On the uniqueness of the Lyapunov scaling factors (Q581506)

A matrix \(A\in R^{n,n}\) is Lyapunov diagonally stable or semistable if there exists a positive diagonal matrix D satisfying \(AD+DA^ T>0\) or \(AD+DA^ T\geq 0\), respectively. The matrix D is called a Lyapunov scaling factor of A. A unique Lyapunov scaling factor of A means uniqueness up to multiplication by a scalar. A matrix A is Lyapunov diagonally near stable if it is Lyapunov diagonally semistable but not Lyapunov diagonally stable. If A is a Lyapunov diagonally near stable irreducible P-matrix (i.e. matrix having all of principal minors positive), then A has a unique Lyapunov scaling factor as conjectured by \textit{D. Hershkowitz} and \textit{H. Schneider} [Linear Multilinear Algebra 17, 203-226 (1985; Zbl 0593.15016)]. This conjecture is proved for \(n\leq 3\) and a counterexample is given for \(n\geq 4\).