Idempotence for sign-pattern matrices (Q1210394)

The author studies irreducible sign-pattern \(n\times n\)-matrices \(A\) that are sign idempotent, i.e. \(A=A^ 2\), by using the upper diagonal completion process and analyzing this process qualitatively. Some characterizations of these matrices are also obtained. The main results are the following ones: Theorem 1.4. If \(A\) is an \(n\)-by-\(n\) \((n\geq 2)\) irreducible sign-pattern matrix, then \(A\) is sign idempotent if and only if it is entrywise positive. Theorem 2.8. Suppose \(A\) is a reducible sign-pattern matrix in modified normal form, each of whose nonzero diagonal blocks is entrywise positive. Then \(A\) is sign idempotent if and only if each off-diagonal block \(A_{ij}\) is obtained using an algorithm described in the paper.