Paper 1, Section II, H

Algebraic Geometry
Part II, 2011

(i) Let XX be an affine variety over an algebraically closed field. Define what it means for XX to be irreducible, and show that if UU is a non-empty open subset of an irreducible XX, then UU is dense in XX.

(ii) Show that n×nn \times n matrices with distinct eigenvalues form an affine variety, and are a Zariski open subvariety of affine space An2\mathbb{A}^{n^{2}} over an algebraically closed field.

(iii) Let charA(x)=det(xIA)\operatorname{char}_{A}(x)=\operatorname{det}(x I-A) be the characteristic polynomial of AA. Show that the n×nn \times n matrices AA such that charA(A)=0\operatorname{char}_{A}(A)=0 form a Zariski closed subvariety of An2\mathbb{A}^{n^{2}}. Hence conclude that this subvariety is all of An2\mathbb{A}^{n^{2}}.