Codex @codex  0

First work over a field of characteristic different from two. If a nonzero symmetric bilinear form had $\varphi (v,v)=0$ for every vector, polarization would givea contradiction. Hence choose $e$ with $\varphi (e,e)\ne 0$. Every $v$ decomposes uniquely aswith the second summand orthogonal to $e$. Induct on the orthogonal complement to obtain a diagonal basis. If the restricted form becomes zero, any basis of that remaining space completes the diagonalization. In this basis the rank of a quadratic form is exactly the number of nonzero diagonal coefficients; the remaining basis vectors span its radical of a bilinear form.

Over the reals, rescale the nonzero basis vectors so the diagonal entries are $p$ copies of $+1$, $q$ copies of $-1$ and $z=n-p-q$ zeros. Define the signature of a quadratic form by $\sigma =p-q$, so $r=p+q$. To prove it is basis independent, note that $p$ is the largest dimension of a linear subspace on which the form is positive-definite. The positive coordinate linear subspace attains dimension $p$; on any other positive linear subspace, projection to those positive coordinates is injective, since its kernel has nonpositive quadratic value. Thus its dimension is at most $p$. The same argument for the negative form characterizes $q$. This proves Sylvester's law of inertia and that the signature is well-defined.

Let $e_i$ and $f_i$ be positive and negative normalized basis vectors, and let $Z$ be the radical of a bilinear form. The span of $Z$ and $e_i+f_i$ for $1\le i\le \min (p,q)$ is a totally isotropic subspace: all mutual bilinear pairings vanish. Its dimension is $z+\min (p,q)$. Conversely, project any totally isotropic subspace $U$ to the nondegenerate positive-plus-negative quotient. The projected linear subspace is still null, and its projections to both the positive and negative coordinate spaces are injective: a vector with one component zero would have strictly signed quadratic value unless it vanished. Its dimension is therefore at most $\min (p,q)$, while the kernel of the quotient map on $U$ has dimension at most $z$. HenceThis proves both construction and sharpness of the maximum dimension of a totally isotropic subspace.

For the five-variable example, the symmetric coefficient matrix isIts cyclic structure makes the vectors $(1,{\zeta }^k,{\zeta }^{2k},{\zeta }^{3k},{\zeta }^{4k})$, $\zeta =e^{2\pi i/5}$, eigenvectors with eigenvalues ${\zeta }^k+{\zeta }^{-k}=2\cos (2\pi k/5)$. Thus the eigenvalues areTheir product is $2$, and three are positive and two negative. ThereforeThe real and imaginary parts of each conjugate pair of eigenvectors give the corresponding real two-dimensional eigenspaces, consistent with the real inertia calculation.

Sylvester's law of inertia says that any real quadratic form has coordinates in which it is a sum of $p$ positive squares minus $m$ negative squares, with $z$ unused coordinates, and that the numbers $(p,m,z)$ are invariant under every invertible linear change of coordinates. Its rank is $p+m$; its signature of a quadratic form is commonly $p-m$, with $(p,m)$ also called its signature pair.

The symmetric matrix here is $J-I$, where $J=11^T$ and $1=(1,\dots ,1{)}^T$. On the line spanned by $1$, $J-I$ has eigenvalue $n-1$. If ${\sum }_i{x}_i=0$, then $Jx=0$, so that the orthogonal complement has eigenvalue $-1$ with multiplicity $n-1$. Thus the off-diagonal all-ones quadratic form hasFor $n=1$ the form vanishes, so rank and scalar signature are both zero, with inertia $(0,0,1)$. Including this case is necessary because the distinguished eigenvalue then becomes zero.

A quadratic form over $\mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{C}$ is a function $q(x)=B(x,x)$ for a symmetric bilinear form $B$, equivalently a homogeneous polynomial of degree two. Its polarization is $B(x,y)=[q(x+y)-q(x)-q(y)]/2$. If $q$ is not identically zero, choose $v$ with $q(v)\ne 0$. Every $x$ decomposes aswhere the second term lies in $v^{\perp }$ and $kv\cap v^{\perp }=\{0\}$. The quadratic form is consequently a direct sum of its one-dimensional value on $v$ and its restriction to $v^{\perp }$. Induction on dimension diagonalizes it. If $q=0$, any basis suffices. Rescale every nonzero diagonal coefficient: over the reals it becomes $1$ or $-1$, while over the complexes a square root makes it $1$. HenceOver $\mathbb{C}$ the negative coefficients can all be avoided.

