A naive proof of the representation theorem for isotropic, linear asymmetric stress-strain relations (Q1068576)

This note represents an elementary proof of the fact that any linear isotropic function \(S: Lin_ n\to Lin_ n\), where \(Lin_ n\) is the set of all real \(n\times n\) matrices, has a representation of the form \(S(A)=\lambda (tr A)I + (\mu + \alpha)A + (\mu-\alpha)A^ T\) for some scalars \(\lambda\), \(\mu\) and \(\alpha\). This is a generalisation of the well known representation theorem for isotropic linear symmetric stress- strain relations. For the specific case \(n=3\), it has been given elsewhere. The present proof is of interest since it demonstrates that the form of S is already determined when S commutes with orthogonal matrices corresponding to rigid motions of the following three types: a) permutations of the basis vectors, b) reflections across \((n-1)\)- dimensional co-ordinate planes and c) \(45^\circ\) rotations in 2- dimensional co-ordinate planes. These three specific types of orthogonal matrices generate a group which is much smaller than the group of all orthogonal matrices \(Orth_ n\).