Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 302 2 Solution 2026-10-06
A Lie algebra representation on a vector space is a linear map preserving the Lie bracket:The Adjoint representation acts on by . The Jacobi identity givesIf is nonabelian, some is nonzero, so this Adjoint representation is not the trivial Lie algebra representation. It is the required nontrivial representation of dimension . Nontriviality does not require its homomorphism to be injective.
For the finite-dimensional algebras here, with normalization one, the Killing form isIt is a symmetric bilinear form by cyclicity of the matrix trace. To prove its invariance, write , , . ThenThis also gives , the equivalent invariant bilinear form on a Lie algebra identity.
For the unheaded structural requests, a simple Lie algebra is nonabelian and has no ideals of a Lie algebra other than zero and itself. A semisimple Lie algebra has no nonzero solvable ideal of a Lie algebra; in finite dimension over or this is equivalently a direct sum of simple Lie algebras.
Suppose first that the Killing form is nondegenerate. If is an abelian ideal of a Lie algebra and , then maps into and vanishes on . Every preserves . Therefore has zero diagonal blocks relative to a basis adapted to , andNondegeneracy forces . If a nonzero solvable ideal of a Lie algebra existed, its last nonzero derived series of a Lie algebra term would be a nonzero abelian ideal of a Lie algebra, again impossible. Hence the solvable radical is zero, provingThis argument proves the needed implication rather than assuming the Cartan criterion for semisimplicity.
One can also see the direct-sum formulation explicitly through orthogonal ideal splitting for a nondegenerate Killing form. For an ideal of a Lie algebra , invariance makes an ideal of a Lie algebra. If , then for , , so . Thus is an abelian ideal of a Lie algebra, and must vanish. Consequently and the two summands commute. Select a minimal nonzero ideal; it is nonabelian, and any ideal inside it is an ideal of because the complementary summand commutes with it. It is therefore simple. The restricted form is the remaining summand’s own Killing form, because the two ideals commute. Repeating the splitting there terminates in a direct sum of simple ideals.
Conversely the radical of the Killing formis an ideal of a Lie algebra by the invariance just proved. For a simple Lie algebra it is either zero or the whole algebra. The permitted hypothesis that is not identically zero excludes the second alternative. ThusThe computations in the two following parts illustrate both a nondegenerate compact example and a degenerate algebra with an abelian ideal.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 313 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The real vector space of symmetric matrices has dimension . On its invertible part the derivative of the determinant isAt a determinant-one symmetric matrix, this derivative is nonzero: the symmetric direction gives value . The regular level set theorem therefore yieldsThis applies to every signature component, not only positive-definite matrices.
The special linear congruence action on symmetric matrices preserves symmetry because , and preserves determinant because . The identity acts trivially andThese verify a smooth left Lie group action of the special linear group. By Sylvester's law of inertia, it also preserves the numbers of positive and negative eigenvalues.
For , parametrize the symmetric matrices byThus is exactly the two-sheeted hyperboloidThe two sheets consist respectively of positive-definite and negative-definite matrices. Each is preserved by the special linear congruence action on symmetric matrices. They are individually transitive: on the positive sheet with and ; on the negative sheet use . The stabilizer of either or is .
Differentiating the left Lie group action along gives the fundamental vector fieldFor the three matrices in the question, their coordinate components areA sign convention matters here. With the usual Lie bracket of vector fields , the fundamental fields of this left action obey . Indeed, for linear coordinate fields , the bracket has coefficient . To obtain a Lie algebra representation rather than an anti-representation, use the infinitesimal left-action sign conventionAn explicit answer is thereforeThese are tangent to the two-sheeted hyperboloid: applying each to gives zero. For example,They can be written on either sheet using :Here the omitted component is determined by tangency, and derivatives of must be included when computing brackets in these coordinates.
