ACI-matrices all of whose completions have the same rank

We characterize the ACI-matrices all of whose completions have the same rank, determine the largest number of indeterminates in such partial matrices of a given size, and determine the partial matrices that attain this largest number.     

On completions of symmetric and antisymmetric block diagonal partial matrices

A partial matrix is a matrix where only some of the entries are given. We determine the maximum rank of the symmetric completions of a symmetric partial matrix where only the diagonal blocks are given and the minimum rank and the maximum rank of the antisymmetric completions of an antisymmetric partial matrix where only the diagonal blocks are given.     

Partial matrices all of whose completions have the same spectrum

We characterize the square partial matrices over a field all of whose completions have the same spectrum, and determine the maximum number of indeterminates in such partial matrices of a given order as well as the matrices that attain this maximum number.     

Superoptimal completions of triangular matrices

We construct the unique completion of a partial triangular matrix with compact operator entries that has the property that its sequence of singular values is minimal in lexicographical order among all completions. In addition some partial results regarding the singular values of this superoptimal completion are presented.The research was done while the author visited the Department of Mathematics at the George Washington University.Supported by the College of William and Mary     

Singular, nonsingular, and bounded rank completions of ACI-matrices

An affine column independent matrix is a matrix whose entries are polynomials of degree at most 1 in a number of indeterminates where no indeterminate appears with a nonzero coefficient in two different columns. A completion is a matrix obtained by giving values to each of the indeterminates. Affine column independent matrices are more general than partial matrices where each entry is either a constant or a distinct indeterminate. We determine when the rank of all completions of an affine column independent matrix is bounded by a given number, generalizing known results for partial matrices. We also characterize the square partial matrices over a field all of whose completions are nonsingular. The maximum number of free entries in such matrices of a given order is determined as well as the partial matrices with this maximum number of free entries.     

Orthmodular lattices whose MacNeille completions are not orthomodular

The only known example of an orthomodular lattice (abbreviated: OML) whose MacNeille completion is not an OML has been noted independently by several authors, see Adams [1], and is based on a theorem of Ameniya and Araki [2]. This theorem states that for an inner product space V, if we consider the ortholattice ?(V,⊥) = {A \( \subseteq \) V: A = A ^⊥⊥} where A ^⊥ is the set of elements orthogonal to A, then ?(V,⊥) is an OML if and only if V is complete. Taking the orthomodular lattice L of finite or confinite dimensional subspaces of an incomplete inner product space V, the ortholattice ?(V,⊥) is a MacNeille completion of L which is not orthomodular. This does not answer the longstanding question Can every OML be embedded into a complete OML? as L can be embedded into the complete OML ?(V,⊥), where V is the completion of the inner product space V. Although the power of the Ameniya-Araki theorem makes the preceding example elegant to present, the ability to picture the situation is lost. In this paper, I present a simpler method to construct OMLs whose Macneille completions are not orthomodular. No use is made of the Ameniya-Araki theorem. Instead, this method is based on a construction introduced by Kalmbach [7] in which the Boolean algebras generated by the chains of a lattice are glued together to form an OML. A simple method to complete these OMLs is also given. The final section of this paper briefly covers some elementary properties of the Kalmbach construction. I have included this section because I feel that this construction may be quite useful for many purposes and virtually no literature has been written on it.     

Characterizations of EP matrices and weighted-EP matrices

A square complex matrix A is said to be EP if A and its conjugate transpose A^∗ have the same range. In this paper, we first collect a group of known characterizations of EP matrix, and give some new characterizations of EP matrices. Then, we define weighted-EP matrix, and present a wealth of characterizations for weighted-EP matrix through various rank formulas for matrices and their generalized inverses.     

Preservers of pairs of bivectors with bounded distance

We extend Liu’s fundamental theorem of the geometry of alternate matrices to the second exterior power of an infinite dimensional vector space and also use her theorem to characterize surjective mappings T from the vector space V of all n×n alternate matrices over a field with at least three elements onto itself such that for any pair A, B in V, rank(A-B)?2k if and only if rank(T(A)-T(B))?2k, where k is a fixed positive integer such that n?2k+2 and k?2.     

Subspaces of matrices with special rank properties

Let K be a field and let M_m×n(K) denote the space of m×n matrices over K. We investigate properties of a subspace M of M_m×n(K) of dimension n(m-r+1) in which each non-zero element of M has rank at least r and enumerate the number of elements of a given rank in M when K is finite. We also provide an upper bound for the dimension of a constant rank r subspace of M_m×n(K) when K is finite and give non-trivial examples to show that our bound is optimal in some cases. We include a similar a bound for the maximum dimension of a constant rank subspace of skew-symmetric matrices over a finite field.     

