Products of diagonalizable triangular matrices (Q6908423)

The paper investigates when triangular matrices, both finite and infinite, can be expressed as products of diagonalizable triangular matrices. Extending earlier work by \textit{J. D. Botha} [Linear Algebra Appl. 273, 65--82 (1998; Zbl 0897.15004); Linear Algebra Appl. 286, No. 1--3, 37--44 (1999; Zbl 0936.15008)] on products of diagonalizable matrices, the author proves that every invertible triangular matrix over a field with at least three elements can be written as a product of at most four diagonalizable triangular matrices. The proof combines structural decompositions of \(T_\infty(\mathbb{F})\), the set of \(\mathbb{N}\times\mathbb{N}\) triangular matrices over the field \(\mathbb{F}\), with conjugacy results showing that matrices with nonzero superdiagonal entries are similar to products of diagonalizable ones. Several examples illustrate that fewer factors may suffice in special cases.\N\NThe noninvertible case is more intricate. The paper shows that the infinite Jordan block \(J_\infty(0)\) cannot be factored into diagonalizable triangular matrices, and characterizes those singular triangular matrices that can be written as products of two such factors -- precisely the square-zero ones. For finite matrices, a connection with known results on products of idempotent matrices yields a complete description in terms of the number of zero diagonal entries.\N\NThe exposition is concise and clear, and the work offers a natural continuation of recent studies on factorizations in triangular matrix algebras, highlighting new contrasts between the finite and infinite settings.