On linear combinations of two idempotent matrices over an arbitrary field

Given an arbitrary field K and non-zero scalars α and β, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a matrix A∈M_n(K) to be a linear combination of two idempotents with coefficients α and β. This extends results previously obtained by Hartwig and Putcha in two ways: the field K considered here is arbitrary (possibly of characteristic 2), and the case α≠±β is taken into account.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Bijective linear rank preservers for spaces of matrices over antinegative semirings

We classify the bijective linear operators on spaces of matrices over antinegative commutative semirings with no zero divisors which preserve certain rank functions such as the symmetric rank, the factor rank and the tropical rank. We also classify the bijective linear operators on spaces of matrices over the max-plus semiring which preserve the Gondran-Minoux row rank or the Gondran-Minoux column rank.     

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.     

Simultaneous solutions of Sylvester equations and idempotent matrices separating the joint spectrum

We investigate simultaneous solutions of the matrix Sylvester equations A_iX-XB_i=C_i,i=1,2,…,k, where {A₁,…,A_k} and {B₁,…,B_k} are k-tuples of commuting matrices of order m×m and p×p, respectively. We show that the matrix Sylvester equations have a unique solution X for every compatible k-tuple of m×p matrices {C₁,…,C_k} if and only if the joint spectra σ(A₁,…,A_k) and σ(B₁,…,B_k) are disjoint. We discuss the connection between the simultaneous solutions of Sylvester equations and related questions about idempotent matrices separating disjoint subsets of the joint spectrum, spectral mapping for the differences of commuting k-tuples, and a characterization of the joint spectrum via simultaneous solutions of systems of linear equations.     

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.     

On sums of idempotent matrices over a field of positive characteristic

We study which square matrices are sums of idempotents over a field of positive characteristic; in particular, we prove that any such matrix, provided it is large enough, is actually a sum of five idempotents, and even of four when the field is a prime one.     

On a subspace metric based on matrix rank

The metric between subspaces M,N⊆C_n,1, defined by δ(M,N)=rk(P_M-P_N), where rk(·) denotes rank of a matrix argument and P_M and P_N are the orthogonal projectors onto the subspaces M and N, respectively, is investigated. Such a metric takes integer values only and is not induced by any vector norm. By exploiting partitioned representations of the projectors, several features of the metric δ(M,N) are identified. It turns out that the metric enjoys several properties possessed also by other measures used to characterize subspaces, such as distance (also called gap), Frobenius distance, direct distance, angle, or minimal angle.     

The Moore-Penrose inverse for sums of matrices under rank additivity conditions

Some results on the Moore-Penrose inverse for sums of matrices under rank additivity conditions are revisited and some new consequences are presented. Their extensions to the weighted Moore-Penrose inverse of sums of matrices under rank additivity conditions are also considered.     

The nullity theorem for principal pivot transform

We generalize the nullity theorem of Gustafson (1984) [8] from matrix inversion to principal pivot transform. Several special cases of the obtained result are known in the literature, such as a result concerning local complementation on graphs. As an application, we show that a particular matrix polynomial, the so-called nullity polynomial, is invariant under principal pivot transform.     

Spaces of real matrices of fixed small rank

In this paper we investigate the maximal dimension for k-spaces of real matrices for small values of k. We also give some bounds for the dimension of spaces of real matrices of high rank.     

On bilinear maps determined by rank one matrices with some applications

Let M_n be the algebra of all n×n matrix over a field F, A a rank one matrix in M_n. In this article it is shown that if a bilinear map ? from M_n×M_n to M_n satisfies the condition that ?(u,v)=?(I,A) whenever u·v=A, then there exists a linear map φ from M_n to M_n such that . If ? is further assumed to be symmetric then there exists a matrix B such that ?(x,y)=tr(xy)B for all x,y∈M_n. Applying the main result we prove that if a linear map on M_n is desirable at a rank one matrix then it is a derivation, and if an invertible linear map on M_n is automorphisable at a rank one matrix then it is an automorphism. In other words, each rank one matrix in M_n is an all-desirable point and an all-automorphisable point, respectively.     

Minimum rank of skew-symmetric matrices described by a graph

The minimum (symmetric) rank of a simple graph G over a field F is the smallest possible rank among all symmetric matrices over F whose ijth entry (for i≠j) is nonzero whenever {i,j} is an edge in G and is zero otherwise. The problem of determining minimum (symmetric) rank has been studied extensively. We define the minimum skew rank of a simple graph G to be the smallest possible rank among all skew-symmetric matrices over F whose ijth entry (for i≠j) is nonzero whenever {i,j} is an edge in G and is zero otherwise. We apply techniques from the minimum (symmetric) rank problem and from skew-symmetric matrices to obtain results about the minimum skew rank problem.     

Eigenvalue computation for unitary rank structured matrices

In this paper we describe how to compute the eigenvalues of a unitary rank structured matrix in two steps. First we perform a reduction of the given matrix into Hessenberg form, next we compute the eigenvalues of this resulting Hessenberg matrix via an implicit QR-algorithm. Along the way, we explain how the knowledge of a certain ‘shift’ correction term to the structure can be used to speed up the QR-algorithm for unitary Hessenberg matrices, and how this observation was implicitly used in a paper due to William B. Gragg. We also treat an analogue of this observation in the Hermitian tridiagonal case.     

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.     

Maximum generic nullity of a graph

For a graph G of order n, the maximum nullity of G is defined to be the largest possible nullity over all real symmetric n×n matrices A whose (i,j)th entry (for i≠j) is nonzero whenever {i,j} is an edge in G and is zero otherwise. Maximum nullity and the related parameter minimum rank of the same set of matrices have been studied extensively. A new parameter, maximum generic nullity, is introduced. Maximum generic nullity provides insight into the structure of the null-space of a matrix realizing maximum nullity of a graph. It is shown that maximum generic nullity is bounded above by edge connectivity and below by vertex connectivity. Results on random graphs are used to show that as n goes to infinity almost all graphs have equal maximum generic nullity, vertex connectivity, edge connectivity, and minimum degree.     

幂等矩阵线性组合的可逆性

设T1,T2,T3是三个不同的两两相互可交换的n×n非零的三次幂等矩阵,并且c1,c2,c3是非零数.本文主要给出了线性组合c1T1 c2T2 c3T3可逆性的刻画.