Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 7 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A representation of a Banach algebra is a complex-linear multiplicative map . A nonzero irreducible action of a unital algebra automatically has : the image of the idempotent is a nonzero invariant subspace and hence is all of . An algebraically irreducible representation of a Banach algebra is a nonzero action if it has no nonzero proper invariant submodule, whether closed or not. A normed representation of a Banach algebra has bounded for each on a preassigned normed vector space ; continuity of as an operator-norm-valued map is a further conclusion. This must not be confused with topological irreducibility, which excludes only closed invariant subspaces. Unitizing the algebra extends a nonunital action by , so it is enough to discuss the unital case.
For , irreducibility gives . The annihilator is a maximal left ideal: an intermediate left ideal gives an intermediate submodule of . It is closed by the Neumann-series argument for maximal left ideals. Consequently transports a complete quotient norm to , and left multiplication is contractive in this norm. Every algebraically irreducible representation of a Banach algebra can therefore be realized continuously on a Banach space. This alone does not prove continuity for its preassigned norm.
The kernel of is the intersection of the closed left ideals and is a closed primitive ideal. The Jacobson radical is the intersection of all primitive ideals, equivalently the intersection of maximal left ideals. Thus these quotient representations detect semisimplicity. Equivalent algebra representations are related by a bijective module homomorphism.
The algebra of module endomorphisms is exactly . Indeed, if a module endomorphism sends a fixed cyclic vector to , then . It is induced by bounded right multiplication by on , so is bounded for the quotient norm on an irreducible Banach module. Every nonzero module endomorphism is injective and surjective by irreducibility, and its inverse is bounded by the same argument. This commutant of an operator algebra is a closed division subalgebra of the bounded operators on this Banach module; the Gelfand-Mazur theorem makes it .
The Jacobson density theorem now says that for finitely many linearly independent and arbitrary , one element of sends all to . Here is the induction behind it. The one-vector assertion is . Assuming the first coordinates can be prescribed, set . Its image is an invariant subspace. If it is , it adjusts the last image without changing the first ones. If it is zero, the rule is a well-defined module map . Each coordinate map is scalar by the module endomorphism result, forcing to be a linear combination of the earlier vectors, a contradiction. This proves the assertion.
We can now give Johnson's continuity argument with its crucial construction. If is finite dimensional, the closed kernel has finite codimension and is finite dimensional, so is continuous. Suppose instead that is infinite dimensional. LetThis is an invariant submodule, because the orbit map of is the orbit map of composed with the bounded map . Thus either or .
To rule out , choose linearly independent unit vectors . There are elements such that, with ,For completeness, construct them in the canonical quotient-norm Banach module. At stage the current tail vectors are independent. In the closed left annihilator of its first vector, density permits arbitrary images of any finite list of the remaining vectors. The condition that finitely many such images are independent is open in this Banach subspace and dense: perturb any element by times an element prescribing independent images; a suitable determinant is a nonzero polynomial in , with only finitely many exceptional values. The Baire category theorem intersects these open dense conditions for all initial finite tail lists. The resulting kills the first current vector and retains independence of the entire remaining tail. This is the countable annihilation sequence in an irreducible Banach module.
The gliding-hump continuity principle supplies the other ingredient: if are Banach spaces, is linear, and are bounded, and is continuous whenever , then is continuous eventually. The product form of this principle is recorded in Proposition 1.3 of Thomas's paper. Here is the contradiction mechanism. Rescale so and put . If infinitely many diagonal maps are discontinuous, choose increasing and successively tiny soAlso choose . The convergent sum has, after its th term, a tail factoring through . Applying that continuous composite bounds the tail contribution by one. The display forces , contradicting . Only finite decompositions and the continuous tail composites are used; no unjustified interchange of a discontinuous map with an infinite sum occurs.
Apply this principle with , , where is the completion in the original norm, and the bounded extension of . Set and . ThenFor this is zero, hence continuous. For it is the orbit map of a nonzero vector, hence discontinuous if . This contradicts the principle. Therefore .
