Examples include the principal axes obtained from the inertia tensor, a standing wave on a string with fixed ends, and the solutions to the Fock equation.
Examples include the principal axes obtained from the inertia tensor, a standing wave on a string with fixed ends, and the solutions to the Fock equation. A complex Hermitian matrix or real symmetric matrix has a basis of these, and an invariant subspace of a matrix A is spanned by one or more of these. They are also the null space of the map A minus lambda I for some value of lambda. Examples from physics include the solutions to the Schrödinger wave equation, which are molecular orbitals. For 10 points, name these objects which take their name from the German for "characteristic" and are the v in A v equals lambda v.
Examples include the principal axes obtained from the inertia tensor, a standing wave on a string with fixed ends, and the solutions to the Fock equation.
{eigenvector} [prompt on "proper vector" or "characteristic vector", do not accept eigenfunction]