Questions tagged [lie-groups]
Lie Groups are Groups that are additionally smooth manifolds such that the multiplication and the inverse maps are smooth.
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questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Which classes in $\mathrm{H}^4(B\mathrm{Exceptional}; \mathbb{Z})$ are classical characteristic classes?
Let $G$ be a compact connected Lie group. Recall that $\mathrm{H}^4(\mathrm{B}G;\mathbb{Z})$ is then a free abelian group of finite rank. Let us say that a class $c \in \mathrm{H}^4(\mathrm{B}G;\...
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Should the Dynkin diagrams of types $A_1$ and $B_2$ be labelled $C_1$ and $C_2$?
The labels $A$--$G$ attached to connected Dynkin diagrams are of course arbitrary,
the result of historical accidents. In order to avoid repetitions, the four infinite
families $A_\ell, B_\ell, C_\...
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What groups are Lie groups?
We know how to tell if a topological group is a Lie group: this was famously asked by Hilbert and answered gloriously by Gleason, Montgomery and Zippin in the 50s (a locally compact topological group ...
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Does a symplectic group act on a tensor power of a spin representation?
$\DeclareMathOperator\Spin{Spin}\DeclareMathOperator\Sp{Sp}$More specifically, let $S_k$ be the spin representation of $\Spin(2k+1)$.
Then is there are action of $\Sp(2r-2)$ on $\bigotimes^{2r}S_k$ ...
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Lie theoretic meaning to $e^{\text{cycle}} = \text{permutation}$?
It is well known that exponentiating the EGF(exponential generating function) for cycles gives the EGF for permutations: link here. Usually summarized under the catchy slogan ...
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Geometric (smooth) Rubik's cube
I and my friend are thinking about a smooth analog of Rubik's cube. One idea is the following:
Consider the 2-dimensional sphere $S^{2}$. We choose three parameters: $(L, H, \theta)$. Here $L$ is a ...
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888
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How does duality of symmetric spaces explain the hyperbolic cosine theorem?
There is a well-known duality between compact symmetric spaces and symmetric spaces of noncompact type. Basically it goes as follows: If $$G/K$$ is a symmetric space of noncompact type, $$g=k+p$$ the ...
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Maximal Tori and group structures on spheres
It is known that for any compact Lie group $G$ with maximal torus $T$, that any other maximal torus $T'$ is conjugate to $T$. This might be a bit of a stretch, but I was wondering if it is possible to ...
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To what extent does (co)homology of groups made discrete depend on set theory?
There's a well-known paper by Milnor, "On the homology of Lie groups made discrete," that discusses the relation between the homology of a Lie group $G$ and the underlying discrete group $G^\delta$. ...
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Is the monster group maximal in SO(196883)?
$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}$The smallest degree of a nontrivial complex representation of the monster group $ M $ is $ 196883 $. This irrep has Schur indicator $ 1 $, so the image must lie in the ...
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How does quotienting by a finite subgroup act on the framed-cobordism class of a group manifold?
Let $G$ be a connected simple connected compact Lie group, and $\Gamma \subset G$ a finite subgroup. Then (the underlying manifold of) $G$ can be framed by right-invariant vector fields, and this ...
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Calculation-free proof of the Weyl Integral formula for U(n)
The Weyl integral formula states that if $f$ is a class function on $U(n),$ $T$ is the torus of diagonal matrices in $U(n)$, and $dU(n)$ and $dT$ are the standard Haar measures on $U(n)$ and $T,$ then:...
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Singular cohomology of $BG$ and Borel cohomology of $G$
Stasheff, in "Continuous Cohomology of Groups and Classifying Spaces", attributes the following result to Wigner.
For $A$ a discrete abelian group and $G$ a finite dimensional locally compact, $\...
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Are the extra vertices in Nakajima's doubling of a quiver related to Langlands duality?
To define a Nakajima quiver variety associated to a quiver $Q = (Q_0,Q_1)$
(vertices and arrows), one first doubles it to $Q^\heartsuit$ by attaching
an extra vertex to every old vertex in $Q_0$. Then ...
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Symmetric spaces are quandles. Is this important?
For concreteness, let's consider a connected reductive Lie group $G$, and an involution $\theta$ on it. Then the associated symmetric space $X=G/G^\theta$ has the structure of an involutive quandle: ...
- 2,336
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Intrepreting Spin(3) as a certain configuration space
Let $\mathcal{C}$ denote the space of great circles in $\mathbb{S}^2\subset \mathbb{R}^3$. It's pretty easy to see that any element $\mathcal{C}$ can be identified uniquely with the axial line (in $\...
