On semitransitive collections of operators (Q2571035)

A collection \(\mathcal{F}\) of linear transformations on a vector space \(V\) is called transitive if for every pair of nonzero vectors \(x, y \in V\) there exists a transformation \(T \in \mathcal{F}\) such that \(Tx = y\). Such a collection \(\mathcal{F}\) is called semitransitive if for every pair of nonzero vectors \(x, y \in V\) there exists a transformation \(T \in \mathcal{F}\) such that \(Tx = y\) or \(Ty = x\). The authors study semitransitive algebras and semigroups of matrices acting on a finite-dimensional vector space. Their main results are the following: Theorem: If \(\mathbb{F}\) is an algebraically closed field, then every semitransitive subalgebra of \(M_n(\mathbb{F})\) contains a nilpotent element of nilpotency degree \(n\). Theorem: If \(\mathcal{S}\) is a semitransitive semigroup of matrices in \(M_n(\mathbb{F})\) of rank \(k\) or \(0\), then \(k\) divides \(n\). Theorem: Suppose that \(X\) is a Banach space and \(\mathcal{S}\) is a semitransitive semigroup of bounded operators on \(X\). If \(\mathcal{S}\) is compact in operator norm, then it contains a minimal compact semitransitive semigroup.