Representations of classical Lie groups

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In mathematics, the finite-dimensional representations of the complex classical Lie groups , , , , , can be constructed using the general representation theory of semisimple Lie algebras. The groups , , are indeed simple Lie groups, and their finite-dimensional representations coincide [1] with those of their maximal compact subgroups, respectively , , . In the classification of simple Lie algebras, the corresponding algebras are

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However, since the complex classical Lie groups are linear groups, their representations are tensor representations. Each irreducible representation is labelled by a Young diagram, which encodes its structure and properties.

General linear group, special linear group and unitary group

Weyl's construction of tensor representations

Let be the defining representation of the general linear group . Tensor representations are the subrepresentations of (these are sometimes called polynomial representations). The irreducible subrepresentations of are the images of by Schur functors associated to integer partitions of into at most integers, i.e. to Young diagrams of size with . (If then .) Schur functors are defined using Young symmetrizers of the symmetric group , which acts naturally on . We write .

The dimensions of these irreducible representations are [1]

where is the hook length of the cell in the Young diagram .

Examples of tensor representations:

Tensor representation of Dimension Young diagram
Trivial representation
Determinant representation
Defining representation
Symmetric representation
Antisymmetric representation

General irreducible representations

Not all irreducible representations of are tensor representations. In general, irreducible representations of are mixed tensor representations, i.e. subrepresentations of , where is the dual representation of (these are sometimes called rational representations). In the end, the set of irreducible representations of is labeled by non increasing sequences of integers . If , we can associate to the pair of Young tableaux . This shows that irreducible representations of can be labeled by pairs of Young tableaux . Let us denote the irreducible representation of corresponding to the pair or equivalently to the sequence . With these notations,

where . [3] See [4] for an interpretation as a product of n-dependent factors divided by products of hook lengths.

Case of the special linear group

Two representations of are equivalent as representations of the special linear group if and only if there is such that . [1] For instance, the determinant representation is trivial in , i.e. it is equivalent to . In particular, irreducible representations of can be indexed by Young tableaux, and are all tensor representations (not mixed).

Case of the unitary group

The unitary group is the maximal compact subgroup of . The complexification of its Lie algebra is the algebra . In Lie theoretic terms, is the compact real form of , which means that complex linear, continuous irreducible representations of the latter are in one-to-one correspondence with complex linear, algebraic irreps of the former, via the inclusion . [5]

Tensor products

Tensor products of finite-dimensional representations of are given by the following formula: [6]

where unless and . Calling the number of lines in a tableau, if , then

where the natural integers are Littlewood-Richardson coefficients.

Below are a few examples of such tensor products:

Tensor product

In the case of tensor representations, 3-j symbols and 6-j symbols are known. [7]

Orthogonal group and special orthogonal group

In addition to the Lie group representations described here, the orthogonal group and special orthogonal group have spin representations, which are projective representations of these groups, i.e. representations of their universal covering groups.

Construction of representations

Since is a subgroup of , any irreducible representation of is also a representation of , which may however not be irreducible. In order for a tensor representation of to be irreducible, the tensors must be traceless. [8]

Irreducible representations of are parametrized by a subset of the Young diagrams associated to irreducible representations of : the diagrams such that the sum of the lengths of the first two columns is at most . [8] The irreducible representation that corresponds to such a diagram is a subrepresentation of the corresponding representation . For example, in the case of symmetric tensors, [1]

Case of the special orthogonal group

The antisymmetric tensor is a one-dimensional representation of , which is trivial for . Then where is obtained from by acting on the length of the first column as .

For example, the irreducible representations of correspond to Young diagrams of the types . The irreducible representations of correspond to , and . On the other hand, the dimensions of the spin representations of are even integers. [1]

Dimensions

The dimensions of irreducible representations of are given by a formula that depends on the parity of : [4]

There is also an expression as a factorized polynomial in : [4]

where are respectively row lengths, column lengths and hook lengths. In particular, antisymmetric representations have the same dimensions as their counterparts, , but symmetric representations do not,

Tensor products

In the stable range , the tensor product multiplicities that appear in the tensor product decomposition are Newell-Littlewood numbers, which do not depend on . [9] Beyond the stable range, the tensor product multiplicities become -dependent modifications of the Newell-Littlewood numbers. [10] [9] [11] For example, for , we have

Branching rules from the general linear group

Since the orthogonal group is a subgroup of the general linear group, representations of can be decomposed into representations of . The decomposition of a tensor representation is given in terms of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients by the Littlewood restriction rule [12]

where is a partition into even integers. The rule is valid in the stable range . The generalization to mixed tensor representations is

Similar branching rules can be written for the symplectic group. [12]

Symplectic group

Representations

The finite-dimensional irreducible representations of the symplectic group are parametrized by Young diagrams with at most rows. The dimension of the corresponding representation is [8]

There is also an expression as a factorized polynomial in : [4]

Tensor products

Just like in the case of the orthogonal group, tensor product multiplicities are given by Newell-Littlewood numbers in the stable range, and modifications thereof beyond the stable range.

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