A Bound on the Dimensions of Certain Types of Subspaces












3












$begingroup$


Let $V$ be a $4$-dimensional vector space over the complex numbers, and let $S$ be a subspace of the endomorphisms of $V$ such that the elements of $S$ commute.



If there exists an element in $S$ that has at least two distinct eigenvalues, is the dimension of $S$ at most $4$? If so (or if not), why?



An example of such a subspace of dimension $5$ that does not have an element with at least two distinct eigenvalues is the set of matrices of the form
$$left(begin{matrix}
a & 0 & c & d \
0 & a & e & f \
0 & 0 & a & 0 \
0 & 0 & 0 & a
end{matrix}right) .$$










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$endgroup$








  • 2




    $begingroup$
    I see where this is coming from, but I would guess not. Can't find a counterexample at the moment though.
    $endgroup$
    – Matt Samuel
    Dec 10 '18 at 1:55
















3












$begingroup$


Let $V$ be a $4$-dimensional vector space over the complex numbers, and let $S$ be a subspace of the endomorphisms of $V$ such that the elements of $S$ commute.



If there exists an element in $S$ that has at least two distinct eigenvalues, is the dimension of $S$ at most $4$? If so (or if not), why?



An example of such a subspace of dimension $5$ that does not have an element with at least two distinct eigenvalues is the set of matrices of the form
$$left(begin{matrix}
a & 0 & c & d \
0 & a & e & f \
0 & 0 & a & 0 \
0 & 0 & 0 & a
end{matrix}right) .$$










share|cite|improve this question









$endgroup$








  • 2




    $begingroup$
    I see where this is coming from, but I would guess not. Can't find a counterexample at the moment though.
    $endgroup$
    – Matt Samuel
    Dec 10 '18 at 1:55














3












3








3


1



$begingroup$


Let $V$ be a $4$-dimensional vector space over the complex numbers, and let $S$ be a subspace of the endomorphisms of $V$ such that the elements of $S$ commute.



If there exists an element in $S$ that has at least two distinct eigenvalues, is the dimension of $S$ at most $4$? If so (or if not), why?



An example of such a subspace of dimension $5$ that does not have an element with at least two distinct eigenvalues is the set of matrices of the form
$$left(begin{matrix}
a & 0 & c & d \
0 & a & e & f \
0 & 0 & a & 0 \
0 & 0 & 0 & a
end{matrix}right) .$$










share|cite|improve this question









$endgroup$




Let $V$ be a $4$-dimensional vector space over the complex numbers, and let $S$ be a subspace of the endomorphisms of $V$ such that the elements of $S$ commute.



If there exists an element in $S$ that has at least two distinct eigenvalues, is the dimension of $S$ at most $4$? If so (or if not), why?



An example of such a subspace of dimension $5$ that does not have an element with at least two distinct eigenvalues is the set of matrices of the form
$$left(begin{matrix}
a & 0 & c & d \
0 & a & e & f \
0 & 0 & a & 0 \
0 & 0 & 0 & a
end{matrix}right) .$$







linear-algebra abstract-algebra






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asked Dec 9 '18 at 19:22









LinearGuyLinearGuy

1511




1511








  • 2




    $begingroup$
    I see where this is coming from, but I would guess not. Can't find a counterexample at the moment though.
    $endgroup$
    – Matt Samuel
    Dec 10 '18 at 1:55














  • 2




    $begingroup$
    I see where this is coming from, but I would guess not. Can't find a counterexample at the moment though.
    $endgroup$
    – Matt Samuel
    Dec 10 '18 at 1:55








2




2




$begingroup$
I see where this is coming from, but I would guess not. Can't find a counterexample at the moment though.
$endgroup$
– Matt Samuel
Dec 10 '18 at 1:55




$begingroup$
I see where this is coming from, but I would guess not. Can't find a counterexample at the moment though.
$endgroup$
– Matt Samuel
Dec 10 '18 at 1:55










1 Answer
1






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oldest

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1












$begingroup$

By an old theorem of Schur (see this simple proof in an early paper by the late great Maryam Mirzakhani), the maximal number of linearly independent linear endomorphisms of $mathbb{C}^n$ is $N(n) = lfloor n^2/4 rfloor + 1$. Your example gives the maximum dimension $N(4)=5$. However, if some matrix $A in S$ has two different eigenvalues, then $S$ will be reducible since every matrix in $S$ has these different eigenspaces of $A$ as invariant subspaces. For $n<4$, one always has $N(n) = n$, so the maximum dimension in that case is $4$.






