In mathematics, a Lie algebra is a vector space together with a non-associative operation called the Lie bracket, an alternating bilinear map , satisfying the Jacobi identity.
In mathematics, a Lie group is a group that is also a differentiable manifold, with the property that the group operations are smooth. Lie groups are named after Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie, who laid the foundations of the theory of continuous transformation groups.
In mathematics, an element x of a ring R is called nilpotent if there exists some positive integer n such that xn = 0.
In mathematics and theoretical physics, a representation of a Lie group is a linear action of a Lie group on a vector space. Equivalently, a representation is a smooth homomorphism of the group into the group of invertible operators on the vector space. Representations play an important role in the study of continuous symmetry. A great deal is known about such representations, a basic tool in their study being the use of the corresponding 'infinitesimal' representations of Lie algebras.
In mathematics, the affine group or general affine group of any affine space over a field K is the group of all invertible affine transformations from the space into itself.
In mathematics, the adjoint representation of a Lie group G is a way of representing the elements of the group as linear transformations of the group's Lie algebra, considered as a vector space. For example, if G is GL(n), its Lie algebra is the vector space of all n-by-n matrices. So in this example, the adjoint representation is the vector space of n-by-n matrices , and any element g in GL(n) acts as a linear transformation of this vector space given by conjugation: .
In the mathematical field of representation theory, a Lie algebra representation or representation of a Lie algebra is a way of writing a Lie algebra as a set of matrices in such a way that the Lie bracket is given by the commutator. In the language of physics, one looks for a vector space together with a collection of operators on satisfying some fixed set of commutation relations, such as the relations satisfied by the angular momentum operators.
In the field of representation theory in mathematics, a projective representation of a group G on a vector space V over a field F is a group homomorphism from G to the projective linear group
In mathematics, a Casimir element is a distinguished element of the center of the universal enveloping algebra of a Lie algebra. A prototypical example is the squared angular momentum operator, which is a Casimir element of the three-dimensional rotation group.
In mathematics, Schur's lemma is an elementary but extremely useful statement in representation theory of groups and algebras. In the group case it says that if M and N are two finite-dimensional irreducible representations of a group G and φ is a linear transformation from M to N that commutes with the action of the group, then either φ is invertible, or φ = 0. An important special case occurs when M = N and φ is a self-map. The lemma is named after Issai Schur who used it to prove Schur orthogonality relations and develop the basics of the representation theory of finite groups. Schur's lemma admits generalisations to Lie groups and Lie algebras, the most common of which is due to Jacques Dixmier.
In mathematics, more specifically in group theory, the character of a group representation is a function on the group that associates to each group element the trace of the corresponding matrix. The character carries the essential information about the representation in a more condensed form. Georg Frobenius initially developed representation theory of finite groups entirely based on the characters, and without any explicit matrix realization of representations themselves. This is possible because a complex representation of a finite group is determined by its character. The situation with representations over a field of positive characteristic, so-called "modular representations", is more delicate, but Richard Brauer developed a powerful theory of characters in this case as well. Many deep theorems on the structure of finite groups use characters of modular representations.
In mathematics, the Lie–Kolchin theorem is a theorem in the representation theory of linear algebraic groups; Lie's theorem is the analog for linear Lie algebras.
In mathematics, a Cartan subalgebra, often abbreviated as CSA, is a nilpotent subalgebra of a Lie algebra that is self-normalising. They were introduced by Élie Cartan in his doctoral thesis.
In mathematics, if G is a group and ρ is a linear representation of it on the vector space V, then the dual representationρ* is defined over the dual vector space V* as follows:
In theoretical physics and mathematics, a Wess–Zumino–Witten (WZW) model, also called a Wess–Zumino–Novikov–Witten model, is a type of two-dimensional conformal field theory named after Julius Wess, Bruno Zumino, Sergei Novikov and Edward Witten. A WZW model is associated to a Lie group, and its symmetry algebra is the affine Lie algebra built from the corresponding Lie algebra. By extension, the name WZW model is sometimes used for any conformal field theory whose symmetry algebra is an affine Lie algebra.
The Lorentz group is a Lie group of symmetries of the spacetime of special relativity. This group can be realized as a collection of matrices, linear transformations, or unitary operators on some Hilbert space; it has a variety of representations. In any relativistically invariant physical theory, these representations must enter in some fashion; physics itself must be made out of them. Indeed, special relativity together with quantum mechanics are the two physical theories that are most thoroughly established, and the conjunction of these two theories is the study of the infinite-dimensional unitary representations of the Lorentz group. These have both historical importance in mainstream physics, as well as connections to more speculative present-day theories.
In mathematics, a Lie algebra is solvable if its derived series terminates in the zero subalgebra. The derived Lie algebra is the subalgebra of , denoted
In mathematics, for a Lie group , the Kirillov orbit method gives a heuristic method in representation theory. It connects the Fourier transforms of coadjoint orbits, which lie in the dual space of the Lie algebra of G, to the infinitesimal characters of the irreducible representations. The method got its name after the Russian mathematician Alexandre Kirillov.
In mathematics, a zonal spherical function or often just spherical function is a function on a locally compact group G with compact subgroup K that arises as the matrix coefficient of a K-invariant vector in an irreducible representation of G. The key examples are the matrix coefficients of the spherical principal series, the irreducible representations appearing in the decomposition of the unitary representation of G on L2(G/K). In this case the commutant of G is generated by the algebra of biinvariant functions on G with respect to K acting by right convolution. It is commutative if in addition G/K is a symmetric space, for example when G is a connected semisimple Lie group with finite centre and K is a maximal compact subgroup. The matrix coefficients of the spherical principal series describe precisely the spectrum of the corresponding C* algebra generated by the biinvariant functions of compact support, often called a Hecke algebra. The spectrum of the commutative Banach *-algebra of biinvariant L1 functions is larger; when G is a semisimple Lie group with maximal compact subgroup K, additional characters come from matrix coefficients of the complementary series, obtained by analytic continuation of the spherical principal series.
