In many applications it is of major interest to decide whether a given formal power series with matrix-valued coefficients of arbitrary dimensions results from a matrix-valued rational function. As the main result of this paper we provide an answer to this question in terms of Matrix Pade Approximants of the given power series. Furthermore, given a matrix rational function, the “smallest” degrees of the matrix polynomials which represent it are not necessarily unique. Therefore we study a certain minimality-type, that is, minimum degrees. We aim to obtain all the minimum degrees for the polynomials which represent the function as equivalents. In addition, given that the rational representation of the function for the same pair of degrees need not be unique, we have obtained conditions to study the uniqueness of said representation. All the results obtained are presented graphically in tables setting out the above information. They lead to a number of properties concerning special structures, staired blocks, in the Pade Table.
['Celina Pestano-Gabino', 'Concepción González-Concepción']
Matrix Padé Approximation of rational functions