Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/ii/paper-1/19i/a/solution

Schur lemma over states that an intertwining operator between finite-dimensional irreducible complex representations is either zero or an isomorphism. In particular, every intertwining endomorphism of is a scalar multiple of the identity.
Indeed, and are invariant subspaces. If , irreducibility gives and , so is an isomorphism. For an endomorphism , the fundamental theorem of algebra gives an eigenvalue . Then is an intertwiner with nonzero kernel, so the first part forces . Hence , completing the Proof of Schur lemma.

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