Additive mappings on symmetric matrices

Additive mappings, which do not increase the minimal rank of symmetric matrices are classified in characteristic two or three.     

On disjoint range matrices

For a square complex matrix F and for F^∗ being its conjugate transpose, the class of matrices satisfying R(F)∩R(F^∗)={0}, where R(.) denotes range (column space) of a matrix argument, is investigated. Besides identifying a number of its properties, several functions of F, such as F+F^∗, (F:F^∗), FF^∗+F^∗F, and F-F^∗, are considered. Particular attention is paid to the Moore-Penrose inverses of those functions and projectors attributed to them. It is shown that some results scattered in the literature, whose complexity practically prevents them from being used to deal with real problems, can be replaced with much simpler expressions when the ranges of F and F^∗ are disjoint. Furthermore, as a by-product of the derived formulae, one obtains a variety of relevant facts concerning, for instance, rank and range.     

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.     

On the complexity of Boolean matrix ranks

We present a reduction which shows that the fooling set number, tropical and determinantal ranks of a Boolean matrix are NP-hard to compute.     

The nullity and rank of linear combinations of idempotent matrices

Baksalary and Baksalary [J.K. Baksalary, O.M. Baksalary, Nonsingularity of linear combinations of idempotent matrices, Linear Algebra Appl. 388 (2004) 25-29] proved that the nonsingularity of P₁ + P₂, where P₁ and P₂ are idempotent matrices, is equivalent to the nonsingularity of any linear combinations c₁P₁ + c₂P₂, where c₁, c₂ ≠ 0 and c₁ + c₂ ≠ 0. In the present note this result is strengthened by showing that the nullity and rank of c₁P₁ + c₂P₂ are constant. Furthermore, a simple proof of the rank formula of Groß and Trenkler [J. Groß, G. Trenkler, Nonsingularity of the difference of two oblique projectors, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 21 (1999) 390-395] is obtained.     

Rank one preservers between spaces of Boolean matrices

In this paper, we characterize (i) linear transformations from one space of Boolean matrices to another that send pairs of distinct rank one elements to pairs of distinct rank one elements and (ii) surjective mappings from one space of Boolean matrices to another that send rank one matrices to rank one matrices and preserve order relation in both directions. Both results are proved in a more general setting of tensor products of two Boolean vector spaces of arbitrary dimension.     

Rank-deficient submatrices of Fourier matrices

We consider the maximal rank-deficient submatrices of Fourier matrices with order a power of a prime number. We do this by considering a hierarchical subdivision of these matrices into low rank blocks. We also explore some connections with the fast Fourier transform (FFT), and with an uncertainty principle for Fourier transforms over finite Abelian groups.     

Jordan structures of strictly lower triangular completions of nilpotent matrices

This work is part of a doctoral thesis, written under the supervision of Prof. A. Berman. It was supported by the Fund for Promotion of Research at the Technion.     

Nonsingularity of the difference and the sum of two idempotent matrices

Groß and Trenkler 1 pointed out that if a difference of idempotent matrices P and Q is nonsingular, then so is their sum, and Koliha et al2 expressed explicitly a condition, which combined with the nonsingularity of P+Q ensures the nonsingularity of P-Q. In the present paper, these results are strengthened by showing that the nonsingularity of P-Q is in fact equivalent to the nonsingularity of any combination aP+bQ-cPQ (where a≠0,b≠0,a+b=c), and the nonsingularity of P+Q is equivalent to the nonsingularity of any combination aP+bQ-cPQ (where a≠0,b≠0,a+b≠c).     

Bijective linear maps on semimodules spanned by Boolean matrices of fixed rank

Let M_m,n(B) be the semimodule of all m×n Boolean matrices where B is the Boolean algebra with two elements. Let k be a positive integer such that 2?k?min(m,n). Let B(m,n,k) denote the subsemimodule of M_m,n(B) spanned by the set of all rank k matrices. We show that if T is a bijective linear mapping on B(m,n,k), then there exist permutation matrices P and Q such that T(A)=PAQ for all A∈B(m,n,k) or m=n and T(A)=PA^tQ for all A∈B(m,n,k). This result follows from a more general theorem we prove concerning the structure of linear mappings on B(m,n,k) that preserve both the weight of each matrix and rank one matrices of weight k². Here the weight of a Boolean matrix is the number of its nonzero entries.