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).     

On commutativity of projectors

The purpose of this paper is to revisit two problems discussed previously in the literature, both related to the commutativity property P₁P₂ = P₂P₁, where P₁ and P₂ denote projectors (i.e., idempotent matrices). The first problem was considered by Baksalary et al. [J.K. Baksalary, O.M. Baksalary, T. Szulc, A property of orthogonal projectors, Linear Algebra Appl. 354 (2002) 35-39], who have shown that if P₁ and P₂ are orthogonal projectors (i.e., Hermitian idempotent matrices), then in all nontrivial cases a product of any length having P₁ and P₂ as its factors occurring alternately is equal to another such product if and only if P₁ and P₂ commute. In the present paper a generalization of this result is proposed and validity of the equivalence between commutativity property and any equality involving two linear combinations of two any length products having orthogonal projectors P₁ and P₂ as their factors occurring alternately is investigated. The second problem discussed in this paper concerns specific generalized inverses of the sum P₁ + P₂ and the difference P₁ − P₂ of (not necessary orthogonal) commuting projectors P₁ and P₂. The results obtained supplement those provided in Section 4 of Baksalary and Baksalary [J.K. Baksalary, O.M. Baksalary, Commutativity of projectors, Linear Algebra Appl. 341 (2002) 129-142].     

Idempotency of linear combinations of three idempotent matrices, two of which are commuting

The considerations of the present paper were inspired by Baksalary [O.M. Baksalary, Idempotency of linear combinations of three idempotent matrices, two of which are disjoint, Linear Algebra Appl. 388 (2004) 67-78] who characterized all situations in which a linear combination P=c₁P₁+c₂P₂+c₃P₃, with c_i, i=1,2,3, being nonzero complex scalars and P_i, i=1,2,3, being nonzero complex idempotent matrices such that two of them, P₁ and P₂ say, are disjoint, i.e., satisfy condition P₁P₂=0=P₂P₁, is an idempotent matrix. In the present paper, by utilizing different formalism than the one used by Baksalary, the results given in the above mentioned paper are generalized by weakening the assumption expressing the disjointness of P₁ and P₂ to the commutativity condition P₁P₂=P₂P₁.     

Generalizations of a property of orthogonal projectors

Generalizing the result in Lemma of Baksalary and Baksalary [J.K. Baksalary, O.M. Baksalary, Commutativity of projectors, Linear Algebra Appl. 341 (2002) 129-142], Baksalary et al. [J.K. Baksalary, O.M. Baksalary, T. Szulc, Linear Algebra Appl. 354 (2002) 35-39] have shown that if P₁ and P₂ are orthogonal projectors, then, in all nontrivial situations, a product of any length having P₁ and P₂ as its factors occurring alternately is equal to another such product if and only if P₁ and P₂ commute, in which case all products involving P₁ and P₂ reduce to the orthogonal projector P₁P₂ (= P₂P₁). In the present paper, further generalizations of this property are established. They consist in replacing a product of the type specified above, appearing on the left-hand side (say) of the equality under considerations, by an affine combination of two or three such products. Comments on the problem when the number of components in a combination exceeds three are also given.     

On extremal matrices of second largest exponent by Boolean rank

Let b = b(A) be the Boolean rank of an n × n primitive Boolean matrix A and exp(A) be the exponent of A. Then exp(A) ? (b − 1)² + 2, and the matrices for which equality occurs have been determined in [D.A. Gregory, S.J. Kirkland, N.J. Pullman, A bound on the exponent of a primitive matrix using Boolean rank, Linear Algebra Appl. 217 (1995) 101-116]. In this paper, we show that for each 3 ? b ? n − 1, there are n × n primitive Boolean matrices A with b(A) = b such that exp(A) = (b − 1)² + 1, and we explicitly describe all such matrices.     

Factorization of singular integer matrices

It is well known that a singular integer matrix can be factorized into a product of integer idempotent matrices. In this paper, we prove that every n  × n (n > 2) singular integer matrix can be written as a product of 3n + 1 integer idempotent matrices. This theorem has some application in the field of synthesizing VLSI arrays and systolic arrays.     

