Linear mappings preserving the copositive cone

Abstract

Let $\mathcal{S}_n$ be the set of all $n$-by-$n$ symmetric real matrices, and let $\mathcal{C}_n$ be the copositive cone, that is, the set of all matrices $a\in\mathcal{S}_n$ that fulfill the condition $u^\top a u\geqslant0$ for all $n$-vectors $u$ with nonnegative entries. We prove that a linear mapping $\varphi:\mathcal{S}_n\to \mathcal{S}_n$ satisfies $\varphi(\mathcal{C}_n)=\mathcal{C}_n$ if and only if $$\varphi(x)=m^\top xm$$ for a fixed monomial matrix $m$ with nonnegative entries.