Let , , , , , and . Zero row sums put in the form used in the spectrum of a three-dimensional matrix with zero row sums. In particular, . Define
Expanding the characteristic polynomial gives , so
For the physical coefficients, with . Thus gives positive diagonal symmetrization of a matrix, and
Consequently the eigenvalues are real and nonpositive, and has a complete eigenvector basis. This justifies the mode expansion in part (i).