The process of factorizing a symmetric matrix using the Cholesky (LLT ) or indefinite (LDLT ) factorization of A allows the efficient solution of systems Ax = b when A is symmetric. This thesis describes the development of new serial and parallel techniques for this problem and demonstrates them in the setting of interior point methods. In serial, the effects of various scalings are reported, and a fast and robust mixed precision sparse solver is developed. In parallel, DAG-driven dense and sparse factorizations are developed for the positive definite case. These achieve performance comparable with other world-leading implementations using a novel algorithm in the same family as those given by Buttari et al. for the dense problem. Performance of these techniques in the context of an interior point method is assessed.

The zero forcing number is a graph parameter first introduced as a tool for solving the minimum rank problem, which is: Given a simple, undirected graph G, and a field F, let S(F,G) denote the set of all symmetric matrices A=[a_{ij}] with entries in F such that a_{ij} doess not equal 0 if and only if ij is an edge in G. Find the minimum possible rank of a matrix in S(F,G). It is known that the zero forcing number Z(G) provides an upper bound for the maximum nullity of a graph. I investigate properties of the zero forcing number, including its behavior under various graph operations.

Given a real N by N matrix A, write p(A) for the maximum angle by which A rotates any unit vector. Suppose that A and B are positive definite symmetric (PDS) N by N matrices. Then their Jordan product {A, B} := AB + BA is also symmetric, but not necessarily positive definite. If p(A) + p(B) is obtuse, then there exists a special orthogonal matrix S such that {A, SBS^(-1)} is indefinite. Of course, if A and B commute, then {A, B} is positive definite. Our work grows from the following question: if A and B are commuting positive definite symmetric matrices such that p(A) + p(B) is obtuse, what is the minimal p(S) such that {A, SBS^(-1)} indefinite? In this dissertation we will describe the level curves of the angle function mapping a unit vector x to the angle between x and Ax for a 3 by 3 PDS matrix A, and discuss their interaction with those of a second such matrix.

We have two main results. Our first main result is a sharp bound for the number of vertices in a minimal forbidden subgraph for the graphs having minimum rank at most 3 over the finite field of order 2. We also list all 62 such minimal forbidden subgraphs and show that many of these are minimal forbidden subgraphs for any field. Our second main result is a structural characterization of all graphs having minimum rank at most k for any k over any finite field. This characterization leads to a very strong connection to projective geometry and we apply projective geometry results to the minimum rank problem.

Submitted by ANA KARLA PEREIRA RODRIGUES (anakarla_@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-25T13:37:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1699241 bytes, checksum: 2f092c650c435ae41ec42c261fd9c3af (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-25T13:37:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1699241 bytes, checksum: 2f092c650c435ae41ec42c261fd9c3af (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In thisthesis,westudycertaindegenerations/specializationsofthegenericsquare matrix overa eld k of characteristiczeroalongitsmainrelatedstructures,suchthe determinantofthematrix,theidealgeneratedbyitspartialderivatives,thepolarmap de ned bythesederivatives,theHessianmatrixandtheidealofsubmaximalminorsof the matrix.Thedegenerationtypesofthegenericsquarematrixconsideredhereare: (1) degenerationby\cloning"(repeating)avariable;(2)replacingasubsetofentriesby zeros, inastrategiclayout;(3)furtherdegenerationsoftheabovetypesstartingfrom certain specializationsofthegenericsquarematrix,suchasthegenericsymmetric matrix andthegenericsquareHankelmatrix.Thefocusinallthesedegenerations is intheinvariantsdescribedabove,highlightingonthehomaloidalbehaviorofthe determinantofthematrix.Forthis,weemploytoolscomingfromcommutativealgebra, with emphasisonidealtheoryandsyzygytheory. / Nesta tese,estudamoscertasdegenera c~oes/especializa c~oesdamatrizquadradagen erica sobre umcorpo k de caracter sticazero,aolongodesuasprincipaisestruturasrela- cionadas, taiscomoodeterminantedamatriz,oidealgeradoporsuasderivadasparci- ais, omapapolarde nidoporessasderivadas,amatrizHessianaeoidealdosmenores subm aximosdamatriz.Ostiposdedegenera c~aodamatrizquadradagen ericacon- siderados aquis~ao:(1)degenera c~aopor\clonagem"(repeti c~ao)deumavari avel;(2) substitui c~aodeumsubconjuntodeentradasporzeros,emumadisposi c~aoestrat egica; (3) outrasdegenera c~oesdostiposacimapartindodecertasespecializa c~oesdamatriz quadrada gen erica,taiscomoamatrizgen ericasim etricaeamatrizquadradagen erica de Hankel.Ofocoemtodasessasdegenera c~oes enosinvariantesdescritosacima, com destaqueparaocomportamentohomaloidaldodeterminantedamatriz.Paratal, empregamos ferramentasprovenientesda algebracomutativa,com^enfasenateoriade ideais enateoriadesiz gias.