Direct matrix multiplication givesDirect differentiation of the displayed vector fields gives exactlyFor instance, in ambient coordinates, . These are the defining relations of the sl2 Lie algebra. The three fields are linearly independent over constant real coefficients: if vanishes on a sheet, its coefficient forces , and its coefficient then equals , forcing . Thus the representation is faithful. Their pointwise span need only have dimension two, consistent with the dimension of each sheet.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 1 1F i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The Steinitz exchange lemma says that if span a vector space and are linearly independent, then , and after reordering the , the family still spans. Here is a proof. Suppose the first replacements have been made. Express in that spanning family. Some coefficient of a remaining must be nonzero, since otherwise belongs to the span of , contrary to linear independence. Solve for that and replace it by ; this preserves spanning. If , the first replacements leave a spanning family , contradicting linear independence of the first vectors. This proves both assertions.
Now suppose is linearly independent and spans . Express each member of the standard basis using finitely many members of , and let be the finite union of those members. Then spans. No element of can exist, since it would be a linear combination of and violate linear independence. Thus is finite. Applying the Steinitz exchange lemma in both directions to and the standard basis gives and . Hence .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 1 9F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
True. Choose a basis of . By surjective function, choose with . Define the linear map by and extend by linearity. Then on every basis vector, and thereforeThis constructs a right inverse and does not require to be injective. If is the zero vector space, the unique zero map is the required right inverse.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 4 11E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The structure theorem for finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain applies in particular to a Euclidean domain : every finitely generated module has an isomorphismwith each nonzero and a nonunit. The rank of a free module and the invariant factors of a finitely generated module are unique up to multiplication by units; empty sums are allowed. This is the classification theorem being used, without a proof of that theorem.
The rational canonical form theorem states that for a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space over any field , there are unique monic nonconstant polynomials such that some basis givesHere, for , the companion matrix has ones on its subdiagonal and last column . The empty matrix covers a zero-dimensional space. Two linear operators have matrix similarity exactly when they have the same invariant factors of a linear operator.
For the proof, make an -module by . It is a finitely generated module, since a vector-space basis also generates it as a module. It is a torsion module: the powers of have linear dependence in the finite-dimensional space , so some nonzero polynomial annihilates every vector. Because is a Euclidean domain, the classification theorem givesThere is no free summand, since a nonzero free module over is not a torsion module. Choose monic generators of the ideals. On , the classes of form an -basis by polynomial division. Multiplication by is exactly in that basis, proving existence. Uniqueness in the classification theorem proves uniqueness of the rational canonical form. Finally, an -module isomorphism is precisely an invertible -linear map intertwining the operators, establishing the assertion about matrix similarity. In particular the characteristic polynomial is and the minimal polynomial is for nonzero .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 109 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the polynomial method in combinatorics to prove the Ray-Chaudhuri–Wilson theorem. For each define an intersection polynomial over ,At the characteristic vector of a set , the inner sum is . ThereforeIt follows that the restrictions of to the uniform layer of the Boolean cubehave linear independence: evaluating any vanishing linear combination at each forces its th coefficient to be zero.
Apply multilinear reduction on the Boolean cube by replacing each positive power in a monomial with . This preserves evaluations on and gives multilinear polynomials of polynomial degree at most . Counting all monomials of degrees up to would give only , which is too weak. Instead use homogenisation on a uniform layer.
Because has distinct integers in , we have . For with , write , with . On ,Indeed, at both sides vanish if ; otherwise exactly summands equal . The denominator is positive since . Thus every monomial of degree at most , restricted to , lies in the span of the degree- monomials. This vector space consequently has dimension at most . The linear independence already proved now givesNo additional condition such as is needed: only the spanning upper bound is used, not independence of all degree- monomials. The argument also covers if empty is allowed, with the empty product equal to and at most one member in the set family.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 115 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A smooth real vector bundle of vector bundle rank consists of a smooth manifold , a smooth projection , real vector space structures on its fibers, and local vector bundle trivializationsthat commute with projection to and are linear isomorphisms on each fiber. On overlaps the change of trivialization is , with smooth into the general linear group. The usual smooth manifold convention is Hausdorff and second countable.
