The pyramid decomposition and rank minimization (Q1308434)

The authors show that a general matrix \(M\) over a regular ring with unit admits a pyramid decomposition \(M=M_ 1 + M_ 2 + M_ 3 + M_ 4\) with \(M_ 1\leq M_ 1 + M_ 2 \leq M_ 1 + M_ 2 + M_ 3 \leq M\), where the so-called minus order \(A \leq B\) means that \(XA = XB\) and \(AY = BY\) for some inner inverses \(X\), \(Y\) of \(A\). In fact, there are many such decompositions derived from the Pierce decomposition of \(M\) relative to an arbitrary pair of idempotents.