Linear functions preserving Green's relations over fields (Q2228504)

Let \(\mathcal{S}\) be a semifield. Denote by \(M_{n}(\mathcal{S})\) the set of all \(n\times n\) matrices over \(\mathcal{S}\). Let \(\Xi \) be a binary relation on \(M_{n}(\mathcal{S})\). We say that a linear map \(f:M_{n}(\mathcal{S} )\rightarrow M_{n}(\mathcal{S})\) preserves the relation \(\Xi \) when \[ A\Xi B\text{ implies } f(A) \Xi f(B) \] for every \(A,B\in M_{n}(\mathcal{S})\). Recall that a semifield \(\mathcal{S}\) is anti-negative if no non-zero element has an additive inverse. In [Linear Algebra Appl. 545, 1--14 (2018; Zbl 1392.15040)], the first author et al. characterized linear bijections on \(M_{n}(\mathcal{S})\), where \( \mathcal{S}\) is an anti-negative semifield, which preserve each of the Green equivalence relations \(\mathcal{L}\), \(\mathcal{ R}\), \(\mathcal{H}\), \(\mathcal{D}\), \(\mathcal{J}\) and the corresponding pre-orders \(\leq _{\mathcal{L}},\) \(\leq _{\mathcal{R}},\) \(\leq _{\mathcal{H} },\) \(\leq _{\mathcal{J}}\). Note that if \(K\) is a field, then the relations \(\mathcal{L}\) and \(\mathcal{D}\) coincide on \(M_{n}(K)\). It turns out that a semifield \(\mathcal{S}\) is either a field or is anti-negative. To classify in complete generality linear bijective maps on \(M_{n}(\mathcal{S})\) that preserve one of the above relations one should study such maps for the case when \(\mathcal{S}=K\) is a field. The paper has 5 sections. In Section 2, the authors present some preliminary results and definitions. They prove the first main result in Section 3, showing that a bijective linear map \(\Phi :\) \(M_{n}(K)\rightarrow M_{n}(K)\), where \(K\) is a field, preserves one of the relations \(\mathcal{L}\), \(\mathcal{R}\), \(\leq _{\mathcal{L}}\), \(\leq _{\mathcal{R}}\) if and only if there exist invertible matrices \(P,Q\in M_{n}(K)\) such that \[ \Phi (A)=PAQ\quad \text{for all}\quad A\in M_{n}(K)\text{.} \] The authors note that this result mirrors exactly an analogous result in the anti-negative case and thus it holds in a more general case, i.e., when \(K= \mathcal{S}\) is any semifield. Then they present an example of a non-zero linear map on \(M_{n}(K)\), where \(K\) is a field, that preserves \(\mathcal{L}\) and \(\leq _{\mathcal{L}}\) and is not bijective and then use this example to show that each map \(A\mapsto PAX\), where \(P,X\in M_{n}(K)\) and \(P\) is invertible, preserves \(\mathcal{L}\) and \(\leq _{\mathcal{L}}\). With the main result of Section 3, the authors prove that if \(K\) is a field in which every polynomial of degree \(n\) has a root, then the linear maps preserving the \( \mathcal{L}\) relation on \(M_{n}(K)\) are precisely those of the form \( A\mapsto PAX\), where \(P,X\in M_{n}(K)\) and \(P\) is invertible. By a left-right dual argument (i.e., by replacing row spaces with column spaces in the proof), they obtain a similar result for the \(\mathcal{R}\) relation. The authors also provide some examples of non-bijective linear \( \mathcal{L}\)-preservers over a field \(K\) with ``few roots'' that are not of the above form, i.e., \(A\mapsto PAX\). In Sections 4 and 5, preservers of the relations \(\mathcal{H}\) and \(\mathcal{J}\) are studied. The authors prove that if \(K\) is any field and \( \Phi :\) \(M_{n}(K)\rightarrow M_{n}(K)\) a linear map, then \(\Phi \) preserves \( \mathcal{H}\) if and only if \(\Phi \) is either the zero map or \(\Phi \) preserves invertibility. Thus, they completely describe the form of \(\mathcal{H}\)-preservers because the linear maps on the set of all \(n\times n\) matrices over a field that preserve invertibility have already been characterized in [\textit{C. de Seguins Pazzis}, Linear Algebra Appl. 433, No. 2, 483--490 (2010; Zbl 1196.15029)]. For the case of bijective linear maps on \(M_{n}(K)\) that preserve one of the relations \(\mathcal{H}\), \(\mathcal{J}\), \(\leq _{\mathcal{H}}\), \(\leq _{ \mathcal{J}}\), the authors obtain a result that once again mirrors a known result for anti-negative fields and thus describe such maps for the general case of semifields. To conclude the paper, they prove that any linear map \(\Phi : \) \(M_{n}(K)\rightarrow M_{n}(K)\), where \(K\) is a field, that preserves the relation \(\mathcal{J}\) or \(\leq _{\mathcal{J}}\) is either the zero map or a bijection.