Centrosymmetric matrix

Symmetry pattern of a centrosymmetric 5×5 matrix

In mathematics, especially in linear algebra and matrix theory, a centrosymmetric matrix is a matrix which is symmetric about its center. More precisely, an n × n matrix A = [ A_i,j ] is centrosymmetric when its entries satisfy

A_i,j = A_{n−i+1,n−j+1} for 1 ≤ i,j ≤ n.

If J denotes the n × n matrix with 1 on the counterdiagonal and 0 elsewhere (that is, J_i,n+1-i = 1; J_i,j = 0 if j ≠ n+1-i), then a matrix A is centrosymmetric if and only if AJ = JA. The matrix J is sometimes referred to as the exchange matrix.

Examples

• All 2×2 centrosymmetric matrices have the form

$\begin{bmatrix} a & b \\ b & a \end{bmatrix}.$

• All 3×3 centrosymmetric matrices have the form

$\begin{bmatrix} a & b & c \\ d & e & d \\ c & b & a \end{bmatrix}.$

• Symmetric Toeplitz matrices are centrosymmetric.

Algebraic structure

If A and B are centrosymmetric matrices over a given field K, then so are A+B and cA for any c in K. In addition, the matrix product AB is centrosymmetric, since JAB = AJB = ABJ. Since the identity matrix is also centrosymmetric, it follows that the set of n × n centrosymmetric matrices over K is a subalgebra of the associative algebra of all n × n matrices.

Related structures

An n × n matrix A is said to be skew-centrosymmetric if its entries satisfy A_i,j = -A_{n−i+1,n−j+1} for 1 ≤ i,j ≤ n. Equivalently, A is skew-centrosymmetric if AJ = -JA, where J is the exchange matrix defined above.

The centrosymmetric relation AJ = JA lends itself to a natural generalization, where J is replaced with an involutory matrix K (i.e., K² = I)^{[1] [2] [3]} or, more generally, a matrix K satisfying K^m = I for an integer m > 1.^[4]

Symmetric centrosymmetric matrices are sometimes called bisymmetric matrices. When the ground field is the field of real numbers, it has been shown that bisymmetric matrices are precisely those symmetric matrices whose eigenvalues are the same up to sign after pre or post multiplication by the exchange matrix.^[2] A similar result holds for Hermitian centrosymmetric and skew-centrosymmetric matrices.^[5]

References

1. Andrew, A. (1973). "Eigenvectors of certain matrices". Linear Algebra Appl. 7 (2): 151–162. doi:10.1016/0024-3795(73)90049-9
2. Tao, D.; Yasuda, M. (2002). "A spectral characterization of generalized real symmetric centrosymmetric and generalized real symmetric skew-centrosymmetric matrices". SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 23 (3): 885–895. doi:10.1137/S0895479801386730. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
3. Trench, W. F. (2004). "Characterization and properties of matrices with generalized symmetry or skew symmetry". Linear Algebra Appl. 377: 207–218. doi:10.1016/j.laa.2003.07.013.
4. Yasuda, M. (2012). "Some properties of commuting and anti-commuting m-involutions". Acta Mathematica Scientia 32 (2): 631–644. doi:10.1016/S0252-9602(12)60044-7. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
5. Yasuda, M. (2003). "A Spectral Characterization of Hermitian Centrosymmetric and Hermitian Skew-Centrosymmetric K-Matrices". SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 25 (3): 601–605. doi:10.1137/S0895479802418835. Retrieved 2007-10-12.

Further reading

• Muir, Thomas (1960). A Treatise on the Theory of Determinants. Dover. p. 19. ISBN 0-486-60670-8.
• Weaver, J. R. (1985). "Centrosymmetric (cross-symmetric) matrices, their basic properties, eigenvalues, and eigenvectors". American Mathematical Monthly 92 (10): 711–717. doi:10.2307/2323222.

External links

• Centrosymmetric matrix on MathWorld.