Finally, apply the Uniform boundedness principle on the Banach space to the continuous maps indexed by . They are pointwise bounded because each individual is bounded in the original norm. It givesThis proves Johnson's continuity theorem for irreducible normed representations, including when the original normed vector space is incomplete. The quotient norm, countable density construction, and gliding hump explain the substantive steps rather than assuming the desired continuity in advance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 7 6 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
It suffices first to treat unital algebras and a unital homomorphism. A surjective homomorphism between unital algebras automatically preserves the identity. If , continuity is immediate. In the nonunital case, extend to the forced unitizations by . This is still surjective and the unitization of a semisimple algebra is semisimple: its radical projects to zero in its scalar quotient, and its remaining intersection with the original algebra is its original radical. Continuity of the extension implies continuity of the original map.
An algebra homomorphism decreases the spectral radius, even without any continuity assumption, because it takes an inverse of to an inverse of . Suppose in and in . Fix any and choose with , . PutConsider the polynomial . Its value at one is exactly . On the outer circle ,On the inner circle , spectral-radius decrease givesApplying part (i) in and then letting , with fixed, givesThis holds for every , so for every .
This forces into the Jacobson radical. To see the criterion directly, if were outside a maximal left ideal , then , so for some , . The equality makes invertible, but this element equals , impossible in a proper left ideal. Hence lies in every maximal left ideal. Since is semisimple, .
We have shown that the separating space of is zero. If and , apply the result to to obtain . Its graph is closed, and the closed graph theorem now provesThe crucial estimate uses part (i) with an exactly fixed central value; it does not assume the false general assertion that the spectral radius is continuous under norm limits.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 7 6 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
We first extend the scalar Hadamard three-circle theorem to a holomorphic Banach-space-valued function . Apply its inequality to for every bounded linear functional of norm at most one, and use the Hahn-Banach theorem to recover the norm. For the radii this givesNow take . Even for noncommuting coefficients this is an algebra-valued holomorphic polynomial. Taking the th power givesOn each boundary circle the continuous functions decrease, by submultiplicativity, to by the spectral radius formula. Their maxima decrease to the supremum of this pointwise limit. To justify that passage without assuming continuity of the spectral radius, take maximizing points along a convergent subsequence on the compact circle. For any fixed , all later are bounded by ; continuity of therefore bounds the limiting maxima by at the limiting point. Taking the infimum over gives the desired upper bound, while the reverse bound is immediate.
Passing to the limit proves the spectral-radius three-circle inequality at the geometric mean:For a nonunital algebra, use its unitization of an algebra; the spectral radius of an original algebra element is unchanged. Zero boundary suprema cause no difficulty in the decreasing-limit argument.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 77 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Work deterministically with nonnegative arrivals. Write for integer , and . The relevant metric isThis is the weighted cumulative-input topology for a slotted queue. It is a genuine norm on the ambient space of sequences with finite value: zero cumulative differences force every individual difference to vanish, since . Every input in the specified set has finite norm, because its long prefixes are bounded by and there are only finitely many earlier prefixes.
Use the conventional net-input slot boundary finite-buffer workload map, whose recursion is the clipped Lindley recursionArriving work in a slot is available to that slot's service, and the observed queue state is after service and upper clipping. This fixes the slot convention explicitly. The queue size is obtained by starting in the distant past and taking the present workload. We first prove that, under the stated strict drift condition, this is uniquely defined independently of the initial state.
Fix and write . Choose a finite integer so large thatThen . Start at time with a full buffer . The trajectory must hit zero by time zero. Otherwise lower clipping is never used, so for nonnegative lost-work amounts the total recursion would givecontradicting nonnegativity. If zero is attained even at the last update the desired conclusion still holds.
The update is monotone in the initial workload. Couple all starting values in using the same arrivals. When the trajectory starting at reaches zero, all smaller trajectories must also be zero, and they remain identical thereafter. Thus the present queue depends only on the last slots, not on any earlier state or arrivals. This is finite-memory continuity of a finite-buffer queue. In particular it proves the existence and uniqueness of without assuming a random stationary law.
The same memory horizon works in a neighborhood of . If , thenThe full-buffer trajectory for therefore also reaches zero within this horizon. Both and can consequently be calculated from initial workload zero at time , even though their respective reset times need not coincide.
Clipping to is Lipschitz continuous with constant one, soIterating from the common initial value zero givesThe cumulative-input norm bounds each summand:Summing proves the explicit local estimateGiven , choose . Then the workload difference is less than . Since was arbitrary, the queue size function is continuous on .