For an -dimensional , take the disjoint union of its tangent spaces. A manifold chart suppliesIf is another chart, the resulting change of coordinates on the total space isThis is smooth, its inverse is the same construction with exchanged, and the fiber map is invertible and linear. Thus these charts define a smooth structure with the required bundle trivializations.
For completeness, the topology so constructed is Hausdorff: different base points can be separated downstairs, while vectors over one point can be separated inside one product chart. A countable base atlas for and countable bases for its products with give second countability. Hence the total space is genuinely a smooth manifold, not just a collection of fibers. We obtain
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 115 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the PDF's covector-first convention: its space consists of tensor fields inThis reverses the order in which some texts list tensor type. For a finite-dimensional real vector space , define the tensor contraction first on decomposable tensors:The hats mean omission, with the other factors left in their original order. The formula is a multilinear map of its individual factors, so the universal property of a tensor product gives a unique linear map with this formula.
Apply it with at every . Evaluation of a covector on a vector is basis independent: under a change of frame, one factor transforms by a matrix and the other by its inverse transpose, and the matrices cancel in the pairing. Thus the fiber maps agree on overlapping vector bundle trivializations. In a local dual basis, the coefficients of the contracted tensor are finite sums of coefficients with the selected covariant and contravariant indices set equal. They remain smooth. Henceis a globally defined smooth contraction for . It is also linear over .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 128 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use and for the quantum plane. Its monomials , , form a basis, with multiplicationOne way to verify the basis assertion without assuming it is to define this multiplication on the vector space with the displayed formal basis. This defines an associative algebra: for a third monomial , the two products of three monomials have the same exponent of , and its generators satisfy the required relation. Conversely, the relation puts every word into this form, establishing the presentation. Order exponent pairs by the lexicographic order. The largest monomials of two nonzero finite sums give the uniquely largest monomial of their product, with coefficient . Therefore the quantum plane is a domain. If one allows , the assertion fails because with both factors nonzero.
A uniform module is a nonzero module in which any two nonzero submodules have nonzero intersection. Suppose the right regular module of a right Noetherian domain were not a uniform module. Choose nonzero from two right ideals with zero intersection. Then . The right idealsform a direct sum. For if , then is zero, so by the noncommutative domain property. Cancel the nonzero factor on the left and repeat to obtain every . Each summand is nonzero, so their finite partial sums form a strictly ascending chain of right ideals. This contradicts the ascending chain condition of a right Noetherian ring. Hence is a uniform right module.
It follows that whenever : there are nonzero with . This is the right Ore condition for the multiplicative set ; zero numerators cause no difficulty. The Ore localization theorem therefore constructs the ring of right fractionsThe map is injective because an element mapping to zero is annihilated on the right by some nonzero denominator, impossible in a noncommutative domain. To make the denominator convention concrete, if thenFor multiplication, choose with ; thenCommon right multiples make these operations independent of the chosen representatives. Every nonzero has inverse , so is a division ring. The original field is central in and therefore in the inverses as well, making a division algebra over . No commutative fraction field construction is being assumed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 128 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Put , so an -bimodule is a left -module through . The Hochschild cohomology isEquivalently, the Hochschild cochain complex has and coboundary mapIts cohomology agrees with the displayed Ext functor because the bar resolution of an associative algebra is free over when is a field. The Hochschild cohomological dimension isThe supremum uses all bimodules, not merely the finitely generated one supplied in the question; an unbounded projective dimension is infinity.
An extension in this classification is a square-zero extension of an algebra: a short exact sequence , where and are unital algebras, is unital, and is its two-sided ideal with and induced -bimodule structure equal to the prescribed one. An equivalence of extensions is an algebra isomorphism of the middle terms commuting with the maps and inducing the identity on both and . Arbitrary isomorphisms of middle algebras, or extensions without the square-zero ideal requirement, are not classified by this cohomology group.
Choose a -linear map section with . Its multiplication defectis a normalized Hochschild cocycle: , and associativity in gives . Changing to , where , changes the defect to , since .
