Determinant of block matrix

2011-06-08T15:29:51Z

I have a 4n$\times$4n matrix, which can be written as \begin{pmatrix} 0 & A &B &C \cr D& 0& E & F \cr G& H & 0 & J \cr K& L& M& 0 \end{pmatrix}

each entry being an n$\times$n matrix with vanishing determinant. Is there a rule for checking if the full matrix has zero determinant? How about the special case \begin{pmatrix} 0 & A &B &C \cr -A^T & 0& E & F \cr -B^T & E^T & 0 & J \cr -C^T & F^T & J^T & 0 \end{pmatrix}

still with vanishing determinants for each n$\times$n matrix?

(The n is the dimension of an SU group -- I can probably work out the SU(2) or n=3 case by brute force, but I would like to know if there is some method that does not require explicit calculation.)

Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestion.

Answer by Stopple for Determinant of block matrix

2011-06-08T18:34:37Z

It would be nice if the rule for determinants for $2\times2$ matrices generalized to the case of $2n\times 2n$ matrices:

$\det \begin{pmatrix} A & B \cr C & D \end{pmatrix} =\det A \det D - \det B\det C$,

but this is sadly not true.

Nonetheless, the familiar Laplace expansion theorem for minors of order $n-1$ does have a generalization to minors of any order, including, in this case, minors of order $2n$ of a $4n \times 4n$ matrix, see http://www.proofwiki.org/wiki/Laplace's_Expansion_Theorem

This might help.

Determinant of block matrix - MathOverflow

Determinant of block matrix

Answer by Stopple for Determinant of block matrix