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2 votes
1 answer
316 views

Decomposition of Hilbert spaces via groups and algebras representations

Let $\mathcal{H}$ be a complex finite dimensional Hilbert space and let $\mathcal{A}\subseteq \mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$. I am looking to understand the different decompositions of $\mathcal{H}$ ...
1 vote
0 answers
152 views

Reference request: a class of matrices leading to interesting metric geometry

For $0 \le A \in GL(n,\mathbb{R})$, let $Aw = \Delta(A)$, where $\Delta$ denotes the map taking a matrix to a vector of its diagonal entries and/or forming a diagonal matrix from a vector, according ...
3 votes
0 answers
148 views

Spectrum of symmetric Toeplitz matrix

A matrix is Toeplitz if it is constant on the diagonals parallel to the main diagonal. I am looking for references on the spectrum of finite symmetric Toeplitz matrices over finite fields.
5 votes
2 answers
296 views

On the “Non-conservation of parity in weak interactions”

Kostrikin and Manin, in their Linear Algebra and Geometry, state that: (The excerpt is on pp. 42-43.) The statement comes after a proof of general linear group over reals having two connected ...
2 votes
0 answers
98 views

Sublattices in the standard integral symplectic lattice

Let $V$ denote $\mathbb{Z}^{2g}$ with its standard integral symplectic form $\omega = \sum_{i=0}^{g-1}dx_{2i} \wedge dx_{2i+1}$ (or, the homology lattice of a genus $g$ surface with its intersection ...
2 votes
0 answers
130 views

Pfaffian generalization

The identity $$\left| \begin{array}{cccc} x & y_1 & y_2 & y_3 \\ z_1 & 0 & a & b \\ z_2 & -a & 0 & c \\ z_3 & -b & -c & 0 \\ \end{array} \right|=\...
13 votes
0 answers
237 views

A Dynkin type classification result in linear algebra

Let $G$ be a finite directed acyclic graph. The Cartan matrix $C_G=C$ of $G$ is defined as the matrix with rows and colums indexed by the vertices of $G$ and $c_{i,j}$ counts the number of paths from $...
9 votes
1 answer
472 views

$M = AA^t$ where $A$ has unit norm columns

Let $M \in \mathbb{R}^{k\times k}$ positive definite with $\operatorname{tr} M = m$, where $m$ is an integer such that $m \geq k$. I have found a way (using this answer) to decompose $M = AA^t$ with $...
2 votes
1 answer
810 views

On matrices that almost have the same eigenvalues

Let $A$ and $B$ be two $4\times 4$ matrices. Using Newton's identities, one can prove that if $$\det(A) = \det(B)\quad \text{and}\quad \mathrm{tr}(A^i) = \mathrm{tr}(B^i)$$ for $i=1,2,3$, then $A$ and ...
18 votes
3 answers
2k views

Elementary $\mathrm{Ext}^1$ intuition

$\DeclareMathOperator{\Hom}{\operatorname{Hom}}\DeclareMathOperator{\Ext}{\operatorname{Ext}}$I am wondering what sort of basic basic intuitive meaning $\Ext^1(M,N)$ has. As a base case: if $M$ and $N$...
1 vote
1 answer
271 views

Jordan blocks of directed graphs

Let $G$ be a (possibly weighted) directed graph with $n$ vertices and let $P$ be its transition matrix. That is, $P = D^{-1}A$ where $A$ is the graph's adjacency matrix and $D$ is a diagonal matrix ...
17 votes
2 answers
2k views

The Lefschetz operator

Let $\omega=\sum_{i=1}^n dx_i\wedge dy_i\in\bigwedge^2(\mathbb{R}^{2n})^*$ be a standard symplectic form. The following result is due to Lefschetz: For $k\leq n$, the Lefschetz operator $L^{n-k}:\...
18 votes
1 answer
635 views

Is Carlitz's paper correct about the number of similarity classes of commuting matrices?

L. Carlitz has a paper, Classes of pairs of commuting matrices over a finite field, that computes the number of simultaneous similarity classes of of pairs of commuting matrices in $\operatorname{Mat}...
1 vote
1 answer
52 views

Reference Request: Randomly Generated Contraction

Let $n_1>n_2\geq 1$ be integers. Are there a known algorithms for generating $n_2\times n_1$-dimensional random matrices $A$ such that $$ \|Ax - Ay\|<\|x-y\| \mbox{ if $x\neq y$}? $$
4 votes
1 answer
511 views

Invariants of symmetric forms with respect to the symplectic group

Take a 6-dimensional vector space $V$ (for simplicity, over $\mathbb{C}$) and play the following game (for example, by employing the online Lie program): consider the 21-dimensional space $S^2V^*$ of ...
1 vote
1 answer
254 views

When does $\det \begin{pmatrix} A & X \\ X^T & A \end{pmatrix} = (\det A)^2 + (\det X)^2$?

