The scrambling index of symmetric primitive matrices (Q989050)

A real square matrix \(A\) with nonnegative entries is said to be \textit{primitive} if some power of \(A\) is entrywise positive. The \textit{scrambling index} of a primitive matrix \(A\) is the smallest positive integer \(k\) such that any two rows of \(A^k\) have at least one positive element in a coincident position. The authors give a relation between the scrambling index and the exponent for symmetric primitive matrices, and determine the scrambling index for the class of symmetric primitive matrices. An essential tool is a correspondence between symmetric primitive matrices and primitive graphs.