A Perron-Frobenius-type theorem for positive matrix semigroups (Q2358756)

It is known, as a consequence of the Perron-Frobenius theorem on indecomposable positive matrices, that whenever an \(n \times n\) matrix \(A\) dominates a non-singular positive matrix, there is an integer \(k\) dividing \(n\) such that, after a permutation of the basis, \(A\) is block-monomial with \(k \times k\) blocks. In this paper, the authors show an extension of this result in the context of indecomposable semigroups of positive matrices. A monomial matrix is a matrix that has exactly one non-zero entry in each of its rows and columns. A block-matrix is block-monomial if it has exactly one non-zero block in each of its block-rows and block-columns. A positive matrix that dominates a positive monomial matrix is called dominomial. A matrix \(A\) is said to be decomposable if an application of a permutation similarity to \(A\) followed by partitioning can produce a block matrix of the form \[ \begin{bmatrix} B & C \\ 0 & D \end{bmatrix}\tag{1} \] where \(B\) is a square matrix. A semigroup \(S\) of matrices is said to be decomposable if an application of a simultaneous permutation similarity to \(S\) followed by a simultaneous partitioning can result in all elements of \(S\) simultaneously taking the form described in (1). With these concepts, the authors establish the following main result: Suppose that \(S\) is an indecomposable semigroup of dominomial matrices in \(\mathbb{M}_n^+\) (square positive matrices). Then, \(S\) contains an automatically indecomposable semigroup ideal \(S_0\) such that: {\parindent=0.7cm\begin{itemize}\item[(1)] Every element of \(S\) is dominated by an element of \(\mathbb{R}^+S_0\) (cone of positive real members of \(S_0\)), \item[(2)] There is a positive divisor \(k\) of \(n\), such that after an application of a simultaneous permutation similarity followed by a simultaneous partitioning, \(S_0\) is a semigroup of full block-monomial matrices in \(\mathbb{M}_{n/k}(\mathbb{M}_k^+)\). \end{itemize}}