- 2,422
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Maurer-Cartan equation for Lie groups/homogeneous space vs. Maurer-Cartan of deformation theory
What is the relationship between the Maurer-Cartan equation
$$
d\theta + \dfrac{1}{2}[\theta,\theta] = 0
$$
satisfied by Maurer-Cartan forms on Lie groups, or by pullbacks of Maurer-Cartan forms along ...
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What is miraculous about the mirabolic subgroup?
I recently asked this question about Euler subgroups and generalizing the automorphic theory of $\mathrm{GL}_n$ to a more general setting. My question here is more specific.
As mentioned there, the ...
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The existence of a fiber sequence involving $\mathrm{Spin}(9)$ and $\mathrm{SU}(2)$
$\newcommand{\SU}{\mathrm{SU}} \newcommand{\Spin}{\mathrm{Spin}}$There is a fiber sequence $G_2\to \Spin(9) \to \Spin(9)/G_2$, and $G_2$ contains $\SU(3)$ as a subgroup. Is there a space (possibly a ...
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How to define (and compute) the Cartan-Killing form of the group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms?
This question was raised a while ago in a blog post by Terry Tao on the Euler-Arnold equation and he called it "quite tricky".
Has anyone in the meantime tried to formulate this question precisely, ...
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Connection between Gelfand-Tsetlin basis and SSYT basis in Schur module
Consider an $n$-dimensional complex vector space $V$ with a chosen basis $e_1,\ldots,e_n$. This basis defines a Cartan decompostion of $GL(V)\cong GL_n$ and for an (integral dominant) highest weight $\...
- 3,493
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On the proof by Chu-Kobayashi that transformation groups are Lie groups
Chapter I of Kobayashi's Transformation Groups in Differential Geometry contains a very general theorem on transformation groups, due to Palais. I have some questions about its proof (which I attach ...
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Definition of a uniformly bounded dual of a group
The unitary dual of a group $G$ is the set of equivalence classes of irreducible unitary representations of $G$ with the Fell topology. (This topology is defined using convergence of positive definite ...
user2412
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For which Lie groups is the convolution of any two nonzero integrable compactly supported functions nonzero?
The Titchmarsh convolution theorem implies that the convolution of two nonzero functions $f,g\in L^1(\mathbb R)$ with compact support is nonzero. There is a generalization of this theorem to the case ...
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Each simple real Lie algebra as a representation of its maximal compact subalgebra
I am interested in a detailed description of the Cartan decomposition of each type of simple, real, finite-dimensional Lie algebra. (This is essentially a question about the classification of simple, ...
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Compact Lie groups are rational homotopy equivalent to a product of spheres
According to [1] and [2], it is “well-known” that a compact Lie group $G$ has the same rational homology, and according to [2] is even rational homotopy equivalent, to the product $\mathbb{S}^{2m_1+1} ...
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How to describe the power operation on Lie groups?
Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a semisimple Lie algebra over $\mathbb{C}$, or its compact form over $\mathbb{R}$. Recall that the automorphism group $\operatorname{Aut}(\mathfrak{g})$ is of the form $G^{\...
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Fake degrees: why coinvariant algebra and classical groups over finite fields?
Apologies if this is not research level math (in that it concerns well-known stuff), but I am having trouble tracking down sources that explain the following. References would be very appreciated.
...
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Interpretation of determinants on commutative rings
In real Euclidian space, the result of the determinant can be interpreted as the oriented volume of the image of the unit cube under an invertible linear map.
This interpretation conceptually depends ...
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Homology of Lie groups
Let $G$ be a Lie group and $G^{\delta}$ the underlying group (with discrete topology). Obviously, we have a continuous map of groups $i:G^{\delta}\rightarrow G$ which induces a map between classifying ...
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differentiating positive energy LG reps
Background:Let $G$ be a cscsc¹ Lie group, and let $\widetilde{LG}$ be the universal central extension (center = $S^1$) of $LG:=Map_{C^\infty}(S^1,G)$, with the topology inherited from the $C^\infty$ ...
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Is endoscopy interesting in simply-laced cases?
Let $G$ be a complex algebraic group, and write $Z(g)$ for the centralizer of a semisimple element $g$ in $G$. I will assume $G$ is simply connected, in which case $Z(g)$ is connected.
Let $G^\vee$ ...
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Mappings of the sphere (to itself) defined by homogeneous polynomials
Preamble
$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}$Let $\mathbb{S}^m\subset \mathbb{R}^{m+1}$ be the standard unit sphere. An observation of Do Carmo and Wallach states that
If $G$ is a subgroup of $\SO(m+1)$ ...
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Parallelizability of Lie monoids
A Lie monoid is a monoid, together with a structure of a smooth manifold (possibly with a boundary), such that the monoid multiplication is smooth.
