On the Uniqueness of the Canonical Polyadic Decomposition of Third-Order Tensors---Part I: Basic Results and Uniqueness of One Factor Matrix

Canonical polyadic decomposition (CPD) of a higher-order tensor is decomposition into a minimal number of rank-$1$ tensors. We give an overview of existing results concerning uniqueness. We present new, relaxed, conditions that guarantee uniqueness of one factor matrix. These conditions involve Khatri--Rao products of compound matrices. We make links with existing results involving ranks and k-ranks of factor matrices. We give a shorter proof, based on properties of second compound matrices, of existing results concerning overall CPD uniqueness in the case where one factor matrix has full column rank. We develop basic material involving mth compound matrices that will be instrumental in Part II for establishing overall CPD uniqueness in cases where none of the factor matrices has full column rank.