Refined Inertia of Matrix Patterns

Abstract

We explore how the combinatorial arrangement of prescribed zeros in a matrix affects the possible eigenvalues that the matrix can obtain. We demonstrate that there are inertially arbitrary patterns having a digraph with no 2-cycle, unlike what happens for nonzero patterns. We develop a class of patterns that are refined inertially arbitrary but not spectrally arbitrary, making use of the property of a properly signed nest. We include a characterization of the inertially arbitrary and refined inertially arbitrary patterns of order three, as well as the patterns of order four with the least number of nonzero entries.