In
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, a trace identity is any
equation
In mathematics, an equation is a formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for example, in ...
involving the
trace
Trace may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995
* ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993
* Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band
* ''The Trace'' (album)
Other uses in arts and entertainment
* ''Trace'' ...
of a
matrix
Matrix most commonly refers to:
* ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise
** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film
** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...
.
Properties
Trace identities are invariant under simultaneous
conjugation
Conjugation or conjugate may refer to:
Linguistics
* Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form
* Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language
Mathematics
* Complex conjugation, the chang ...
.
Uses
They are frequently used in the
invariant theory
Invariant theory is a branch of abstract algebra dealing with actions of groups on algebraic varieties, such as vector spaces, from the point of view of their effect on functions. Classically, the theory dealt with the question of explicit descri ...
of
matrices to find the
generators and
relations of the
ring of invariants In algebra, the fixed-point subring R^f of an automorphism ''f'' of a ring ''R'' is the subring of the fixed points of ''f'', that is,
:R^f = \.
More generally, if ''G'' is a group acting on ''R'', then the subring of ''R''
:R^G = \
is called the ...
, and therefore are useful in answering questions similar to that posed by
Hilbert's fourteenth problem
In mathematics, Hilbert's fourteenth problem, that is, number 14 of Hilbert's problems proposed in 1900, asks whether certain algebras are finitely generated.
The setting is as follows: Assume that ''k'' is a field and let ''K'' be a subfield of ...
.
Examples
* The
Cayley–Hamilton theorem
In linear algebra, the Cayley–Hamilton theorem (named after the mathematicians Arthur Cayley and William Rowan Hamilton) states that every square matrix over a commutative ring (such as the real or complex numbers or the integers) satisfies ...
says that every square matrix satisfies its own
characteristic polynomial
In linear algebra, the characteristic polynomial of a square matrix is a polynomial which is invariant under matrix similarity and has the eigenvalues as roots. It has the determinant and the trace of the matrix among its coefficients. The chara ...
. This also implies that all square matrices satisfy
where the coefficients
are given by the
elementary symmetric polynomial
In mathematics, specifically in commutative algebra, the elementary symmetric polynomials are one type of basic building block for symmetric polynomials, in the sense that any symmetric polynomial can be expressed as a polynomial in elementary sym ...
s of the
eigenvalue
In linear algebra, an eigenvector () or characteristic vector of a linear transformation is a nonzero vector that changes at most by a scalar factor when that linear transformation is applied to it. The corresponding eigenvalue, often denoted b ...
s of .
* All square matrices satisfy
See also
*
References
{{citation, title=Graduate Algebra: Noncommutative View, volume=2, series=
Graduate Studies in Mathematics Graduate Studies in Mathematics (GSM) is a series of graduate-level textbooks in mathematics published by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). The books in this series are published ihardcoverane-bookformats.
List of books
*1 ''The General To ...
, first=Louis Halle, last=Rowen, publisher=American Mathematical Society, year=2008, isbn=9780821841532, page=412, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8svFC09gGeMC&pg=PA412.
Invariant theory
Linear algebra