Matrix completion problems over integral domains: the case with a diagonal of prescribed blocks (Q648939)

This paper deals with partial matrix completion problems over integral domains. Specifically, the authors analyze the existence of a completion, with prescribed spectrum, of a partial matrix with a diagonal prescribed blocks. Let \({\mathcal R}\) be an arbitrary integral domain and \(\Lambda = \{\lambda_1, \lambda_2, \ldots, \lambda_n \}\) a set of elements of \({\mathcal R}\). Let \(n_1, n_2, \ldots n_k\) be positive integers such that \(n_1+n_2+\cdots+n_k=n\), and for \(r=1,2,\ldots,k\), \(A_r \in {\mathcal R}^{n_r \times n_{\sigma(r)}}\), where \(\sigma\) is a permutation of \(\{1,2,\ldots,k\}\). The authors study the problem of finding a block matrix \(Q=(Q_{rs})_{r,s=1}^k \in {\mathcal R}^{n \times n}\) with spectrum \(\Lambda\) and such that \(Q_{r \sigma(r)}=A_r\), for \(r=1,2,\ldots,k\). \textit{G. Cravo} and \textit{F. C. Silva} [Linear Algebra Appl. 364, 81--89 (2003; Zbl 1030.15010)], completely characterized the existence of such a matrix when \({\mathcal R}\) is a field. In this paper, the authors construct a solution matrix \(Q\) that solves the completion problem when \({\mathcal R}\) is an integral domain with two exceptions: (i) \(k=2\), (ii) \(k \geq 3\), \(\sigma(r)=r\) and \(n_r > n/2\) for some \(r\). The proof of the existence of the desired completion is constructive. The authors provide an explicit and easy to implement finite step algorithm that constructs an specific solution matrix \(Q\).