Let A be a square matrix. The index of A is the least nonnegative integer k such that rank(Ak+1) = rank(Ak). The Drazin inverse of A is the unique matrix AD that satisfies
where is invertible with inverse and is a nilpotent matrix, then
Drazin inversion is invariant under conjugation. If is the Drazin inverse of , then is the Drazin inverse of .
The Drazin inverse of a matrix of index 0 or 1 is called the group inverse or {1,2,5}-inverse and denoted A#. The group inverse can be defined, equivalently, by the properties AA#A = A, A#AA# = A#, and AA# = A#A.
A projection matrixP, defined as a matrix such that P2 = P, has index 1 (or 0) and has Drazin inverse PD = P.
A study of Drazin inverses via category-theoretic techniques, and a notion of Drazin inverse for a morphism of a category, has been recently initiated by Cockett, Pacaud Lemay and Srinivasan. This notion is a generalization of the linear algebraic one, as there is a suitably defined category having morphisms matrices with complex entries; a Drazin inverse for the matrix M amounts to a Drazin inverse for the corresponding morphism in .
Jordan normal form and Jordan-Chevalley decomposition
As the definition of the Drazin inverse is invariant under matrix conjugations, writing , where J is in Jordan normal form, implies that . The Drazin inverse is then the operation that maps invertible Jordan blocks to their inverses, and nilpotent Jordan blocks to zero.
More generally, we may define the Drazin inverse over any perfect field, by using the Jordan-Chevalley decomposition where is semisimple and is nilpotent and both operators commute. The two terms can be block diagonalized with blocks corresponding to the kernel and cokernel of . The Drazin inverse in the same basis is then defined to be zero on the kernel of , and equal to the inverse of on the cokernel of .
Drazin, M. P. (1958). "Pseudo-inverses in associative rings and semigroups". The American Mathematical Monthly. 65 (7): 506–514. doi:10.2307/2308576. JSTOR2308576.
Zheng, Bing; Bapat, R.B (2004). "Generalized inverse A(2)T,S and a rank equation". Applied Mathematics and Computation. 155 (2): 407. doi:10.1016/S0096-3003(03)00786-0.