On the Diagonal Stability of $k$-Positive Linear Systems

Abstract

We consider $k$-positive linear systems, that is, systems that map the set of vectors with up to $k-1$ sign variations to itself. For $k=1$, this reduces to positive linear systems. It is well-known that stable positive linear time invariant (LTI) systems admit a diagonal Lyapunov function. This property has many important implications. A natural question is whether stable $k$-positive systemsalso admit a diagonal Lyapunov function. This paper shows that, in general, the answer is no. However, for both continuous-time and discrete-time $n$-dimensional systems that are $(n-1)$-positive we provide a sufficient condition for diagonal stability.