Paul Van Dooren

Ngoc-Diep Ho, Paul Van Dooren, Vincent D. Blondel

In this paper, we present several descent methods that can be applied to nonnegative matrix factorization and we analyze a recently developped fast block coordinate method called Rank-one Residue Iteration (RRI). We also give a comparison of these different methods and show that the new block coordinate method has better properties in terms of approximation error and complexity. By interpreting this method as a rank-one approximation of the residue matrix, we prove that it \emph{converges} and also extend it to the nonnegative tensor factorization and introduce some variants of the method by imposing some additional controllable constraints such as: sparsity, discreteness and smoothness.

Leonardo Robol, Raf Vandebril, Paul Van Dooren

We present a framework for the construction of linearizations for scalar and matrix polynomials based on dual bases which, in the case of orthogonal polynomials, can be described by the associated recurrence relations. The framework provides an extension of the classical linearization theory for polynomials expressed in non-monomial bases and allows to represent polynomials expressed in product families, that is as a linear combination of elements of the form $ϕ_i(λ) ψ_j(λ)$, where $\{ ϕ_i(λ) \}$ and $\{ ψ_j(λ) \}$ can either be polynomial bases or polynomial families which satisfy some mild assumptions. We show that this general construction can be used for many different purposes. Among them, we show how to linearize sums of polynomials and rational functions expressed in different bases. As an example, this allows to look for intersections of functions interpolated on different nodes without converting them to the same basis. We then provide some constructions for structured linearizations for $\star$-even and $\star$-palindromic matrix polynomials. The extensions of these constructions to $\star$-odd and $\star$-antipalindromic of odd degree is discussed and follows immediately from the previous results.

Froilán M. Dopico, Javier Pérez, Paul Van Dooren

We introduce a new class of structured matrix polynomials, namely, the class of M_A-structured matrix polynomials, to provide a common framework for many classes of structured matrix polynomials that are important in applications: the classes of (skew-)symmetric, (anti-)palindromic, and alternating matrix polynomials. Then, we introduce the families of M_A-structured strong block minimal bases pencils and of M_A-structured block Kronecker pencils,, and show that any M_A-structured odd-degree matrix polynomial can be strongly linearized via an M_A-structured block Kronecker pencil. Finally, for the classes of (skew-)symmetric, (anti-)palindromic, and alternating odd-degree matrix polynomials, the M_A-structured framework allows us to perform a global and structured backward stability analysis of complete structured polynomial eigenproblems, regular or singular, solved by applying to an M_A-structured block Kronecker pencil a structurally backward stable algorithm that computes its complete eigenstructure, like the palindromic-QR algorithm or the structured versions of the staircase algorithm. This analysis allows us to identify those M_A-structured block Kronecker pencils that yield a computed complete eigenstructure which is the exact one of a slightly perturbed structured matrix polynomial.These pencils include (modulo permutations) the well-known block-tridiagonal and block-antitridiagonal structure-preserving linearizations. Our analysis incorporates structure to the recent (unstructured) backward error analysis performed for block Kronecker linearizations by Dopico, Lawrence, Pérez and Van Dooren, and share with it its key features, namely, it is a rigorous analysis valid for finite perturbations, i.e., it is not a first order analysis, it provides precise bounds, and it is valid simultaneously for a large class of structure-preserving strong linearizations.

Michael T. Schaub, Maguy Trefois, Paul Van Dooren et al.

In solving a linear system with iterative methods, one is usually confronted with the dilemma of having to choose between cheap, inefficient iterates over sparse search directions (e.g., coordinate descent), or expensive iterates in well-chosen search directions (e.g., conjugate gradients). In this paper, we propose to interpolate between these two extremes, and show how to perform cheap iterations along non-sparse search directions, provided that these directions can be extracted from a new kind of sparse factorization. For example, if the search directions are the columns of a hierarchical matrix, then the cost of each iteration is typically logarithmic in the number of variables. Using some graph-theoretical results on low-stretch spanning trees, we deduce as a special case a nearly-linear time algorithm to approximate the minimal norm solution of a linear system $Bx= b$ where $B$ is the incidence matrix of a graph. We thereby can connect our results to recently proposed nearly-linear time solvers for Laplacian systems, which emerge here as a particular application of our sparse matrix factorization.

Paul Van Dooren, Froilán M. Dopico

Polynomial minimal bases of rational vector subspaces are a classical concept that plays an important role in control theory, linear systems theory, and coding theory. It is a common practice to arrange the vectors of any minimal basis as the rows of a polynomial matrix and to call such matrix simply a minimal basis. Very recently, minimal bases, as well as the closely related pairs of dual minimal bases, have been applied to a number of problems that include the solution of general inverse eigenstructure problems for polynomial matrices, the development of new classes of linearizations and $\ell$-ifications of polynomial matrices, and backward error analyses of complete polynomial eigenstructure problems solved via a wide class of strong linearizations. These new applications have revealed that although the algebraic properties of minimal bases are rather well understood, their robustness and the behavior of the corresponding dual minimal bases under perturbations have not yet been explored in the literature, as far as we know. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to study in detail when a minimal basis $M(λ)$ is robust under perturbations, i.e., when all the polynomial matrices in a neighborhood of $M(λ)$ are minimal bases, and, in this case, how perturbations of $M(λ)$ change its dual minimal bases. In order to study such problems, a new characterization of whether or not a polynomial matrix is a minimal basis in terms of a finite number of rank conditions is introduced and, based on it, we prove that polynomial matrices are generically minimal bases with very specific properties. In addition, some applications of the results of this paper are discussed.

