LINEAR PRESERVERS OF BOOLEAN RANK BETWEEN DIFFERENT MATRIX SPACES

The Boolean rank of a nonzero $m{\times}n$ Boolean matrix A is the least integer k such that there are an $m{\times}k$ Boolean matrix B and a $k{\times}n$ Boolean matrix C with A = BC. We investigate the structure of linear transformations T : $\mathbb{M}_{m,n}{\rightarrow}\mathbb{M}_{p,q}$ which preserve Boolean rank. We also show that if a linear transformation preserves the set of Boolean rank 1 matrices and the set of Boolean rank k matrices for any k, $2{\leq}k{\leq}$ min{m, n} (or if T strongly preserves the set of Boolean rank 1 matrices), then T preserves all Boolean ranks.