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$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    +1 Thanks for the theorem and for this nice application.
    $endgroup$
    – Tengu
    Dec 12 '18 at 12:30











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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active

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1












$begingroup$

By an old theorem of Schur (see this simple proof in an early paper by the late great Maryam Mirzakhani), the maximal number of linearly independent linear endomorphisms of $mathbb{C}^n$ is $N(n) = lfloor n^2/4 rfloor + 1$. Your example gives the maximum dimension $N(4)=5$. However, if some matrix $A in S$ has two different eigenvalues, then $S$ will be reducible since every matrix in $S$ has these different eigenspaces of $A$ as invariant subspaces. For $n<4$, one always has $N(n) = n$, so the maximum dimension in that case is $4$.






share|cite|improve this answer









$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    +1 Thanks for the theorem and for this nice application.
    $endgroup$
    – Tengu
    Dec 12 '18 at 12:30
















1












$begingroup$

By an old theorem of Schur (see this simple proof in an early paper by the late great Maryam Mirzakhani), the maximal number of linearly independent linear endomorphisms of $mathbb{C}^n$ is $N(n) = lfloor n^2/4 rfloor + 1$. Your example gives the maximum dimension $N(4)=5$. However, if some matrix $A in S$ has two different eigenvalues, then $S$ will be reducible since every matrix in $S$ has these different eigenspaces of $A$ as invariant subspaces. For $n<4$, one always has $N(n) = n$, so the maximum dimension in that case is $4$.






share|cite|improve this answer









$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    +1 Thanks for the theorem and for this nice application.
    $endgroup$
    – Tengu
    Dec 12 '18 at 12:30














1












1








1





$begingroup$

By an old theorem of Schur (see this simple proof in an early paper by the late great Maryam Mirzakhani), the maximal number of linearly independent linear endomorphisms of $mathbb{C}^n$ is $N(n) = lfloor n^2/4 rfloor + 1$. Your example gives the maximum dimension $N(4)=5$. However, if some matrix $A in S$ has two different eigenvalues, then $S$ will be reducible since every matrix in $S$ has these different eigenspaces of $A$ as invariant subspaces. For $n<4$, one always has $N(n) = n$, so the maximum dimension in that case is $4$.






share|cite|improve this answer









$endgroup$



By an old theorem of Schur (see this simple proof in an early paper by the late great Maryam Mirzakhani), the maximal number of linearly independent linear endomorphisms of $mathbb{C}^n$ is $N(n) = lfloor n^2/4 rfloor + 1$. Your example gives the maximum dimension $N(4)=5$. However, if some matrix $A in S$ has two different eigenvalues, then $S$ will be reducible since every matrix in $S$ has these different eigenspaces of $A$ as invariant subspaces. For $n<4$, one always has $N(n) = n$, so the maximum dimension in that case is $4$.







share|cite|improve this answer












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answered Dec 10 '18 at 20:53









Lukas GeyerLukas Geyer

13.8k1556




13.8k1556












  • $begingroup$
    +1 Thanks for the theorem and for this nice application.
    $endgroup$
    – Tengu
    Dec 12 '18 at 12:30


















  • $begingroup$
    +1 Thanks for the theorem and for this nice application.
    $endgroup$
    – Tengu
    Dec 12 '18 at 12:30
















$begingroup$
+1 Thanks for the theorem and for this nice application.
$endgroup$
– Tengu
Dec 12 '18 at 12:30




$begingroup$
+1 Thanks for the theorem and for this nice application.
$endgroup$
– Tengu
Dec 12 '18 at 12:30


















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