Characterization of symmetric \(M\)-matrices as resistive inverses (Q999811)

The aim of this paper is to characterize those non-negative and not necessarily diagonally dominant matrices, whose respective inverses are irreducible Stieltjes matrices, by proving that any irreducible Stieltjes matrix is a resistive inverse. This consists in identifying any irreducible Stieltjes matrix with a positive definite Schrödinger operator on a suitable connected network. Further, a generalization of the concept of effective resistance is provided, whose properties are similar with those of standard effective resistances, and a generalized formula for the inverse of the resistance matrix is derived. Finally, a special kind of generalized inverses of positive semidefinite Schrödinger operators is studied, namely the Green operators and mainly the Moore-Penrose inverses of singular, irreducible and symmetric \(M\)-matrices.