Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-linear-algebra-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/2/b/solution

By Jordan normal form, each complex nilpotent matrix of size six can be put by matrix similarity into a block diagonal matrix whose Nilpotent Jordan blocks have sizes
A Nilpotent Jordan block of size has matrix rank and minimal polynomial . Therefore, for the whole matrix,
Thus the given matrix rank determines the number of Jordan blocks, and the given minimal polynomial determines the largest size . For size six these two data determine the entire integer partition. Here is the complete list, arranged by the largest size:
To see that the list is exhaustive, choose the largest part between one and six and partition the remainder into parts at most . The resulting rows all have distinct pairs . Hence and have the same Jordan normal form .
Explicitly, choose invertible matrices such that and . Then
This proves matrix similarity and illustrates the classification of six-dimensional nilpotent matrices by rank and nilpotency index.

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