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Viewing Version 41 of 'bilinear form'
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Title of object: bilinear form
Canonical Name: BilinearForm
Type: Definition

Created on: 2002-01-24 16:53:36
Modified on: 2005-01-08 21:53:41

Creator: rmilson
Modifier: rmilson
Author: vitriol
Author: akrowne

Classification: msc:15A63, msc:11E39, msc:47A07
Synonyms: bilinear form=bilinear
bilinear form=bilinear form

Revision comment (for changes between this and next version):

Changes for correction #8419 ('defines rank').

Preamble:

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Content:

\paragraph{Definition.}
Let $U$ and $V$ be vector spaces over a field $K$. A function $B: U \times V \rightarrow K$ is called a \emph{bilinear map} if

\begin{enumerate}
\item $x \mapsto B(x,y)$ is linear for each $y \in V$
\item $y \mapsto B(x,y)$ is linear for each $x \in U$
\end{enumerate}

That is, $B$ is \emph{bilinear} if it is linear in each parameter, taken separately.

\paragraph{Bilinear forms.}
If $U$ = $V$ then $B$ is a \emph{bilinear form}. In this case further assumptions are often made:

\begin{enumerate}
\item $B(x,y) = B(y,x)$, $x,y \in V$ (symmetric)
\item $B(x,y) = -B(y,x)$, $x,y \in V$ (skew-symmetric)
\item $B(x,x) = 0$, $x \in V$ (alternating)
\end{enumerate}

By expanding $B(x+y,x+y) = 0$, we can show alternating implies skew-symmetric. Further if $K$ is not of characteristic $2$, then skew-symmetric implies alternating.

\paragraph{Left and Right Maps.}
We may regard the bilinear map as a left map or right map, as follows:

$B_L \in L(U, V^\ast)$
$B_R \in L(V, U^\ast)$

$B_L(x)(y) = B(x,y)$

$B_R(y)(x) = B(x,y)$

The left is a linear map from $U$ into the dual of $V$. So for example $B$ is skew-symmetric iff $B_L \equiv -B_R$.

\paragraph{Rank.}
If $U$ and $V$ are finite dimensional it may be shown that $\operatorname{rank} B_L = \operatorname{rank} B_R$. We call this simply the \emph{rank} of $B$. We say that $B$ is \emph{non-degenerate} if the left and right map are both linear isomorphisms.

Now applying the rank-nullity theorem on both left and right maps gives the following results:

$$\dim U = \dim \ker {B_L} + r$$
$$\dim V = \dim \ker {B_R} + r$$

\paragraph{Orthogonals.}
If $T \subset U$ and $S \subset V$ then we may define the orthogonals $T^\perp \subset V$ and ${^\perp}S \subset U$ as follows:

$$ T^\perp = \{ v \mid B(t,v) = 0 \; \forall t \in T \} $$
$$ {^\perp}S = \{ u \mid B(u,s) = 0 \; \forall s \in S \} $$

The orthogonal of a subspace is itself a subspace. Further if $B$ is a symmetric or skew-symmetric bilinear form, then $^\perp A = A^\perp$, and we may choose the latter notation.

$T$ is a non-degenerate subspace if $T \cap T^\perp = \{0\}$. Similarly when $S \cap {^\perp}S = \{0\}$.

We may also realise $T^\perp$ by considering the restriction $B^\prime = B_{{T \times V}}$. It's clear that $T^\perp = \ker B^\prime_R$. Now if $B$ is non-degenerate (or more generally $T \cap {^\perp}V = \{0\}$) then $\ker B^\prime_L = \{0\}$, and we can use the rank-nullity equations to get $\dim V = \dim T + \dim T^\perp$. Similarly we may show that $\dim U = \dim S + \dim ^\perp S$.

This implies, for example, that for $T$ a non-degenerate subspace and $B$ a non-degenerate bilinear form that $V = T \oplus T^\perp$. We note that for a real positive-definite bilinear form that every subspace is non-degenerate, so this gives the usual result about inner product spaces.

\paragraph{Adjoint.}

Suppose $B: U \times V \rightarrow K$ is a non-degenerate bilinear map. If $T \in L(U,U)$ then we define the adjoint of $T$, $T^\star \in L(V,V)$ to be the unique linear map such that:

$$ B(Tu, v) = B(u, T^\star v) $$

Let $T^\ast : U^\ast \rightarrow U^\ast$ be the dual endormorphism. Then $T^\star = {B_R}^{-1} \circ T^\ast \circ B_R$.

If $U = V$ and we choose a canonical (orthogonal) basis for $B$, then the adjoint corresponds to the matrix transpose.

$T$ is then said to be a \emph{Normal Operator} (with respect to this bilinear map) if it commutes with its adjoint.

\paragraph{Examples.}

An important example is the non-degenerate bilinear map

$$ B:V \times V^\ast \rightarrow K $$
$$ B(v,f) = f(v)$$

Here the orthogonal is exactly the annihilator. This gives the result that $\dim U + \dim U ^\circ = \dim V$.

An $n \times m$ matrix may be regarded as a bilinear form over $K^n$ and $K^m$. Two matrices, $B$ and $C$, are then said to be congruent if there exists an invertible $P$ such that $B = P^{T}CP$. Note this is different to the usual notion of congruence.

If the matrix is the identity, $I$, then this gives the standard Euclidean inner product on $K^n$.

An inner product space on a vector space is a bilinear form if its field is real, but not if it is complex. In fact, the bilinear form associated with a real inner product space is non-degenerate, and every subspace is non-degenerate. So, as we may intuitively expect, $V = U \oplus U^\perp$ for every subspace $U$.