maverick280857 said:
Ok, this is probably trivial but what do you mean by
KAK^{-1} = A^{\dagger}
Yeah, that was a mistake on my part.

I think the following is the correct description:
KAK^{-1} = [A^{\dagger}]^{T}
IOW, the K operator acts as a transformation of the elements of the matrix A, converting them to their complex conjugates in place (i.e. without taking the transpose). I guess there is probably a concise notation for this, but I don't remember it, and I couldn't find it described online with a quick search.
As DrDu pointed out, the easiest way to see this is with a pure imaginary operator, like the momentum operator, where time-reversal produces the following:
T\hat{p}T^{-1} = -\hat{p}
So, assuming the above result is correct, using the identity (AB)^{T}=B^{T}A^{T}, we can modify my earlier derivation as follows:
TABT^{-1} = UKABK^{-1}U^{-1} = U[(AB)^{\dagger}]^{T}U^{-1} = U[B^{\dagger}]^{T}[A^{\dagger}]^{T}U^{-1}
which simplifies to the desired result, where your A' and B' matrices are now equivalent to the [A^{\dagger}]^{T} and [B^{\dagger}]^{T} above.
I think this is now consistent, and it is also different from what one would get by inserting T^{-1}T in the initial expression.
EDIT: Nope ... turns out this is wrong too ... it ends up being identical to assuming that T^{-1}T can be used as the identity operator, IOW, it would predict that the correct result on the RHS should be A'B', instead of B'A'.
And continuing with your reasoning, one could still argue that
TABT^{-1} = TAT^{-1}TBT^{-1} = (UKAK^{-1}U^{-1})(UKBK^{-1}U^{-1}) = A^{\dagger}B^{\dagger}
What is wrong with that?
Nothing. You are correct AFAICS, based on my initial (incorrect) analysis.
EDIT: K is not a unitary operation, but two successive operations by K should yield the same result. That prompts me to write K^2 = 1. Now for the parity operator (which is unitary), Perkins reasons that P^2 = 1 implies that P is a unitary operator. So if that is universally true, K^2 = 1 would imply that K is a unitary operator too. Is the fact that an operator whose square is an identity, a unitary operator a tautology?? Now that I think about it, I think this has to do with your writing KAK^{-1}. What does this mean? Also, what is K^{-1}? If one can write K^{-1}K = 1, then one should certainly be allowed to assert that TT^{-1} = 1!
What is seriously haywire with this convoluted reasoning? :-|
I don't know ... it does seem like it can't all be true, and still produce the result from your initial question. I dimly recall that there are several logical traps like this when dealing with anti-unitary operators, but I can't recall how they work precisely. I will have to look it up in Messiah.