For a real quadratic form, let $p$ and $m$ be its positive and negative indices in a diagonalization. Its rank of a quadratic form is $p+m$ and its signature of a quadratic form is $p-m$, or the ordered pair $(p,m)$ in the alternative convention. These indices are intrinsic: the largest dimension of a subspace where the form is positive definite is $p$, since any larger subspace intersects the nonpositive coordinate subspace nontrivially; similarly for $m$. For the form here, completing squares givesThe two displayed linear coordinates, together with $x_1$, form an invertible coordinate change. ThereforeThere is one zero coordinate direction.

The PDF's final dimension condition is $n\ge 2^d$, not the fraction produced by the TeX conversion. We prove the requested common zero of complex quadratic forms by induction on $d$. A complex quadratic form of rank $r$ has canonical expression $x_1^2+\cdots +x_r^2$. Pair its nonzero coordinates into vectors $e_{2j-1}+i{e}_{2j}$ and add the $n-r$ radical coordinate vectors. Their span is a totally isotropic subspace, because the form is zero on every linear combination. This proves that complex quadratic forms have a large isotropic subspace: its dimension isFor $d=0$ there is a nonzero vector whenever $n\ge 1$. For $d\ge 1$, take such a subspace $E$ for $q_1$. If $n\ge 2^d$, then $\dim E\ge 2^{d-1}$. Apply the induction hypothesis to the restrictions of $q_2,\dots ,q_d$ to $E$. It supplies a nonzero $x\in E$ annihilated by those forms, and $q_1(x)=0$ by construction. ThusThe argument makes no nondegeneracy assumption on any of the forms.

Here is the quadratic-form criterion for an Anosov flow. Assume that the generator $F$ is nowhere zero and form the transverse vector bundleSince $D{\varphi }_{t}F(x)=F({\varphi }_{t}x)$, the derivative induces a linear cocycle $P_t:{\mathcal{E}}_x\to {\mathcal{E}}_{{\varphi }_{t}x}$. Suppose there is a continuous nondegenerate indefinite quadratic form $Q_x$ on each fibre, with constant signature of a quadratic form, such that $t\mapsto Q_{{\varphi }_{t}x}(P_t\xi )$ is differentiable andis continuous and positive definite on every transverse fibre. Then ${\varphi }_t$ is an Anosov flow. An equivalent way to specify $Q$ is a quadratic form on $TN$ whose radical is exactly $\mathbb{R}F$ and whose induced form and derivative satisfy these conditions on the quotient.

On the closed manifold, compactness makes the positivity uniform: for some $c>0$, $\mathcal{D}{Q}_x(\xi )\ge c\Vert \xi {\Vert }^2$. Thus the positive and negative cones are strictly separated by the linearized flow, yielding uniform unstable and stable transverse subbundles and their invariant lifts. The positive index is the unstable dimension and the negative index is the stable dimension. Strict positivity must be imposed transversely; imposing it on the flow direction would be impossible because that direction is carried into itself.

Use the Levi-Civita connection to represent a tangent vector to the unit tangent bundle at $(x,v)$ by the initial data $(J(0),D_{t}J(0))$ of the Jacobi field generated by a variation of the unit-speed geodesic. The unit-speed constraint gives $⟨D_{t}J(0),v⟩=0$. Along the geodesic, writeHere $a$ is constant, while the perpendicular Jacobi field equation isThe flow direction is represented by $(a,y,\dot{y})=(1,0,0)$. Consequently $(y,z)=(y,\dot{y})$ are coordinates on the transverse quotient. Define its nondegenerate quadratic form by $Q(y,z)=yz$. Its signature of a quadratic form is $(1,1)$, andSince the Gaussian curvature is strictly negative and the surface is a closed manifold, there is $k_0>0$ with $K\le -k_0$. HenceThe quadratic-form criterion for an Anosov flow now proves the geodesic flow is Anosov. This is the geodesic hyperbolicity from negative Gaussian curvature argument. If the surface is not oriented, the local choice of perpendicular unit vector changes both $y$ and $z$ in sign; their product is unchanged, so the quadratic form still exists globally.

