All Questions
187 questions
49
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Is this proof of Perron's theorem correct, and if so is it original?
A few years ago, I came up with this proof of Perron's theorem for a class presentation:
https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~web6720/Perron-Frobenius_Hannah%20Cairns.pdf
I've written an outline of it below ...
35
votes
3
answers
4k
views
A curious determinantal inequality
In my study, I come across the following curious inequality, which I do not know a proof yet (so I am asking it here).
Let $A, B$ be $n\times n$ (Hermitian) positive definite matrices. It is very ...
26
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Real square roots of symmetric matrices
In joint work with Andreas Fischle (TU Dresden, Germany) and Patrizio Neff (U Essen, Germany) we needed to use the following statement: If $S$ is a real $n\times n$ matrix with $S^2$ symmetric, then ...
21
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Almost commuting unitary matrices
Suppose that $A_1,\dots, A_k$ are unitary matrices such that any two of them can be approximated by commuting unitary matrices. i.e. for any $i$ and $j$, there are unitary matrices $A_i'$ and $A_j'$ ...
17
votes
1
answer
3k
views
2x2 subdeterminants of a matrix
If N>2, it is well known that if two invertible NxN matrices A and B have the same determinants of any 2x2 corresponding submatrices, then A=B or A=-B.
Given then all these 2x2 determinants of an ...
17
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Hlawka inequality for determinants of positive definite matrices
It is mentioned here that if $A, B, C\in M_{n}(\mathbb C)$ are positive semidefinite, then $$\det (A+B+C)+\det C\ge \det (A+C)+\det (B+C)$$ (quoted from this article) and the special case ($C=\bf 0$) $...
16
votes
0
answers
488
views
An inequality for matrix norms
Working on a problem in combinatorics I come up with the following inequality on matrix norms, which I checked it also numerically:
Let $A=(a_{ij})$ be a real symmetric $n\times n$ matrix with ...
15
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Determinant of a $k \times k$ block matrix
Consider the $k \times k$ block matrix:
$$C = \left(\begin{array}{ccccc} A & B & B & \cdots & B \\ B & A & B &\cdots & B \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \...
14
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Matrix trace & norm [closed]
For any nonnegative semidefinite matrix $A$ and any matrix $B$, we have
$$\mbox{tr} (AB) \le \mbox{tr} (A) \, \|B\|$$
where $\mbox{tr}(\cdot)$ is the trace and $\|\cdot\|$ is the operator norm. How ...
14
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Vandermonde matrix is totally positive
A totally positive matrix $M\in \mathcal{M}_{n\times m}(\mathbb R)$ is such that all of its minors of all sizes are positive. It is true that any Vandermonde matrix (with well-ordered positive entries)...
14
votes
2
answers
574
views
A simple but curious determinantal inequality
Let $A$ and $B$ be $n\times n$ Hermitian positive definite matrices and $k>0$ real. Then $A^k$ is well-defined and experimentally, we have $$\det(A^k+BABA^{-1})\geqslant \det(A^k+BA^{-1}BA),$$or ...
12
votes
2
answers
3k
views
On the positive definiteness of a linear combination of matrices
In my work in PDE, the following problem in linear algebra came up. Any help in this direction is appreciated.
QUESTION:
Let $m,n\in\mathbb{N}$ and let $A_1,\ldots, A_m\in M_n(\mathbb{R})$ be real, ...
12
votes
0
answers
508
views
More mysterious properties of Gram matrix
This is another question related to the mysterious properties of the Gram matrix in dimension $4$. Here's the previous question.
The following fact could be extracted from 0402087:
For any $a_i\...
12
votes
0
answers
218
views
Which ordering of factors is needed to obtain this kind of determinantal inequalities?
Let $A$ and $B$ be $n\times n$ Hermitian positive definite matrices. The curious determinantal inequality given here, which can be stated as $$\det (A^{4}+ ABBA+BAAB+B^{4})\ge\det(A^{4}+ AABB+BBAA+B^{...
