AbstractAn n×n ray pattern A is said to be spectrally arbitrary if for every monic nth degree polynomial f(x) with coefficients from C, there is a matrix in the pattern class of A such that its characteristic polynomial is f(x). In this article the authors extend the nilpotent-Jacobi method for sign patterns to ray patterns, establishing a means to show that an irreducible ray pattern and all its superpatterns are spectrally arbitrary. They use this method to establish that a particular family of n×n irreducible ray patterns with exactly 3n nonzeros is spectrally arbitrary. They then show that every n×n irreducible, spectrally arbitrary ray pattern has at least 3n-1 nonzeros

McDonald, Judith J.

Stuart, Jeffrey

Elsevier - Publisher Connector 

Linear Algebra and its Applications 429 (2008) 727–734
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
www.elsevier.com/locate/laa
Spectrally arbitrary ray patterns
Judith J. McDonald a, Jeffrey Stuart b,∗
a Mathematics Department, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-3113, USA
b Mathematics Department, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA 98447, USA
Received 19 November 2006; accepted 25 March 2008
Available online 27 May 2008
Submitted by B.L. Shader
Abstract
An n × n ray pattern A is said to be spectrally arbitrary if for every monic nth degree polynomial f (x)
with coefficients from C, there is a matrix in the pattern class of A such that its characteristic polynomial
is f (x). In this article the authors extend the nilpotent-Jacobi method for sign patterns to ray patterns,
establishing a means to show that an irreducible ray pattern and all its superpatterns are spectrally arbitrary.
They use this method to establish that a particular family of n × n irreducible ray patterns with exactly 3n
nonzeros is spectrally arbitrary. They then show that every n × n irreducible, spectrally arbitrary ray pattern
has at least 3n − 1 nonzeros.
© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
AMS classification: 15A18; 15A48
Keywords: Spectrally arbitrary; Ray pattern
1. Introduction
The problem of classifying the spectrally arbitrary sign patterns, that is, sign patterns that
allow the realization of every self-conjugate spectrum, was introduced in [6] by Drew et al. In
their article, they developed the nilpotent-Jacobi method for showing that a sign pattern and all its
superpatterns are spectrally arbitrary, and they conjectured that a particular family of tridiagonal
patterns is spectrally arbitrary. Work on spectrally arbitrary sign patterns has continued in several
articles including [1–3,8,9], where families of spectrally arbitrary patterns have been presented
and where general properties of spectrally arbitrary patterns have been studied. In particular, in
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: jmcdonald@math.wsu.edu (J.J. McDonald), jeffrey.stuart@plu.edu (J. Stuart).
0024-3795/$ - see front matter ( 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.laa.2008.03.026
728 J.J. McDonald, J. Stuart / Linear Algebra and its Applications 429 (2008) 727–734
[1], Britz et al. showed that every n × n irreducible, spectrally arbitrary sign pattern must have at
least 2n − 1 nonzeros and they provided families of patterns that have exactly 2n nonzeros. This
result is easily extended to zero–nonzero patterns over R and C. In [4], Corpuz and McDonald
studied the problem of classifying the spectrally arbitrary zero–nonzero patterns over R, and they
classified all n × n spectrally arbitrary zero–nonzero patterns when n  4. They provided some
initial ideas on the maximum number of nonzeros a zero–nonzero pattern must have before it is
forced to be spectrally arbitrary. In [5], properties of reducible, spectrally arbitrary zero–nonzero
and sign patterns over R were investigated.
In this paper we initiate the study of spectrally arbitrary ray patterns. We show how to use the
nilpotent-Jacobi method in the complex case, provide a family of n × n spectrally arbitrary ray
patterns with exactly 3n nonzeros, and show that every irreducible n × n spectrally arbitrary ray
pattern has at least 3n − 1 nonzeros.
2. The nilpotent-Jacobi method
Recall that an n × n ray pattern P is a matrix with entries pij ∈ {eiθ : 0  θ < 2π} ∪ {0}. Its
ray pattern class is
Q(P ) = {A = [aij ] ∈ Mn (C) : aij = rij pij , where rij ∈ R+ for 1  i, j  n}.