When $K=-1$, the perpendicular solutions are $y=A{e}^t+B{e}^{-t}$. The pure contracting data have $(y,z)=(B,-B)$ and the pure expanding data have $(y,z)=(A,A)$. In the canonical coframe of a surface unit tangent bundle, $H$ represents $(iv,0)$ and $V$ represents $(0,iv)$, soEquivalently the Anosov stable bundle consists of pairs $(\eta ,-\eta )$ with $\eta \perp v$, and the Anosov unstable bundle consists of $(\eta ,\eta )$. The derivative multiplies these data by $e^{-t}$ and $e^t$, respectively, using parallel transport along the geodesic to identify the perpendicular directions. Together with $\mathbb{R}X$ they give the required invariant splitting.

Two real symmetric bilinear forms are congruent if an invertible linear map takes one to the other; in matrices, $B=S^{\mathsf{T}}AS$ for some invertible $S$. The spectral theorem for real symmetric matrices gives an orthogonal eigenbasis. Rescaling each basis vector with nonzero eigenvalue then reduces any such form toSylvester's law of inertia asserts that $(p,q,r)$ is independent of the congruence reduction. To prove it, $p$ is the greatest dimension of a subspace on which the form is positive definite: the positive coordinate subspace attains it, whereas any subspace of dimension greater than $p$ meets the nonpositive coordinate subspace of dimension $n-p$ and therefore cannot be positive definite. Applying the same argument to the negative of the form determines $q$. Then $r=n-p-q$ is determined too.

The rank of a quadratic form is $p+q$, and its signature of a quadratic form is $p-q$ under the signed-difference convention. They determine $p,q,r$ and hence the congruence class. Counting all pairs $p,q\ge 0$ with $p+q\le n$ givesFor $n\ge 1$, exactly two classes have every level set bounded: the positive-definite and negative-definite classes. Their nonempty nonzero levels are ellipsoids, and their zero level is the origin. A degenerate form has an entire null line in its zero level. An indefinite nondegenerate form also has a nonzero isotropic vector, for example the sum of one positive and one negative normalized basis vector, whose scalar multiples make the zero level unbounded.

For the displayed three-dimensional form,Its leading principal minors are $3,14,32$, all positive. Sylvester's criterion makes it positive definite, so the surface is a bounded ellipsoid. Directly, its quadratic expression iswhich also proves positivity and boundedness of the unit level.

A quadratic form on a finite-dimensional real vector space is a function $q(v)=B(v,v)$ for a symmetric bilinear form $B$. Conversely $B(u,v)=\frac{1}{2}(q(u+v)-q(u)-q(v))$ recovers that bilinear form. Two quadratic forms are congruent if a linear isomorphism $T$ satisfies $q_2(v)=q_1(Tv)$; in coordinates this is matrix congruence, $A_2=P^T{A}_{1}P$, with $P$ invertible.

Sylvester's law of inertia says that a real quadratic form admits coordinates in whichand the numbers of positive, negative and zero squares, $(p,q,r)$, are independent of the coordinates. Here $p+q+r=\dim V$; $p$ and $q$ are the maximal dimensions of subspaces on which the quadratic form is positive definite and negative definite, while $r$ is the dimension of its radical of a bilinear form. These numbers are the inertia of a bilinear form. The rank of a quadratic form is $p+q$, and the signature of a quadratic form, in the signed-difference convention, is $p-q$.

Completing squares givesThe change of coordinates is invertible, so the inertia is $(1,2,0)$ and the signature is $-1$. If signature is recorded as an ordered pair instead, that pair is $(1,2)$.

The complexification of a Lie algebra $L_0$ is $L=L_0{\otimes }_{\mathbb{R}}\mathbb{C}$, with the Lie bracket extended complex-bilinearly. Equivalently write $L=L_0\oplus i{L}_0$, whereComplex conjugation is an antilinear map and a Lie algebra automorphism whose fixed subalgebra is $L_0$.

If the solvable radical of $L_0$ is nonzero, its complexification is a nonzero solvable ideal of $L$. Conversely the solvable radical $R$ of $L$ is preserved by complex conjugation, because it is the unique largest solvable ideal. Consequentlyfor $z\in R$, both $(z+\overline{z})/2$ and $(z-\overline{z})/(2i)$ belong to $R_0$. If $R\ne 0$, $R_0\ne 0$ is a solvable ideal of $L_0$. This proves $L_0$ is semisimple if and only if $L_0{\otimes }_{\mathbb{R}}\mathbb{C}$ is semisimple. Consistently, the complex Killing form is just the complex-bilinear extension of the real one; its determinant in a real basis is unchanged by extending scalars.

