Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Helena Šmigoc

Publications and source records attributed to Helena Šmigoc.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Optimization problem for star covers of graphs without four cycles

This work presents a study of star covers on graphs. Unlike traditional formulations that minimize the number of stars, our aim is to optimize the number of bipartite components used in the cover. This problem, motivated by a symmetric nonnegative trifactorization of matrices and the SNT-rank of graphs, is in general hard to solve. We consider a family of graphs that do not contain four cycles, and develop an algorithm to determine the SNT-rank of such graphs.

math.CO↗
arXiv2025

Orthogonalisability of joins of graphs

A graph is said to be orthogonalisable if the set of real symmetric matrices whose off-diagonal pattern is prescribed by its edges contains an orthogonal matrix. We determine some necessary and some sufficient conditions on the sizes of the connected components of two graphs for their join to be orthogonalisable. In some cases, those conditions coincide, and we present several families of joins of graphs that are orthogonalisable.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

Arbitrarily Finely Divisible Matrices

The class of stochastic matrices that have a stochastic $c$-th root for infinitely many natural numbers $c$ is introduced and studied. Such matrices are called arbitrarily finely divisible, and generalise the class of infinitely divisible matrices. In particular, if $A$ is a transition matrix for a Markov process over some time period, then arbitrarily finely divisibility of $A$ is the necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of transition matrices corresponding to this Markov process over arbitrarily short periods. In this paper, we lay the foundation for research into arbitrarily finely divisible matrices and demonstrate the concepts using specific examples of $2 \times 2$ matrices, $3 \times 3$ circulant matrices, and rank-two matrices.

math.PR↗
arXiv2023

Bordering of Symmetric Matrices and an Application to the Minimum Number of Distinct Eigenvalues for the Join of Graphs

An important facet of the inverse eigenvalue problem for graphs is to determine the minimum number of distinct eigenvalues of a particular graph. We resolve this question for the join of a connected graph with a path. We then focus on bordering a matrix and attempt to control the change in the number of distinct eigenvalues induced by this operation. By applying bordering techniques to the join of graphs, we obtain numerous results on the nature of the minimum number of distinct eigenvalues as vertices are joined to a fixed graph.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

Symmetric Nonnegative Trifactorization of Pattern Matrices

A factorization of an $n \times n$ nonnegative symmetric matrix $A$ of the form $BCB^T$, where $C$ is a $k \times k$ symmetric matrix, and both $B$ and $C$ are required to be nonnegative, is called the Symmetric Nonnegative Matrix Trifactorization (SN-Trifactorization). The SNT-rank of $A$ is the minimal $k$ for which such factorization exists. The SNT-rank of a simple graph $G$ that allows loops is defined to be the minimal possible SNT-rank of all symmetric nonnegative matrices whose zero-nonzero pattern is prescribed by a given graph. We define set-join covers of graphs, and show that finding the SNT-rank of $G$ is equivalent to finding the minimal order of a set-join cover of $G$. Using this insight we develop basic properties of the SNT-rank for graphs and compute it for trees and cycles without loops. We show the equivalence between the SNT-rank for complete graphs and the Katona problem, and discuss uniqueness of patterns of matrices in the factorization.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

The liberation set in the inverse eigenvalue problem of a graph

The inverse eigenvalue problem of a graph $G$ is the problem of characterizing all lists of eigenvalues of real symmetric matrices whose off-diagonal pattern is prescribed by the adjacencies of $G$. The strong spectral property is a powerful tool in this problem, which identifies matrices whose entries can be perturbed while controlling the pattern and preserving the eigenvalues. The Matrix Liberation Lemma introduced by Barrett et al.~in 2020 advances the notion to a more general setting. In this paper we revisit the Matrix Liberation Lemma and prove an equivalent statement, that reduces some of the technical difficulties in applying the result. We test our method on matrices of the form $M=A \oplus B$ and show how this new approach supplements the results that can be obtained from the strong spectral property only. While extending this notion to the direct sums of graphs, we discover a surprising connection with the zero forcing game on Cartesian products of graphs. Throughout the paper we apply our results to resolve a selection of open cases for the inverse eigenvalue problem of a graph on six vertices.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

Spectral arbitrariness for trees fails spectacularly

If $G$ is a graph and $\mathbf{m}$ is an ordered multiplicity list which is realizable by at least one symmetric matrix with graph $G$, what can we say about the eigenvalues of all such realizing matrices for $\mathbf{m}$? It has sometimes been tempting to expect, especially in the case that $G$ is a tree, that any spacing of the multiple eigenvalues should be realizable. In 2004, however, F. Barioli and S. Fallat produced the first counterexample: a tree on 16 vertices and an ordered multiplicity list for which every realizing set of eigenvalues obeys a nontrivial linear constraint. We extend this by giving an infinite family of trees and ordered multiplicity lists whose sets of realizing eigenvalues are very highly constrained, with at most 5 degrees of freedom, regardless of the size of the tree in this family. In particular, we give the first examples of multiplicity lists for a tree which impose nontrivial nonlinear eigenvalue constraints and produce an ordered multiplicity list which is achieved by a unique set of eigenvalues, up to shifting and scaling.

