The period and base of a reducible sign pattern matrix

A square sign pattern matrix A (whose entries are ) is said to be powerful if all the powers A,A²,A³,…, are unambiguously defined. For a powerful pattern A, if A^l=A^l+p with l and p minimal, then l is called the base of A and p is called the period of Li et al. [On the period and base of a sign pattern matrix, Linear Algebra Appl. 212/213 (1994) 101-120] characterized irreducible powerful sign pattern matrices. In this paper, we characterize reducible, powerful sign pattern matrices and give some new results on the period and base of a powerful sign pattern matrix.     

Required nonzero patterns for nonsingular sign regular matrices

An n×n real matrix is called sign regular if, for each k(1?k?n), all its minors of order k have the same nonstrict sign. The zero entries which can appear in a nonsingular sign regular matrix depend on its signature because the signature can imply that certain entries are necessarily nonzero. The patterns for the required nonzero entries of nonsingular sign regular matrices are analyzed.     

Rational realization of the minimum ranks of nonnegative sign pattern matrices

A sign pattern matrix (or nonnegative sign pattern matrix) is a matrix whose entries are from the set {+,?, 0} ({+, 0}, respectively). The minimum rank (or rational minimum rank) of a sign pattern matrix A is the minimum of the ranks of the matrices (rational matrices, respectively) whose entries have signs equal to the corresponding entries of A. Using a correspondence between sign patterns with minimum rank r ≥ 2 and point-hyperplane configurations in R^r?1 and Steinitz’s theorem on the rational realizability of 3-polytopes, it is shown that for every nonnegative sign pattern of minimum rank at most 4, the minimum rank and the rational minimum rank are equal. But there are nonnegative sign patterns with minimum rank 5 whose rational minimum rank is greater than 5. It is established that every d-polytope determines a nonnegative sign pattern with minimum rank d + 1 that has a (d + 1) × (d + 1) triangular submatrix with all diagonal entries positive. It is also shown that there are at most min{3m, 3n} zero entries in any condensed nonnegative m × n sign pattern of minimum rank 3. Some bounds on the entries of some integer matrices achieving the minimum ranks of nonnegative sign patterns with minimum rank 3 or 4 are established.     

Congruence of Hermitian matrices by Hermitian matrices

Two Hermitian matrices A,B∈M_n(C) are said to be Hermitian-congruent if there exists a nonsingular Hermitian matrix C∈M_n(C) such that B=CAC. In this paper, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for two nonsingular simultaneously unitarily diagonalizable Hermitian matrices A and B to be Hermitian-congruent. Moreover, when A and B are Hermitian-congruent, we describe the possible inertias of the Hermitian matrices C that carry the congruence. We also give necessary and sufficient conditions for any 2-by-2 nonsingular Hermitian matrices to be Hermitian-congruent. In both of the studied cases, we show that if A and B are real and Hermitian-congruent, then they are congruent by a real symmetric matrix. Finally we note that if A and B are 2-by-2 nonsingular real symmetric matrices having the same sign pattern, then there is always a real symmetric matrix C satisfying B=CAC. Moreover, if both matrices are positive, then C can be picked with arbitrary inertia.     

Sign patterns for eigenmatrices of nonnegative matrices

For a square (0,?1,??1) sign pattern matrix S, denote the qualitative class of S by Q(S). In this article, we investigate the relationship between sign patterns and matrices that diagonalize an irreducible nonnegative matrix. We explicitly describe the sign patterns S such that every matrix in Q(S) diagonalizes some irreducible nonnegative matrix. Further, we characterize the sign patterns S such that some member of Q(S) diagonalizes an irreducible nonnegative matrix. Finally, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for a multiset of real numbers to be realized as the spectrum of an irreducible nonnegative matrix M that is diagonalized by a matrix in the qualitative class of some S ² NS sign pattern.     

G-matrices,J-orthogonal matrices,and their sign patterns

A real matrix A is a G-matrix if A is nonsingular and there exist nonsingular diagonal matrices D₁ and D₂ such that A^?T = D₁AD₂, where A^?T denotes the transpose of the inverse of A. Denote by J = diag(±1) a diagonal (signature) matrix, each of whose diagonal entries is +1 or ?1. A nonsingular real matrix Q is called J-orthogonal if Q^TJQ = J. Many connections are established between these matrices. In particular, a matrix A is a G-matrix if and only if A is diagonally (with positive diagonals) equivalent to a column permutation of a J-orthogonal matrix. An investigation into the sign patterns of the J-orthogonal matrices is initiated. It is observed that the sign patterns of the G-matrices are exactly the column permutations of the sign patterns of the J-orthogonal matrices. Some interesting constructions of certain J-orthogonal matrices are exhibited. It is shown that every symmetric staircase sign pattern matrix allows a J-orthogonal matrix. Sign potentially J-orthogonal conditions are also considered. Some examples and open questions are provided.     

