The base sets of quasi-primitive zero-symmetric sign pattern matrices with zero trace (Q977477)

The sign pattern of a real matrix \(A\) is the \((0,1,-1)\)-matrix obtained from \(A\) by replacing each entry by its sign. When computing the powers of a square sign pattern matrix, an ``ambiguous sign'' may arise when added a positive sign to a negative sign. Therefore, a new symbol ``\(\#\)'' has been introduced \textit{Z. Li, F. Hall} and \textit{C. Eschenbach} [Linear Algebra Appl. 212--213, 101--120 (1994; Zbl 0821.15017)] to denote the ambiguous sign. The matrices with entries from the generalized sign set \(\Gamma = \{0, 1, -1, \#\}\) are called generalized sign pattern matrices. A square generalized sign pattern matrix \(A\) is called quasi-primitive if for the \((0,1)\)-matrix obtained from \(A\) by replacing each nonzero entry by 1 is some power \(A^k > 0\). In a recent paper of \textit{B. Cheng} and \textit{B. Liu} [Linear Algebra Appl. 428, No.~4, 715--731 (2008; Zbl 1135.15014)] it was shown that the base set of quasi-primitive zero-pattern symmetric generalized sign pattern matrices is \(\{1,2,\dots,2n\}\). In this paper, the generalized sign pattern matrices with zero trace are studied. It is proved that the base set of quasi-primitive zero symmetric generalized sign pattern matrices with zero trace is \(\{2, 3,\dots,2 n -1\}\).