Week 12 Problem Sheet
Group Theory and Linear algebra
Semester II 2011

Arun Ram
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Melbourne
Parkville, VIC 3010 Australia
aram@unimelb.edu.au

Last updates: 1 September 2011

(1) Week 12: Questions from past exams

Week 12: Questions from past exams

Consider the permutation group G= {(1), (12) (34) , (13) (24) , (14) (23) } acting on a set X of four symbols 1,2,3,4.
(a)   Describe the orbit and stabiliser of 1. Explain how the orbit/stabiliser theorem connects G and the orit and stabiliser.
(b)   Find the orbit and stabiliser of 1 for the action of the subgroup H= {(1), (12) (34) } acting on the set X.
(a)   If a group of order 9 acts on a set X with 4 elements, explain why each orbit must consist of either one or three points.
(b)   Explain why a group with 9 elements must have an element in the centre, which is different from the identity element.
Let V be a complex finite dimensional inner product space and let f:VV be a linear transformation satisfying f*f= ff*.
(a)   State the spectral theorem and deduce that there is an orthonormal basis of V consisting of eigenvectors of f.
(b)   Show that there is a linear transformation g:VV so that f=g2.
(c)   Show that if every eigenvalue of f has absolute value 1, then f*=f-1.
(d)   Give an example to show that the result in (a) can fail if V is a real inner product space.
(a)   Let A be an n×n complex Hermitian matrix. Define a product on n by (X,Y) =XAY*, where X,Y n are written as row vectors. Show that this is an inner product if all the eigenvalues of A are positive real numbers.
(b)   Show that if A=B*B, where B is any invertible n×n complex matrix, then A is a Hermitian matrix and all the eigenvalues of A are real and positive.
Let G be the multiplicative group GL2( 𝔽2) of invertible 2×2 matrices, where the entries are from the field with two elements 𝔽2=/2. There are six matrices which are elements of this group.

