On the equivalence between low rank matrix completion and tensor rank

Abstract

The Rank Minimization Problem asks to find a matrix of lowest rank inside a linear variety of the space of n x n matrices. The Low Rank Matrix Completion problem asks to complete a partially filled matrix such that the resulting matrix has smallest possible rank. The Tensor Rank Problem asks to determine the rank of a tensor. We show that these three problems are equivalent: each one of the problems can be reduced to the other two.