Rational realizations of the minimum rank of a sign pattern matrix (Q2568989)

A sign pattern matrix is a matrix with entries chosen from \(\{+,-,0\}\). For any real matrix \(A\) let sgn\((A)\) denote the sign pattern matrix obtained by replacing the positive entries in \(A\) by a \(+\) symbol and replacing the negative entries in \(A\) by a \(-\) symbol. The sign pattern class \(Q(M)\) of a sign pattern matrix \(M\) is the set of real matrices \(A\) for which sgn\((A)=M\). Define mr\((M)\) to be the minimum rank among all matrices in \(Q(M)\). This paper is based around the following conjecture which the authors advance: For any sign pattern matrix \(M\) there is an integer matrix in \(Q(M)\) which has rank mr\((M)\). A number of alternative formulations of this conjecture is demonstrated, including one asserting that if a certain kind of system of homogeneous quadratic polynomial equations has a positive solution then it must have a solution in positive integers. Some special cases of the conjecture are also proved. For example, it is shown that the conjecture holds if (a) \(M\) has no zero entries, (b) mr\((M)\leq2\) or (c) mr\((M)\geq n-1\) (where \(M\) is an \(m\times n\) matrix).