Let $A$ be an $n \times n$ real symmetric matrix. Let $$ M = \begin{pmatrix} A & X \\ X^T & A \end{pmatrix} $$ where $X$ is a real invertible $n \times n$ matrix. I am interested in finding ...
5 votes
1 answer
279 views

Permanent of a Kronecker product of matrices

It is well known that $\det(A \otimes B) = \det(A)^m \det(B)^n$ when $A$ and $B$ are square matrices of size $n$ and $m$ where $\otimes$ denotes the Kronecker product. Question: Is there a similar ...
3 votes
1 answer
836 views

Solving multilinear equations

Let $N=\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$. Suppose we are given $n$ equations, with each equation taking the form $\sum_{A\subseteq N}\left(c_A \prod_{i\in A}x_i \right) = 0$, where each $c_A$ is a real number ...
1 vote
1 answer
100 views

category of non-welldefined linear maps

I was wondering whether the following category already has been used somewhere and whether it already has been named. Let us fix a field $k$ (or more generally a ring). An object is just a $k$-vector ...
15 votes
4 answers
869 views

What is known about ordinary character values at involutions?

Let $G$ be a finite group and let $\chi$ be the character of an irreducible complex representation $\rho$ of $G$ on $V$. Let $x$ be an involution in $G$. I'd like to ask the following Question 1: ...
0 votes
0 answers
91 views

Image of Frobenius element under irreducible representation is diagonalizable

Let $K/ \mathbb Q$ be a Galois extension, and $\rho$ be an irreducible representation of the Galois group $Gal(K/ \mathbb Q)$. Consider an integer prime $p$ which doesn't ramify in $K$, and let $\...
6 votes
2 answers
543 views

Rings $R$ such that every [regular] square matrix with entries in $R$ is equivalent to an upper triangular matrix

Let $\text{M}_n(R)$ be the ring of $n$-by-$n$ matrices with entries in a commutative unital ring $R$. Theorem III in C.R. Yohe, Triangular and Diagonal Forms for Matrices over Commutative ...
1 vote
2 answers
859 views

Linear independence of exponential functions: a reference

Is there a publication containing this obvious fact: For any real $T>0$, any natural $n$, any complex $c_1,\dots,c_n$, and any distinct complex $z_1,\dots,z_n$ such that $\sum_1^n c_k e^{tz_k}=0$ ...
3 votes
0 answers
39 views

A non-singularity property for sets of real matrices

Let $M_N(\mathbb{R})$ be the ring of $N\times N$ real matrices. We say that a couple $(\mathcal{U},\mathcal{V})$, with $\mathcal{U},\mathcal{V}\subseteq M_N(\mathbb{R})$ is admissible if, for every $A\...
3 votes
1 answer
421 views

Inequality for $AB + BA$ when $A,B\geq0$, reference request

Let $A,B\geq0$ be positive semidefinite matrices of arbitrary size $n\times n$. Denote by $\alpha$ and $\beta$ their largest eigenvalues. It is well-known that the eigenvalues of the expression $AB +...
11 votes
3 answers
1k views

Diagonalization via the Toda flow

According to some almost indecipherable notes of a graduate Linear Algebra class, a symmetric matrix $A\in\mathbb R^{n\times n}$ can be diagonalised via the Toda flow. More specifically, if $X=X(t)\in\...
1 vote
0 answers
104 views

Convergence rate of Toda/Morse flow

Let $A(t), A_0$ be a $n\times n$ hermitian complex matrices and consider the following matrix flow \begin{align} \frac{dA}{dt} &= \left [ C\circ A , A \right ] \\ A(0) &= A_0 \ . \end{align} ...
5 votes
1 answer
213 views

Matrix-valued periodic Fibonacci polynomials

Consider the Fibonacci polynomials $f_n(x)$, defined by the recursion $f_n(x)=xf_{n-1}(x)-f_{n-2}(x)$ with initial values $f_0(x)=0$ and $f_1(x)=1$. It is well known that the values of these ...
13 votes
3 answers
2k views

Linear algebra underlying quantum entanglement?

Hope this question is appropriate. I think I saw certain claims that quantum entanglement is a certain phenomena that can be explained (or modelled) in terms of tensor products in linear algebra. I ...
5 votes
1 answer
274 views

Precise probability that $m$ random vectors in $n$ dimensional space are nearly-orthogonal

Consider $m$ vectors $v_1,\dots,v_m$ in $\mathbb R^n$, drawn uniformly and independetly from unit sphere. It is pretty straightforward from Chebyshev inequality that $$ \mathrm P (\forall i\ne j \ |...
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 $\lambda_1,\dots,\lambda_n$...
4 votes
0 answers
247 views

Eigenvalues of structured matrices

Let $A=(a_{i,j})$ be an $n\times n$ matrix with $a_{j,j+1}>0,\; 1\leq j\leq n-1,$ and $a_{j,j-2}>0,\; 3\leq j\leq n$, the rest of the entries are zeros. Is the following fact known: All ...
44 votes
2 answers
2k views

