A problem in multilinear algebra

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter steenis
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Algebra
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 2K views
steenis
Messages
312
Reaction score
18
TL;DR
A one-to-one correspondence between bilinear non-degenerate maps and invertible linear maps
I have the following problem in multilinear algebra:
Let ##W## and ##V## be real finite-dimensional vector spaces, ##V^*## is the dual space of ##V##
Let ##L:W \times V \rightarrow \mathbb{R}## be a non-degenerate bilinear map
Define ##g:W \rightarrow V^*## by ##g(w)(v)=L(w,v)##
To prove: ##g## is an isomorphism

The map ##g## is obviously linear
##g## is injective, because if ##g(w)=0## for ##w \in W##, then for all ##v \in V## we have that ##g(w)(v)=L(w,v)=0##, so, because ##L## is non-degenerate, we have ##w=0##
Remains to prove that ##g## is surjective

If ##dim W=dim V=n##, then we are ready, because in that case ##dim W=dim V^*=n## and ##g## is surjective if and only if ##g## is injective. On the other hand, if ##g## is bijective, then ##g## is an isomorphism and ##dim W=dimV=dim V^*##. However, it is not a-priori given that ##W## and ##V## have the same dimension

Can anybody help me with this problem, can the statement be proven or is the statement not true?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You are correct. The difficulty is that we only can conclude ##\dim W \leq \dim V##.
What happens if you consider ##h\, : \,V\longrightarrow W^*## with ##h(v)(w):=L(w,v)##?
 
In the same way, ##h## is injective and therefore ##dim V \leq dim W##. Now we have ##dim W=dim V=dim V^*##, thus the map ##g## is surjective and therefore an isomorphism (##h## is also an isomorphism)
 
Reply
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: fresh_42