Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 112 1 iii Solution 2026-09-28
Consider the symmetric Laurent polynomialIt satisfies , so the Alexander polynomial realization theorem gives a knot with . The polynomial is not a unit of , whereas
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 358 2 c Solution 2026-09-28
Embed in and write . The hypothesis gives in the weak operator topology. Since and are unitary operators,Thus in the strong operator topology. Applying the same argument to the adjoints gives strongly.
Products of uniformly bounded strongly convergent operators converge strongly, so for every integer ,strongly, with negative interpreted through adjoints. Therefore convergence holds for every Laurent polynomial. The Stone-Weierstrass theorem says that Laurent polynomials are uniformly dense in . Since the continuous functional calculus is contractive, uniform approximation finishes the proof for every .