True or False ?
Let be a subspace consisting of diagonalizable matrices such that for all Then every pair of matrices in commute.
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The linear transformation T A ( A ∈ V ) on vector space M n ( C ) , defined by T A ( X ) = A X − X A , is diagonalizable since A is diagonalizable. (See this problem .) So is T A ∣ V , the restriction of T A to the invariant subspace V . (Consider their minimal polynomials respectively.)
We have to show that T A ∣ V = O for all A in V . Since T A ∣ V is diagonalizable, this amounts to showing that T A ∣ V has no nonzero eigenvalues. Suppose, on the contrary, that T A ∣ V ( B ) = a B ( a = 0 ) for nonzero B in V . Then T B ∣ V ( A ) = − a B is itself an eigenvector of T B ∣ V , of eigenvalue 0 . On the other hand, we can write A as linear combination of eigenvectors of T B ∣ V ( B being diagonalizable also); after applying T B ∣ V to A , all that is left is a combination of eigenvectors which belong to nonzero eigenvalues, if any. This contradicts the preceding conclusion.