3x3 Singular Matrices of Linear Forms

Abstract

We determine the irreducible components of the space of 3x3 matrices of linear forms with vanishing determinant. We show that there are four irreducible components and we identify them concretely. In particular, under elementary row and column operations with constant coefficients, a 3x3 matrix with vanishing determinant is equivalent to one of the following four: a matrix with a zero row, a zero column, a zero 2x2 square or an antisymmetric matrix.