12
votes
0
answers
314
views
Ratio of entries of A and log A where A is a triangular matrix
Consider triangular matrices $A = \left( {a(n,k)} \right)$ of arbitrary order with $a(n,k) = 0$ if $n + k$ is odd and $a(n,n - 2k) = \frac{{n!}}{{k!(n - 2k)!}}\frac{{(m + n - k - 1)!}}{{(m + n - 1)!}}$...
11
votes
2
answers
777
views
Trace of non-commutable matrices
Let $M_1$ and $M_2$ be two symmetric $d\times d$ matrices. What is the relationship between
$tr(M_1M_2M_1M_2)$ and $tr(M_1^2 M_2^2 )$?
P.S. I tried a few examples and found
$$
tr(M_1M_2M_1M_2) \le tr(...
11
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Inverse of a small submatrix
Let $A$ be a large matrix (say, $1000 \times 1000$), and let $\mathcal I = \{2,3,5\}$ be a set of row/column indices. Let $(A^{-1})_{\cal I \times I}$ denote the submatrix of $A^{-1}$ that consists of ...
11
votes
0
answers
313
views
Jaffard's theorem - finite matrices
For infinite matrices, Jaffard's theorem states that if $(A(k,l))_{k,l\in \mathbb{Z}}$ is invertible and satisfies
$$
A(k,l) \leq C (1+\left|k-l\right|)^{-r},
$$
for some $C>0$,
then
$$
A^{-1}(k,...
10
votes
3
answers
455
views
When does $\det(\frac{A+A^T}{2})=\det(A)$ for positive-definite $\frac{A+A^T}{2}$?
Setup: Let $A$ be a real square matrix and assume its symmetric part $\frac{A+A^T}{2}$ is positive-definite. The inequality
$$
\det\left(\frac{A+A^T}{2}\right) \leq \lvert\det(A)\rvert
$$
is known as ...
10
votes
2
answers
733
views
Product $PVPVP$ is elementwise nonnegative?
Let $P\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times n}$ be the inverse of a positive definite M-matrix and $V\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times n}$ be any diagonal matrix. Prove (or disprove) that $PVPVP$ is elementwise nonnegative.
...
10
votes
1
answer
615
views
A curious determinantal inequality I
Let $A, B$ be Hermitian matrices. Does the following hold?
$$\det(A^{2}+B^{2}+|AB+BA|)\leq \det(A^{2}+B^{2}+|AB|+|BA|)$$
As usual, $|X|=(X^*X)^{1/2}$. Clearly, quantities on both sides are no less ...
10
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Reverse Minkowski (and related) Determinant Inequalities
For positive semidefinite matrices $A,B,C \in \mathbb{R}^{n\times n}$, the following inequalities are well known:
$$(\det(A+B))^{1/n} \geq (\det A)^{1/n} + (\det B)^{1/n} $$
and
$$\det(A+B+C) + \...
10
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Nuclear norm as minimum of Frobenius norm product
Nuclear, or trace, or Ky Fan, norm of a matrix is defined as the sum of the singular values of the matrix.
It is claimed that
$$
\|X\|_\sigma = \min_{UV^T=X} \|U\|\|V\| = \min_{UV^T=X} \frac{1}{2}(\|...
10
votes
1
answer
630
views
Minimum distance of a symmetric matrix to diagonal matrices
Let $A=(a_{ij})$ be an arbitrary $n \times n$ real symmetric matrix and $n\geq 2$. Let $\| \cdot \|$ denote the operator $2$-norm or equivalently the maximum absolute value of eigenvalues for ...
9
votes
2
answers
894
views
Inverse of special upper triangular matrix
Consider the following $n \times n$ upper triangular matrix with a particularly nice structure:
\begin{equation}\mathbf{P} = \begin{pmatrix}
1 & \beta & \alpha+\beta & \dots & (n-3)\...
9
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Fast Upper Triangular Matrix Exponentiation
Let $Q_n$ be a $n\times n$ matrix with $Q_n=\begin{pmatrix} -\lambda_1-\mu_1 & \lambda_1 & 0 & \cdots\\ 0 & -\lambda_2-\mu_2 & \lambda_2 & \cdots\\ \vdots & \vdots & \...
