Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/prelims/mathematics-i/1/b/ii/solution

Write and . Because is a diagonal matrix,
Thus exactly when for every . The three eigenvalues are distinct, so every off-diagonal entry of must be zero; diagonal entries are unrestricted. Consequently the centralizer of a diagonal matrix here is
Every displayed matrix indeed commutes with , since diagonal matrices multiply entry by entry on the diagonal.

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