The trace algebra C(n,d) over a field of characteristic 0 is generated by all traces of products of d generic nxn matrices, n,d>1. Minimal sets of generators of C(n,d) are known for n=2 and n=3 for any d as well as for n=4 and n=5 and d=2. The defining relations between the generators are found for n=2 and any d and for n=3, d=2 only. Starting with the generating set of C(3,d) given by Abeasis and Pittaluga in 1989, we have shown that the minimal degree of the set of defining relations of C(3,d) is equal to 7 for any d>2. We have determined all relations of minimal degree. For d=3 we have also found the defining relations of degree 8. The proofs are based on methods of representation theory of the general linear group and easy computer calculations with standard functions of Maple.
The noncommutative (or mixed) trace algebra $T_{nd}$ is generated by $d$ generic $n\times n$ matrices and by the algebra $C_{nd}$ generated by all traces of products of generic matrices, $n,d\geq 2$. It is known that over a field of characteristic 0 this algebra is a finitely generated free module over a polynomial subalgebra $S$ of the center $C_{nd}$. For $n=3$ and $d=2$ we have found explicitly such a subalgebra $S$ and a set of free generators of the $S$-module $T_{32}$. We give also a set of defining relations of $T_{32}$ as an algebra and a Groebner basis of the corresponding ideal. The …
Over a field of characteristic 0, the algebra of invariants of several $n\times n$ matrices under simultameous conjugation by $GL_n$ is generated by traces of products of generic matrices. Teranishi, 1986, found a minimal system of eleven generators of the algebra of invariants of two $3\times 3$ matrices. Nakamoto, 2002, obtained an explicit, but very complicated, defining relation for a similar system of generators over $\mathbb Z$. In this paper we have found another natural set of eleven generators of this algebra of invariants over a field of characteristic 0 and have given the defining r…
Over a field K of characteristic 0, we study the algebra of invariants of the general linear group GL(4,K) acting by simultaneous conjugation on two matrices of order 4. It coincides with the trace algebra generated by all traces of products of two generic matrices of order 4. It is known that the minimal degree of the defining relations of any homogeneous minimal generating set of this algebra is equal to 12. Starting with the generating set given recently by Drensky and Sadikova, we have determined all relations of degree < 15. For this purpose we have developed further algorithms based on r…
The problem of determining necessary and sufficient conditions for a set of real numbers to be the eigenvalues of a symmetric nonnegative matrix is called the symmetric nonnegative inverse eigenvalue problem (SNIEP). In this paper we solve SNIEP in the case of trace zero symmetric nonnegative 5x5 matrices.
We prove that for every trace zero matrix $A$ over a principal ideal ring $R$, there exist trace zero matrices $X,Y$ over $R$ such that $XY-YX=A$. Moreover, we show that $X$ can be taken to be regular mod every maximal ideal of $R$. This strengthens our earlier result that $A$ is a commutator of two matrices (not necessarily of trace zero), and in addition, the present proof is significantly simpler than the earlier one. Shalev has conjectured an analogous statement for group commutators in $\mathrm{SL}_{n}$ over $p$-adic integers. We prove Shalev's conjecture for $n=2$.
It is known that every complex trace-zero matrix is the sum of four square-zero matrices, but not necessarily of three such matrices. In this note, we prove that for every trace-zero matrix $A$ over an arbitrary field, there is a non-negative integer $p$ such that the extended matrix $A \oplus 0_p$ is the sum of three square-zero matrices (more precisely, one can simply take $p$ as the number of rows of $A$). Moreover, we demonstrate that if the underlying field has characteristic $2$ then every trace-zero matrix is the sum of three square-zero matrices. We also discuss a counterpart of the la…
The trace algebra C_{nd} is generated by all traces of products of d generic n x n matrices. Minimal generating sets of C_{nd} and their defining relations are known for n < 3 and n = 3, d=2. This paper states a minimal generating set and their defining relations for n=d=3. Furthermore the computations yield a description of C_{33} as a free module over the ring generated by a homogeneous system of parameters.
Let $λ_1 \geq λ_2 \geq λ_3 \geq λ_4 \geq λ_5 \geq -λ_1$ be real numbers such that $\sum_{i=1}^5 λ_i =0$. In \cite{oren}, O. Spector prove that a necessary and sufficient condition for $λ_1, λ_2, λ_3, λ_4, λ_5$ to be the eigenvalues of a symmetric nonnegative $5 \times 5$ matrix is "$λ_2+λ_5<0$ and $\sum_{i=1}^5 λ_{i}^{3} \geq 0"$. In this article, we show that this condition is also a necessary and sufficient condition for $λ_1, λ_2, λ_3, λ_4, λ_5$ to be the spectrum of a traceless bisymmetric nonnegative $5 \times 5$ matrix.
We find explicitly the generating functions of the multiplicities in the pure and mixed trace cocharacter sequences of two $4\times 4$ matrices over a field of characteristic 0. We determine the asymptotic behavior of the multiplicities and show that they behave as polynomials of 14th degree.
In this paper we study algebras with trace and their trace polynomial identities over a field of characteristic 0. We consider two commutative matrix algebras: $D_2$, the algebra of $2\times 2$ diagonal matrices and $C_2$, the algebra of $2 \times 2$ matrices generated by $e_{11}+e_{22}$ and $e_{12}$. We describe all possible traces on these algebras and we study the corresponding trace codimensions. Moreover we characterize the varieties with trace of polynomial growth generated by a finite dimensional algebra. As a consequence, we see that the growth of a variety with trace is either polynom…
Two generating sets of the defining ideal of a Nichols algebra of diagonal type are proposed, which are then applied to study the bar involution and the specialization problem of quantum groups associated to non-symmetrizable generalized Cartan matrices.
