Hankel tensors arise from applications such as signal processing. In this
paper, we make an initial study on Hankel tensors. For each Hankel tensor, we
associate it with a Hankel matrix and a higher order two-dimensional symmetric
tensor, which we call the associated plane tensor. If the associated Hankel
matrix is positive semi-definite, we call such a Hankel tensor a strong Hankel
tensor. We show that an m order n-dimensional tensor is a Hankel tensor if
and only if it has a Vandermonde decomposition. We call a Hankel tensor a
complete Hankel tensor if it has a Vandermonde decomposition with positive
coefficients. We prove that if a Hankel tensor is copositive or an even order
Hankel tensor is positive semi-definite, then the associated plane tensor is
copositive or positive semi-definite, respectively. We show that even order
strong and complete Hankel tensors are positive semi-definite, the Hadamard
product of two strong Hankel tensors is a strong Hankel tensor, and the
Hadamard product of two complete Hankel tensors is a complete Hankel tensor. We
show that all the H-eigenvalue of a complete Hankel tensors (maybe of odd
order) are nonnegative. We give some upper bounds and lower bounds for the
smallest and the largest Z-eigenvalues of a Hankel tensor, respectively.
Further questions on Hankel tensors are raised
