Positive and compartmental systems

When dealing with compartmental systems, an important question is: given an experiment, i.e., an input-output sequence, and supposing there is no error in the data, is the sequence compatible with the compartmental assumption? If the process under analysis is linear, then the previous question is obviously equivalent to asking whether a given transfer function is that of a compartmental system. In this note we provide an answer to the latter question giving necessary and sufficient conditions for a transfer function to be that of a compartmental system of some finite order (i.e., number of compartments). Another problem tackled in this note originates from the observation that in many cases one wants to determine the number of compartments involved in the process. In this note we report a step toward the solution of this fundamental problem by proving necessary and sufficient conditions for a given third order transfer function with real poles to be that of a compartmental system with three compartments.