On Fiedler- and Parter-vertices of acyclic matrices (Q924335)

Let \(m_A(\lambda)\) denote the (algebraic) multiplicity of a real number \(\lambda \) as an eigenvalue of a real symmetric matrix \(A\). The principal submatrix of \(A\) obtained by deleting row and column \(i\) from \(A\) is denoted by \(A(i)\). If \(m_{A(i)}(\lambda )\geq m_A(\lambda )\) (resp. \(m_ {A(i)}(\lambda )>m_A(\lambda ))\), then the authors call the index \(i\) as a Fiedler-vertex (resp. a Parter-vertex) of \(A\) for \(\lambda \). (In the literature, those vertices can be found under different names.) The authors provide geometric characterizations of Fiedler- and Parter-vertices of acyclic matrices, and give a geometric proof for the so-called Parter-Wiener theorem. Furthermore, they describe a structure of an irreducible, singular, acyclic matrix in terms of Fiedler- and Parter-vertices enabling the construction of an irreducible, singular, cycle-free matrix of a desired form according to the locations of Fiedler- and Parter-vertices.