The argument also handles the alternative slot ordering that clips arrivals to the buffer before serving them: its update is a composition of monotone one-Lipschitz clipping and service maps, and negative total net input forces a reset. Measuring immediately after arrivals instead adds one finite-coordinate update, which is likewise continuous in this norm. The essential point is strict subcritical drift and loss of dependence on the remote past, rather than incorrectly replacing a finite-buffer history by the minimum of and an infinite-buffer workload.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ib Paper 2 10F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
First is finite: by Cauchy-Schwarz, . It is nonnegative and absolutely homogeneous. If , every , so every column is zero and ; the converse is immediate. The triangle inequality for the Euclidean norm gives after taking suprema. Thus is a norm.
For any vector , rescaling gives . Applying this twice givesFurthermore , proving the requested strict entry bound when .
For a polynomial in matrix entries, expand each monomial at . The terms involving exactly one entry of give a linear map , with coefficients polynomial in the entries of . Every remaining term has at least two entries of and is for , because . This proves differentiability. Its derivative is continuous as an operator-valued function: each coefficient is continuous, and for every is bounded by one, so the operator-norm difference is bounded by the sum of the coefficient differences. Coordinate continuity follows from the same entry bound. Hence every such polynomial function is continuously differentiable.
In the Leibniz expansion of , the identity permutation supplies plus terms of degree at least two. Any nonidentity permutation moves at least two indices, so each of its terms has at least two entries. ConsequentlyIf is invertible, multiplicativity of the determinant and the preceding expansion giveThe adjugate identity gives . Thus for invertible .
For singular , take invertible , using the permitted density result. Both and the adjugate entries are continuous polynomial expressions, so taking limits for every fixed proves the derivative of the determinant formula on all matrices:Here the standard adjugate is the transpose of the cofactor array, as required by . In components this derivative is , also valid at singular matrices.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ib Paper 3 1F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The integral is finite because a continuous function on a compact closed interval is bounded. Nonnegativity is immediate, and absolute homogeneity of a norm follows from . The pointwise triangle inequality givesFor positive definiteness, if , continuity gives a relative interval of positive length on which . Its integral is positive, including when is an endpoint. Thus implies , and this is a norm on the given vector space.
For the given sequence,The last bound tends to zero as both indices tend to infinity, proving the Cauchy sequence property. Moreover, the sequence converges to the zero function in this norm:There is no conflict with the nonzero endpoint values: convergence in this norm does not imply pointwise convergence.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ib Paper 3 4F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the isometry. Since , it preserves norms, and the polarization identity applied to distances gives . For an orthonormal basis , the vectors are again an orthonormal basis, andExpanding in that basis proves . Hence is a linear map represented by an orthogonal matrix .
A reflection in a hyperplane with nonzero normal is . If , choose . Because , substitution shows . If they agree, no reflection is needed. The resulting orthogonal transformation fixes and preserves its orthogonal complement. Apply the same construction there to fix ; the second normal is perpendicular to , so the first vector remains fixed. Finally the restriction to the remaining line is either the identity or negation; in the latter case a third reflection, normal to , fixes it. Reversing these steps writes as a product of at most three reflections, each in a plane through the origin. This proves the three-dimensional case of the Cartan–Dieudonné theorem.
Three reflections are sometimes necessary. The map is the product of the three coordinate-plane reflections. Its determinant is , excluding zero or two reflections. A single plane reflection fixes a two-dimensional vector subspace, whereas fixes only zero, excluding one. Thus the bound is sharp.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 10 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be a cotype 2 constant of . All bounded linear operators from have finite p-summing norms: writing and using the triangle inequality in the finite-family norm gives . Thus applying the Pietsch factorization theorem below is legitimate.
First let , and use the Pietsch factorization theorem to choose a probability measure on the dual unit ball . For a finite family , the cotype 2 inequality and Pietsch factorization theorem domination giveThe Jensen inequality bounds the final bracket by . For real or complex scalars,For complex scalars, paired-index expansion gives , which is at most the displayed bound by the triangle inequality. For real scalars this reduces to . Since is a probability measure on the dual unit ball, we obtainTaking the least constant proves with , uniformly in .
We next prove a summing-norm interpolation estimate using coordinate truncation. Put and , assuming . The Pietsch factorization theorem for gives a measure on . The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality givesSet . Their sum is at most one; adding the missing mass to one coordinate, if necessary, makes a probability vector and preserves domination. HenceWrite . For , clip each coordinate of at magnitude , obtaining , with if . Set . Then andThe triangle inequality and the two different bounds on now give . For , take ; if , domination already gives . ConsequentlySumming fourth powers over any family givessince each coordinate evaluation belongs to the dual unit ball. Therefore . Combine this with the first estimate:The zero operator also satisfies this inequality. Both constants depend only on , through its cotype 2 constant, and not on .
