Chapter 9: miscellaneous preserver problems (Q4033846)

This paper consists of three distinct, short surveys. All have to do with characterizing the linear operators or other functions that preserve certain properties of matrix spaces. The first section deals with preserver problems for matrices over semirings. Previously published theorems due to the first author and others are listed and briefly discussed. A sample question is: for an \(m\) by \(n\) matrix over a semiring, when are the row rank and the column rank the same? In the second section, \(F: {\mathcal M}\to {\mathcal M}\) is a function such as the \(k\)th power or the exponential function defined on an appropriate matrix space \({\mathcal M}\). For what linear operator \(T\) is it the case that \(F(T(A))=T(F(A))\) for all \(A\) in \({\mathcal M}\)? The third section lists results concerning the determination of all linear operators of \(\mathbb{F}^{n\times n}\) (\(\mathbb{F}=\mathbb{R}\) or \(\mathbb{C}\)) which preserve a subset \({\mathcal M}\) such as the set of all positive definite Hermitian matrices.