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Given a semisimple Lie group G, let T be a maximal torus, W be the Weyl group defined as the quotient N(T)/C(T), where N(T) denotes the normalizer of T and C(T) denotes the centralizer. Two questions are:
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In general it is not possible to embed the Weyl group $W$ in the group $G$: already you can see this for $SL_2(\mathbb C)$, where the Weyl group has order $2$: if the torus fixes the lines spanned by $e_1$ and $e_2$ respectively, you want to pick the linear map taking $e_1$ to $e_2$ and $e_2$ to $e_1$, but this has determinant $-1$. A lift of $W$ to $N(T)$ must be an element of order $4$ not $2$, say $e_1 \mapsto -e_2$ and $e_2 \mapsto e_1$. In fact, Tits has shown that this is essentially the only obstruction: the Weyl group can always be lifted to a group $\tilde{W}$ inside $G$ which is an extension of $W$ by an elementary abelian $2$-group of order $2^l$ where $l$ is the number of simple roots. If I recall correctly, this lift is then unique up to conjugation. |
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