9
votes
1
answer
954
views
Convexity of the product of two exponential matrices
Let $S\subset\mathbb{R}$ be a convex set and $\mathbb{S}^{n}$ be the set of real symmetric matrices of order $n\times n$.
A matrix valued function $\Gamma: S \rightarrow \mathbb{S}^{n}$ is said to ...
9
votes
1
answer
804
views
A singular value-eigenvalue inequality
Singular value or eigenvalue problems lie at the center of matrix analysis. One classical result is
$$\lambda_{j}(X^{*}X+Y^{*}Y)\geq 2\sigma_j(XY^*)$$
for $j \in \{1, \ldots, n\}$, where $\lambda_j(\...
9
votes
1
answer
396
views
Bound on the ratio of top 2 eigenvalues
Let $P$ be a $n \times n$ stochastic matrix such that $P_{ij}=\tau$ if $i \neq j$ and $P_{ii} = 1 - (n-1)\tau$ where $0<\tau < \frac{1}{n}$.
It is clear that the largest eigenvalue of $P$ is 1, ...
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Operator norm of square root of matrix vs original
If I have a nonsymmetric matrix whose operator norm is $\leq 1$ and square root it, does its operator norm remain below $1$?
More formally, I want to know whether there is always at least one square ...
8
votes
3
answers
663
views
Representation theorem for matrices (reference request)
Motivation. If $A \in \mathbb{C}^{n \times n}$ is self-adjoint (or, more generally, normal), then we all know that
$$
A = \sum_{k=1}^n \lambda_k \, h_k \otimes h_k,
$$
where $\lambda_1,\dots,\lambda_n$...
8
votes
2
answers
362
views
Unitary factor in polar decompositions
Let $A, B$ be $n$-square (Hermitian) positive definite matrices. Let $AB=U|AB|$ be the polar decomposition of $AB$. So $U$ is unitary (called the unitary factor of $AB$). What is the optimal constant $...
8
votes
1
answer
325
views
On a matrix inequality
$\newcommand{\R}{\mathbb R}\newcommand{\tr}{\operatorname{tr}}$It follows from Proposition 7 and this recent answer that, for any positive-definite $n\times n$ symmetric real matrices $A$ and $B$,
$$\...
8
votes
1
answer
490
views
Determinants (and traces) of linear maps of matrices
Let $k$ be a field or a commutative ring with unit and let $F:M_n(k)\to M_n(k)$ be a $k$-linear map. Suppose that $F$ is given in the form $F(X) = A_1XB_1 + \cdots + A_m X B_m$ for some $A_i,B_i\in ...
8
votes
1
answer
603
views
Inequalities for Hadamard products of complex symmetric matrices
Consider a complex symmetric matrix $$ C= C_R + i C_I $$ with $C_R,C_I \in \text{Mat}_{n\times n}(\mathbb R)$ symmetric, and assume that the eigenvalues of $C_R$ are all strictly positive. Then, $C$ ...
7
votes
1
answer
511
views
Is it true that $\lVert A\rVert \leq \lVert A^2\rVert$ for $A\in \operatorname{SL}(2, \mathbb{R})$ when $\operatorname{trace}(A)>2$?
$\DeclareMathOperator\SL{SL}\DeclareMathOperator\trace{trace}$Let $A \in \SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ and $\trace(A)>2$. Is it true that $$\lVert A\rVert \leq \lVert A^2\rVert,$$
where $\lVert \rVert$ is the ...
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Bound the eigenvalue of product of matrices?
Let $H$ be a $n \times n$ real symmetric matrix that has eigenvalues with absolute value less than 1. Define the matrix $M = \prod_{i=1}^n (I - e_ie_i^{\top}H)$ where $e_i$ denotes the $i^\text{th}$ ...
7
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Optimization problem on trace of rotated positive definite matrices
Given two $n \times n$ symmetric positive definite matrices $A$ and $B$, I am interested in solving the following optimization problem over $n \times n$ unitary matrices $R$:
$$
\mathrm{arg}\max_R \,\...
