<<

fiziks Institute for NET/JRF, GATE, IIT‐JAM, M.Sc. Entrance, JEST, TIFR and GRE in Physics

(g) Hermitian, Skew-Hermitian, and Unitary Matrices (Complex Matrices) The of a A is formed by taking the complex conjugate of each element. Thus, Aa ij .

T For the conjugate , we use the notation A  aij .

34ii 5 T 34i 7 Example: A  , then A    762i  562ii   A A  aij is called Hermitian if T AA , that is aajiij

 If A is Hermitian, the entries on the main must satisfy aajjjj , that is they are real.  If a Hermitian matrix is real, then AAATT  . Hence a real Hermitian matrix is a .  The eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix (and thus a symmetric matrix) are real. 413 i Example: A  . The eigenvalues are 9, 2 . 13 i 7 Skew- Hermitian Matrix  A square matrix A  aij is called skew-Hermitian if T AA  , that is aajiij 

 If A is skew-Hermitian, then entries on the main diagonal must satisfy aajjjj  , hence

a jj must be pure imaginary or 0.

 If a skew-Hermitian matrix is real, then AATT  A. Hence a real skew-Hermitian matrix is a skew-symmetric matrix.  The eigenvalues of a skew-Hermitian matrix (and thus a skew-symmetric matrix) are pure imaginary or 0 . 32ii Example: A  . 2 ii  The eigenvalues are 4,ii 2 .

H.No. 40-D, Ground Floor, Jia Sarai, Near IIT, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016 Phone: 011-26865455/+91-9871145498 Website: www.physicsbyfiziks.com | Email: [email protected] fiziks Institute for NET/JRF, GATE, IIT‐JAM, M.Sc. Entrance, JEST, TIFR and GRE in Physics

Unitary Matrix  A square matrix A  aij is called unitary if AAT  1  If a is real, then AAATT  1 . Hence a real unitary matrix is an .  The eigenvalues of a unitary matrix (and thus an orthogonal matrix) have absolute value 1. 11 i 3 22 Example: A  . 11 3 i 22 1111 11 The eigenvalues are 3,ii 3  and  31i 2222 22

H.No. 40-D, Ground Floor, Jia Sarai, Near IIT, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016 Phone: 011-26865455/+91-9871145498 Website: www.physicsbyfiziks.com | Email: [email protected]