On a theorem of Brualdi and Newman (Q1091449)

A circulant matrix M(a) of order \(\nu\) is a (complex) square \(\nu\times \nu\) matrix with the first row \(a=(a_ 0,a_ 1,...,a_{\nu -1})\) and each other row obtained from the preceding one by cyclically shifting one position to the right. A Hadamard matrix H of order \(\nu\) is a (complex) square \(\nu\times \nu\) matrix consisting of \(+1's\) and -1's such that \(HH^ T=\nu I_{\nu}\), where \(I_{\nu}\) is the \(\nu\times \nu\) identity matrix. It is immediately clear that, for circulant matrices M(a) and M(b) of order \(\nu\), \(M(a)\cdot M(b)=M(a*b)\) and \(M(a)^ T=M(a^{\sim})\), where \(a*b=(c_ 0,c_ 1,...,c_{\nu -1})\), \(a^{\sim}=(a_ 0,a_{\nu -1},a_{\nu -2},...,a_ 1)\) and \(c_ t=\sum_{t=r+s}a_ rb_ s\) the indices being added modulo \(\nu\). Hence M(a) is a symmetric circulant Hadamard matrix of order \(\nu\) if and only if \(a^{\sim}=a\), \(a\circ a=(1,1,...,1)\) and \(a*a=(\nu,0,...,0)\), where \(a\circ b=(a_ 0b_ 0,a_ 1b_ 1,...,a_{\nu -1}b_{\nu -1}).\) Using these elementary facts, and some properties of the inverse Fourier transform \(a^{\vee}\) of a, cyclotomic polynomials and Möbius functions the authors give here an easy proof of a theorem of Brualdi and Newman [cf. \textit{R. A. Brualdi}, J. Res. Nat. Bur. Standards, Sect. B 69, 87-89 (1965; Zbl 0132.253)]. In fact they prove that there are no symmetric circulant Hadamard matrices of order \(\nu\) (not only for \(\nu >4\), but also) for \(\nu >1\), \(\nu\neq 4\). We note that the inverse Fourier transform \(a^{\vee}\) of a is defined by \(a^{\vee}=1/\nu (P(a,1),P(a,w),...,P(a,w^{\nu -1})),\) where \(P(a,w^ t)=a_ 0+a_ 1w^ t+...+a_{\nu -1}w^{(\nu -1)t}\) and \(w=e^{2\pi i/\nu}\).