Upper Hessenberg and Toeplitz Bohemians

Abstract

A set of matrices with entries from a fixed finite population P is called “Bohemian”. The mnemonic comes from BOunded HEight Matrix of Integers, BOHEMI, and although the population P need not be solely made up of integers, it frequently is. In this paper we look at Bohemians, specifically those with population {−1,0,+1} and sometimes other populations, for instance {0,1,i,−1,−i}. More, we specialize the matrices to be upper Hessenberg Bohemian. We then study the characteristic polynomials of these matrices, and their height, that is the infinity norm of the vector of monomial basis coefficients. Focusing on only those matrices whose characteristic polynomials have maximal height allows us to explicitly identify these polynomials and give useful bounds on their height, and conjecture an accurate asymptotic formula. The lower bound for the maximal characteristic height is exponential in the order of the matrix; in contrast, the height of the matrices remains constant. We give theorems about the number of normal matrices and the number of stable matrices in these families.