So with the correct equations in place, the system is invertible. But if I apply a chrominance stretch of 1.5 against RGB = {0.5,0,0} (mid-level red), I end up with an RGB result of {0.73, -0.23, 0}.
How does PI deal with negative RGB components?
[chrominance stretch just uniformly scales the a* and b* components, no?]