In linear algebra, a circulant matrix is a special kind of Toeplitz matrix where each row vector is rotated one element to the right relative to the preceding row vector. In numerical analysis, circulant matrices are important because they are diagonalized by a discrete Fourier transform, and hence linear equations that contain them may be quickly solved using a fast Fourier transform. They can be interpreted analytically as the integral kernel of a convolution operator on the cyclic group and hence frequently appear in formal descriptions of spatially invariant linear operations. In cryptography, a circulant matrix is used in the MixColumns step of the Advanced Encryption Standard.
An circulant matrix takes the form
A circulant matrix is fully specified by one vector, , which appears as the first column of . The remaining columns of are each cyclic permutations of the vector with offset equal to the column index. The last row of is the vector in reverse order, and the remaining rows are each cyclic permutations of the last row. Note that different sources define the circulant matrix in different ways, for example with the coefficients corresponding to the first row rather than the first column of the matrix, or with a different direction of shift.
The polynomial is called the associated polynomial of matrix .
Eigenvectors and eigenvalues
The normalized eigenvectors of a circulant matrix are given by
The corresponding eigenvalues are then given by
As a consequence of the explicit formula for the eigenvalues above, the determinant of circulant matrix can be computed as:
Since taking transpose does not change the eigenvalues of a matrix, an equivalent formulation is
- We have
- where P is the 'cyclic permutation' matrix, a specific permutation matrix given by
- The set of circulant matrices forms an n-dimensional vector space; this can be interpreted as the space of functions on the cyclic group of order n, or equivalently the group ring.
- Circulant matrices form a commutative algebra, since for any two given circulant matrices and , the sum is circulant, the product is circulant, and .
- The matrix U that is composed of the eigenvectors of a circulant matrix is related to the Discrete Fourier transform and its Inverse transform:
- Thus, the matrix diagonalizes C. In fact, we have
- where is the first column of . Thus, the eigenvalues of are given by the product . This product can be readily calculated by a Fast Fourier transform.
Circulant matrices can be interpreted geometrically, which explains the connection with the discrete Fourier transform.
Consider vectors in as functions on the integers with period n, (i.e., as periodic bi-infinite sequences: ) or equivalently, as functions on the cyclic group of order n, ( or ) geometrically, on (the vertices of) the regular n-gon: this is a discrete analog to periodic functions on the real line or circle.
Then, from the perspective of operator theory, a circulant matrix is the kernel of a discrete integral transform, namely the convolution operator for the function this is a discrete circular convolution. The formula for the convolution of the functions is
- (recall that the sequences are periodic)
which is the product of the vector of by the circulant matrix.
The discrete Fourier transform then converts convolution into multiplication, which in the matrix setting corresponds to diagonalization.
In linear equations
Given a matrix equation
where is a circulant square matrix of size we can write the equation as the circular convolution
where is the first column of , and the vectors , and are cyclically extended in each direction. Using the results of the circular convolution theorem, we can use the discrete Fourier transform to transform the cyclic convolution into component-wise multiplication
In graph theory
In graph theory, a graph or digraph whose adjacency matrix is circulant is called a circulant graph (or digraph). Equivalently, a graph is circulant if its automorphism group contains a full-length cycle. The Möbius ladders are examples of circulant graphs, as are the Paley graphs for fields of prime order.
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- Golub, Gene H.; Van Loan, Charles F. (1996), "§4.7.7 Circulant Systems", Matrix Computations (3rd ed.), Johns Hopkins, ISBN 978-0-8018-5414-9
- R. M. Gray, Toeplitz and Circulant Matrices: A Review
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