A ray pattern P is said to be spectrally arbitrary if each monic nth degree polynomial with
coefficients from C is the characteristic polynomial of some matrix in Q(P ).
In the paper entitled Spectrally Arbitrary Sign Patterns [6], Drew et al. describe a method
for establishing that a sign pattern and all its superpatterns are spectrally arbitrary. Their method
worked for those sign patterns in whose classes certain types of nilpotent matrices could be found.
We extend their method to the ray pattern case in the following manner:
1. Find a nilpotent matrix in the given ray pattern class.
2. Change 2n of the positive coefficients (denoted r1, r2, . . . , r2n) of the eθij in this nilpotent
matrix to variables t1, t2, . . . , t2n.
3. Express the characteristic polynomial of the resulting matrix as:
xn + (f1(t1, . . . , t2n) + ig1(t1, . . . , t2n))xn−1 + · · · + (fn−1(t1, . . . , tn)
+ign−1(t1, . . . , tn))x + (fn(t1, . . . , t2n) + ign(t1, . . . , t2n)).
4. Find the Jacobi matrix
J = (f1, g1, . . . , fn, gn)
(t1, . . . , t2n)
.
5. If the determinant of J , evaluated at (t1, t2, . . . , t2n) = (r1, r2, . . . , r2n) is nonzero, then
by continuity of the determinant in the entries of a matrix, there is a neighborhood U of
(r1, r2, . . . , r2n) such that all the vectors in U are strictly positive and the determinant of
J evaluated at any of these vectors is nonzero. Moreover, by the Implicit Function The-
orem there is a neighborhood V ⊆ U of (r1, r2, . . . , r2n) ⊆ R2n, a neighborhood W of
(0, 0, . . . , 0) ⊆ R2n, and a function (h1, . . . , h2n) from W into V such that for any
(a1, b1, . . . , an, bn) ∈ W there exists a strictly positive vector (s1, s2, . . . , s2n) =
(h1, h2, . . . , h2n)(a1, b1, . . . , an, bn) ∈ V where fj (s1, s2, . . . , s2n) = aj and gj (s1, s2,
. . . , s2n) = bj . Taking positive scalar multiples of the corresponding matrices, we see that
each monic nth degree polynomial over C is the characteristic polynomial of some matrix
in this ray pattern class.
J.J. McDonald, J. Stuart / Linear Algebra and its Applications 429 (2008) 727–734 729
Next consider a superpattern of our pattern. Represent the new nonzero entries by c1eθi1j1 , . . . ,
cke
θikjk . Let f̂i (t1, t2, . . . , t2n, c1, c2, . . . , ck) and gˆi (t1, t2, . . . , t2n, c1, c2, . . . , ck) represent the
new functions in the characteristic polynomial, and Jˆ = (f̂1,gˆ1,...,f̂n,gˆn)(t1,...,t2n) the new Jacobi matrix. As
above, let (a1, b1, . . . , an, bn) ∈ W and (s1, s2, . . . , s2n) = (h1, h2, . . . , h2n)(a1, b1, . . . , an, bn).
