Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/ii/paper-2/19i/b/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 2 19I b iii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let commute with the given representation. Since and are diagonal and their four joint pairs of eigenvalues are distinct, commuting with both forces to be diagonal. Commuting with the permutation matrix , which exchanges coordinates and , equates the first two and last two diagonal entries. Commuting with , which exchanges and , makes all four entries equal. Thus the commutant consists only of scalar matrices. Since the representation is unitary, a proper invariant subspace would have an orthogonal projection in the commutant. No such nonscalar projection exists, so the representation is irreducible.
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