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4 votes
2 answers
496 views

Is the condition ``adjoint action does not have eigenvalue $-1$" dense in a Lie group?

I need to answer (affirmatively, I hope) the following question: In a Lie group $G$ whose Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ is equipped with an $\mathrm{Ad}$-invariant scalar product, is the open subset ...
Xin Nie's user avatar
  • 1,804
5 votes
1 answer
404 views

determining symplecticity (if that's a word)

Suppose you have a matrix $M$ in $SL(n, \mathbb{Z}).$ Question: is there a necessary and sufficient condition for $M$ to be conjugate to $N \in Sp(n, \mathbb{Z}).$ It is clearly necessary that the ...
Igor Rivin's user avatar
  • 96.4k
2 votes
1 answer
297 views

equations over (some) lie groups

To be concrete, let $G=SL(n, \mathbb{C}),$ $\phi$ an automorphism of $G.$ Is there a characterization of those $x$ for which there exists a $y$ such that $x = y \phi(y)?$ In the special case, the ...
Igor Rivin's user avatar
  • 96.4k
2 votes
1 answer
232 views

An innocent looking subgroup of $U(n)$

Consider the Lie subalgebra of $\mathfrak{u}(n)$ given by $L = \{A \in \mathfrak{u}(n): \sum_{j=1}^n A_{ij} = 0 \text{ for all } i \in [n]\}$. What is its dimension? What does the corresponding Lie ...
John Jiang's user avatar
  • 4,466
6 votes
3 answers
482 views

Linear subspaces in cones over orthogonal groups

Consider the orthogonal group $G=O(n)$ as a subset of the vector space of $n\times n$ real matrices. Let $C=C(G)$ denote the Euclidean cone over $G$, i.e., the space of matrices of the form $tA, A\in ...
Misha's user avatar
  • 31.2k
6 votes
0 answers
465 views

Spaces of matrices with same eigenvalue/Great circles in O(n)-orbits

Let $Sym^2(V)$ be the set of symmetric matrices of a real $n$-dimensional vector space $V$. Given an element $\underline{\lambda}=[\lambda_1,\ldots \lambda_n]\in \mathbb{RP}^n$, where $\lambda_1\leq\...
CuriousUser's user avatar
  • 1,452
13 votes
1 answer
732 views

What is the "positive part" of the unit ball in $M_n(R)$ ?

In ${\bf M}_n(\mathbb R)$, let us consider the usual operator norm $$\|A\|=\sup\frac{\|Ax\|}{\|x\|},$$ where $\|x\|$ is the Euclidian norm. The closed unit ball $B$ is the set of contractions (in the ...
Denis Serre's user avatar
  • 52.3k
6 votes
4 answers
1k views

Polar decomposition for quaternionic matrices?

A non-zero complex number can be uniquely written in polar form as $re^{i\theta}$. There is an analogous result for complex matrices: any invertible complex matrix can be uniquely written as $UP$, ...
Bill Bradley's user avatar
  • 3,979
0 votes
0 answers
172 views

Generating Set for $O(V)$ over $\mathbb Z_2$

I am reading a claim that $O(V)$ — the orthogonal group associated with a finite-dimensional vector space $V$ over $\mathbb Z_2$ and a quadratic form $q$, i.e. the group of linear ...
Larry's user avatar
  • 105
3 votes
3 answers
461 views

Multiplicity of eigenvalues in 2-dim families of symmetric matrices

Say you have 2 symmetric matrices, $A$ and $B$, and you know that every linear combination $xA+yB$ ($x,\\,y\in \mathbb{R}$) has an eigenvalue of multiplicity at least $m>1$. Such a situation can of ...
CuriousUser's user avatar
  • 1,452
0 votes
1 answer
152 views

"locally" factoring subgroups of Lie groups

I'm not really a math person, and apologize if the question here is too simple. I've ended up with the following type of question for a few Lie groups, but state it for SO(n). I start with a subgroup ...
Starting_Stats's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
3k views

Parametrization of O(3)

Is there a simple way to parametrize the orthogonal group O(3) of 3 by 3 orthogonal matrices?
user10621's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
608 views

Orthogonal Projections in Lie Theory

I have been studying a finite element method where rigid & elastic spatial motions are separated using an orthogonal projection (actually two: one for translations/stretches, the other for ...
John Craighead's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
3k views

Left and right eigenvalues

A quaternionic matrix $A$ gives rise to a function $\mathbb{H}^n \to \mathbb{H}^n$ given by $x \mapsto A \cdot x$. This is real linear, but not complex- or quaternionic-linear (in general) if we ...
Jeff Strom's user avatar
  • 12.5k
-1 votes
2 answers
806 views

The lie algebra of the orthogonal group of an arbitrary space time metric

Let X ad Y be two vectors in R4, and define the inner product of X and Y as: (X*Y) = gikXiYk (summation convention for repeated indicies) Then we consider the 4x4 matrix g whose components are gik. ...
Matt's user avatar
  • 251
7 votes
2 answers
1k views

Abelianization of Lie groups

If G is a group, its abelianization is the abelian group A and the map G → A such that any map G → B with B abelian factors through A. Abelianization is a functor, and in general a very ...
Theo Johnson-Freyd's user avatar

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