The level set method for the two-sided eigenproblem

We consider the max-plus analogue of the eigenproblem for matrix pencils Ax=lambda Bx. We show that the spectrum of (A,B) (i.e., the set of possible values of lambda), which is a finite union of intervals, can be computed in pseudo-polynomial number of operations, by a (pseudo-polynomial) number of calls to an oracle that computes the value of a mean payoff game. The proof relies on the introduction of a spectral function, which we interpret in terms of the least Chebyshev distance between Ax and lambda Bx. The spectrum is obtained as the zero level set of this function.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures. Changes with respect to the previous version: we explain relation to mean-payoff games and discrete event systems, and show that the reconstruction of spectrum is pseudopolynomia

On Integer Images of Max-plus Linear Mappings

Let us extend the pair of operations (max,+) over real numbers to matrices in the same way as in conventional linear algebra. We study integer images of max-plus linear mappings. The question whether Ax (in the max-plus algebra) is an integer vector for at least one x has been studied for some time but polynomial solution methods seem to exist only in special cases. In the terminology of combinatorial matrix theory this question reads: is it possible to add constants to the columns of a given matrix so that all row maxima are integer? This problem has been motivated by attempts to solve a class of job-scheduling problems. We present two polynomially solvable special cases aiming to move closer to a polynomial solution method in the general case

Tropical linear algebra with the Lukasiewicz T-norm

The max-Lukasiewicz semiring is defined as the unit interval [0,1] equipped with the arithmetics "a+b"=max(a,b) and "ab"=max(0,a+b-1). Linear algebra over this semiring can be developed in the usual way. We observe that any problem of the max-Lukasiewicz linear algebra can be equivalently formulated as a problem of the tropical (max-plus) linear algebra. Based on this equivalence, we develop a theory of the matrix powers and the eigenproblem over the max-Lukasiewicz semiring.Comment: 27 page