Characterization of ray pattern matrix whose determinantal region has two components after deleting the origin

Ray nonsingular matrices are generalizations of sign nonsingular matrices. The problem of characterizing ray nonsingular matrices is still open. The study of the determinantal regions R_A of ray pattern matrices is closely related to the study of ray nonsingular matrices. It was proved that if R_A?{0} is disconnected, then it is a union of two opposite open sectors (or open rays). In this paper, we characterize those ray patterns whose determinantal regions become disconnected after deleting the origin. The characterization is based on three classes (F1), (F2) and (F3) of matrices, which can further be characterized in terms of the sets of the distinct signed transversal products of their ray patterns. Moreover, we show that in the fully indecomposable case, a matrix A is in the class (F1) (or (F2), respectively) if and only if A is ray permutation equivalent to a real SNS (or non-SNS, respectively) matrix.     

A note on the perturbation of positive matrices by normal and unitary matrices

In a recent paper, Neumann and Sze considered for an n × n nonnegative matrix A, the minimization and maximization of ρ(A + S), the spectral radius of (A + S), as S ranges over all the doubly stochastic matrices. They showed that both extremal values are always attained at an n × n permutation matrix. As a permutation matrix is a particular case of a normal matrix whose spectral radius is 1, we consider here, for positive matrices A such that (A + N) is a nonnegative matrix, for all normal matrices N whose spectral radius is 1, the minimization and maximization problems of ρ(A + N) as N ranges over all such matrices. We show that the extremal values always occur at an n × n real unitary matrix. We compare our results with a less recent work of Han, Neumann, and Tastsomeros in which the maximum value of ρ(A + X) over all n × n real matrices X of Frobenius norm was sought.     

Potentially nilpotent and spectrally arbitrary even cycle sign patterns

An n × n sign pattern S_n is potentially nilpotent if there is a real matrix having sign pattern S_n and characteristic polynomial xⁿ. A new family of sign patterns C_n with a cycle of every even length is introduced and shown to be potentially nilpotent by explicitly determining the entries of a nilpotent matrix with sign pattern C_n. These nilpotent matrices are used together with a Jacobian argument to show that C_n is spectrally arbitrary, i.e., there is a real matrix having sign pattern C_n and characteristic polynomial for any real μ_i. Some results and a conjecture on minimality of these spectrally arbitrary sign patterns are given.     

Sign patterns that require almost unique rank

A sign pattern matrix is a matrix whose entries are from the set {+,-,0}. For a real matrix B, sgn(B) is the sign pattern matrix obtained by replacing each positive (respectively, negative, zero) entry of B by + (respectively, −, 0). For a sign pattern matrix A, the sign pattern class of A, denoted Q(A), is defined as {B:sgn(B)=A}. The minimum rank mr(A) (maximum rank MR(A)) of a sign pattern matrix A is the minimum (maximum) of the ranks of the real matrices in Q(A). Several results concerning sign patterns A that require almost unique rank, that is to say, the sign patterns A such that MR(A) = mr(A) + 1, are established and are extended to sign patterns A for which the spread is d=MR(A)-mr(A). A complete characterization of the sign patterns that require almost unique rank is obtained.     

Inequalities for Gondran-Minoux rank and idempotent semirings

The rank-sum, rank-product, and rank-union inequalities for Gondran-Minoux rank of matrices over idempotent semirings are considered. We prove these inequalities for matrices over quasi-selective semirings without zero divisors, which include matrices over the max-plus semiring. Moreover, it is shown that the inequalities provide the linear algebraic characterization for the class of quasi-selective semirings. Namely, it is proven that the inequalities hold for matrices over an idempotent semiring S without zero divisors if and only if S is quasi-selective. For any idempotent semiring which is not quasi-selective it is shown that the rank-sum, rank-product, and rank-union inequalities do not hold in general. Also, we provide an example of a selective semiring with zero divisors such that the rank-sum, rank-product, and rank-union inequalities do not hold in general.     

