A-11.7 Isomorphism between Polynomials and Vectors over Complex Numbers

In Theorem A-11.5 (§A-11.5), we learned the isomorphic mapping σ : f(X) ∈ ℤt[X]∕(Xn + 1)→(f(x0),f(x1),f(x2),⋯,f(xn−1)) ∈ ℤtn, where x0,x1,x2,⋯,xn−1 ∈ ℤ are the ((μ = 2n)-th primitive) roots of the cyclotomic polynomial Xn + 1, which are ω,ω3,ω5,⋯,ω2n−1, where ω can be any root of Xn + 1 (i.e., since each ω is a generator of all roots). In this subsection, we will demonstrate the isomorphism between a vector space and a polynomial ring over complex numbers as follows:

σc : f(X) ∈ ℝ[X]∕(Xn + 1)→(f(ω),f(ω3),f(ω5),⋯,f(ω2n−1)) ∈ℂ^n

, where X ∈ ℂ, and ω = e𝑖𝜋∕n, the root (i.e., the primitive (μ = 2n)-th root) of the cyclotomic polynomial Xn + 1 over complex numbers (Theorem A-8.2.1 in §A-8.2). We define ℂ^n to be an n-dimensional special vector space whose second-half elements of each vector are reverse-ordered conjugates of the first-half elements (e.g., (v0,v1,⋯,vn 2 −1,v¯n 2 −1,⋯,v¯1,v¯0)).

A-11.7.1 Isomorphism between ℂn 2 and ℂ^n

In this section, we treat both ℂn 2 and ℂ^n as vector spaces of complex vectors, where the mapping between them is defined as ϕ : ℂn 2 →ℂ^n as follows:

ϕ(z0,z1,…,zn 2 −1) = (z0,z1,…,zn 2 −1,zn 2 −1¯,…,z1¯,z0¯)

In other words, ℂ^n is a conjugate extension of ℂn 2 such that the first-half elements of ℂ^n are identical to those of ℂn 2 , and the second-half elements of ℂ^n are reverse-ordered conjugates of ℂn 2 .

Now, we will demonstrate that the mapping ϕ between ℂn 2 and ℂ^n is an isomorphism.

Bijective: The mapping ϕ is trivially bijective. Every vector in ℂn 2 uniquely maps to a vector in ℂ^n by appending its reverse-ordered complex conjugates. Conversely, any vector in ℂ^n can uniquely map back to ℂn 2 by simply dropping the second half of its elements, establishing a perfect one-to-one correspondence.

Homomorphic: We will demonstrate that ϕ preserves homomorphism over addition (+) and element-wise vector multiplication (⊙). Given two vectors u→,v→ ∈ ℂn 2 :

Therefore, the mapping ϕ : ℂn 2 →ℂ^n is an isomorphism.

Vector Space of Complex Vectors with either Real or Complex Scalars

By mathematical definition, a vector space must satisfy closure under scalar multiplication: for any vector v→ in the space and any scalar c from the scalar field, the product c ⋅v→ must also lie in the same vector space. Under this requirement, ℂn 2 is naturally a vector space of complex vectors with complex scalars (though the same is true with real scalars, since complex includes real). On the other hand, ℂ^n is a vector space of complex vectors strictly with real scalars.

To see why, recall that a vector v→ = (v0,v1,…,vn−1) ∈ℂ^n must satisfy the Hermitian-symmetry constraint: vn−1−k = vk¯ for all k. Consider an example with n = 4:

v→ = (1 + i,2 + 2i,2 −2i,1 −i) ∈ℂ^4

Now, let us multiply v→ by the complex scalar c = i:

i ⋅v→ = (−1 + i, −2 + 2i,2 + 2i,1 + i)

For this result to still lie in ℂ^4, the third entry must be the conjugate of the second entry. But −2 + 2i¯ = −2 −2i, which is not equal to 2 + 2i. So i ⋅v→∉ℂ^4, and closure fails.

More generally, for any v→ ∈ℂ^n and any scalar c, the product c ⋅v→ preserves Hermitian symmetry if and only if c¯ = c; that is, if and only if c is a real number. Therefore, ℂ^n is a valid vector space only when restricted to real scalars, and this is why ℂ^n is a vector space of complex vectors strictly with real scalars.

Throughout this book, we will regard both ℂn 2 and ℂ^n as vector spaces of complex vectors with real scalars.

Isomorphism of Vector Spaces: For a mapping between vector spaces to be an isomorphism, it has to be not only bijective and homomorphic over the (+,⋅) operations, but also homomorphic over scalar multiplication. Therefore, we need to prove that ϕ(c ⋅u→) = c ⋅ϕ(u→). This is always true in our case because the scalar c is a real number, meaning it is unaffected by complex conjugation (i.e., c¯ = c, and thus c ⋅uk¯ = c ⋅uk¯).