Finally let have dimension , with its inherited norm. The permitted finite-dimensional identity result is . The inclusion is an isometric embedding, so . For every Banach space isomorphism , apply the preceding estimate to and the ideal property of absolutely p-summing operators:The Banach-Mazur distance is the infimum of this last product over , and therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 11 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be locally compact, Abelian and Hausdorff, and fix a Haar measure. Write and use convolutionThe L1 group algebra is a commutative Banach algebra. Here a group character means a continuous homomorphism , not the trace of an arbitrary group representation. A Gelfand character is a nonzero multiplicative complex-linear functional on the convolution algebra. We use the conventionWith the alternative standard Fourier convention involving , one simply conjugates every group character in this identification.
For such , the functional is bounded by , and Fubini's theorem, the substitution , and the homomorphism law giveIt is nonzero: if is nonzero in , then has .
Conversely let be an algebra character. It is automatically bounded, with . Indeed, extend it to the unitization by . If , the Neumann series makes invertible, whereas its character value is zero, contradicting multiplicativity of an invertible element and its inverse.
Choose with and put . Commutativity of the group gives ; applying yieldsThus the ratio is independent of the chosen . Applying the relation successively to gives , and . In particular it never vanishes.
The translation map is continuous in . For , translated supports near a fixed lie in one compact set; continuity on that set and a finite cover give uniform convergence of the translated values, hence convergence because the compact set has finite Haar measure. For general , approximate by and use . Therefore is continuous. For all integers ,Positive powers exclude modulus greater than one; negative powers exclude modulus less than one. Hence .
Finally, the -valued convolution formula and boundedness of giveCancel to obtain the displayed formula for every . Different characters give different functionals: if their continuous difference is nonzero at a point, integration against a suitably phased compactly supported test function in a small neighbourhood detects that difference. Thus the correspondence is bijective.
It also identifies the character space of an Abelian L1 group algebra topologically with the Pontryagin dual group. For a net converging uniformly on compact subsets in , convergence of the functionals follows first for compactly supported , then for all functions using the common norm bound one. Conversely suppose the functionals converge in the Gelfand topology. Choose whose limiting character value is nonzero; its values are eventually bounded away from zero. For compact , the set is compact in . Convergence of uniformly bounded linear functionals is uniform on this compact set: a finite norm-net reduces it to convergence at finitely many functions, with the common bound controlling the approximation error. The ratio formula then gives uniform convergence of the group characters on . This proves equality with the compact-open topology, without assuming first countability of .
For later use, these transforms form a self-adjoint subalgebra dense in . The set of algebra characters together with the zero functional is weak-star compact by Banach-Alaoglu theorem and the closed multiplicativity equations. Removing zero gives a locally compact Hausdorff character space; each evaluation vanishes at infinity, since its modulus-at-least- set is compact and avoids zero. Transforms separate characters, and none vanishes identically at a given character. They are closed under conjugation because satisfies . The locally compact Stone-Weierstrass theorem therefore gives the claimed density.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 11 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a locally compact Hausdorff Abelian group , Bochner's theorem states that a continuous positive-definite function has a unique representationwhere is a finite Radon measure on the Pontryagin dual group. Conversely every such measure gives a continuous positive-definite function. Here positive definiteness means for all finite choices. The Abelian and continuity hypotheses are part of the theorem; the representation is not claimed for arbitrary non-Abelian groups or discontinuous functions.
First prove existence without presupposing the representation. The elementary consequences of positive definiteness give , and . If , then and take . Otherwise form finite formal linear combinations of symbols , with sesquilinear formlinear in its first variable. Positive definiteness makes this form positive semidefinite. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for such a form shows that null vectors are orthogonal to everything, so quotienting by them gives an inner product space. Complete it to a Hilbert space . Since is Abelian, translation preserves the form and extends to a unitary operator. Its inverse is , so is a unitary representation. With ,The translated copies of span a dense subspace. MoreoverFinite sums and density, together with , give strong continuity on all of . This constructs the cyclic unitary representation of a positive-definite function directly.
