Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / iii / Paper 64 / 5 / d

The imaginary quaternions form Euclidean ${\mathbb{R}}^3$. Conjugation by a unit quaternion acts byIt preserves the imaginary subspace and its norm, and continuity from $q=1$ gives determinant $+1$. The kernel consists of quaternions commuting with all imaginary quaternions, hence is $\{\pm 1\}$.

For a unit imaginary quaternion $n$, take $q=\cos (\theta /2)+n\sin (\theta /2)$. If $v$ is perpendicular to $n$, quaternion multiplication giveswhile the component parallel to $n$ is unchanged. This produces the rotation through angle $\theta$ about axis $n$, and every element of $SO(3)$ has such an axis-angle description. The map is surjective, yieldingThe half-angle also explains why $q$ and $-q$ give the same rotation.