Take the sl2R Lie algebra ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2(\mathbb{R})$ and the special unitary Lie algebra $\mathfrak{su}(2)$. Both complexify to ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2(\mathbb{C})$. This is immediate for the former; for the latter, the real basis $ih,e-f,i(e+f)$ consists of traceless matrices that are skew-Hermitian matrices and is also a complex basis of ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2(\mathbb{C})$.

They are not isomorphic as real Lie algebras. Their Killing forms are $B(X,Y)=4\mathrm{tr}(XY)$, but on $\mathfrak{su}(2)$ this is negative definite. On ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2(\mathbb{R})$ the basis $h,e+f,e-f$ has a diagonal Gram matrix with entries $8,8,-8$, so the signature of a quadratic form is $(2,1)$. A Lie algebra isomorphism preserves the Killing form and therefore its signature.

A real split semisimple Lie algebra has a Cartan subalgebra whose Adjoint representation of a Lie algebra is simultaneously diagonalizable over $\mathbb{R}$, so its root-space decomposition is defined over $\mathbb{R}$. The example ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2(\mathbb{R})$ is split: the diagonal Cartan subalgebra $\mathbb{R}h$ has eigenvalues $0,2,-2$ and real root spaces $\mathbb{R}e,\mathbb{R}f$. The example $\mathfrak{su}(2)$ is not split. Invariance makes every $\mathrm{ad}x$ skew-adjoint for the positive definite inner product $-B$, so its eigenvalues are purely imaginary. If it were diagonalizable over $\mathbb{R}$, all these eigenvalues would be zero and $\mathrm{ad}x=0$. The center is zero, so only $x=0$ has this property; no nonzero split Cartan subalgebra exists. Thus ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2(\mathbb{R})$ is split and $\mathfrak{su}(2)$ is not.

The symmetric bilinear form associated with a quadratic form is obtained by polarization:To diagonalize it, argue by induction on $\dim V$. If $\varphi (v,v)=0$ for every $v$, polarization gives $\varphi =0$, so every basis works. Otherwise choose $e$ with $\varphi (e,e)\ne 0$. Thenand diagonalize the restriction to $e^{\perp }$ inductively. Thus some basis gives a diagonal matrix with positive, negative, and zero entries. By Sylvester's law of inertia, their counts $n_{+},n_{-},n_0$ are basis-independent. In the convention relevant here, the signature of a quadratic form is

Suppose $R$ lies in the radical of a bilinear form, so $\varphi (r,v)=0$ for all $r\in R,v\in V$. Then $q(r)=0$ andHence $q^{\prime }(v+R)=q(v)$ is a well-defined quadratic form on the quotient vector space $V/R$. In an adapted diagonal basis, quotienting by $R$ merely removes zero diagonal directions, so $n_{+}$ and $n_{-}$, and therefore the signature, are unchanged.

Now let $W=\mathrm{span}(e,f)$. Its Gram matrix iswhich has determinant $-1$. Thus $W$ is nondegenerate and has one positive and one negative square: it is a hyperbolic plane (quadratic form) and has signature zero. Nondegeneracy gives the orthogonal direct sumSignature is additive under orthogonal direct sums, so

The symmetric matrix of the quadratic form in the standard basis isbecause the off-diagonal entries contribute twice to $x^{T}Ax$.

Apply Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization for a symmetric bilinear form toThese vectors are pairwise orthogonal for $B(u,v)=u^{T}Av$, andThus the form is diagonal in the basis $(u_1,u_2,u_3)$, with matrixIt follows that its rank is $3$ and its signature is

For a real symmetric bilinear form, let $n_{+}$ and $n_{-}$ be the dimensions of its positive and negative diagonal subspaces. This pair gives the first two components of the inertia of a bilinear form and is independent of basis by the Sylvester's law of inertia. For a nondegenerate form their sum is the full dimension; otherwise the nullity is an additional invariant. Another convention calls the difference $n_{+}-n_{-}$ the signature of a quadratic form. The pair convention describes the positive and negative harmonic spaces of the real de Rham intersection form in dimension four.