For define the integrated unitary representation , with the integral applied to each vector. Its norm is at most . Fubini gives , and inversion in the Abelian group gives . Thusis a commutative C-star algebra. It is nondegenerate: choose nonnegative compactly supported functions of Haar integral one with supports shrinking to the identity element. Strong continuity impliesfor every . These form an approximate identity in the representation. Neighbourhoods may form a net, since no metrizability is being assumed here.
The Commutative Gelfand--Naimark theorem identifies with , where is its character space. The positive vector functional becomes a bounded positive functional on , so the Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem supplies a finite positive Radon measure withThese general representation theorems are applied to the explicitly constructed algebra; they are not an assumption of Bochner's conclusion.
For each , the functional is a nonzero algebra character of , since is dense in . By Question 3 it has the form . The resulting map is continuous: pointwise convergence of on gives convergence on all , and the topological character identification in Question 3 gives compact-open convergence of . Push forward under to obtain . This finite measure is Radon: compact subsets approximating the measure of any inverse-image Borel set have compact images, giving inner regularity; finiteness and complements then give outer regularity.
To recover , note that . HenceThe left side tends to . On the right, and uniformly on compact subsets of . For completeness, the evaluation is jointly continuous: near restrict to a compact neighbourhood, control the character uniformly there, and use continuity of the fixed character. A finite cover of a compact set of characters then makes those characters equicontinuous at , proving the stated uniform convergence. Continuity of gives uniform convergence on compact subsets of , and the finite Radon measure makes the remaining tails arbitrarily small. Thus passage to the limit is valid even for a net, andTaking also gives the required total mass .
Conversely, a finite positive Radon measure givesIts transform is continuous. Indeed, choose a compact set of characters with arbitrarily small measure outside it; joint continuity of evaluation gives uniform continuity in near the specified point on that compact set, while the outside contribution is bounded by twice its measure. This proves continuity without using an unjustified dominated-convergence assertion for arbitrary nets.
Finally suppose two finite Radon measures have the same transform. Multiply by and integrate over . Fubini shows that the measures agree on every function . Question 3 showed that these functions are uniformly dense in . Boundedness of both measure functionals extends equality to all of ; uniqueness in the Riesz representation theorem gives equality of the measures. This proves existence, uniqueness and the converse, completing Bochner's theorem. In particular corresponds exactly to a probability measure on the dual group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 23 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a local field containing the Nth roots of unity, fix the Local Artin map with arithmetic Frobenius convention. The Hilbert norm residue symbol can be defined byIt is independent of the chosen root, continuous and bimultiplicative, factors through in each variable, and gives a nondegenerate pairing on that finite group. It satisfies and for . Its norm interpretation isFor the quadratic Hilbert symbol is symmetric and sign-valued. It is also characterized by the existence of a nonzero solution of . Moreover , and therefore . We now compute both the square-class groups and the pairing explicitly.
For odd , write with . An element is a square exactly when is even and the residue of is a square in . Necessity follows by reduction; sufficiency follows from the simple-root form of Hensel lemma applied to , since is then a unit. If is any unit with nonsquare residue, this givesThe nonsquare unit defines an unramified quadratic extension. Its field norms include every unit and have even valuation, as follows from the local norm calculation below. Thus for every unit, but . Finally , by symmetry and the preceding unit calculation. Bimultiplicativity now proves explicit quadratic Hilbert symbols over the p-adic numbers:Here the factors are Legendre symbols of the nonzero residues. The formula works for arbitrary integer valuations , since only their parity matters.
At , the square of every odd integer is one modulo eight. Conversely, for an odd , apply the strong form of Hensel lemma to at : the error has valuation at least three, while the derivative has valuation one. Thus the unit square classes of the p-adic integers are precisely their four residues modulo eight. Combining this with parity of the valuation givesFor an odd unit putInspection of the residues gives . It remains to compute six basis pairings. Explicit field norms giveindeed , , , and .
In contrast . To justify the obstruction even for rational 2-adic coordinates, write , with integral and at least one odd. Then is zero if exactly one is odd, and one if both are odd. A sum of squares equal to the unit consequently forces and exactly one coordinate odd. Its residue modulo four would then be one, whereas is three.
Similarly . If is a unit, the valuations of the two terms have opposite parity, so cannot cancel. It follows that is an odd integral element and is integral. Modulo eight its norm is then or , never . These signs, symmetry, and bimultiplicativity giveThe two boxed formulas determine the quadratic Hilbert symbol on all nonzero elements, including every rational prime .