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Department of Physics
BS-MS
Aug-Nov. 2017
[1] (a) Does the set of all n n hermitian matrices form a vector space
over (i) the real field (ii) the complex field? If so, give the dimension
of the vector space. (A matrix A is said to be hermitian if A = A
where A is obtained by taking the complex conjugate transpose of A
i.e A = AT )
(b) Show that any 22 hermitian matrix can be written as a real linear
combination of {I, x , y , z } where
1 0 0 1 0 i 1 0
I= , x = , y = , z =
0 1 1 0 i 0 0 1
i.e. the matrices {I, x , y , z } form a basis in the real vector space of
2 2 hermitian matrices. [ The matrices {x , y , z } are referred to as
the Pauli matrices.]
[3] Find the eigenvalues and normalised eigenvectors of the following ma-
trices
2 0 3 2 1 3 3 2 3
(a) 6 4 3 (b) 1 2 3 (c) 2 3 3
2 0 3 1 1 2 4 8 7
3 4 0 0 1 0
(d) 1 1 0 (e) 1 2 0
2 4 1 2 3 1
1
The matrix (b) has two distinct eigenvalues and three linearly
independent eigenvectors.
The matrix (c) has two distinct eigenvalues and only two linearly
independent eigenvectors.
All eigenvalues of the matrix (d) coincide and it has only two
linearly independent eigenvectors.
All eigenvalues of the matrix (e) coincide and it has only one
linearly independent eigenvector.
[5] (a) Find the representation of the following linear operator on M2 (C)
respectively
inthe basis
given
a b 1 1 a b
A =
c d 0 1 c d
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
e1 = , e2 = e3 = e4 =
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1
(b) Is A invertible?