Johnson's determinantal identity for contiguous minors of Toeplitz matrices

From papers

Let Mn(R)M_n(\mathbb{R}) denote the real n×nn\times n matrices. For AMn(R)A\in M_n(\mathbb{R}), write Ar(i,j)A_r(i,j) for the r×rr\times r contiguous submatrix beginning at row ii and column jj. A matrix is Toeplitz if its entries are constant along diagonals, and let JnJ_n be the n×nn\times n matrix whose entries are all 11.

Johnson's conjecture. For every n2n\ge 2 and every Toeplitz matrix AMn(R)A\in M_n(\mathbb{R}) satisfying A+A=2JnA+A^{\top}=2J_n,

\ndetAn1(1,2)+detAn1(2,1)=2detAn1(1,1).\ndet A_{n-1}(1,2)+\det A_{n-1}(2,1)=2\det A_{n-1}(1,1).

The identity is a determinantal relation among contiguous minors, motivated by Dodgson's condensation formula. The supplied source does not state whether Johnson's conjecture has been resolved.

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Teng Zhang, “Johnson's determinantal identity for contiguous minors of Toeplitz matrices, with an accretive extension”, arXiv:2601.18977 (2026).

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