English

A characterization of positive spanning sets with ties to strongly connected digraphs

Discrete Mathematics 2025-04-16 v2 Combinatorics Optimization and Control

Abstract

Positive spanning sets (PSSs) are families of vectors that span a given linear space through non-negative linear combinations. Despite certain classes of PSSs being well understood, a complete characterization of PSSs remains elusive. In this paper, we explore a relatively understudied relationship between positive spanning sets and strongly edge-connected digraphs, in that the former can be viewed as a generalization of the latter. We leverage this connection to define a decomposition structure for positive spanning sets inspired by the ear decomposition from digraph theory.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2411.08994,
  title  = {A characterization of positive spanning sets with ties to strongly connected digraphs},
  author = {Denis Cornaz and Sébastien Kerleau and Clément W. Royer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.08994},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T19:59:07.292Z