On the almost-principal minors of a symmetric matrix (Q2199354)

A square submatrix of a matrix is \emph{almost principal} if it is induced by the rows with indices in a set \(R\) and columns with indices in a set \(C\) satisfying \(|R\setminus C|=|C\setminus R|=1\). An \emph{almost principal minor} is the determinant of an almost principal submatrix. The \emph{almost-principal rank} of a symmetric matrix \(B\), denoted by ap-rank\((B)\), is the order of a largest nonsingular almost-principal submatrix of \(B\). This paper introduces the almost-principal rank characteristic sequence (\emph{apr-sequence}) of an \(n\times n\) symmetric matrix over an arbitrary field. It is defined to be the string \(a_1a_2\cdots a_{n-1}\) in which \(a_k\) is `A', `S', or `N', according to whether all, some but not all, or none of its almost-principal minors of order \(k\) are nonzero. One of the main results is a characterization of the sequences not containing an `A' that can be realized as the apr-sequence of a symmetric matrix. A necessary condition for a sequence containing `A' to be the apr-sequence of a symmetric matrix is given. It is also proved that if \(B\) is symmetric and non-diagonal, then rank\((B)-1\le\)~ap-rank\((B)\le\)~rank\((B)\). Moreover, if \(B\) is symmetric, non-diagonal and singular and does not contain a zero row, then rank\((B) = \)ap-rank\((B)\).