Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-1/section-a/a2/solution

The principal moments of inertia are the eigenvalues of the symmetric inertia tensor. In units of , its characteristic determinant is
Therefore the requested algebraic answer is
An orthonormal basis of principal axes is , , and ; the last two span the degenerate eigenspace and may be replaced by any orthonormal basis of it.
There is a physical inconsistency in calling the supplied matrix a rigid body's inertia tensor. The moment-of-inertia triangle inequalities require each principal moment to be no greater than the sum of the other two. Here . In principal coordinates, cannot be negative for a nonnegative mass distribution. Thus the eigenvalue calculation is well defined, but no ordinary rigid mass distribution realizes this tensor. The positive second-moment matrix test for an inertia tensor makes the same obstruction explicit.

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