Abstract

We investigate (0, 1)-matrices which are totally nonnegative and therefore which have all of their eigenvalues equal to nonnegative real numbers. Such matrices are characterized by four forbidden submatrices (of orders 2 and 3). We show that the maximum number of 0s in an irreducible (0, 1)-matrix of order n is (n − 1)2 and characterize those matrices with this number of 0s. We also show that the minimum Perron value of an irreducible, totally nonnegative (0, 1)-matrix of order n equals 2 + 2 cos (2∏/n+2) and characterize those matrices with this Perron value.