Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2005 / iii / Paper 4 / 5

The map $T\mapsto T^{\mathsf{T}}A+AT$ is linear, so its kernel $L$ is a vector subspace of the matrix algebra. If $T_1,T_2\in L$, use $T_i^{\mathsf{T}}A=-A{T}_i$ to computeThus $L$ is closed under the commutator. This bracket is bilinear and satisfies $[T,T]=0$. Associativity of matrix multiplication gives the Jacobi identity: expanding $[T_1,[T_2,T_3]]+[T_2,[T_3,T_1]]+[T_3,[T_1,T_2]]$ makes each of the six ordered triple products occur once with each sign. Therefore $L$ is a Lie algebra. No nonsingularity or symmetry assumption on $A$ was needed.

For the nilpotent matrix $T$, define the polynomial $E(z)={\sum }_{k=0}^{m-1}{z}^k{T}^k/k!$. Because $T^m=0$, differentiating gives $E^{\prime }(z)=TE(z)=E(z)T$. The derivative of the preserved bilinear form matrix is thereforeIt is a constant matrix polynomial, equal to $A$ at $z=0$. Evaluation at one provesAlso $E(-1)$ is the inverse of $E(1)$ by the finite exponential product identity, so this really is an invertible isometry, even when $A$ is degenerate.

Write $T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}P& Q\\ R& S\end{array}\right)$ and $J=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& I_l\\ -I_l& 0\end{array}\right)$. Block multiplication givesIts vanishing is equivalent toThis identifies $L$ with the symplectic Lie algebra ${\mathfrak{sp}}_{2l}(\mathbb{C})$.

We now supply the requested root-space decomposition, including explicit vectors. Let $E_{ab}$ be the matrix units, put $h_i=E_{ii}-E_{l+i,l+i}$, and define the linear functionals ${\epsilon }_i$ on the diagonal Cartan subalgebra by ${\epsilon }_i(h)={\lambda }_i$. Then $H={⨁}_i\mathbb{C}{h}_i$. The Cn root system and a corresponding matrix root basis of the symplectic Lie algebra areEach listed vector satisfies the block conditions just proved. For a diagonal matrix $h$, the matrix unit calculation $[h,E_{ab}]=(h_{aa}-h_{bb})E_{ab}$ gives all the requested eigenvalues explicitly:The diagonal vectors and difference-root vectors span every possible $P$ block. The sum-root and doubled-root vectors span all symmetric $Q$ and $R$ blocks. They are linearly independent, as is evident from their disjoint independent block entries. Equivalently there are $l+2l^2=l(2l+1)$ of them, exactly the dimension $l^2+2l(l+1)/2$ of $L$. The zero weight space is precisely $H$: a zero weight forces $P$ diagonal and every entry of $Q,R$ to vanish. Hence every nonzero root space is one-dimensional and