Logarithmically Sparse Symmetric Matrices

01/24/2023

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by   Dmitrii Pavlov, et al.

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A positive definite matrix is called logarithmically sparse if its matrix logarithm has many zero entries. Such matrices play a significant role in high-dimensional statistics and semidefinite optimization. In this paper, logarithmically sparse matrices are studied from the point of view of computational algebraic geometry: we present a formula for the dimension of the Zariski closure of a set of matrices with a given logarithmic sparsity pattern, give a degree bound for this variety and develop implicitization algorithms that allow to find its defining equations. We illustrate our approach with numerous examples.