Thenaj =fj (s1, s2, . . . , s2n)= f̂j (s1, s2, . . . , s2n, 0, 0, . . . , 0), bj =gj (s1, s2, . . . , s2n)= ĝj ((s1,
s2, . . . , s2n, 0, 0, . . . , 0) and the determinant of Ĵ evaluated at (t1, . . . , t2n, c1, c2, . . . , ck) =
(s1, s2, . . . , s2n, 0, 0, . . . , 0) is equal to the determinant of J evaluated at (t1, . . . , t2n) = (s1, s2,
. . . , s2n) and hence is nonzero. By the implicit function theorem, there exists a neighborhood V̂ ⊆
V of (s1, s2, . . . , s2n), a neighborhood T of (0, 0, . . . , 0) ⊆ Rk and a function (q1, q2, . . . , q2n)
from T into V̂ such that for any vector (d1, . . . , dk) ∈ T , there exists a strictly positive vector
(e1, e2, . . . , e2n) = (q1, q2, . . . , q2n)(d1, d2, . . . , dk) ∈ V̂ where f̂j (e1, e2, . . . , e2n, d1, d2, . . . ,
dk) = aj and ĝj (e1, e2, . . . , e2n, d1, d2, . . . , dk) = bj . Choosing (d1, d2, . . . , dk) ∈ T strictly
positive we see that there are also matrices in the superpattern’s class with every characteristic
polynomial corresponding to a vector in W. Taking positive scalar multiples of the corresponding
matrices, we see that each monic nth degree polynomial over C is the characteristic polynomial
of some matrix in this superpattern’s class.
3. A family of spectrally arbitrary ray patterns
In this section we show that for all n  4, there are n × n spectrally arbitrary ray patterns of
the following form:
An =
⎡
⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎣
−1 1 0 · · · · · · · · · 0 0
1 eθ i 1 0 · · · · · · 0 0
1 0 0 1 0 · · · 0 0
...
...
...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
... 0
1 0 0 · · · 0 1 0 0
−1 0 0 · · · · · · 0 1 0
−1 1 0 · · · · · · · · · 0 1
1 −i −i · · · · · · · · · −i −i
⎤
⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎦
,
where θ can take on infinitely many values between 0 and 2π. Note that each of these ray patterns
is in unreduced lower Hessenberg form and has exactly 3n nonzeros.
Theorem 1. For each n  4, there exist infinitely many choices for θ with 0  θ  2π so that
An, and all of its superpatterns, are spectrally arbitrary ray patterns.
Proof. For convenience, we restrict θ to 0  θ  2 . Let q = cos θ. Consider,
B =
⎡
⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎣
a1 1 0 . . . . . . . . . 0
a2 q + i
√
1 − q2 1 0 . . . 0
...
...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
...
an−2 0 . . . 0 1 0
an−1 bn . . . . . . 0 1
an ibn−1 . . . . . . ib2 ib1
⎤
⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎦
.
730 J.J. McDonald, J. Stuart / Linear Algebra and its Applications 429 (2008) 727–734
Then B ∈ Q(An) whenever a2, a3, . . . an−3, an, bn are positive, and a1, an−2, an−1, b1, b2, . . . ,
bn−1 are negative. We note that there are additional choices for θ and the signings of these constants
that result in spectrally arbitrary patterns.
Recall that the coefficient of xn−j in the characteristic polynomial for Bn consists of the sum
of the signed weighted products of disjoint cycles whose total length is j . The reader can verify
that the characteristic polynomial of Bn is as follows:
Term Coefficient
xn−1 (−a1 − q)
+i
(
−b1 −
√
1 − q2
)
xn−2
(
−a2 − b1
√
1 − q2 + a1q
)
+i
(
−b2 + a1b1 + a1
√
1 − q2 + b1q
)
xn−j
(
−aj + a1bj−2
√
1 − q2 − bj−1
√
1 − q2
)
3  j  n − 3 +i
(
−bj − a1bj−2q + bj−1q +∑j−1k=1 akbj−k)
x2
(
−an−2 − bn + a1bn−4
√
1 − q2 − bn−3
√
1 − q2
)
+i
(
−bn−2 − a1bn−4q + bn−3q +∑n−3k=1 akbn−k−2)
x1
(
−an−1 + a1bn + a1bn−3
√
1 − q2 − bn−2
√
1 − q2
)
+i
(
−bn−1 − a1bn−3q + b1bn + bn−2q +∑n−2k=1 akbn−k−1)
x0
(
−an + a1bn−2
√
1 − q2
)
+i
(
−bna1b1 − a1bn−2q +∑n−1k=1 akbn−k)
Let fj and gj represent the real and complex parts of the coefficient of xn−j , respectively,
viewed as functions of a1, b1, . . . , an, bn.