If all left (or right) translations in a Lie monoid $...
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Derived subgroups of 2-adic congruence subgroups of $\mathrm{SL}_2$
$\DeclareMathOperator\SL{SL}$Let $p$ be a prime, and let $\Gamma_r$ denote the kernel of the map $\SL_2(\mathbb{Z}_p)\rightarrow \SL_2(\mathbb{Z}_p/p^r\mathbb{Z}_p)$.
Explicit formulas with formal ...
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Maximal geodesic spheres in the "octooctonic projective plane"
Boris Rosenfeld claimed that the 128-dimensional compact Riemannian symmetric space on which $\mathrm{E}_8$ acts as isometries could be seen as the "octooctonionic projective plane", $(\...
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Is every space a classifying space?
Despite a pretty thorough look (I think) I can’t find the answer to the following question: Is every (reasonable?) path connected space weakly equivalent to the classifying space of some topological ...
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Octonionic Stiefel manifolds
The Stiefel manifolds are presented in this Wikipedia article
over the division algebras $\mathbb{R,C,H}$. In fact, they are presented as homogeneous spaces, respectively for the $A,B,C$,and $D$ ...
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Can semisimple orbits be written $\exp(\mathfrak{g})\cdot x$?
Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a complex semisimple Lie algebra and let $G$ be its adjoint group. If $x\in\mathfrak{g}^{rs}$ is a regular semisimple element, is its orbit
$$G\cdot x=\{\mathrm{Ad}_gx:g\in G\}$$
...
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Relating bordism groups of $\Omega_{d}^{Spin_c}$ and $\Omega_{d}^{(Spin \times SU(N))/\mathbb{Z}_2}$ to that of $U(N)$
I felt that the earlier question may be too challenging, so let me provide a different angle and more infos to tackle an easier and separate problem.
Let us consider a more explicit a short exact ...
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652
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Models for Eilenberg-MacLane space K(Z,3)
Denote by $U(H)$ and $PU(H)$ the unitary and projective unitary groups on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space $H$. Recall that $U(H)$ is contractible by Kuiper's theorem and that $PU(H)$ is a $K(Z,2)...
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Fixed-points of a topological circle action
Suppose the circle group $G = S^1$ acts on $X$.
If $X$ is a closed smooth manifold (and the action is smooth), then we know the fixed-points $X^G$ are a disjoint union of smooth submanifolds of $X$. ...
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Branching rules for compact Lie groups
Let $G$ be a compact connected Lie group, and let $H\subset G$ be a closed subgroup. For an irreducible representation $\pi:G\to\mathrm{End}_\mathbb{C}(V)$ of $G$ ($\dim\pi<\infty$) I want to know ...
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Samelson Products in $SO(n)$
Given a topological group $G$ one forms the commutator $c\colon G\times G\rightarrow G$, $(x,y)\mapsto xyx^{-1}y^{-1}$. This map then factors through the smash $G\wedge G$. This map is the most ...
- 5,016
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Finding $U,V$ in Thompson's Formula
Thompson's formula says, given $A,B \in \mathfrak{su}(n)$, there exists $U,V \in SU(n)$ such that:
$e^{A}e^{B}=e^{UAU^{\dagger} + VBV^{\dagger}}$
Given $a,b \in \mathfrak{su}(4)$ defined by:
$a=J_x ...
- 2,069
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Geometrizing the Third Cohomology of a Complex Lie Group
If $G_\mathbb{C}$ is a simply-connected simple complex Lie group, theorem 5.4.10 of Brylinski's "Loop Spaces, Characteristic Classes, and Geometric Quantization" claims that there is a natural $\...
- 22.2k
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387
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Reflection groups in O(n+1,n) arising `in nature'?
For a while a friend and I have been thinking about a family of integral symmetric bilinear forms of signature $(n+1,n)$. Such lattices in our case arise 'in nature' (in a certain problem about vector ...
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Has the Lie group preserving a probability distribution been used in Bayesian statistics?
For a (possibly signed) nondegenerate probability measure $\pi$ on $\{1,\dots,n\}$ define
$$\langle \pi \rangle := \{R \in \operatorname{STO}(n): \pi R = \pi \}.$$
Here $\operatorname{STO}(n)$ denotes ...
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Explicit construction of a (the?) dual symmetric space
I am looking for a reference, proof or disproof of the fact that every Riemannian globally symmetric space of compact (non-compact) type has a "dual", which is of non-compact (compact) type.
...
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A Lie-theoretic question regarding $B\ltimes \mathfrak{g}/\mathfrak{b}$
I am stuck on a seeming elementary Lie-theoretic question arising from a study of components of affine Springer fibers. Will be very grateful if somebody would like to share some insight, or ...
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