A geometric approach to the Carlson problem (Q2706255)

A well-known equivalence relation, often called ``block similarity'', between pairs of complex matrices \({A\brack C}\), where \(A\) is \(n \times n\) and \(C\) is \(m\times n\), is defined by NEWLINE\[NEWLINE{A\brack C}\sim{A'\brack C'} \Leftrightarrow {A\brack C}=\left[ \begin{matrix} Q & S\\ 0 & T\end{matrix} \right] {A'\brack C'}Q^{-1}NEWLINE\]NEWLINE for some matrices \(Q,S,T\) of suitable sizes, where \(T\) and \(Q\) are nonsingular. The invariants of block similarity are known as Brunovsky-Kronecker (BK) invariants, and consist of observability indices and a Jordan form. The general Carlson problem, as formulated in the paper, is the following: Given the BK invariants of two pairs \({A_1\brack C_1}\) and \({A_2 \brack C_2}\), find all possible BK invariants of the block pair NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\left[\begin{matrix} A_1 & A_3 \\ 0 & A_2 \\ C_1 & C_3 \\ 0 & C_2\end{matrix} \right],NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(A_3\) and \(C_3\) are allowed to vary arbitrarily. In full generality the problem is still open, although under additional hypotheses it was completely solved, notably assuming observability of \({A_2\brack C_2}\) [see \textit{I. Baragaña}, and \textit{I. Zaballa} Automatica 33, No. 12, 2119-2130 (1997; Zbl 0952.93015)].NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEIn the reviewed paper, a complete solution of a related problem is obtained in the particular case when \(C_2=0\) and \(A_2\) has only one eigenvalue. Namely, given the BK invariants of \({A_1\brack C_1}\) and of \({A_2\brack 0}\), necessary and sufficient conditions are proved in order that for every matrix \(C_3\) (of suitable size) there exists a matrix \(Z\) such that the pair NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\left[\begin{matrix} A_1 & Z\\ 0 & A_2 \\ C_1 & C_3\end{matrix}\right]NEWLINE\]NEWLINEis observable with given observability indices. The necessary and sufficient conditions are expressed in form of inequalities between the given BK invariants and given observability indices, and in terms of sequences of partitions that are similar to the Littlewood-Richardson sequences. The main result is too cumbersome to be reproduced here. It appears to this reviewer that the main result is valid, with the same proof, for matrices over any commutative field.