ACI-matrices all of whose completions have the same rank (Q630549)

A partial matrix over a ring \(R\) is a matrix in which some entries are all from \(R\) and fixed and the other entries are free to be chosen from \(R\). A matrix \(A\) over the polynomial ring \(F[x_1,x_2,\dots, x_k]\) over a field \(F\) is ACI (affine column independent) if each entry of \(A\) is a polynomial of positive degree and no indeterminate appears in two distinct columns of \(A\). A completion of a matrix over \(F[x_1,x_2,\dots, x_k]\) is an assignment of values in \(F\) to the variables \(x_1,x_2,\dots, x_k\). The authors characterize the ACI-matrices all of whose completions have the same rank, determine the largest number of indeterminates in such partial matrices of a given size, and determine the partial matrices that attain this largest number.