math.CO↗
arXiv2022

Symmetric Nonnegative Matrix Trifactorization

The Symmetric Nonnegative Matrix Trifactorization (SN-Trifactorization) is a factorization of an $n \times n$ nonnegative symmetric matrix $A$ of the form $BCB^T$, where $C$ is a $k \times k$ symmetric matrix, and both $B$ and $C$ are required to be nonnegative. This work introduces the SNT-rank of $A$, as the minimal $k$, for which such factorization exists. After listing basic properties and exploring SNT-rank of low rank matrices, the class of nonnegative symmetric matrices with SNT-rank equal to rank is studied. The paper concludes with a completion problem, that asks for matrices with the smallest possible SNT-rank among all nonnegative symmetric matrices with given diagonal blocks.

math.OC↗
arXiv2021

Stochastic Matrices Realising the Boundary of the Karpelevi\v c Region

A celebrated result of Karpelevi\v c describes $Θ_n,$ the collection of all eigenvalues arising from the stochastic matrices of order $n.$ The boundary of $Θ_n$ consists of roots of certain one-parameter families of polynomials, and those polynomials are naturally associated with the so--called reduced Ito polynomials of Types 0, I, II and III. In this paper we explicitly characterise all $n \times n$ stochastic matrices whose characteristic polynomials are of Type 0 or Type I, and all sparsest stochastic matrices of order $n$ whose characteristic polynomials are of Type II or Type III. The results provide insights into the structure of stochastic matrices having extreme eigenvalues.

math.SP↗
arXiv2021

Paths are generically realisable

We show that every $0$-$1$ multiplicity matrix for a simple graph $G$ is generically realisable for $G$. In particular, every multiplicity matrix for a path is generically realisable. We use this result to provide several families of joins of graphs that are realisable by a matrix with only two distinct eigenvalues.

math.CO↗
arXiv2020

On the inverse eigenvalue problem for block graphs

The inverse eigenvalue problem of a graph $G$ aims to find all possible spectra for matrices whose $(i,j)$-entry, for $i\neq j$, is nonzero precisely when $i$ is adjacent to $j$. In this work, the inverse eigenvalue problem is completely solved for a subfamily of clique-path graphs, in particular for lollipop graphs and generalized barbell graphs. For a matrix $A$ with associated graph $G$, a new technique utilizing the strong spectral property is introduced, allowing us to construct a matrix $A'$ whose graph is obtained from $G$ by appending a clique while arbitrary list of eigenvalues is added to the spectrum. Consequently, many spectra are shown realizable for block graphs.

math.CO↗
arXiv2020

Orthogonal symmetric matrices and joins of graphs

We introduce a notion of compatibility for multiplicity matrices. This gives rise to a necessary condition for the join of two (possibly disconnected) graphs $G$ and $H$ to be the pattern of an orthogonal symmetric matrix, or equivalently, for the minimum number of distinct eigenvalues $q$ of $G\vee H$ to be equal to two. Under additional hypotheses, we show that this necessary condition is also sufficient. As an application, we prove that $q(G\vee H)$ is either two or three when $G$ and $H$ are unions of complete graphs, and we characterise when each case occurs.

math.CO↗
arXiv2019

Completely positive factorizations associated with Euclidean distance matrices corresponding to an arithmetic progression

Euclidean distance matrices corresponding to an arithmetic progression have rich spectral and structural properties. We exploit those properties to develop completely positive factorizations of translations of those matrices. We show that the minimal translation that makes such a matrix positive semidefinite results in a completely positive matrix. We also discuss completely positive factorizations of such matrices over the integers. Methods developed in the paper can be used to find completely positive factorizations of other matrices with similar properties.

math.SP↗
arXiv2019

The strong spectral property for graphs

We introduce the set $\mathcal{G}^{\rm SSP}$ of all simple graphs $G$ with the property that each symmetric matrix corresponding to a graph $G \in \mathcal{G}^{\rm SSP}$ has the strong spectral property. We find several families of graphs in $\mathcal{G}^{\rm SSP}$ and, in particular, characterise the trees in $\mathcal{G}^{\rm SSP}$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2018

A Nordhaus-Gaddum conjecture for the minimum number of distinct eigenvalues of a graph

We propose a Nordhaus-Gaddum conjecture for $q(G)$, the minimum number of distinct eigenvalues of a symmetric matrix corresponding to a graph $G$: for every graph $G$ excluding four exceptions, we conjecture that $q(G)+q(G^c)\le |G|+2$, where $G^c$ is the complement of $G$. We compute $q(G^c)$ for all trees and all graphs $G$ with $q(G)=|G|-1$, and hence we verify the conjecture for trees, unicyclic graphs, graphs with $q(G)\le 4$, and for graphs with $|G|\le 7$.

math.SP↗