Singularities of rational functions and minimal factorizations: The noncommutative and the commutative setting

We show that the singularities of a matrix-valued noncommutative rational function which is regular at zero coincide with the singularities of the resolvent in its minimal state space realization. The proof uses a new notion of noncommutative backward shifts. As an application, we establish the commutative counterpart of the singularities theorem: the singularities of a matrix-valued commutative rational function which is regular at zero coincide with the singularities of the resolvent in any of its Fornasini-Marchesini realizations with the minimal possible state space dimension. The singularities results imply the absence of zero-pole cancellations in a minimal factorization, both in the noncommutative and in the commutative setting.