Symplectic matrices with predetermined left eigenvalues (Q1044613)

The authors show that given four arbitrary quaternion numbers of norm 1 there exists a \(2\times2\) symplectic matrix for which these numbers are left eigenvalues. The proof is constructive and the obtained matrix has the structure \[ L_q\circ R_{\theta}=\left[\begin{matrix} q\cos\theta&-q\sin\theta\\q\sin\theta&\;\;q\cos\theta\end{matrix}\right],\quad q\in\mathbb{H},\;|q|=1,\;\theta\in\mathbb R,\;\sin\theta\neq0, \] where \(L_q\circ R_{\theta}\) is the composition of a real rotation \(R_{\theta}\neq\pm\text{id}\) with a left translation \(L_q\). The method is applied to obtain the only two symplectic matrices having the four quaternions \(1, i, j, k\) as left eigenvalues. An application of the main result to the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of Lie groups is emphasized.