A complex square matrix is a normal matrix if it commutes with its conjugate transpose:
By unitary diagonalization of a normal matrix, there are a unitary matrix and a diagonal matrix such that
The matrix 2-norm is invariant under multiplication by unitary matrices, so
For a diagonal matrix,
with equality on a coordinate vector belonging to an eigenvalue of greatest modulus. Hence
the matrix 2-norm of a normal matrix.
Let be the Toeplitz antisymmetric tridiagonal matrix with , , and zero diagonal. Fixed homogeneous endpoint values give the homogeneous update
The hint gives the eigenvalues
Because each is purely imaginary, for every real , so the left matrix is invertible. The two matrices are polynomials in and therefore have the same orthonormal eigenvectors. The amplification matrix
has eigenvalues
The numerator and denominator are complex conjugates, so . Moreover, the common orthonormal eigenbasis makes a normal matrix. By the matrix 2-norm of a normal matrix,
for every . Thus the Crank-Nicolson centered-advection scheme on a finite interval is unconditionally stable: