The Importance of Being Unistochastic

Abstract

A bistochastic matrix is a square matrix with positive entries such that rows and columns sum to unity. A unistochastic matrix is a bistochastic matrix whose matrix elements are the absolute values squared of a unitary matrix. We can now ask questions such as when a given bistochastic matrix is unistochastic. I review these questions: Why they are asked, why they are difficult to answer, and what is known about them.