Consider the Jacobi matrix C given by
C = (f1, g1, . . . , fn, gn)
(a1, b1, . . . , an, bn)
.
Notice that
cjk =
{−1 if j = k and j  2n − 6,
0 if j < k and j  2n − 6.
Hence
det(C) = det(C[{1, . . . , 2n − 6}]) det(C[{2n − 5, 2n − 4, . . . , 2n}]
= det(C[{2n − 5, 2n − 4, . . . , 2n}]).
J.J. McDonald, J. Stuart / Linear Algebra and its Applications 429 (2008) 727–734 731
Notice
C[{2n − 5, 2n − 4, . . . , 2n}] =
⎡
⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎢⎣
−1 0 0 0 0 −1
0 −1 0 0 0 0
0 −√1 − q2 −1 0 0 a1
b1 q + a1 0 −1 0 b1
0 a1
√
1 − q2 0 0 −1 0
b2 −a1q + a2 b1 a1 0 −a1b1
⎤
⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎥⎦
,
which has determinant equal to b2. Thus the Jacobian of this system of equations is nonzero at
any nilpotent realization we choose.
We finish our proof by showing that there are infinitely many choices of q with 0 < q < 1, and
nonzero real numbers a1, b1, . . . an, bn with the correct signs for which B is nilpotent. Starting
with j = 1 and working up to j = n − 3, set the real and complex parts of each coefficient of
xn−j equal to zero, and then solve for aj and bj , respectively. Notice that
a1 = −q,
b1 =
(√
1 − q2
)
(−1),
a2 = −2q2 + 1,
b2 =
(√
1 − q2
)
(−q).
Proceeding in this manner, observe that for 3  j  n − 3, aj = hj for some polynomial hj =
hj (q), whose lowest degree term is a positive constant when j is even and a positive multiple
of q when j is odd; and that bj =
(√
1 − q2
)
lj for some polynomial lj = lj (q), whose lowest
degree term is a negative constant when j is odd and a negative multiple of q when j is even.
This leaves us with six equations to solve, the first three of which are:
an−2 =−bn + hn−2,
bn−2 =
(√
1 − q2
)
ln−2,
an−1 =a1bn + hn−1.
The fourth equation is
bn−1 = b1bn − a1bn−3q + bn−2q + a1bn−2 +
n−3∑
k=2
akbn−k−1 + an−2b1,
which yields, via substitution
bn−1 = −qa1bn−3 + b1hn−2 +
n−3∑
k=2
akbn−k−1 =
(√
1 − q2
)
ln−1.
The fifth equation is
an = hn.
Here the hj = hj (q) and lj = lj (q) satisfy the same properties as above with respect to the lowest
degree term when n − 2  j  n − 1. Moreover hn = hn(q) /= 0, which has a positive lowest
degree term. Substituting into the final equation we get:
732 J.J. McDonald, J. Stuart / Linear Algebra and its Applications 429 (2008) 727–734
0=−bna1b1 − a1bn−2q +
n−3∑
k=1
akbn−k + an−2b2 + an−1b1
=−b2bn +
(√
1 − q2
)
(q2ln−2 − qhn−2 − hn−1) +
n−3∑
k=1
akbn−k.
And hence
bn = hn−2 − qln−2 + hn−1
q
−
n−3∑
k=1
hkln−k
q
= − ln(q)
q
,
where ln = ln(q) satisfies the same properties as above with respect to the lowest degree term.
This implies that bn is in fact positive for values of q sufficiently close to zero. Substituting back
into the equations for an−2 and an−1 we see that they are also nonzero polynomials in q, however
their lowest degree terms have negative coefficients. Since there are finitely many choices for q
that make at least one of the hj (q) = 0 or lj (q) = 0, by choosing values for q sufficiently close
to zero, we can find infinitely many values of q (and hence θ ) which make Bn nilpotent, while
a2, . . . , an−3, an, bn are positive and a1, an−2, an−1, b1, b2, . . . , bn−1 are negative.