Conversely, for a normalized Hochschild cocycle , put as a vector space and defineThe Hochschild cocycle equation is exactly associativity, and is the identity. If , the map , , is an equivalence. Conversely, every equivalence has this form after choosing sections. The normalized Hochschild cochain complex computes the same cohomology as the full complex: in the bar resolution of an associative algebra, the degenerate terms containing an inserted identity form a contractible subcomplex. Passing to the normalized bar resolution of an associative algebra, then applying the Hom functor, gives the same cohomology. Thus every class has a normalized representative. We obtain a bijection between and equivalence classes of square-zero extensions.
For a formal associative deformation, a completion convention is necessary. The usual star product lives on the formal power series moduleThis is the adic completion of a module applied to the ordinary tensor product, rather than literally the ordinary when is infinite-dimensional. For example, lies in but not in the ordinary tensor product, whose coefficient spaces have finite-dimensional span. The two agree when is finite-dimensional. We interpret the printed notation in this standard completed sense; the infinite iteration below requires that interpretation.
A star product is a -bilinear, unital product continuous for the adic topology satisfying associativity of the formIt is a trivial formal deformation if a -linear automorphism continuous for the adic topology , with , satisfies .
If , then . Suppose changes of coordinates have removed all coefficients below order . The order- part of associativity then says . Hence for a -linear map . Its normalization gives , since . Transport the product by :The order- coefficient becomes , and lower coefficients remain zero. Repeating constructs compatible changes of coordinates modulo every . They converge in the adic topology to an invertible fixing , with inverse obtained coefficient by coefficient. The limit product is ordinary multiplication. Therefore every star product is trivial under the completed formal-series convention. In fact, the argument only needs the vanishing of , not all of Hochschild cohomological dimension at most one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 134 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Put and let be the canonical global section cutting out the effective Cartier divisor . The divisor restriction exact sequence givesThe hypothesis says is an ample line bundle. By Serre vanishing, for all sufficiently large , so the long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology makessurjective for all such . These are finite-dimensional vector spaces. Their dimensions form a nonincreasing sequence of nonnegative integers, so the maps are isomorphisms from some point on. Exactness then implies that the restrictionis surjective for all sufficiently large .
Choose such an for which is also a globally generated line bundle. Lift a generating collection of its global sections to . At each point of , one lift has nonzero image in the one-dimensional residue-field fibre, hence generates the stalk of by Nakayama lemma. Outside , is nowhere zero and generates . Together these sections generate it everywhere. ThereforeThis proof works on an arbitrary projective scheme because the defining section of an effective Cartier divisor is a non-zero-divisor. If is empty, and the conclusion is immediate. Semiampleness is the conclusion: the pullback of a line avoiding the centre of a blowup of a smooth algebraic surface of satisfies the hypothesis on its support but has zero intersection with the exceptional curve, and therefore is not ample.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For each fixed in the nonnegative orthant, the map is a continuous linear function on the vector space of real symmetric matrices. Thusis an intersection of closed half-spaces, using the Frobenius inner product on this space. Arbitrary intersections of closed sets are closed, so is closed.
If and , then for every . Therefore , including the zero matrix when . HenceThe copositive cone is defined in the real space of symmetric matrices; symmetry is needed later to recover every matrix entry from these quadratic forms.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 1 f Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The real vector space of symmetric matrices has dimension . By the conic Carathéodory theorem, every member of is a conic combination of at most generators. Absorb each nonnegative coefficient into its vector through .
If converges to , write, padding with zero vectors if necessary,The matrix trace satisfiesThe left side is bounded because converges. Thus the finite tuple is bounded. The Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem gives a subsequence on which every vector converges, say . Continuity of the outer product now gives . HenceThis proves closedness of the completely positive cone. The uniform bound on the number of factors and the matrix trace bound are both essential: an arbitrary conic hull of a closed generating set need not be closed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 3 16I a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Write , where since is a finite-dimensional vector space over its prime field. Every nonzero element satisfies by Lagrange theorem, so is exactly the splitting field of over . The derivative is , making it a separable polynomial. Thus the extension is a normal field extension and a separable field extension, hence a Galois extension.