Let V be the 2-dimensional vector space over the field 𝔽2 (V contains 4 vectors). Then G acts on V by usual multiplication of column vectors by matrices; A:XAX, where AG, XV.
(a)   Find the orbits and stabilisers of the vectors (0,0)t and (1,0)t under the action of G, where the transpose t converts row vectors to column vectors.
(b)   Use this action to construct a homomorphism φ from G into S4, the permutation group on 4 symbols.
(c)   Prove that the homomorphism φ is injective.
Consider the symmetric group S4 acting on the four numbers {1,2,3,4}. Consider the three ways of dividing these numbers into two pairs, namely P1= { {1,2}, {3,4}}, P2= { {1,3}, {2,4}}, P3= { {1,4}, {2,3}}.
(a)   Construct a homomorphism from S4 onto S3 by using the action of S4 on {1,2,3,4} to give an action of S4 on the set of three objects {P1, P2,P3}. In particular, explain why the mapping you have described is a homomorphism.
(b)   Describe the elements of the kernel K of this homomorphism and explain why this subgroup is normal.
(c)   Explain why the quotient group S4/K is isomorphic to S3.
Consider the infinte pattern of symbols YYYYYYYYYYY
(a)   Describe the full group G of symmetries of this pattern.
(b)   Describe the stabiliser H of one of the symbols Y .
(c)   Describe the maximal normal subgroup of translations T in G and explain why the quotient group G/T is isomorphic to the stabiliser subgroup H.
An inner product , on 3 is defined by ( x1, x2, x3) , ( y1, y2, y3) = x1 y1 +2 x2 y2 +3 x3 y3 . Let W be the subspace of 3 spanned by {(1,-1, 0), (0,1,-1)}. Find all vectors in W orthogonal to (1, 1,-1).
The subset {1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8} of /9 forms a group G under multiplication modulo 9.
(a)   Show that the group G is cyclic.
(b)   Give an example of a non-cyclic group of order 6.
(a)   Express the following permutations as products of disjoint cycles: (134)(25)(12345) and the inverse of (12)(3456).
(b)   Find the order of the permutation (123)(4567).
Let G be a group of order 21.
(a)   What are the possible orders of subgroups of G?
(b)   What are the possible orders of non-cyclic subgroups of G?
Always explain your answers.
(a)   Show that the set { ( a b 0 1 ) | a,b, a0 } forms a group G under matrix multiplication.
(b)   Show that the function f:G * defined by f ( ( a b 0 1 ) ) =a2 is a homomorphism from G to the multiplicative group * of non-zero real numbers.
(c)   Find the image and kernel of f.
A group G of order 8 acts on a set X consisting of 11 points.
(a)   What are the possible sizes of orbits?
(b)   Show that there must be a point of X fixed by all elements of G.
Always explain your answers.
Let V be a complex inner product space and let T: VV be a linear transformation such that T*T= TT*.
(a)   Explain how the adjoint T* of T is defined.
(b)   Prove that Tx = T*x for all xV.
(c)   Deduce that the nullspace of T* is equal to the nullspace of T.
Let A be an n×n complex matrix.
(a)   Prove that if A is Hermitian, then all eigenvalues of A are real.
(b)   Carefully state the spectral theorem for normal matrices. Use this to show that if A is a normal matrix with all real eigenvalues, then A is Hermitian.
Let X be the graph of y=sinx in the x-y plane, X={ (x,y)3 | y=sinx}, and let G be the symmetry group of X.
(a)   Describe all the symmetries in G.
(b)   Find the orbit and stabilizer of the point (0,0) under the action of G on X.
(c)   Find the translational subgroup T of G.
(d)   Explain why T is a normal subgroup of G.
Let G be the subgroup of the symmetric group S4 consisting of the permutations
{   (1), (12)(34), (13)(24), (14)(23)
  (123), (132), (124), (142), (134), (143), (234), (243)   }
(a)   Show that G has 4 conjugacy classes, containing 1, 3, 4 and 4 elements.
(b)   Explain why any normal subgroup of G is a union of conjugacy classes.
(c)   Deduce that G contains no normal subgroup of order 6.
(d)   Does G contain any subgroup of order 6?
Always explain your answers.
(a)   Show that if G is a group with centre Z such that G /Z is cyclic, then G is abelian.
(b)   If G is a nonabelian group of order p3 where p is prime, what can you say about the centre Z of G and the quotient group G/Z?
Always explain your answers.
Let V=𝒫2() be the real vector space of all polynomials of degree 2 with real coefficients. An inner product , on V is defined by p,q = -11 p(x)q(x) dx. Find a basis for the orthogonal complement of the subspace W spanned by {1,x}.
Consider the complex matrix A= ( 1 1 i 1 ) . Decide whether the matrix is: (i) Hermitian, (ii) unitary, (iii) normal, (iv) diagonalizable. Always explain your answers.
The set of eight elements { ±1,±2, ±4,±7} forms a group G under multiplication modulo 15.
(a)   Find the order of each element in G.
(b)   Is the group cyclic?
Always explain your answers.
(a)   Express the permutation (1342)(345)(12) as a product of disjoint cycles.
(b)   Find the order of the permutation (12)(4536) in the group S6.
(c)   Find all the conjugates of (123) in the group S3.
Let G be a finite group containing a subgroup H of order 4 and a subgroup K of order 7.
(a)   State Lagrange's theorem for finite groups.
(b)   What can you say about the order of G?
(c)   What can you say about the order of the subgroup HK?
Always explain your answers.
(a)   Show that G= { ( 1 a c 0 1 b 0 0 1 ) | a,b,c } is a subgroup of GL3() using matrix multiplication as the operation.
(b)   Find the centre of G.
Let G be the group of symmetries of the rectangle X with vertices (2,1), (2,-1), (-2,1), (-2,-1) .
(a)   Give geometric descriptions of the symmetries in G.
(b)   Find the orbit and stabilizer of the point Q= (2,0) under the action of G on X.
(c)   Check that your answers to parts (a) and (b) are consistent with the orbit-stabiliser theorem.
Let f:VV be a linear operator on a finite dimensional inner product space.
(a)   Explain how the adjoint f* of f is defined.
(b)   Prove that the nullspace of f* is the orthogonal complement of the range of f.
