Inverse tridiagonal Z-matrices

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In this paper, we consider matrices whose inverses are tridiagonal Z--matrices. Based on a characterization of symmetric tridiagonal matrices by Gantmacher and Krein, we show that a matrix is the inverse of a tridiagonal Z--matrix if and only if, up to a positive scaling of the rows, it is the Hadamard product of a so called weak type matrix and a flipped weak type matrix whose parameters satisfy certain quadratic conditions. We predict from these parameters to which class of Z--matrices the inverse belongs to. In particular, we give a characterization of inverse tridiagonal M--matrices. Moreover, we characterize inverses of tridiagonal M--matrices that satisfy certain row sum criteria. This leads to the cyclopses that are matrices constructed from type and flipped type matrices. We establish some properties of the cyclopses and provide explicit formulae for the entries of the inverse of a nonsingular cyclops. We also show that the cyclopses are the only generalized ultrametric matrices whose inverses are tridiagonal.