Peak characteristic and nonnegative signature (Q2277543)

Motivated by investigations performed jointly by the author and \textit{H. Schneider} [Linear Algebra Appl. 106, 5--23 (1988; Zbl 0647.15005); Linear Multilinear Algebra 25, 149--171 (1989; Zbl 0687.15017)], the following notions are defined and discussed: the peak characteristic of an M-matrix \(A\), the peak signature of level and height bases for the nullspace of \(A\), \(E(A)\). In particular, the author characterizes subsets of \(E(A)\) that can be completed to a height basis or to a level basis for \(E(A)\). This and other results are applied to the study of the nonnegativity of height bases for \(E(A)\). In particular, it is shown that a sequence can serve as the nonnegative signature of some height basis for \(E(A)\) if and only if it is less than or equal to the peak characteristic of \(A\).