Fermat's Last Theorem for integer matrices

Some years ago I was asked by a friend if Fermat's Last Theorem was true for matrices. It is pretty easy to convince oneself that it is not the case, and in fact the following statement occurs ...
3 votes
1 answer
3k views

Singular value decomposition of random rectangular matrices

Let $A$ be a $m\times n$ real matrix, whose entries are independent, identically distributed random variables, following standard normal distributions (mean zero and unit variance). What is the ...
0 votes
0 answers
94 views

Neat expresion for an anti-symmetric matrix

Fix a column vector $\pmb{v}$ and consider the cross product $\pmb{v}^T\times\pmb{x}^T$ for any column vector $\pmb{x}\in\mathbb{R}^3$. One can write $$\pmb{v}^T\times\pmb{x}^T=A(\pmb{v})\pmb{x}$$ for ...
1 vote
0 answers
126 views

Algebraic structures on graphs

There are many algebraic structures linked to graphs. For example one can find zero divisor graphs $[1]$, $[2]$ and many other graphs. Does there exist any survey paper which characterizes all the ...
2 votes
0 answers
1k views

Applications of linear algebra in the design of aircraft [closed]

David Lay mentioned one application of linear algebra in the design of aircraft in the introductory part of chapter 2 of his book: [...] A computer creates a model of the surface by first ...
0 votes
0 answers
84 views

Relation between two matrices associated with a positive definite function

Let $f:\mathbb{R}^N \to \mathbb{R}$ be a positive definite function. Let $$g(h) = \int_{\mathbb{R}^N}f(x)f(h-x)\mathrm{d}x$$ Due to Bochner's and Parseval's theorems, $g$ is also a positive definite ...
10 votes
1 answer
483 views

functors $\text{Vect} \to \text{Vect}$ that preserve filtered and sifted colimits

I'm considering various functors from the category $\text{Vect}$ of real vector spaces to itself, and would like to know that they preserve filtered colimits and possibly even sifted colimits. The ...
11 votes
2 answers
820 views

Encyclopedia of properties of nonnegative matrices

I'd like to buy a book that contains more or less all known properties of elementwise nonnegative nonnegative matrices, i.e. matrices $A$ such that $a_{ij} \ge 0$ for all $1 \le i,j \le n$. Chapter 8 ...
4 votes
0 answers
144 views

A Pythagorian inequality characterization of inner-product spaces

Let $(X,\|\cdot\|)$ be a real normed space. For any points $A$ and $B$ in $X$, let $AB:=\|A-B\|$. Suppose that for any points $A$ and $B$ in $X$ and any straight line $\ell\subseteq X$ such that $B\...
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)...
10 votes
1 answer
262 views

What is the hidden symmetry behind four generic planes in $\mathbb{R}^4$?

Consider the action of $\operatorname{GL}(\mathbb{R}^4)$ on the Grassmannian of 2-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{R}^4$. In experiments, I observe that four randomly drawn points in this space are ...
6 votes
1 answer
237 views

Determinantal questions on Alternate Sign Matrices

Let $\mathcal{A}_n$ be the set of all Alternating Sign Matrices (ASM) of size $n\times n$. The cardinality $\#\mathcal{A}_n$ is well-known $$\#\mathcal{A}_n=\prod_{k=0}^{n-1} \frac{(3k+1)!}{(n+k)!}.$$ ...
2 votes
0 answers
148 views

Generalization of Farkas' Lemma to Hermitian Matrices

I recently stumbled upon a well-known version of Farkas' Lemma which, roughly speaking, I would like to generalize from real vectors to hermitian matrices, as it seems promising for something else I ...
3 votes
0 answers
55 views

What is the precise definition of a quadratic form of Minkowski type (in the infinite case)?

I've been trying to understand a construction in the paper "Degree Growth of Meromorphic Surface Maps" by Bouksom, Favre and Jonsson. In it they state, In fact, the completion can be characterized ...
3 votes
0 answers
180 views

Automorphisms of infinite matrix algebra

This is a similar question to one that I posted in MSE a few days ago. I recently came across this paper from Alahmedi, Alsulami, Jain and Zelmanov, which quoted the following result for $M_\infty(K)$...
3 votes
1 answer
777 views

Lower bound of the expectation of the product of inner products of random vectors

I encountered the following value in my research: Let $n,m$ be some integer. Suppose $\alpha_1,\dots,\alpha_m$ are unit vectors in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Denote $$ L = \mathop{\mathrm{E}}_x[ \prod_{1\...
3 votes
0 answers
360 views

Do we know what the impulse to "introduce" the Jordan canonical form was?

Mo-ers, Do you know how it was that the study of the Jordan canonical form began? There are certain things that may be said once one has thought about the matter: for instance, one can say that the ...
5 votes
1 answer
515 views

Do matrices with only elements along the main and anti-diagonals have a name?

To expand upon the title, I am wondering if there is a specific name for square matrices of the form: $$M = \begin{bmatrix} a_{11} & 0 & \cdots & 0 & \cdots & & 0 & b_{1n} ...

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