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By a complex structure on $\mathbb{R}^{2n} $ I mean $\mathbb{R}$-linear $J:\mathbb{R}^{2n} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{2n}$ such that $JJ=-I$. I asked myself how many nonisomorphic such structures are on $\mathbb{R}^{2n}$, where by isomorphic I mean that $\mathbb{R}^{2n}$'s treated as complex spaces with complex vector space structures given from $J$'s are isomorphic as complex spaces. If I would ask only for $J$'s we would seek for matrices, such that: $$A^2=-I$$ and would get infinitely many of them since there are infinitely many for the case when $n=1$ namely $$\left[\begin{matrix} a & b\\ c & -a\end{matrix}\right]$$ with $a^2+bc=-1$. But now we treat $A_1$, $A_2$ as the same structure iff there exists $B$ such that $$A_1 B=B A_2.$$

BCLC
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J.E.M.S
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  • You want $B$ to be invertible, in which case $A_1B = BA_2$ is equivalent to saying $A_1$ and $A_2$ are similar. – Michael Albanese Mar 08 '16 at 16:20
  • @MichaelAlbanese yes you are right, yet quick googling doest'n give me an answear to the question how many conjugate classes are in $GL(2n,\mathbb{R})$? – J.E.M.S Mar 08 '16 at 16:27
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    Up to conjugation, there's only one in each dimension. Use the real Jordan form. –  Mar 08 '16 at 16:45
  • @MikeMiller You are saing that there is one in each dimension up to isomorphism or that there is one in each conjugacy class of $GL(2n, \mathbb{R})$? – J.E.M.S Mar 08 '16 at 17:00
  • The first. A matrix that doesn't square to $-I$ is not conjugate to one that does, so there certainly isn't one in each conjugacy class. –  Mar 08 '16 at 17:01
  • you are right, I find your previous comment very helpfoul. – J.E.M.S Mar 08 '16 at 17:16
  • J.E.M.S, how did you get $d=-a$ please for $n=2$? I know how to do it for $n=1$...Or did you mean $n=1$? Context: Here – BCLC Feb 13 '20 at 06:34

1 Answers1

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If $V$ is real finite dimensional vector space and $J \colon V \rightarrow V$ is a complex structure on $V$, I will write $(V, J)$ if I want to think of $V$ as a complex vector space with the structure induced by $J$. If $J_1,J_2$ are complex structures on $V$, then the complex spaces $(V,J_1)$ and $(V,J_2)$ are isomorphic because they have the same dimension. Any isomorphism of the complex vector spaces $T \colon (V,J_1) \rightarrow (V,J_2)$ will satisfy

$$ T(J_1 v) = T(iv) = iT(v) = J_2(Tv) $$

so treating $T$ as a real-linear invertible map, it will satisfy $TJ_1 = J_2 T$ which shows that any two complex structures on $V$ are conjugate.

levap
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    Hmmm, actually you are so right and I am so busted because it seems I've spend so much time on trivial question ;) Thanks for pointing it out. – J.E.M.S Mar 09 '16 at 11:06
  • levap, may you please help here? https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/3903327/whats-the-bijection-between-scalar-products-and-almost-complex-structures-on – BCLC Nov 13 '20 at 15:54