Exercises 3

Exercise 3.1
Let A be the operator in R3 that is defined as follows: it interchanges the 1 and 2
coordinates and doubles the 3 coordinate.
(a) Find the matrix A that represents the operator A.
(b) Find the adoint operator A and the corresponding matrix A
(c) Find the inverse operator A1 and the corresponding matrix A1
(d) Find the matrix A that represents the operator A after a coordinate transfor-
mation R(~e3 , /2) (a rotation around the 3-axis through the angle 90 )

Exercise 3.2
Consider the following two basis on C2 ,
   
1 1 1 1
h1 = , h2 = (1)
2 1 2 1
and
   
1 0
k1 = , k2 = . (2)
0 1
(a) Find the expansion coefficients of the vector in the new basis {k1 , k2 }
v = (2 + i)h1 + (2 i)h2 . (3)

(b) Find the transformed matrix of (in the new basis)

 
1 1
A= . (4)
1 1

Exercise 3.3
Prove the following statements:
(a) det(R) = 1 for any orthogonal matrix R.
(b) | det(U )| = 1 for any unitary matrix U . What is det(U )?
(c) det(A1 ) = 1/ det(A) for any invertible matrix A.
(d) det(A) is invariant under coordinate transformations. (Note: this means it
makes sense to define the determinant of an operator A as the determinant of
the matrix A representing the operator.)
Exercise 3.4
Show:

(a) (A1 A2 . . . An ) = An . . . A2 A1
1 1
(b) (A1 A2 . . . An )1 = A1
n . . . A2 A1

Exercise 3.5
Show that the matrices A and D A D1 have the same eigenvalues. (Note: this
means it makes sense to define the eigenvalues of an operator A as the eigenvalues
of the matrix A representing the operator.)

Exercise 3.6
A is a hermitean operator.

(a) Show that the eigenvalues of A are real.

(b) Show that eigenvectors of A with different eigenvalues are orthogonal.

Exercise 3.7
In the standard basis an operator A in R3 has the matrix representation

2 1 1
A= 0 1 0
1 1 2

(a) Compute the eigenvalues of A.

(b) Find the eigenvectors v1 ,v2 and v3 of A (and make sure they all have norm 1)

(c) Find the matrix D that represents the coordinate transformation between the
old basis {e1 , e2 , e3 } and the new basis {v1 , v2 , v3 }.

(d) Find the representation of the operator A in the new basis.

(e) What would be different (i.e. nicer) if A were hermitian or unitary?

Exercise 3.8
The matrix A is given by

15 0 0
A = 15 + 19i i 18i
15 + 7i 3i 4i

(a) Compute the determinant of A20

(a) Compute the trace of A20

Exercise 3.9
Compute eA , with  
2 0
A=
1 1

Exercise 3.10
Consider the hermitian operator A represented in the standard basis by the matrix
 
1 2+i
A=
2i 5

Show that    
1 2 i 1 2+i
v1 = ; v2 =
6 1 30 5
is an orthonormal basis where all basis vectors are eigenvectors of A.
What are the eigenvalues of A? Is A invertible? What is the matrix representation
of A in the new basis {v1 , v2 }?