Inequalities between ∥f(A + B)∥ and ∥f(A) + f(B)∥

The conjecture posed by Aujla and Silva [J.S. Aujla, F.C. Silva, Weak majorization inequalities and convex functions, Linear Algebra Appl. 369 (2003) 217-233] is proved. It is shown that for any m-tuple of positive-semidefinite n × n complex matrices A_j and for any non-negative convex function f on [0, ∞) with f(0) = 0 the inequality ?f(A₁) + f(A₂) + ? + f(A_m)? ? ? f(A₁ + A₂ + ? + A_m)? holds for any unitarily invariant norm ? · ?. It is also proved that ?f(A₁) + f(A₂) + ? + f(A_m)? ? f(?A₁ + A₂ + ? + A_m?), where f is a non-negative concave function on [0, ∞) and ? · ? is normalized.     

Perturbing non-real eigenvalues of non-negative real matrices

Let σ=(ρ,b+ic,b-ic,λ₄,…,λ_n) be the spectrum of an entry non-negative matrix and t?0. Laffey [T. J. Laffey, Perturbing non-real eigenvalues of nonnegative real matrices, Electron. J. Linear Algebra 12 (2005) 73-76] has shown that σ=(ρ+2t,b-t+ic,b-t-ic,λ₄,…,λ_n) is also the spectrum of some nonnegative matrix. Laffey (2005) has used a rank one perturbation for small t and then used a compactness argument to extend the result to all nonnegative t. In this paper, a rank two perturbation is used to deduce an explicit and constructive proof for all t?0.     

An alternative approach to unitoidness

In a recent paper [C.R. Johnson, S. Furtado, A generalization of Sylvester’s law of inertia, Linear Algebra Appl. 338 (2001) 287-290], Sylvester’s law of inertia is generalized to any matrix that is ∗-congruent to a diagonal matrix. Such a matrix is called unitoid. In the present paper, an alternative approach to the subject of unitoidness is offered. Specifically, Sylvester’s law of inertia states that a Hermitian n × n matrix of rank r with inertia (p, q, n − r) is ∗-congruent to the direct sum

eⁱ⁰I_p⊕e^iπI_q⊕0I_n-r.     

k-Potence preserving maps without the linearity and surjectivity assumptions

Let M_n be the space of all n × n complex matrices, and let Γ_n be the subset of M_n consisting of all n × n k-potent matrices. We denote by Ψ_n the set of all maps on M_n satisfying A − λB ∈ Γ_n if and only if ?(A) − λ?(B) ∈ Γ_n for every A,B ∈ M_n and λ ∈ C. It was shown that ? ∈ Ψ_n if and only if there exist an invertible matrix P ∈ M_n and c ∈ C with c^k−1 = 1 such that either ?(A) = cPAP⁻¹ for every A ∈ M_n, or ?(A) = cPA^TP⁻¹ for every A ∈ M_n.     

On the nonnegative rank of Euclidean distance matrices

The Euclidean distance matrix for n distinct points in R^r is generically of rank r + 2. It is shown in this paper via a geometric argument that its nonnegative rank for the case r = 1 is generically n.     

OMC for scalar multiples of unitaries

We establish the following case of the Determinantal Conjecture of Marcus [M. Marcus, Derivations, Plücker relations and the numerical range, Indiana Univ. Math. J. 22 (1973) 1137-1149] and de Oliveira [G.N. de Oliveira, Research problem: Normal matrices, Linear and Multilinear Algebra 12 (1982) 153-154]. Let A and B be unitary n × n matrices with prescribed eigenvalues a₁, … , a_n and b₁, … , b_n, respectively. Then for any scalars t and s

     

Strong linear preservers of rank reverse permutability on triangular matrices

Let F be a field with ∣F∣ > 2 and T_n(F) be the set of all n × n upper triangular matrices, where n ? 2. Let k ? 2 be a given integer. A k-tuple of matrices A₁, …, A_k ∈ T_n(F) is called rank reverse permutable if rank(A₁ A₂ ? A_k) = rank(A_k A_k−1 ? A₁). We characterize the linear maps on T_n(F) that strongly preserve the set of rank reverse permutable matrix k-tuples.     

