Past exam of the rings and modules course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / 3 / b / iii / Solution

Regard $A$ as a matrix over the rational numbers. Part (a)(ii), with $n=2$, gives its characteristic polynomial $X^2+1$. Therefore, writing $i$ for the imaginary unit,The matrix $M=iI-A$ is not zero: otherwise $A=iI$ would have noninteger diagonal entries. It consequently has rank of a matrix one over the fraction field $\mathbb{Q}(i)$ of the Gaussian integers.

By part (b)(i), $\mathbb{Z}[i]$ is a euclidean domain, hence a principal ideal domain, so apply Smith normal form. There exist $P,Q\in {\mathrm{GL}}_2(\mathbb{Z}[i])$ such thatIndeed, invertible multiplication preserves rank of a matrix, so exactly one diagonal entry is nonzero. For $e_2=(0,1{)}^{\mathsf{T}}$, multiplication on the right gives $P(iI-A)Q{e}_2=0$. Since $P$ is an invertible matrix,The Smith normal form supplies a kernel basis lemma ensures that the null vector $Q{e}_2$ is a column of an invertible matrix over $\mathbb{Z}[i]$; an arbitrary nonzero solution over $\mathbb{Q}(i)$ would not itself establish that requirement.