The Tensor Rank Problem over the Quaternions

Abstract: We provide a nontrivial bound on the rank of any tensor $T$ over the quaternions $\mathbb{H}$ in the $n_1\times n_2\times n_3$ cases where $2\leq n_i\leq 3$. We describe a decomposition of $T$ into $3$ simple tensors in the $2\times 2\times 2$ case. We also show that the upper bound is the best possible for some of the cases, and we provide various partial results involving tensor decompositions over $\mathbb{C}$ and $\mathbb{H}$.