Monomial patterns in the sequence A kb (Q1105661)

Given a nonnegative n by n matrix A and a nonnegative vector b the authors study the set \({\mathfrak K}\) of all exponents k such that the vector A kb has exactly one nonzero coordinate. They show that, if \({\mathfrak K}\) contains an exponent \(\geq n\), then it also contains one \(<n\). This implies a conjecture of the first author and \textit{H. Shapiro} [ibid. 94, 35-53 (1987; Zbl 0633.93008)]. A graph theoretic characterization is given of triples (A,b,i) for which there exists a k such that A kb is nonzero exactly at the i-th coordinate. Connections with controllability are explained.