7
votes
1
answer
433
views
Smallest singular value of $X\mapsto AX^{T}+XA^{T}$
Question: Given the long and skinny matrix $A\in\mathbb{R}^{m\times n}$ with $m\ge n$, define the matrix valued operator
$$\mathcal{A}:X\mapsto AX^{T}+XA^{T}.$$
What is the tightest nontrivial lower-...
7
votes
1
answer
390
views
Questions on symmetric Hadamard matrices
Definitions: An $n\times n$ Hadamard matrix (HM for short) is a matrix whose entries are either $1$ or $−1$ and whose rows are mutually orthogonal.
If $A$ is a symmetric matrix, then $A = A^T$ and if $...
7
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Eigenvectors as continuous functions of matrix - diagonal perturbations
The general question has been treated here, and the response was negative. My question is about more particular perturbations. The counterexamples given in the previous question have variations not ...
7
votes
1
answer
271
views
Existence of a linear map resulting in the determinant being an elementary symmetric polynomial
Let $1 \leq k \leq n$ be fixed integers. Let $\mathcal{M}_n^{\mathrm{H}}$ be the set of $n \times n$ complex Hermitian matrices (if it makes it easier to answer this question, you may instead use the ...
6
votes
2
answers
647
views
Is there a name for matrices of the form $a_{ij}=\frac{1}{a_{ji}}$?
I have a matrix that is “kind of symmetric.” Specifically, it is an $n \times n$ real matrix such that the entries $a_{ij}=1/a_{ji}$ whenever $j \ne i$. I want to investigate the properties of this ...
6
votes
1
answer
777
views
Is every real matrix conjugate to a semi antisymmetric matrix?
Is it true to say that every matrix $A\in M_n(\mathbb{R})$ is similar (conjugate) to a matrix $B=(b_{ij})$ with $b_{ij}=-b_{ji}$ for all $i\neq j$?(With some abuse of terminology,a matrix $B$ with ...
6
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Nontrivial lower bound on the sum of matrix norms
Let $X, V\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times r}$ such that $X^\top V$ is symmetric. The central quantity I care about is
\begin{equation}
\|XV^\top\|_{F}^2+\|X^\top V\|_{F}^2 +[\text{Tr}(X^\top V)]^2.
\end{...
6
votes
1
answer
446
views
Matrix inequality : trace of exponential of Hermitian matrix
I want to know whether the following inequality holds or not.
\begin{align}
(\mathrm{Tr}\exp[(A+B)/2])^2\leq(\mathrm{Tr}\exp A)(\mathrm{Tr}\exp B)\tag{1}
\end{align}
where $A, B$ are Hermitian ...
6
votes
1
answer
277
views
Diagonalization of the matrix $(1/(i+j+\rm{const}))_{i,j}$
Consider the following infinite matrix: $A_{i,j}=\frac1{i+j+\gamma}$, $0\leq i,j<\infty$, $\gamma>0$ is a constant. Is it known how to diagonalize $A$, or, say, calculate $(I+tA)^{-1}$ for ...
6
votes
1
answer
886
views
One question on block-circulant matrices
Circulant matrices are very useful in digital image processing.
I found the general formula for determinant of circulant matrix.
But I think it is not suitable for block-circulant matrices.
For ...
6
votes
2
answers
259
views
Distance of low-rank matrices to the identity for the $\infty$-norm
I am trying to get a lower bound (or even the exact value) of
$$
\min_{X \in \mathbb{R}^{n\times n}} \|X - I_n\|_{\infty} \enspace \text{s.t.} \enspace \mbox{Rank}(X) = m
$$
where $m \leq n$, and the ...
6
votes
2
answers
236
views
Bounding the non-multiplicativity of isometric projection
Every $A \in \text{GL}_n(\mathbb{R})$ has a unique Polar decomposition:
$A=O_AP_A$, $O \in \operatorname{O}_n, P \in \operatorname{Psym}_n$.
In particular the orthogonal factor is given by $$O_A=A(\...