Principal nonsingularity of the Fourier matrices of orders \(70\) and \(143\)

Abstract

We give computer-assisted proofs that every principal minor of each of the \(70\times70\) and \(143\times143\) Fourier matrices is nonzero. A lifting theorem of Caragea, Lee, Malikiosis, and Pfander reduces the two assertions to the nonvanishing of all principal minors of the Fourier matrix of order \(10\) in characteristic \(7\), and of order \(11\) in characteristic \(13\), respectively. We realize primitive roots in \(\mathbb F_{7^4}\) and \(\mathbb F_{13^{10}}\) and evaluate all \(2^{10}\) and \(2^{11}\) principal determinants by exact, division-free arithmetic. None vanishes. The lifting theorem in fact yields the stronger conclusions that every \(10\)-principal minor of the order-\(70\) matrix and every \(11\)-principal minor of the order-\(143\) matrix is nonzero. Self-contained standard-library verifiers for the finite-field calculations accompany the paper.