Spectral radii of tournament matrices whose graphs are related by an arc reversal (Q1805320)

An \(n \times n\) matrix of 0's and 1's is called a tournament matrix if \(T\) satisfies the equation \(T + T' = J_n - I_n\) where \(J_n\) is the \(n \times n\) matrix of 1's and \(I_n\) is the \(n \times n\) identity matrix. For a given irreducible tournament matrix \(T\) and distinct fixed indices \(i,j\), let \(T(i,j)\) be the (tournament) matrix obtained from \(T\) by exchanging the entries at positions \((i,j)\) and \((j,i)\). From the motivating idea that the Perron-Frobenius eigenvalues (spectral radius) of a tournament matrix indicate the closeness of ranking of the players, the author obtains conditions on \(T\) under which the spectral radius of \(T(i,j)\) is no smaller than that of \(T\), and another under which the spectral radius must be strictly smaller. Some light is shed on conjectures of \textit{R. A. Brualdi} and \textit{Li Qiao} [Discrete Math. 43, 329-330 (1983), Problem 31].