Dimension of Vector Spaces: The dimension of a vector space is defined by how many scalars it takes to fully describe it. Therefore, the dimension of ℂn 2 is n because it has n 2 elements where each element requires 2 scalars to describe (one real and one imaginary part). The dimension of ℂ^n is also n because the first n 2 elements requires n 2 ⋅2 scalars to describe, and the latter n 2 elements are simply reverse-ordered conjugates of the former n 2 elements.

A-11.7.2 Isomorphism between ℂ^n and ℝ[X]∕(Xn + 1)

Now, we will demonstrate that σc is an isomorphism (i.e., bijective and homomorphic) between ℂ^n and ℝ[X]∕(Xn + 1) by applying the same reasoning as described in the beginning of §A-11.6.

PIC

Figure 5: An illustration of the four roots of the 8th cyclotomic polynomial x4 + 1

Bijective: Based on Euler’s formula e𝑖𝜃 = cos⁡𝜃 + i ⋅sin⁡𝜃 (§A-12.3), we can derive the following arithmetic relations: ω = ω2n−1¯, ω3 = ω2n−3¯,⋯,ωn−1 = ωn+1¯. In other words, the one-half roots are conjugates of the other-half roots. This can also be pictorially understood based on a complex plane in Figure 5, where red arrows represent the roots of the 8th cyclotomic polynomial X4 + 1, comprising imaginary number and real number components. As shown in this figure, one half of the red arrows (i.e., roots) are a reflection of the other half on the x-axis (i.e., real number axis). This means that we can express these roots as an n-dimensional vector whose elements are the roots of Xn + 1, such that its second-half elements are a reverse-ordered conjugate of the first-half elements. Based on this vector design, the σc mapping can be re-written as follows:

σc(f(X)) = (f(ω),f(ω3),f(ω5),⋯,f(ωn−1),f(ωn−1¯),f(ωn−3¯),⋯,f(ω3¯),f(ω¯))

Since f(X¯) = f(X)¯ (because f(X) has strictly real coefficients), we can rewrite σc as:

σc(f(X)) = (f(ω),f(ω3),f(ω5),⋯,f(ωn−3),f(ωn−1),f(ωn−1)¯,f(ωn−3)¯,⋯,f(ω3)¯,f(ω)¯)

This structure of vector exactly aligns with the definition of ℂ^n: the second half of the elements of the n-dimensional vector v^→ is a reverse-ordered conjugate of the first half.

For bijectiveness, we also need to demonstrate that every f(X) ∈ ℝ[X]∕(Xn + 1) is mapped to some v^→ ∈ℂ^n, and no two different f1(X),f2(X) ∈ ℝ[X]∕(Xn + 1) map to the same v^→ ∈ℂ^n. The first requirement is satisfied because each polynomial f(X) ∈ ℝ[X]∕(Xn + 1) can be evaluated at the n distinct roots of Xn + 1 to a valid number. The second requirement is also satisfied because in the (n −1)-degree polynomial ring, each list of n distinct (x,y) coordinates (where we fix the X values as the n distinct roots of Xn + 1 as {ω,ω3,⋯,ω2n−1}) can be mapped only to a single polynomial within the (n −1)-degree polynomial ring, as proved by Lagrange Polynomial Interpolation (Theorem A-10 in §A-10).

Homomorphic: σc is homomorphic, because based on the reasoning shown in §A-11.6, the relations σc(fa(X) + fb(X)) = σc(fa(X)) + σc(fb(X)) and σc(fa(X) ⋅fb(X)) = σc(fa(X)) ⊙σc(fb(X)) mathematically hold regardless of whether the type of X is a modulo integer or a complex number. Additionally, for any real scalar c ∈ ℝ, σc(c ⋅f(X)) = c ⋅σc(f(X)) holds because scaling the polynomial and then evaluating it is the same as evaluating it and then scaling the result.

Since σc is both bijective and homomorphic over the (+,⋅) operations, it is an isomorphism.

⟨Theorem A-11.7⟩ Isomorphism between Polynomials and Vectors over Complex Numbers

The following mapping σc between polynomials and vectors over complex numbers is an isomorphism:

σc : f(X) ∈ ℝ[X]∕(Xn + 1)→(f(ω),f(ω3),f(ω5),⋯,f(ω2n−1)) ∈ℂ^n (≅ℂn 2 )

, where ω = e𝑖𝜋∕n, the root (i.e., the primitive (μ = 2n)-th root) of the cyclotomic polynomial Xn + 1 over complex numbers, and ℂ^n is an n-dimensional vector space of complex vectors (with real scalars) whose second-half elements are reverse-ordered conjugates of the first-half elements.