate statistics under normality, the problems of interest are random covariance matrices (known as Wishart matrices) and “ratios” of Wishart matrices that arise in multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) (see 24). The bimatrix variate beta type IV distribution (also known in the literature as bimatrix variate generalised beta; matrix variate generalization of a bivariate beta type I) arises from “ratios” of Wishart matrices. In this paper, we add a further independent Wishart random variate to the “denominator” of one of the ratios; this results in deriving the exact expression for the density function of the bimatrix variate extended beta type IV distribution. The latter leads to the proposal of the bimatrix variate extended F distribution. Some interesting characteristics of these newly introduced bimatrix distributions are explored. Lastly, we focus on the bivariate extended beta type IV distribution (that is an extension of bivariate Jones’ beta) with emphasis on P(X₁<X₂) where X₁ is the random stress variate and X₂ is the random strength variate.     

Fast solving of weighted pairing least-squares systems

This paper presents a generalization of the “weighted least-squares” (WLS), named “weighted pairing least-squares” (WPLS), which uses a rectangular weight matrix and is suitable for data alignment problems. Two fast solving methods, suitable for solving full rank systems as well as rank deficient systems, are studied. Computational experiments clearly show that the best method, in terms of speed, accuracy, and numerical stability, is based on a special {1, 2, 3}-inverse, whose computation reduces to a very simple generalization of the usual “Cholesky factorization-backward substitution” method for solving linear systems.