Issue finding a unitary matrix which diagonalizes a Hermitian

diagonalizationeigenvalues-eigenvectorslinear algebramatricesmatrix decomposition

Given $$H = \begin{pmatrix}2&3-i\\3+i&-1\end{pmatrix}$$ find a unitary matrix $U$ such that $$U^\dagger H U = D$$ where $D$ is the diagonal matrix containing the eigenvalues of $H$.

I assumed $U$ would therefore be the eigenvector matrix of $H$ as that normally gives a diagonal matrix containing the eigenvalues. I found the eigenvalues to be $\lambda = 4,-3$ and the respective eigenvectors to be

$$\begin{pmatrix}\frac{3-i}{2}\\1\end{pmatrix}, \quad \begin{pmatrix}\frac{i-3}{5}\\1\end{pmatrix}$$

However the eigenvector matrix isn't unitary. How do I find another matrix that fits the relationship, but is unitary?


Edit:

After normalising the eigenvector matrix the diagonal matrix doesnt give the original eigenvalues, but a scaled down version:

enter image description here

Best Answer

You have done everything correct except for the small mistake in the last step. While normalising the vector, you have multiplied by the norm instead of dividing it and hence you are getting different values. For the first column, instead of $\frac{\sqrt{14}}{2}$ the term should be $\frac{2}{\sqrt{14}}$. And similarly for the other column. That should fix the error.

Related Question