Rank of convex combinations of matrices (Q1916994)

Let \(A\) and \(B\) be complex \(m\times n\) matrices, \(m\geq n\), with \(\text{rank}(A)=\text{rank}(B)=r\). The author considers the ranks of matrices in the convex sets \[ \begin{aligned} h(A,B) &=\{\alpha A+(1-\alpha)B:\alpha\in[0,1]\},\\ r(A,B) &=\{TA+(I-T)B:T\in\Delta_m\},\\ c(A,B) &=\{AS+B(I-S):S\in\Delta_n\},\end{aligned} \] where \(\Delta_k\) denotes the set of real \(k\times k\) diagonal matrices with diagonal entries from \([0,1]\). He characterizes the property that all matrices in \(h(A,B)\) have rank \(r\) for each \(1\leq r\leq n\). In addition, for \(r=n\), conditions are presented that insure that all matrices in \(r(A,B)\) or \(c(A,B)\) have rank \(n\). The author's results depend on results for square matrices that were obtained by \textit{C. R. Johnson} and \textit{M. J. Tsatsomeros} [Linear Multilinear Algebra 38, No. 3, 233-239 (1995; Zbl 0824.15021)].