Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/iii/paper-3/3/ii/solution

The diagonal Cartan subalgebra is
Put and ; then , and on . For the matrix unit , . Applying this to the general matrix in part (i) gives the following one-dimensional root spaces and chosen root vectors:
Each row satisfies and belongs to the Special orthogonal Lie algebra. The two diagonal parameters and eight root vectors span the ten-parameter matrix from part (i), giving the explicit root-space decomposition
This is the B2 root system, with short roots on the coordinate axes and long roots on the diagonals.

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