Quaternion Group/Complex Matrices

Definition
Let $\mathbf 1, \mathbf i, \mathbf j, \mathbf k$ denote the following four elements of the matrix space $\mathcal M_\C \left({2}\right)$:


 * $\mathbf 1 = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}

\qquad \mathbf i = \begin{bmatrix} i & 0 \\ 0 & -i \end{bmatrix} \qquad \mathbf j = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ -1 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \qquad \mathbf k = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & i \\ i & 0 \end{bmatrix}$

where $\C$ is the set of complex numbers.

The set:
 * $Q_4 = \left\{{\mathbf 1, -\mathbf 1, \mathbf i, -\mathbf i, \mathbf j, -\mathbf j, \mathbf k, -\mathbf k}\right\}$

under the operation of conventional matrix multiplication, forms the quaternion group:


 * $\begin{array}{r|rrrrrrrr}

& \mathbf 1 &  \mathbf i & -\mathbf 1 & -\mathbf i &  \mathbf j &  \mathbf k & -\mathbf j & -\mathbf k \\ \hline \mathbf 1 & \mathbf 1 &  \mathbf i & -\mathbf 1 & -\mathbf i &  \mathbf j &  \mathbf k & -\mathbf j & -\mathbf k \\ \mathbf i & \mathbf i & -\mathbf 1 & -\mathbf i &  \mathbf 1 &  \mathbf k & -\mathbf j & -\mathbf k &  \mathbf j \\ -\mathbf 1 & -\mathbf 1 & -\mathbf i & \mathbf 1 &  \mathbf i & -\mathbf j & -\mathbf k &  \mathbf j &  \mathbf k \\ -\mathbf i & -\mathbf i & \mathbf 1 &  \mathbf i & -\mathbf 1 & -\mathbf k &  \mathbf j &  \mathbf k & -\mathbf j \\ \mathbf j & \mathbf j & -\mathbf k & -\mathbf j &  \mathbf k & -\mathbf 1 &  \mathbf i &  \mathbf 1 & -\mathbf i \\ \mathbf k & \mathbf k &  \mathbf j & -\mathbf k & -\mathbf j & -\mathbf i & -\mathbf 1 &  \mathbf i &  \mathbf 1 \\ -\mathbf j & -\mathbf j & \mathbf k &  \mathbf j & -\mathbf k &  \mathbf 1 & -\mathbf i & -\mathbf 1 &  \mathbf i \\ -\mathbf k & -\mathbf k & -\mathbf j & \mathbf k &  \mathbf j &  \mathbf i &  \mathbf 1 & -\mathbf i & -\mathbf 1 \end{array}$

In Matrix Form of Quaternion it is shown that a general element $\mathbf x$ of $\mathbb H$ has the form:
 * $\mathbf x = \begin{bmatrix} a + bi & c + di \\ -c + di & a - bi \end{bmatrix}$

Also see

 * Quaternions Defined by Matrices where it is shown that these have the appropriate properties.