On some properties of contracting matrices (Q924324)

Let \(\|\;\|\) be any vector norm on \(\mathbb R^n\), \(d\) denote the corresponding distance function and \(X^*\) be a closed subset of \(\mathbb R^n\). Consider the following properties which an operator \(T\) on \(\mathbb R^n\) may have: (1) \(\|Tx-x^*\|\leq\|x-x^*\|\) for all \(x\in\mathbb R^n\) and \(x^*\in X^*\); \((1)'\) \(d(Tx,X^*)\leq d(x,X^*)\) for all \(x\in\mathbb R^n\); and (2) \(d(Tx,X^*)<d(x,X^*)\) for all \(x\notin X^*\). Then \(T\) is called ``pseudocontractive'' (with respect to \(\|\;\|\) and \(X^*\)) if (1) and (2) hold, and is called ``set-contractive'' if \((1)'\) and (2) hold. An \(n\times n\) matrix \(A=[ a_{ij}] \) is called ``scrambling'' if for all \(i,j\) there exists \(k\) such that \(a_{ik}\neq0\) and \(a_{kj}\neq0\). Put \(e:=(1,1,\dots,1)^{T}\). The author proves various properties of pseudocontractive and set-contractive operators. For example, if \(A\) is a stochastic matrix, then \(A\) is pseudocontractive with respect to \(\|\;\|_{\infty}\) and \(X^*:=\{ \alpha e\mid \alpha\in\mathbb R\} \) if and only if \(A\) is scrambling. Also, if \(X^*\) is a closed set such that \(\alpha X^*\subseteq X^*\) for all \(\alpha\in\mathbb R\), then an operator \(T\) satisfying \((1)'\) is set-contractive if and only if \(\sup\{ d(Tx,X^*)/d(x,X^*)\mid x\notin X^*\} \leq1.\) It is also shown that if \(A\) is a matrix with constant row sum \(r\) such that \(|r|\geq1\), and \(A\) is set-contractive with respect to a weakly monotone vector norm and \(X^*=\{ \alpha e\mid \alpha\in\mathbb R\} \), then the interaction digraph of \(A\) must contain a spanning directed tree. The results are linked with a criterion for weak ergodicity and with a problem of synchronization of coupled map lattices.