Beatrice Meini

Dario A. Bini, Stefano Massei, Beatrice Meini

Denote by $\mathcal{W}_1$ the set of complex valued functions of the form $a(z)=\sum_{i=-\infty}^{+\infty}a_iz^i$ which are continuous on the unit circle, and such that $\sum_{i=-\infty}^{+\infty}|ia_i|<\infty$. We call CQT matrix a quasi-Toeplitz matrix $A$, associated with a continuous symbol $a(z)\in\mathcal W_1$, of the form $A=T(a)+E$, where $T(a)=(t_{i,j})_{i,j\in\mathbb{Z}^+}$ is the semi-infinite Toeplitz matrix such that $t_{i,j}=a_{j-i}$, for $i,j\in\mathbb Z^+$, and $E=(e_{i,j})_{i,j\in\mathbb{Z}^+}$ is a semi-infinite matrix such that $\sum_{i,j=1}^{+\infty}|e_{i,j}|$ is finite. We prove that the class of CQT matrices is a Banach algebra with a suitable sub-multiplicative matrix norm $\|\cdot\|$. We introduce a finite representation of CQT matrices together with algorithms which implement elementary matrix operations. An application to solving quadratic matrix equations of the kind $AX^2+BX+C=0$, encountered in the solution of Quasi-Birth and Death (QBD) stochastic processes with a denumerable set of phases, is presented where $A,B,C$ are CQT matrices.

Dario A. Bini, Stefano Massei, Beatrice Meini

Let $a(z)=\sum_{i\in\mathbb Z}a_iz^i$ be a complex valued continuous function, defined for $|z|=1$, such that $\sum_{i=-\infty}^{+\infty}|ia_i|<\infty$. Consider the semi-infinite Toeplitz matrix $T(a)=(t_{i,j})_{i,j\in\mathbb Z^+}$ associated with the symbol $a(z)$ such that $t_{i,j}=a_{j-i}$. A quasi-Toeplitz matrix associated with the continuous symbol $a(z)$ is a matrix of the form $A=T(a)+E$ where $E=(e_{i,j})$, $\sum_{i,j\in\mathbb Z^+}|e_{i,j}|<\infty$, and is called a CQT-matrix. Given a function $f(x)$ and a CQT matrix $M$, we provide conditions under which $f(M)$ is well defined and is a CQT matrix. Moreover, we introduce a parametrization of CQT matrices and algorithms for the computation of $f(M)$. We treat the case where $f(x)$ is assigned in terms of power series and the case where $f(x)$ is defined in terms of a Cauchy integral. This analysis is applied also to finite matrices which can be written as the sum of a Toeplitz matrix and of a low rank correction.

Dario A. Bini, Beatrice Meini

Let $a(z)=\sum_{i\in\mathbb Z}a_iz^i$ be a complex valued function defined for $|z|=1$, such that $\sum_{i\in\mathbb Z}|ia_i|<\infty$, and let $E=(e_{i,j})_{i,j\in\mathbb {Z}^+}$ be such that $\sum_{i,j\in\mathbb{Z}^+}|e_{i,j}|<\infty$. A semi-infinite quasi-Toeplitz matrix is a matrix of the kind $A=T(a)+E$, where $T(a)=(t_{i,j})_{i,j\in\mathbb{Z}^+}$ is the semi-infinite Toeplitz matrix associated with the symbol $a(z)$, that is, $t_{i,j}=a_{j-i}$ for $i,j\in\mathbb Z^+$. We analyze theoretical and computational properties of the exponential of $A$. More specifically, it is shown that $\exp(A)=T(\exp(a))+F$ where $F=(f_{i,j})_{i,j\in\mathbb{Z}^+}$ is such that $\sum_{i,j\in\mathbb{Z}^+}|f_{i,j}|$ is finite, i.e., $\exp(A)$ is a semi-infinite quasi-Toeplitz matrix as well, and an effective algorithm for its computation is given. These results can be extended from the function $\exp(z)$ to any function $f(z)$ satisfying mild conditions, and can be applied to finite quasi-Toeplitz matrices.

Dario A. Bini, Beatrice Meini, Federico Poloni

We present some advances, both from a theoretical and from a computational point of view, on a quadratic vector equation (QVE) arising in Markovian Binary Trees. Concerning the theoretical advances, some irreducibility assumptions are relaxed, and the minimality of the solution of the QVE is expressed in terms of properties of the Jacobian of a suitable function. From the computational point of view, we elaborate on the Perron vector-based iteration proposed in [http://arxiv.org/abs/1006.0577]. In particular we provide a condition which ensures that the Perron iteration converges to the sought solution of the QVE. Moreover we introduce a variant of the algorithm which consists in applying the Newton method instead of a fixed-point iteration. This method has the same convergence behaviour as the Perron iteration, since its convergence speed increases for close-to-critical problems. Moreover, unlike the Perron iteration, the method has a quadratic convergence. Finally, we show that it is possible to alter the bilinear form defining the QVE in several ways without changing the solution. This modification has an impact on convergence speed of the algorithms.

Dario A. Bini, Sarah Dendievel, Guy Latouche et al.

