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Lie groups and Lie algebras |
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A quadratic Lie algebra is a Lie algebra together with a compatible symmetric bilinear form. Compatibility means that it is invariant under the adjoint representation. Examples of such are semisimple Lie algebras, such as su(n) and sl(n,R).
A quadratic Lie algebra is a Lie algebra (g,[.,.]) together with a non-degenerate symmetric bilinear form that is invariant under the adjoint action, i.e.
where X,Y,Z are elements of the Lie algebra g. A localization/ generalization is the concept of Courant algebroid where the vector space g is replaced by (sections of) a vector bundle.
As a first example, consider Rn with zero-bracket and standard inner product
Since the bracket is trivial the invariance is trivially fulfilled.
As a more elaborate example consider so(3), i.e. R3 with base X,Y,Z, standard inner product, and Lie bracket
Straightforward computation shows that the inner product is indeed preserved. A generalization is the following.
A big group of examples fits into the category of semisimple Lie algebras, i.e. Lie algebras whose adjoint representation is faithful. Examples are sl(n,R) and su(n), as well as direct sums of them. Let thus g be a semi-simple Lie algebra with adjoint representation ad, i.e.
Define now the Killing form
Due to the Cartan criterion, the Killing form is non-degenerate if and only if the Lie algebra is semisimple.
If g is in addition a simple Lie algebra, then the Killing form is up to rescaling the only invariant symmetric bilinear form.
In mathematics, a Lie algebra is a vector space together with an operation called the Lie bracket, an alternating bilinear map , that satisfies the Jacobi identity. In other words, a Lie algebra is an algebra over a field for which the multiplication operation is alternating and satisfies the Jacobi identity. The Lie bracket of two vectors and is denoted . A Lie algebra is typically a non-associative algebra. However, every associative algebra gives rise to a Lie algebra, consisting of the same vector space with the commutator Lie bracket, .
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 , the Lie group of real n-by-n invertible matrices, then the adjoint representation is the group homomorphism that sends an invertible n-by-n matrix to an endomorphism of the vector space of all linear transformations of defined by: .
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 mathematics, the universal enveloping algebra of a Lie algebra is the unital associative algebra whose representations correspond precisely to the representations of that Lie algebra.
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, the Killing form, named after Wilhelm Killing, is a symmetric bilinear form that plays a basic role in the theories of Lie groups and Lie algebras. Cartan's criteria show that Killing form has a close relationship to the semisimplicity of the Lie algebras.
In mathematics, a Lie algebra is semisimple if it is a direct sum of simple Lie algebras.
In mathematics, a maximal compact subgroupK of a topological group G is a subgroup K that is a compact space, in the subspace topology, and maximal amongst such subgroups.
In mathematics, a symmetric space is a Riemannian manifold whose group of symmetries contains an inversion symmetry about every point. This can be studied with the tools of Riemannian geometry, leading to consequences in the theory of holonomy; or algebraically through Lie theory, which allowed Cartan to give a complete classification. Symmetric spaces commonly occur in differential geometry, representation theory and harmonic analysis.
In mathematics, Lie algebra cohomology is a cohomology theory for Lie algebras. It was first introduced in 1929 by Élie Cartan to study the topology of Lie groups and homogeneous spaces by relating cohomological methods of Georges de Rham to properties of the Lie algebra. It was later extended by Claude Chevalley and Samuel Eilenberg to coefficients in an arbitrary Lie module.
In mathematics, Cartan's criterion gives conditions for a Lie algebra in characteristic 0 to be solvable, which implies a related criterion for the Lie algebra to be semisimple. It is based on the notion of the Killing form, a symmetric bilinear form on defined by the formula
In mathematics, a Hermitian symmetric space is a Hermitian manifold which at every point has an inversion symmetry preserving the Hermitian structure. First studied by Élie Cartan, they form a natural generalization of the notion of Riemannian symmetric space from real manifolds to complex manifolds.
In mathematics, a Lie bialgebra is the Lie-theoretic case of a bialgebra: it is a set with a Lie algebra and a Lie coalgebra structure which are compatible.
In algebra, a triple system is a vector space V over a field F together with a F-trilinear map
In algebra, the Nichols algebra of a braided vector space is a braided Hopf algebra which is denoted by and named after the mathematician Warren Nichols. It takes the role of quantum Borel part of a pointed Hopf algebra such as a quantum groups and their well known finite-dimensional truncations. Nichols algebras can immediately be used to write down new such quantum groups by using the Radford biproduct.
In mathematics, the Duflo isomorphism is an isomorphism between the center of the universal enveloping algebra of a finite-dimensional Lie algebra and the invariants of its symmetric algebra. It was introduced by Michel Duflo and later generalized to arbitrary finite-dimensional Lie algebras by Kontsevich.
In algebra, Weyl's theorem on complete reducibility is a fundamental result in the theory of Lie algebra representations. Let be a semisimple Lie algebra over a field of characteristic zero. The theorem states that every finite-dimensional module over is semisimple as a module
In mathematics, Lie group–Lie algebra correspondence allows one to correspond a Lie group to a Lie algebra or vice versa, and study the conditions for such a relationship. Lie groups that are isomorphic to each other have Lie algebras that are isomorphic to each other, but the converse is not necessarily true. One obvious counterexample is and which are non-isomorphic to each other as Lie groups but their Lie algebras are isomorphic to each other. However, for simply connected Lie groups, the Lie group-Lie algebra correspondence is one-to-one.
In the theory of Lie groups, the exponential map is a map from the Lie algebra of a Lie group to the group, which allows one to recapture the local group structure from the Lie algebra. The existence of the exponential map is one of the primary reasons that Lie algebras are a useful tool for studying Lie groups.
This is a glossary for the terminology applied in the mathematical theories of Lie groups and Lie algebras. For the topics in the representation theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, see Glossary of representation theory. Because of the lack of other options, the glossary also includes some generalizations such as quantum group.
This article incorporates material from Quadratic Lie algebra on PlanetMath, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.