Froilán M. Dopico, Javier Pérez, Paul Van Dooren

The standard way of solving a polynomial eigenvalue problem associated with a matrix polynomial starts by embedding the matrix coefficients of the polynomial into a matrix pencil, known as a strong linearization. This process transforms the problem into an equivalent generalized eigenvalue problem. However, there are some situations in which is more convenient to replace linearizations by other low degree matrix polynomials. This has motivated the idea of a strong $\ell$-ification of a matrix polynomial, which is a matrix polynomial of degree $\ell$ having the same finite and infinite elementary divisors, and the same numbers of left and right minimal indices as the original matrix polynomial. We present in this work a novel method for constructing strong $\ell$-ifications of matrix polynomials of size $m\times n$ and grade $d$ when $\ell< d$, and $\ell$ divides $nd$ or $md$. This method is based on a family called "strong block minimal bases matrix polynomials", and relies heavily on properties of dual minimal bases. We show how strong block minimal bases $\ell$-ifications can be constructed from the coefficients of a given matrix polynomial $P(λ)$. We also show that these $\ell$-ifications satisfy many desirable properties for numerical applications: they are strong $\ell$-ifications regardless of whether $P(λ)$ is regular or singular, the minimal indices of the $\ell$-ifications are related to those of $P(λ)$ via constant uniform shifts, and eigenvectors and minimal bases of $P(λ)$ can be recovered from those of any of the strong block minimal bases $\ell$-ifications. In the special case where $\ell$ divides $d$, we introduce a subfamily of strong block minimal bases matrix polynomials named "block Kronecker matrix polynomials", which is shown to be a fruitful source of companion $\ell$-ifications.

Froilán M. Dopico, Paul Van Dooren

This paper studies generic and perturbation properties inside the linear space of $m\times (m+n)$ polynomial matrices whose rows have degrees bounded by a given list $d_1, \ldots, d_m$ of natural numbers, which in the particular case $d_1 = \cdots = d_m = d$ is just the set of $m\times (m+n)$ polynomial matrices with degree at most $d$. Thus, the results in this paper extend to a much more general setting the results recently obtained in [Van Dooren & Dopico, Linear Algebra Appl. (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.laa.2017.05.011] only for polynomial matrices with degree at most $d$. Surprisingly, most of the properties proved in [Van Dooren & Dopico, Linear Algebra Appl. (2017)], as well as their proofs, remain to a large extent unchanged in this general setting of row degrees bounded by a list that can be arbitrarily inhomogeneous provided the well-known Sylvester matrices of polynomial matrices are replaced by the new trimmed Sylvester matrices introduced in this paper. The following results are presented, among many others, in this work: (1) generically the polynomial matrices in the considered set are minimal bases with their row degrees exactly equal to $d_1, \ldots , d_m$, and with right minimal indices differing at most by one and having a sum equal to $\sum_{i=1}^{m} d_i$, and (2), under perturbations, these generic minimal bases are robust and their dual minimal bases can be chosen to vary smoothly.

Volker Mehrmann, Paul Van Dooren

We construct optimally robust port-Hamiltonian realizations of a given rational transfer function that represents a passive system. We show that the realization with a maximal passivity radius is a normalized port-Hamiltonian one. Its computation is linked to a particular solution of a linear matrix inequality that defines passivity of the transfer function, and we provide an algorithm to construct this optimal solution. We also consider the problem of finding the nearest passive system to a given non-passive one and provide a simple but suboptimal solution.

Froilán M. Dopico, Piers W. Lawrence, Javier Pérez et al.

We introduce a new family of strong linearizations of matrix polynomials---which we call "block Kronecker pencils"---and perform a backward stability analysis of complete polynomial eigenproblems. These problems are solved by applying any backward stable algorithm to a block Kronecker pencil, such as the staircase algorithm for singular pencils or the QZ algorithm for regular pencils. This stability analysis allows us to identify those block Kronecker pencils that yield a computed complete eigenstructure which is exactly that of a slightly perturbed matrix polynomial. The global backward error analysis in this work presents for the first time the following key properties: it is a rigurous analysis valid for finite perturbations (i.e., it is not a first order analysis), it provides precise bounds, it is valid simultaneously for a large class of linearizations, and it establishes a framework that may be generalized to other classes of linearizations. These features are related to the fact that block Kronecker pencils are a particular case of the new family of "strong block minimal bases pencils", which are robust under certain perturbations and, so, include certain perturbations of block Kronecker pencils. We hope that this robustness property will allow us to extend the results in this paper to other contexts.