Positive definite collections of disks

Let $Q(z,w)=-\prod_{k=1}^n [(z-a_k)(\bar{w}-\bar{a}_k)-R_k^2]$. M. Putinar and B. Gustafsson proved recently that the matrix $Q(a_i,a_j)$, $1\leq i,j\leq n$, is positive definite if disks $|z-a_i|<R_i$ form a disjoint collection. We extend this result on symmetric collections of discs with overlapping. More precisely, we show that in the case when the nodes $a_j$ are situated at the vertices of a regular $n$-gon inscribed in the unit circle and $\forall i: R_i\equiv R$, the matrix $Q(a_i,a_j)$ is positive definite if and only if $R<\rho_n$, where $z=2\rho_n^2-1$ is the smallest $\ne-1$ zero of the Jacobi polynomial $\mathcal{P}^{n-2\nu,-1}_\nu(z)$, $\nu=[n/2]$.Comment: 24 page

Positive Definite Kernels in Machine Learning

This survey is an introduction to positive definite kernels and the set of methods they have inspired in the machine learning literature, namely kernel methods. We first discuss some properties of positive definite kernels as well as reproducing kernel Hibert spaces, the natural extension of the set of functions $\{k(x,\cdot),x\in\mathcal{X}\}$ associated with a kernel $k$ defined on a space $\mathcal{X}$. We discuss at length the construction of kernel functions that take advantage of well-known statistical models. We provide an overview of numerous data-analysis methods which take advantage of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces and discuss the idea of combining several kernels to improve the performance on certain tasks. We also provide a short cookbook of different kernels which are particularly useful for certain data-types such as images, graphs or speech segments.Comment: draft. corrected a typo in figure

Positive Definiteness and Semi-Definiteness of Even Order Symmetric Cauchy Tensors

Motivated by symmetric Cauchy matrices, we define symmetric Cauchy tensors and their generating vectors in this paper. Hilbert tensors are symmetric Cauchy tensors. An even order symmetric Cauchy tensor is positive semi-definite if and only if its generating vector is positive. An even order symmetric Cauchy tensor is positive definite if and only if its generating vector has positive and mutually distinct entries. This extends Fiedler's result for symmetric Cauchy matrices to symmetric Cauchy tensors. Then, it is proven that the positive semi-definiteness character of an even order symmetric Cauchy tensor can be equivalently checked by the monotone increasing property of a homogeneous polynomial related to the Cauchy tensor. The homogeneous polynomial is strictly monotone increasing in the nonnegative orthant of the Euclidean space when the even order symmetric Cauchy tensor is positive definite. Furthermore, we prove that the Hadamard product of two positive semi-definite (positive definite respectively) symmetric Cauchy tensors is a positive semi-definite (positive definite respectively) tensor, which can be generalized to the Hadamard product of finitely many positive semi-definite (positive definite respectively) symmetric Cauchy tensors. At last, bounds of the largest H-eigenvalue of a positive semi-definite symmetric Cauchy tensor are given and several spectral properties on Z-eigenvalues of odd order symmetric Cauchy tensors are shown. Further questions on Cauchy tensors are raised

Positive Definite Operator Functions and Sesquilinear Forms

Due to the fundamental works of T. Ando, W. Szyma\'nski, F. H. Szafraniec, and many others it is well known that sesquilinear forms play an important role in dilation theory. The crucial fact is that every positive definite operator function induces a sesquilinear form in a natural way. The purpose of this survey-like paper is to apply some recent results of Z. Sebesty\'en, Zs. Tarcsay, and the author for such functions. While most of the results are not new, the paper's main contribution is the unified discussion from the viewpoint of sesquilinear forms