Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/iii/paper-10/3/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 10 3 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A unitary family with the required Weyl relations isTranslations preserve the norm and the multiplier has modulus one. Multiplication of two such operators leaves the phase after extracting , proving the relation. Translation and modulation are strongly continuous, first on compactly supported smooth functions by direct estimates, then on all of by density and unitarity.
If a bounded operator commutes with all , it commutes with translations and every modulation . The spectral theorem for the multiplication coordinate therefore makes it commute with all bounded multiplication operators and interval projections. One can see its form directly: on a finite interval , set . For bounded supported in , commutation gives . Testing characteristic functions shows almost everywhere. On increasing intervals these functions agree on overlaps and yield a single with .
Commutation with translations says almost everywhere for every . Convolving with a smooth approximate identity produces smooth functions invariant under every translation, hence constants. Passing to the local limit makes constant almost everywhere. Therefore is a scalar operator, and the unitary family acts irreducibly.
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