Divisibility of matrices associated with multiplicative functions (Q641206)

Let \(S=\{x_1, x_2,\ldots x_n\}\) be a set of \(n\) distinct positive integers. For \(x\in S\), we say that \(y\in S\) is a greatest-type divisor of \(x\) in S if \(y\mid x\), \(y<x\) and from \(y\mid z\mid x, z<x, z\in S\) it follows that \(z=y\). For \(x\in S\), let \(G_S(x)\) denote the set of all greatest-type divisors of \(x\) in \(S\). Assume that \(S\) is a gcd-closed set and \(\max_{x\in S}\{| G_S(x)|\}=1\). The authors show that if \(f\) is a multiplicative function such that \((f\ast\mu)(d)\) is an integer whenever \(d\mid \text{lcm}(S)\) and \(f(a)\mid f(b)\) whenever \(a\mid b\) with \(a, b\in S\) and the GCD matrix \((f((x_i ,x_j)))\) is nonsingular, then the GCD matrix \((f((x_i ,x_j)))\) divides the LCM matrix \((f([x_i ,x_j]))\) in the ring of \(n\times n\) matrices over the integers. This confirms a conjecture of \textit{S. Hong} [J. Algebra 281, No. 1, 1--14 (2004; Zbl 1064.11024)]. The study of divisibility of GCD and LCM matrices originates from \textit{K. Bourque} and \textit{S. Ligh} [Linear Algebra Appl. 174, 65--74 (1992; Zbl 0761.15013)]. This study belongs to the field of Smith determinant, (see e.g., \textit{P. Haukkanen, J. Wang} and \textit{J. Sillanpää} [Linear Algebra Appl. 258, 251--269 (1997; Zbl 0883.15002)]).