The finite-field Frobenius automorphism fixes and has . If with , all elements would be roots of the degree- polynomial , impossible. It has order , equal to the degree of the Galois extension. Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ib Paper 2 1E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The dual vector space is , the vector space of all linear functionals on . For a vector subspace , its annihilator of a vector subspace is
Given a basis , define by and extend linearly. If , evaluation at gives , so the are linearly independent. Every satisfiesso they also span and therefore form its dual basis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ib Paper 4 1E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A quadratic form on a finite-dimensional real vector space is a function for some symmetric bilinear form . A positive-definite quadratic form satisfies for every .
Completing squares givesSet , , . The corresponding ordered basis in the original coordinates isand the diagonal form is . All diagonal coefficients are positive, so the form is positive definite.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 1 1F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
A basis of a vector space is a family of vectors that is both linearly independent and a spanning set of .
Write the given finite basis as . First, any other basis must also be finite. Each is a finite linear combination of elements of , so the union of the finitely many elements of occurring in these expressions is finite. Since spans every , it spans . If some existed, then would lie in the span of , contradicting the linear independence of . Hence ; write .
It remains to prove the elementary Steinitz exchange lemma directly. If independent vectors lie in the span of , express in terms of the . Some coefficient is nonzero, so the corresponding can be solved for in terms of and the other ; replacing it by preserves the span. Inductively, after replacing of the by , the expression for must have a nonzero coefficient on one of the unreplaced , since otherwise would be a linear combination of . That can again be replaced. There are only original vectors to replace, so .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 2 12E a i Solution 2026-09-29
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 115 3 Solution 2026-10-03
A Lie group is a group and smooth manifold whose multiplication and inversion are smooth. A Lie algebra is a vector space with a bilinear alternating bracket satisfying the Jacobi identity. For a Matrix Lie group , a logarithmic chart of a matrix Lie group near sends to ; the matrix exponential is its local inverse, and the Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formula makes the local group operations smooth.
For , consider the group commutatorIts logarithm takes values in the vector space , and expansion at givesThus is closed under the commutator. Bilinearity, alternation, and the Jacobi identity follow from matrix multiplication, so this proves that the Lie algebra of a matrix Lie group has
A principal bundle with structure group is a smooth fiber bundle with a free right -action, each fiber a single orbit, and equivariant local trivializations .
For the right action of the unitary group on , defineThe matrix is a positive-definite matrix and a Hermitian matrix, and for . The polar decomposition of an invertible complex matrix gives the unique factorizationConsequentlyis a diffeomorphism. If is a neighborhood of zero and , then is an open neighborhood of , it is a union of complete orbits, andMoreover, two matrices have the same value of exactly when they differ by right multiplication by a unitary matrix. Thus induces the smooth identificationunder which is projection . This is the general linear group modulo the unitary group, and is in fact a globally trivial principal -bundle.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 302 1 Solution 2026-10-03
A Lie group is a group that is also a smooth manifold, with differentiable multiplication and inversion. A Lie algebra is a vector space with a bilinear alternating Lie bracket satisfying the Jacobi identity.
For a Matrix Lie group , put . If , the matrix commutator again lies in : the group commutator lies in , and the coefficient of in its matrix logarithm is . Bilinearity and antisymmetry are immediate, while associativity of matrix multiplication gives the Jacobi identity. Thus , with the commutator bracket, is the Lie algebra of a matrix Lie group .
The special linear group is the inverse image of the regular value under the smooth determinant map, and multiplication and inversion are smooth. Differentiating shows thatThe Cayley-Hamilton theorem applied to a trace-zero two-by-two matrix gives
The exponential map of a matrix Lie group is the matrix exponentialSince , its image lies in . Put . The identity sums the series explicitly. If , with ,If , the trace is , while if , with ,HenceBut has trace . It is therefore outside the image, so the exponential map is not surjective.