Given that An is a spectrally arbitrary ray pattern with a nilpotent realization whose Jaco-
bian is nonvanishing, it follows from the nilpotent-Jacobi method outlined in Section 2 that all
superpatterns of An are also spectrally arbitrary. 
Lemma 2. The 3 × 3 ray pattern
A3 =
⎡
⎣−1 1 11 1−i√
2
1
−1 i i
⎤
⎦
is spectrally arbitrary.
Proof. The matrix
B =
⎡
⎣−a1 1 b3a2 1 − i 1
−a3 ib2 ib1
⎤
⎦
is in the pattern class Q(A3) whenever a1, b1, . . . , a3, b3 are positive. The characteristic polyno-
mial of B is
x3 + ((a1 − 1) + i(1 − b1))x2 + ((b1 − a2 − a1 + a3b3) + i(a1 − a1b1 − b2 + b1))x
+ (a3 − a3b3 + a1b1) + i(a2b1 − a1b2 − a2b3b2 + a3b3 + a1b1).
The Jacobian of this system of equations is
−a3 + a2b2 − a2b3b2 − a3b1 + a3b3b2,
which is nonzero at the nilpotent realization achieved by setting
a1 = a3 = b1 = b2 = 1 and a2 = b3 = 2. 
J.J. McDonald, J. Stuart / Linear Algebra and its Applications 429 (2008) 727–734 733
4. The minimum number of nonzeros in a spectrally arbitrary ray pattern
In the previous section we have shown that for every n  3 there exist n × n irreducible,
spectrally arbitrary ray patterns with exactly 3n nonzeros. The main theorem in this section
establishes that the minimum number of nonzeros in an n × n irreducible, spectrally arbitrary ray
pattern is at least 3n − 1, and hence must be either 3n or 3n − 1.
The following lemma is well known in the case of sign patterns. It extends easily to ray patterns.
Lemma 3. Let A be an n × n irreducible, complex matrix and let G = G(A) with edge set E.
Then there exists S ⊆ E such that |S| = n − 1 and the induced subgraph GS is a tree. Moreover,
for each such S, there exists n × n diagonal matrix D with positive real numbers on the diagonal
such that B = DAD−1 has the property that bjk = 1 for all (j, k) ∈ S.
For S ⊆ C, let d(S) denote the transcendence dimension of the extension field (Q(i))(S)
over Q(i), the field of complex rational numbers. That is, d(S) is the cardinality of a maximum
cardinality set of algebraically independent transcendentals over Q(i) that lie in S. Note that if
S, T ⊆ C, then d(S ∪ T )  d(S) + d(T ); that if S ⊆ T ⊆ C, then d(S)  d(T ); and that if K
is a finite algebraic extension of (Q(i))(S), then d(K) = d(Q(i)(S)) (see [7, Section 14.6] for
further details).
In [1] it was shown that every irreducible, spectrally arbitrary sign pattern contains at least
2n − 1 nonzero entries. We adapt that proof to the ray pattern case to obtain:
Theorem 4. An n × n irreducible, spectrally arbitrary ray pattern must have at least 3n − 1
nonzero entries.
Proof. Let P be an n × n spectrally arbitrary ray pattern. For each j and k such that pjk /= 0,
express pjk as pjk = ujk + ijk
√
1 − u2jk for some ujk with −1  ujk  1 and jk ∈ {−1, 1}.
For each j and k such that pjk = 0, let ujk = 0. Let U = {ujk | 1  j, k  n}. Since U is a finite
subset of R, we can choose V = {α1, β1, . . . , αn, βn} ⊆ R so that d(V ∪ U) = 2n + d(U).
