[Math] Inverse of doubly stochastic matrix $M$ is doubly stochastic iff $M$ is a permution matrix

abstract-algebralinear algebra

In a very short remark, my syllabus states that if $M\in\Omega_n$ (i.e. the set of doubly stochastic matrices) and $M$ is invertible, that $M^{-1}\in\Omega_n$ if and only if $M$ is a permutation matrix. I'm having trouble to see why this is so obvious.

By definition of a doubly stochastic matrix, $Me=e$ and $e^TM=e^T$, and thus $M^{-1}Me=M^{-1}e=e$, and similarly $e^TM^{-1}=e^T$. But of course, we do not know that all matrix elements are non-negative, and by trying a few examples it indeed turns out that (for all matrices I tried), doubly stochastic matrices which are not permutation matrices do not have non-negative inverses.

For the given remark, I'm trying to prove the equivalence. The reverse implication is easy: $S_n$ is a group, and $h:S_n\to GL_n(\mathbb{R}):\sigma\mapsto\Pi_{\sigma}$ is a group homomorphism, and it follows directly that the inverse of a permutation matrix will also be a permutation matrix. However, I don't see how to prove the forward implication. Any help is much appreciated!

Best Answer

$A$ is nonnegative. If $A$ has a doubly stochastic inverse, $A$ must possess some positive entries. By scrambling its rows and columns (using possibly different permutations), we may assume that $a_{11}>0$. Let $B=A^{-1}$. Since $AB=I$ and $A,B\ge0$, we have $0=(AB)_{1j}\ge a_{11}b_{1j}\ge0$ for each $j>1$. Therefore all off-diagonal entries on the first row of $B$ are zero. As $B$ is also doubly stochastic, $B$ must be in the form of $\pmatrix{1&0\\ 0&\ast}$ and so is $A=B^{-1}$. Proceed recursively, we see that $A$ is, up to permutations of rows and columns, equal to the identity matrix. Hence $A$ is a permutation matrix.

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