We consider the Poisson equation $(I-P)\boldsymbol{u}=\boldsymbol{g}$, where $P$ is the transition matrix of a Quasi-Birth-and-Death (QBD) process with infinitely many levels, $\bm g$ is a given infinite dimensional vector and $\bm u$ is the unknown. Our main result is to provide the general solution of this equation. To this purpose we use the block tridiagonal and block Toeplitz structure of the matrix $P$ to obtain a set of matrix difference equations, which are solved by constructing suitable resolvent triples.

Beatrice Meini, Federico Poloni

We consider the multilinear pagerank problem studied in [Gleich, Lim and Yu, Multilinear Pagerank, 2015], which is a system of quadratic equations with stochasticity and nonnegativity constraints. We use the theory of quadratic vector equations to prove several properties of its solutions and suggest new numerical algorithms. In particular, we prove the existence of a certain minimal solution, which does not always coincide with the stochastic one that is required by the problem. We use an interpretation of the solution as a Perron eigenvector to devise new fixed-point algorithms for its computation, and pair them with a homotopy continuation strategy. The resulting numerical method is more reliable than the existing alternatives, being able to solve a larger number of problems.

Dario A. Bini, Guy Latouche, Beatrice Meini

We revisit the shift technique applied to Quasi-Birth and Death (QBD) processes (He, Meini, Rhee, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl., 2001) by bringing the attention to the existence and properties of canonical factorizations. To this regard, we prove new results concerning the solutions of the quadratic matrix equations associated with the QBD. These results find applications to the solution of the Poisson equation for QBDs.

Dario A. Bini, Beatrice Meini

Given a square matrix $A$, Brauer's theorem [Duke Math. J. 19 (1952), 75--91] shows how to modify one single eigenvalue of $A$ via a rank-one perturbation, without changing any of the remaining eigenvalues. We reformulate Brauer's theorem in functional form and provide extensions to matrix polynomials and to matrix Laurent series $A(z)$ together with generalizations to shifting a set of eigenvalues. We provide conditions under which the modified function $\widetilde A(z)$ has a canonical factorization $\widetilde A(z)=\widetilde U(z)\widetilde L(z^{-1})$ and we provide explicit expressions of the factors $\widetilde U(z)$ and $\widetilde L(z)$. Similar conditions and expressions are given for the factorization of $\widetilde A(z^{-1})$. Some applications are discussed.

Beatrice Meini, Federico Poloni

We propose a novel numerical method for solving a quadratic vector equation arising in Markovian Binary Trees. The numerical method consists in a fixed point iteration, expressed by means of the Perron vectors of a sequence of nonnegative matrices. A theoretical convergence analysis is performed. The proposed method outperforms the existing methods for close-to-critical problems.

Dario A. Bini, Bruno Iannazzo, Beatrice Meini et al.

Component-wise accurate algorithms for computing the principal square root of an M-matrix are designed in terms of triplet representations. A triplet representation of an M-matrix $A$ is the triple $(P, {\bf u},{\bf v})$, where the matrix $P$ is such that $p_{ij}=-a_{ij}$ for $i\ne j$, $p_{ii}=0$, and ${\bf u}>0$, ${\bf v}\ge 0$ are two vectors such that $A{\bf u}={\bf v}$. It is shown that if $A$ is an M-matrix representable by a triplet, then its principal square root exists and is an M-matrix represented by a triplet as well. New versions of the Cyclic Reduction and the Incremental Newton iterations are provided in terms of triplets, to compute the principal matrix square root of $A$. It is shown that these algorithms are component-wise numerically stable independently of the singularity of $A$ and of its condition number. Numerical experiments are shown to confirm the component-wise stability.

Xu Li, Beatrice Meini

The cyclic reduction (CR) algorithm is an efficient method for solving quadratic matrix equations that arise in quasi-birth-death (QBD) stochastic processes. However, its convergence is not guaranteed when the associated matrix polynomial has more than one eigenvalue on the unit circle. To address this limitation, we introduce a novel iteration method, referred to as the Block-Shifted CR algorithm, that improves the CR algorithm by utilizing singular value decomposition (SVD) and block shift-and-deflate techniques. This new approach extends the applicability of existing solvers to a broader class of quadratic matrix equations. Numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method.

Fabio Durastante, Miryam Gnazzo, Beatrice Meini

We address the algorithmic problem of determining the reversible Markov chain $\tilde X$ that is closest to a given Markov chain $X$, with an identical stationary distribution. More specifically, $\tilde X$ is the reversible Markov chain with the closest transition matrix, in the Frobenius norm, to the transition matrix of $X$. To compute the transition matrix of $\tilde X$, we propose a novel approach based on Riemannian optimization. Our method introduces a modified multinomial manifold endowed with a prescribed stationary vector, while also satisfying the detailed balance conditions, all within the framework of the Fisher metric. We evaluate the performance of the proposed approach in comparison with an existing quadratic programming method and demonstrate its effectiveness through a series of synthetic experiments, as well as in the construction of a reversible Markov chain from transition count data obtained via direct estimation from a stochastic differential equation.