Fixed points of two-sided fractional matrix transformations (Q2472277)

This interesting and well-written paper deals with fixed points of two-sided fractional matrix transformations. If \(C\) and \(D\) belong to the set \(M_{n}\mathbb{C}\) of all \(n\times n\) complex matrices, one obtains a densely defined mapping \(\varphi_{C,D}:X\mapsto( I-CXD) ^{-1}\) from \(M_{n}\mathbb{C}\) to itself. Throughout the paper, this is referred to as a two-sided matrix fractional linear transformation, and more general transformations like \(X\mapsto(CXD+E)^{-1}\) reduce to the one under study. It is shown that if \(\varphi_{C,D}\) has more than \(\binom{2n} {n}\) fixed points, then it has a topological continuum of fixed points. Furthermore, the set of all fixed points has a natural graph structure. Generically, the number of fixed points is exactly \(\binom{2n}{n},\) and the graph is the Johnson graph \(J(n,2n)\). If there are fewer (but more than zero) fixed points, one can analyze the graphs, too. The author gives explicit examples of matrix fractional linear transformations which realize all possible graphs that occur in the case when \(n=2.\) Other topics discussed include attractive and repulsive fixed points and entrywise positivity. The paper concludes with three appendices where the properties of continua of fixed points and commuting fractional matrix transformations are explored, and it is also discussed how far the conjugacy results proved in the paper can be extended.