On the recognition and rigidity problems for sums of matrices (Q1963929)

Let \(F^{m\times m}\) denote the algebra of all \(m\times m\) matrices over an algebraically closed field \(F.\) Suppose that \(A_{k}=A_{0}+A_{1}+\dots+A_{k-1}\) where \(A_{0},A_{1},\dots,A_{k}\) \(\in F^{m\times m},\) and put \(d:=\sum_{j=0} ^{k}d_{j}-(k-1)m^{2}\) where \(d_{j}\) is the dimension of the centralizer of \(A_{j}\) in \(F^{m\times m}\). Let \(\mathcal{A}\) be the subalgebra generated by the \(A_{j}\). The main theorems of the present paper are the following: (a) if \(d>2\) then \(\mathcal{A}\) acts reducibly on \(F^{m};\) (b) if \(d=2\) and \(\mathcal{A}\) acts irreducibly on \(F^{m},\) then for all matrices \(B_{0} ,B_{1},\dots,B_{k}\) with \(B_{i}\) similar to \(A_{i}\) (\(i=0,1,\dots,k\)) and \(B_{k}=B_{0}+B_{1}+\dots+B_{k-1}\) there exists \(X\) such that \(X^{-1}B_{i} X=A_{i}\) for all \(i\) simultaneously; (c) if \(d<2\) then there exist matrices \(B_{0},B_{1},\dots,B_{k}\) with \(B_{i}\) similar to \(A_{i}\) (\(i=0,1,\dots,k\)) and \(B_{k}=B_{0}+B_{1}+\dots+B_{k-1}\) for which there is no \(X\) such that \(X^{-1}B_{i}X=A_{i}\) for all \(i\) simultaneously. The authors also prove a precisely analogous theorem for products (\(A_{k}=A_{0}A_{1}\cdots A_{k-1}\)) of nonsingular matrices. Both proofs use homological algebra and some results from algebraic groups. The theorem for products gives a partial solution to a ``rigidity problem'' which arises in the study of systems of differential equations on the Riemann sphere [see \textit{C. T. Simpson}, Can. Math. Soc. Conf. Proc. 12, 157-185 (1990; Zbl 0756.15022); \textit{K. Iwasaki, H. Kimura, S. Shimomura} and \textit{M. Yoshida}, From Gauss to Painlevé, Vieweg (1991; Zbl 0743.34014); and \textit{N. M. Katz}, Rigid local systems, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. (1996; Zbl 0864.14013)].