Since P is a spectrally arbitrary ray pattern, we can find A ∈ Q(P ) with characteristic
polynomial pA(x) = xn +∑nj=1(αj + iβj )xn−j . Write each nonzero ajk as ajk = rjk(ujk +
ijk
√
1 − u2jk
)
where rjk is a positive real number. If ajk = 0, then set rjk = 0. (By Lemma 3,
we can assume that at least n − 1 of the rjk are equal to 1.) Since the coefficients of pA(x) are
polynomials in the entries of A, it follows that the real and complex parts of the coefficients of
pA(x) are polynomials in the real and complex parts of the entries of A. Thus
(Q(i))(V ) ⊆ (Q(i))
({
rjkujk, rjk
√
1 − u2jk : 1  j, k  n
})
.
Then
(Q(i))(V ∪ U) ⊆ (Q(i))
({
rjkujk, rjk
√
1 − u2jk : 1  j, k  n
}
∪ U
)
.
Also note that
(Q(i))
({
rjkujk, rjk
√
1 − u2jk : 1  j, k  n
}
∪ U
)
⊆ (Q(i))
({
rjk : 1  j, k  n
} ∪ {√1 − u2jk : 1  j, k  n} ∪ U) ,
734 J.J. McDonald, J. Stuart / Linear Algebra and its Applications 429 (2008) 727–734
and that (Q(i))({rjk : 1  j, k  n} ∪ {
√
1 − u2jk : 1  j, k  n} ∪ U) is a finite algebraic exten-
sion of (Q(i))({rjk : 1  j, k  n} ∪ U) since
1 −
(√
1 − u2jk
)2
= u2jk ∈ (Q(i))
({
rjk : 1  j, k  n
} ∪ U)
for all j and k. Thus
d
({
rjk : 1j, kn
}∪{√1 − u2jk : 1  j, k  n}∪U)=d({rjk : 1  j, k  n} ∪ U).
Let m be the number of nonzero entries in A, and hence of nonzero rjk . Since at least n − 1 of
the rij are known to be 1,
d({rjk : 1  j, k  n})  m − (n − 1).
Hence
2n + d(U) = d(V ∪ U)  d ({rjk : 1  j, k  n} ∪ U)
 d({rjk| 1  j, k  n}) + d(U)
 m − (n − 1) + d(U).
and so
m  3n − 1. 
Corollary 5. There are no spectrally arbitrary 2 × 2 ray patterns.
References
[1] T. Britz, J.J. McDonald, D.D. Olesky, P. van den Driessche, Minimal spectrally arbitrary sign patterns,SIAM J. Matrix
Anal. Appl., 26 (1) (2004) 257–271.
[2] M.S. Cavers, I.J. Kim, B.L. Shader, K.N. Vander Meulen, On determining minimal spectrally arbitrary patterns,
Electron. J. Linear Algebra 13 (2005) 240–248.
[3] M.S. Cavers, K.N. Vander Meulen, Spectrally and inertially arbitrary sign patterns, Linear Algebra Appl. 394 (2005)
53–72.
[4] L. Corpuz, J.J. McDonald, Spectrally arbitrary zero nonzero patterns of order 4, Linear and Multilinear Algebra 55
(2007) 249–273.
[5] L.M. DeAlba, I.R. Hentzel, L. Hogben, J.J. McDonald, R. Mikkelson, O. Pryporova, L. Shader, K.N. Vander Meulen,
Spectrally arbitrary patterns: reducibility and the 2n-conjecture, Linear Algebra Appl. 423 (2007) 262–276.
[6] J.H. Drew, C.R. Johnson, D.D. Olesky, P. van den Driessche, Spectrally arbitrary patterns, Linear Algebra Appl. 308
(2000) 121–137.
[7] C. Lanski, Concepts in Abstract Algebra, Thompson Brooks Cole, 2005.
[8] G. MacGillivray, R.M. Tifenbach, P. van den Driessche, Spectrally arbitrary star sign patterns, Linear Algebra Appl.
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[9] J.J. McDonald, D.D. Olesky, M.J. Tsatsomeros, P. van den Driessche, On the spectra of striped sign patterns, Linear
and Multilinear Algebra 51 (2003) 39–48.


Spectrally arbitrary ray patterns 

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Spectrally arbitrary ray patterns

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