(c)   Deduce that the nullity of f* is equal to the nullity of f.
Consider the complex matrix A= ( 4 -5i 5i 4 ) .
(a)   Without calculating eigenvalues, explain why A is diagonalizable.
(b)   Find a diagonal matrix D and a unitary matrix U such that U-1 AU =D.
(c)   Write down U-1.
(d)   Find a complex matrix B such that B2 =A.
Let G be a group in which every element has order 1 or 2.
(a)   Prove that G is abelian.
(b)   Prove that if G is finite then G has order 2n for some integer n 0.
(c)   For each integer n1, give an example of a group of order 2n with each element of order 1 or 2.
Always explain your answers.
For any isometry f: 𝔼2𝔼2 of the Euclidean plane, let Fix(f) = {x𝔼2 | f(x)=x} denote the fixed point set of f.
(a)   Show that if f and g are isometries of 𝔼2 then Fix(gfg-1 )=gFix(f) .
(b)   The non-identity isometries of 𝔼2 are of four types: rotations, reflections, translations, and glide reflections. Describe the fixed point set for each type.
(c)   Deduce from parts (a) and (b) that if f is a rotation about a point p then gfg-1 is a rotation about the point g(p).
Let denote the additive group of rational numbers, and the subgroup of integers.
(a)   Show that every element of the quotient group / has finite order.
(b)   Let S1= {z | |z|=1} denote the multiplicative group of complex numbers of absolute value one. Show that the function f:S1 defined by f(x) =e2πix =cos(2πx) +isin(2πx) is a homomorphism.
(c)   Find the kernel of f.
(d)   Deduce that / is isomorphic to a subgroup of S1.
(e)   Is / is isomorphic to S1?
Always explain your answers.
(a)   Use the Euclidean algorithm to find d= gcd(469,959).
(b)   Find integers x,y such that 469x+959y=d.
The complex vector space 4 has an inner product defined by a,b = a1b1 + a2b2 + a3b3 + a4b4 for a=(a1, a2, a3, a4) , b=(b1, b2, b3, b4) 4. Let W be the subspace of 4 spanned by the vectors (1,0, -1, 0) and (0,1, 0, i).
Find a basis for the orthogonal complement W of W.
Determine whether the matrix A= ( 3 4i 4i 3 ) is (i) Hermitian, (ii) unitary, (iii) normal, (iv) diagonalizable. Always explain your answers.
The sets G1={ 1,3,9,11} and G2={ 1,7,9,15} form groups under multiplication modulo 16.
(a)   Find the order of each element in G1 and each element in G2.
(b)   Are the groups G1 and G2 isomorphic?
Always explain your answers.
(a)   Express the following permutation as a product of disjoint cycles: (234)(56)*(1354)(26).
(b)   Find the order of the permutation (12)(34567) in S7.
(c)   Find all conjugates of (13)(24) in the group S4.
Let G be a group of order 35.
(a)   What does Lagrange's theorem tell you about the orders of subgroups of G?
(b)   If H is a subgroup of G with HG, expalin why H is cyclic.
Consider the set of matrices G= { ( a b b a ) | a,b, a2-b2=1 }. Prove that G is a group using matrix multiplication as the operation.
Let X be a subset of 2 consisting of the four edges of a square together with its two diagonals. Let Y be obtained from X by filling in two triangles as shown below:
X Y
Let G be the symmetry group of X and H the symmetry group of Y.
(a)   Describe the group G by giving geometric descriptions of the symmetries in G, and writing down a familiar group isomorphic to G.
(b)   Give a similar description of H.
(c)   Explain why H is a normal subgroup of G.
Let f:VV be a self-adjoint linear operator on an inner product space V, i.e. f*=f.
(a)   Prove that every eigenvalue of f is real.
(b)   Let v1,v2 be eigenvectors of f corresponding to eigenvalues λ1,λ2 with λ1λ2. Prove that v1 and v2 are orthogonal.
Let A be a 6×6 complex matrix with minimal polynomial m(X) = (X+1)2 (X-1) .
(a)   Describe the possible characteristic polynomials for A.
(b)   Let the possible Jordan normal forms for A (up to reordering the Jordan blocks).
(c)   Explain why A is invertible and write A-1 as a polynomial in A.
(a)   Let f:VV be a normal linear operator on a complex inner product space V such that f4 =f3. Use the spectral theorem to prove that f is self-adjoint and that f2=f.
(b)   Give an example of a linear operator g:VV on a complex inner product space V such that g4 =g3 but g2g.
Consider the subgroup H={±1, ±i} of the multiplicative group G= * of non-zero complex numbers.
(a)   Describe the cosets of H in G. Draw a diagram in the complex plane showing a typical coset.
(b)   Show that the function f:GG defined by f(z)=z4 is a homomorphism and find its kernel and image.
(c)   Explain why H is a normal subgroup of G and identify the quotient group G/H.
Let G be the cyclic subgroup of S7 generated by the permutation (12)(3456). Consider the action of G on X={1,2,3, 4,5,6,7}.
(a)   Write down all the elements of G.
(b)   Find the orbit and stabilizer of (i) 1, (ii) 3 and (iii) 7. Check that your answers are consistent with the orbit-stabilizer theorem.
(c)   Prove that if a group H of order 4 acts on a set Y with 7 elements then there must be at least one element of Y fixed by all elements of H.
Let p be a prime number, and let V be the vector space over the field /p consisting of all column vectors in (/p) 2: V= { ( x y ) | x,y /p } . Let G= GL2( /p ) be the group of invertible 2×2 matrices with /p entries using matrix multiplication.This acts on V by matrix multiplication as usual: Av= Av for all AG and all vV.
(a)   Consider the 1-dimensional subspaces of V. Show that there are exactly p+1 such subspaces: spanned by the vectors ( 0 1 ) , ( 1 1 ) , ( p-1 1 ) and ( 1 0 ) .
(b)   Explain why G also acts on the set X of 1-dimensional subspaces of V. This gives a homomorphism φ:G Sp+1.
(c)   Show that the kernel of φ consists of the scalar matrices K= { ( a 0 0 a ) | a /p -{0} }. Deduce that the quotient group G/K is isomorphic to a subgroup of Sp+1.
(d)   For the case where p=3, find |K| and |G|. Deduce that G/K is isomorphic to S4.

References

[GH] J.R.J. Groves and C.D. Hodgson, Notes for 620-297: Group Theory and Linear Algebra, 2009.

[Ra] A. Ram, Notes in abstract algebra, University of Wisconsin, Madison 1994.