Products of idempotent matrices over integral domains

We say that a ring R has the idempotent matrices property if every square singular matrix over R is a product of idempotent matrices. It is known that every field, and more generally, every Euclidean domain has the idempotent matrices property. In this paper we show that not every integral domain has the idempotent matrices property and that if a projective free ring has the idempotent matrices property then it must be a Bezout domain. We also show that a principal ideal domain has the idempotent matrices property if and only if every fraction a/b with b≠0 has a finite continued fraction expansion. New proofs are also provided for the results that every field and every Euclidean domain have the idempotent matrices property.     

Bounds on the kth multi-g base index of nearly reducible sign pattern matrices

Li et al. [On the period and base of a sign pattern matrix, Linear Algebra Appl. 212/213 (1994) 101-120.] extended the concepts of the base and period from nonnegative matrices to powerful sign pattern matrices. Then, Shao and You [Bound on the basis of irreducible generalized sign pattern matrices, Linear Algebra Appl. 427 (2007) 285-300.] extended the concepts of the base from powerful sign pattern matrices to non-powerful irreducible sign pattern matrices. In this paper we mainly study the kth multi-g base index for non-powerful primitive nearly reducible sign pattern matrices. We obtain sharp upper bounds, together with a complete characterization of the equality cases of the kth multi-g base index for primitive nearly reducible generalized sign pattern matrices. We also show that there exist “gaps” in the kth multi-g base index set of the classes of such matrices.     

The scrambling index of symmetric primitive matrices

A nonnegative square matrix A is primitive if some power A^k>0 (that is, A^k is entrywise positive). The least such k is called the exponent of A. In [2], Akelbek and Kirkland defined the scrambling index of a primitive matrix A, which is the smallest positive integer k such that any two rows of A^k have at least one positive element in a coincident position. In this paper, we give a relation between the scrambling index and the exponent for symmetric primitive matrices, and determine the scrambling index set for the class of symmetric primitive matrices. We also characterize completely the symmetric primitive matrices in this class such that the scrambling index is equal to the maximum value.     

Sign patterns allowing nilpotence of index 3

Suppose P is a property referring to a real matrix. We say that a sign pattern A allows P if there exists at least one matrix with the same sign pattern as A that has the property P. In this paper, we study sign patterns allowing nilpotence of index 3. Four methods for constructing sign patterns that allow nilpotence of index 3 are obtained. All tree sign patterns that allow nilpotence of index 3 are characterized. Sign patterns of order 3 that allow nilpotence are identified.     

Nonnegative (s, t)-potent matrices

This paper contains a study of matrices satisfying A^s = A^t for different positive integers s and t. Representations, similar to Flor's well-known characterization of a nonnegative idempotent matrix, are obtained for nonnegative matrices of this type.     

New classes of spectrally arbitrary ray patterns

An n×n ray pattern matrix S is said to be spectrally arbitrary if for every monic nth degree polynomial f(λ) with coefficients from C, there is a complex matrix in the ray pattern class of S such that its characteristic polynomial is f(λ). In this article we give new classes of spectrally arbitrary ray pattern matrices.     

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.     

On visualization scaling, subeigenvectors and Kleene stars in max algebra

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay arising between max algebra, convexity and scaling problems. The latter, which have been studied in nonnegative matrix theory, are strongly related to max algebra. One problem is that of strict visualization scaling, defined as, for a given nonnegative matrix A, a diagonal matrix X such that all elements of X^-1AX are less than or equal to the maximum cycle geometric mean of A, with strict inequality for the entries which do not lie on critical cycles. In this paper such scalings are described by means of the max algebraic subeigenvectors and Kleene stars of nonnegative matrices as well as by some concepts of convex geometry.     

Computing the inertia from sign patterns

A symmetric matrix A is said to be sign-nonsingular if every symmetric matrix with the same sign pattern as A is nonsingular. Hall, Li and Wang showed that the inertia of a sign-nonsingular symmetric matrix is determined uniquely by its sign pattern. The purpose of this paper is to present an efficient algorithm for computing the inertia of such symmetric matrices. The algorithm runs in time for a symmetric matrix of order n with m nonzero entries. In addition, it is shown to be NP-complete to decide whether the inertia of a given symmetric matrix is not determined by its sign pattern.