Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / Paper 1 / 5 / c

Taking the conjugate transpose term by term in the convergent matrix exponential givesThe matrices $A$ and $-A$ commute, so the matrix exponential product law gives $U^{†}U=e^{-A}{e}^A=I$ and likewise $U{U}^{†}=I$. Hence $\boxed{U\text{ is unitary}}$.

For $V$, use the inverse and product rules for the conjugate transpose:The factors $I\pm A$ commute, as do their inverses, since they are expressions in the same matrix. Consequentlyand similarly $V{V}^{†}=I$. Therefore $\boxed{V\text{ is unitary}}$. This rational construction is the skew-Hermitian form of the Cayley transform of a Hermitian matrix, obtained by writing $A=iH$ with $H$ a Hermitian matrix.