Recursive determinantal framework for testing D-stability
The concept of matrix $D$-stability, introduced in 1958 by Arrow and McManus, is of major importance across a wide variety of applications in economic modeling, ecology, and control systems. However, an exact algebraic characterization of $D$-stability for dimensions $n > 4$ has remained a notoriously intractable open problem for over sixty years. In this paper, we establish a novel, systematic recursive framework that decomposes the structural check of $D$-stability into an analytical tree of parameter-dependent determinants. By applying a recursive delete/zero reduction strategy, we derive exact recurrence relations for the real and imaginary parts of the characteristic polynomial components. These algebraic relations uncover a structured hierarchy of new sufficient conditions for $D$-stability, expressed explicitly in terms of the matrix's principal minors. We show that while general numerical methods face unavoidable conservatism near the topological boundaries of the stable manifold, our deterministic framework provides sharp, absolute certification for low-order boundary matrices.