Linear transformations of tensor products preserving a fixed rank (Q2536113)

If \(X,Y,U,V\) are vector spaces over an infinite field \(F\) and \(A: X\to U\), \(B: Y\to V\) injective linear transformations then \(T=A\otimes B\) has the following property: \(\mathrm{rank}(z) = \mathrm{rank}(A\otimes B)(z)\) for all \(z\in X\otimes Y\). (If \(z=\sum_{i=1}^n x_i\otimes y_i\) then \(\mathrm{rank}(z)\) is the smallest nonnegative integer \(m\) for which such representation of \(z\) exists.) Similarly, if \(C: X\to V\), D: Y\to U\( are injective linear transformations and \)S: V\otimes U\to U\otimes V\( is the canonical isomorphism then also \)T=S\circ (C\otimes D)\( has the above mentioned property. We establish the converse in the following form: If \)T: X\otimes Y\to U\otimes V\( is a surjective linear transformation such that there exists a positive integer \)k<\dim U, \dim V\( for which \)(\mathrm{rank}(z)=k) \Rightarrow (\mathrm{rank}(T(z)) = k)\( then \)T\( must have one of the two forms mentioned above.\)