Can Constant Vectors Solely Satisfy the Kernel Conditions of a Quadratic Form?

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The discussion centers on the problem of determining whether constant vectors can solely satisfy the kernel conditions of a quadratic form defined by bilinear symmetric forms. The forms are represented by matrices A_i, which are symmetric n-by-n matrices with constant vectors in the kernel. The author conjectures that while non-trivial solutions exist for a simplified version of the problem, a non-trivial solution may not exist for a more general case involving a 2-by-2 identity matrix. The author seeks numeric testing methods to validate these conjectures using tools like MATLAB or Mathematica.

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  • Understanding of bilinear symmetric forms and quadratic forms
  • Familiarity with eigenvalues and eigenvectors in linear algebra
  • Knowledge of MATLAB or Mathematica for numerical testing
  • Concept of diagonalizable matrices and their properties
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  • Research the implementation of eigenvalue problems in MATLAB
  • Explore numerical methods for testing kernel conditions in Mathematica
  • Study the properties of diagonalizable matrices and their applications
  • Investigate alternative numerical methods for proving non-existence of solutions
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Mathematicians, researchers in linear algebra, and students studying quadratic forms and bilinear symmetric forms will benefit from this discussion.

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Here is an interesting problem I came up with during my research. I first present a slightly simplified version. Let us the define component-wise the following bilinear symmetric form, returning a vector:

a_i(u,v) = \frac{1}{2} (u^T A_i v - d_i) \;\;\; i=1 \ldots m

where u,v \in V = R^n, d_i = 1, and the A_i are symmetric n-by-n matrices having constant vectors u=const in the kernel, i.e. rows and columns of A_i add up to zero. Given A, I want to solve the following:

Find u : a_i(u,u) = 0 \;\;\; \forall i=1 \ldots m,

Or, equivalently, I want to show that the only u satisfying the equation are constant vectors.

I believe that a non-trivial u always exists in this simplified problem for a very large class of given A. The idea is to use the fact that A is diagonalizable, then it is possible to build u as a "sampling" proportional to (cos(t),sin(t)) on the eigenvector basis in order to pick up, for each component of a(), only two eigenvalues of the matrix and use the fact that cos^2+sin^2=1 to cancel the entries of d. However, I don't know if it's possible to implement a numeric test to check if this is true for a given A.
 
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To complete the statement, the more general problem consists in substituting d_i with a 2-by-2 identity matrix. It can be formulated as follows:

<br /> a_{ij}(u,v) = \frac{1}{2} (u^T A_{ij} v - d_{ij}) \;\;\; i=1 \ldots m, \;\;\; j=1 \dots 4,<br />

where d_{i1} = d_{i2} = 1, d_{i3} = d_{i4} = 0. Then:

Find <br /> u : a_{ij}(u,u) = 0 \;\;\; \forall i=1 \ldots, m \;\;\; \forall j=1 \dots 4.<br />

My conjecture is that in this case a non-trivial solution does not exist unless a very special A is given. What test can I implement in Matlab or Mathematica? Newton's method is an overkill for just proving non-existence.
 
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