In the previous article we introduced the new concept of mixed representations of quivers and described the generators of their algebras of invariants. In this article we describe the defining relations of these algebras. Some applications for the invariants of orthogonal or symplectic groups acting on several matrices are given.
We construct six unitary trace invariants for 2 by 2 quaternionic matrices which separate the unitary similarity classes of such matrices, and show that this set is minimal. We prove two quaternionic versions of a well known characterization of triangularizable subalgebras of matrix algebras over an algebraically closed field. Finally we consider the problem of describing the semi-algebraic set of pairs (X,Y) of quaternionic n by n matrices which are simultaneously triangularizable. Even the case n=2, which we analyze in more detail, remains unsolved.
Given any commutative ring $R$, a commutator of two $n\times n$ matrices over $R$ has trace $0$. In this paper, we study the converse: whether every $n \times n$ trace $0$ matrix is a commutator. We show that if $R$ is a Bézout domain with algebraically closed quotient field, then every $n\times n$ trace $0$ matrix is a commutator. We also show that if $R$ is a regular ring with large enough Krull dimension relative to $n$, then there exist a $n\times n$ trace $0$ matrix that is not a commutator. This improves on a result of Lissner by increasing the size of the matrix allowed for a fixed $R$.…
Suppose a map $ϕ$ on the set of positive definite matrices satisfies $\det(A+B)=\det(ϕ(A)+ϕ(B))$. Then we have $${\rm tr}(AB^{-1}) = {\rm tr}(ϕ(A){ϕ(B)}^{-1}).$$ Through this viewpoint, we show that $ϕ$ is of the form $ϕ(A)= M^*AM$ or $ϕ(A)= M^*A^tM$ for some invertible matrix $M$ with $\det (M^*M)=1$. We also characterize the map $ϕ: \mathcal{S} \rightarrow \mathcal{S}$ preserving the determinant of convex combinations in $\mathcal{S}$ by using similar method. Here $\mathcal{S}$ can be the set of complex matrices, positive definite matrices, symmetric matrices, and upper triangular matrices.
One of the aims of this paper is to provide a short survey on the Z2-graded, the symmetric and the left (right) generalizations of the classical determinant theory for square matrices with entries in an arbitrary (possibly non-commutative) ring. This will put us in a position to give a motivation for our main results. We use the preadjoint matrix to exhibit a general trace expression for the symmetric determinant. The symmetric version of the classical Newton trace formula is also presented in the 3x3 case.
We find explicitly the multiplicities in the (mixed) trace cocharacter sequence of two $3\times 3$ matrices over a field of characteristic 0 and show that asymptotically they behave as polynomials of seventh degree. As a consequence we obtain also the multiplicities of certain irreducible characters in the cocharacter sequence of the polynomial identities of $3\times 3$ matrices.
A univariate trace polynomial is a polynomial in a variable x and formal trace symbols Tr(x^j). Such an expression can be naturally evaluated on matrices, where the trace symbols are evaluated as normalized traces. This paper addresses global and constrained positivity of univariate trace polynomials on symmetric matrices of all finite sizes. A tracial analog of Artin's solution to Hilbert's 17th problem is given: a positive semidefinite univariate trace polynomial is a quotient of sums of products of squares and traces of squares of trace polynomials.
We give a useful new characterization of the set of all completely positive, trace-preserving (i.e., stochastic) maps from 2x2 matrices to 2x2 matrices. These conditions allow one to easily check any trace-preserving map for complete positivity. We also determine explicitly all extreme points of this set, and give a useful parameterization after reduction to a certain canonical form. This allows a detailed examination of an important class of non-unital extreme points which can be characterized as having exactly two images on the Bloch sphere. We also discuss a number of related issues about t…
We present new identities for determinants of matrices $(A_{i,j})$ with entries $A_{i,j}$ equal to $a_{i,j}$ or $a_{i,0}a_{0,j}-a_{i,j}$, where the $a_{i,j}$'s are indeterminates. We show that these identities are behind trace identities for $SL(2,\Bbb C)$ matrices found earlier by Magnus in his study of trace algebras.
We give a short proof of a recent result of Drury on the positivity of a $3\times 3$ matrix of the form $(\|R_i^*R_j\|_{\rm tr})_{1 \le i, j \le 3}$ for any rectangular complex (or real) matrices $R_1, R_2, R_3$ so that the multiplication $R_i^*R_j$ is compatible for all $i, j$, where $\|\cdot\|_{\rm tr}$ denotes the trace norm. We then give a complete analysis of the problem when the trace norm is replaced by other unitarily invariant norms.
The general linear group acts on $m$-tuples of $N\times N$ matrices by simultaneous conjugation. Quantum deformations of the corresponding rings of invariants and the so-called trace rings are investigated.
Let $V$ be the set of $n\times n$ complex or real general matrices, Hermitian matrices, symmetric matrices, positive definite (resp. semi-definite) matrices, diagonal matrices, or upper triangular matrices. Fix $k\in \mathbb{Z}\setminus \{0, 1\}$. We characterize linear maps $ψ:V\to V$ that satisfy $ψ(A^k)=ψ(A)^k$ on an open neighborhood $S$ of $I_n$ in $V$. The $k$-power preservers are necessarily $k$-potent preservers, and the case $k=2$ corresponds to Jordan homomorphisms. Applying the results, we characterize maps $ϕ,ψ:V\to V$ that satisfy "$ \operatorname{tr}(ϕ(A)ψ(B)^k)=\operatorname{tr}…
