Elementary results for the fundamental representation of \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\) (Q261588)

In the representation \(\mathrm e^{\mathrm i\theta H}\) of an element of \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\), where \(H\) is a traceless \(3\times 3\) Hermitian matrix, we can choose \(\theta\) such that \(\mathrm{tr}(H^2)=2\). With this choice, the Cayley-Hamilton formula becomes \(H^3=H+I\det(H)\). Based on this relation, the authors show that \(\mathrm e^{\mathrm i\theta H}\) can be written as a second order polynomial in \(H\) with coefficients consisting in trigonometric functions of \(\phi =\frac{1}{3}\left(\mathrm{arccos}\left(\frac{3}{2}\sqrt{3}\det(H)\right)-\frac{\pi }{2}\right)\). In the second part of the paper, the \(\mathrm{SO}(3)\) rotations, Gell-Mann matrices and Lapalce transform of \(\mathrm e^{\mathrm i\theta H}\) are investigated by using the obtained formula.