Alexandrov’s inequality and conjectures on some Toeplitz matrices

We study determinant inequalities for certain Toeplitz-like matrices over C. For fixed n and N ? 1, let Q be the n × (n + N − 1) zero-one Toeplitz matrix with Q_ij = 1 for 0 ? j − i ? N − 1 and Q_ij = 0 otherwise. We prove that det(QQ^∗) is the minimum of det(RR^∗) over all complex matrices R with the same dimensions as Q satisfying ∣R_ij∣ ? 1 whenever Q_ij = 1 and R_ij = 0 otherwise. Although R has a Toeplitz-like band structure, it is not required to be actually Toeplitz. Our proof involves Alexandrov’s inequality for polarized determinants and its generalizations. This problem is motivated by Littlewood’s conjecture on the minimum 1-norm of N-term exponential sums on the unit circle. We also discuss polarized Bazin-Reiss-Picquet identities, some connections with k-tree enumeration, and analogous conjectured inequalities for the elementary symmetric functions of QQ^∗.     

The eigenvalue distribution on Schur complements of H-matrices

The paper studies the eigenvalue distribution of some special matrices. Tong in Theorem 1.2 of [Wen-ting Tong, On the distribution of eigenvalues of some matrices, Acta Math. Sinica (China), 20 (4) (1977) 273-275] gives conditions for an n × n matrix A ∈ SD_n ∪ ID_n to have |J_R+(A)| eigenvalues with positive real part, and |J_R-(A)| eigenvalues with negative real part. A counter-example is given in this paper to show that the conditions of the theorem are not true. A corrected condition is then proposed under which the conclusion of the theorem holds. Then the corrected condition is applied to establish some results about the eigenvalue distribution of the Schur complements of H-matrices with complex diagonal entries. Several conditions on the n × n matrix A and the subset α ⊆ N = {1, 2, … , n} are presented such that the Schur complement matrix A/α of the matrix A has eigenvalues with positive real part and eigenvalues with negative real part.     

Lower bounds for the minimum eigenvalue of Hadamard product of an M-matrix and its inverse

For the Hadamard product A ° A⁻¹ of an M-matrix A and its inverse A⁻¹, we give new lower bounds for the minimum eigenvalue of A ° A⁻¹. These bounds are strong enough to prove the conjecture of Fiedler and Markham [An inequality for the Hadamard product of an M-matrix and inverse M-matrix, Linear Algebra Appl. 101 (1988) 1-8].     

Length problems for automorphisms of modules over local rings

Let R be a local ring and M a free module of a finite rank over R. An element τ ∈ Aut_RM is said to be simple if τ ≠ 1 fixes a hyperplane of M.We shall show that for any σ ∈ Aut_RM there exist a basis X for M and ρ ∈ Aut_RM such that ρ acts as a permutation on X and ρ⁻¹σ is a product of m or less than m simple elements in Aut_RM, where m is the order of the invariant factors of σ modulo the maximal ideal of R.Also we shall investigate the problem treated by E.W. Ellers and H. Ishibashi [Factorizations of transformations over a valuation ring, Linear Algebra Appl. 85 (1987) 17-27], in which they showed that σ is a product of simple elements and gave an upper bound of the smallest number of such factors of σ, whereas in the present paper we will give lower bounds of σ in case that R is a local domain. Moreover we will factorize θσ as a product of symmetries and transvections for some θ the matrix of which is diagonal.     

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.     

The spectra of some trees and bounds for the largest eigenvalue of any tree

Let T be an unweighted tree of k levels such that in each level the vertices have equal degree. Let n_k−j+1 and d_k−j+1 be the number of vertices and the degree of them in the level j. We find the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix and Laplacian matrix of T for the case of two vertices in level 1 (n_k = 2), including results concerning to their multiplicity. They are the eigenvalues of leading principal submatrices of nonnegative symmetric tridiagonal matrices of order k × k. The codiagonal entries for these matrices are , 2 ? j ? k, while the diagonal entries are 0, …, 0, ±1, in the case of the adjacency matrix, and d₁, d₂, …, d_k−1, d_k ± 1, in the case of the Laplacian matrix. Finally, we use these results to find improved upper bounds for the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix and of the Laplacian matrix of any given tree.