Finding Hall blockers by matrix scaling

For a given nonnegative matrix $A=(A_{ij})$, the matrix scaling problem asks whether $A$ can be scaled to a doubly stochastic matrix $XAY$ for some positive diagonal matrices $X,Y$. The Sinkhorn algorithm is a simple iterative algorithm, which repeats row-normalization $A_{ij} \leftarrow A_{ij}/\sum_{j}A_{ij}$ and column-normalization $A_{ij} \leftarrow A_{ij}/\sum_{i}A_{ij}$ alternatively. By this algorithm, $A$ converges to a doubly stochastic matrix in limit if and only if the bipartite graph associated with $A$ has a perfect matching. This property can decide the existence of a perfect matching in a given bipartite graph $G$, which is identified with the $0,1$-matrix $A_G$. Linial, Samorodnitsky, and Wigderson showed that a polynomial number of the Sinkhorn iterations for $A_G$ decides whether $G$ has a perfect matching. In this paper, we show an extension of this result: If $G$ has no perfect matching, then a polynomial number of the Sinkhorn iterations identifies a Hall blocker -- a certificate of the nonexistence of a perfect matching. Our analysis is based on an interpretation of the Sinkhorn algorithm as alternating KL-divergence minimization (Csisz\'{a}r and Tusn\'{a}dy 1984, Gietl and Reffel 2013) and its limiting behavior for a nonscalable matrix (Aas 2014). We also relate the Sinkhorn limit with parametric network flow, principal partition of polymatroids, and the Dulmage-Mendelsohn decomposition of a bipartite graph.