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Linear transformations on matrices. Purves, Roger Alexander

Abstract

In this thesis two problems concerning linear transformations on Mn, the algebra of n-square matrices over the complex numbers, are considered. The first is the determination of the structure of those transformations which map non-singular matrices to non-singular matrices; the second is the determination of the structure of those transformations which, for some positive integer r, preserve the sum of the r x r principal subdeterminants of each matrix. In what follows, we use E to denote this sum, and the phrase "direct product" to refer to transformations of the form T(A) = cUAV for all A in Mn or T(A) = cUA'V for all A in Mn where U, V are fixed members of Mn and c is a complex number. The main result of the thesis is that both non-singularity preservers and Er-preservers, if r ≥ 4, are direct products. The cases r=1,2,3 are discussed separately. If r=1, it is shown that E₁ preservers have no significant structure. If r=2, it is shown that there are two types of linear transformations which preserve E₂, and which are not direct products. Finally, it is shown that these counter examples do not generalize to the case r=3. These results and their proofs will also be found in a forthcoming paper by M. Marcus and JR. Purves in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics, entitled Linear Transformations of Algebras of Matrices: Invariance of the Elementary Symmetric Functions.

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