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10 votes
4 answers
2k views

Quotient space of $\mathbb{C}^5$ under the action of $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$

One sees that given the $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$ action on $\mathbb{C}^5$, thought of as the space of polynomials of the form, $$a_0 x^4 + 4a_1 x^3 y + 6a_2x^2y^2 + 4a_3xy^3 + a_4 y^4$$ the ring of ...
Anirbit's user avatar
  • 3,541
7 votes
0 answers
601 views

A few questions about $E_6$ and its symmetric spaces

Preface The purpose of my question - on high level - is to understand exceptional symmetric spaces. My latest idea is to embed them into Lie group. There is quite nice embedding of 32-dimensional $E_{...
user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
268 views

Generalising supercommutativity as a grading by the $1$-truncated sphere spectrum

A discussion that has been going recently is that supersymmetry corresponds to grading over the sphere spectrum, coming from an insight due to Kapranov. To formalise such a statement, one needs a ...
Emily's user avatar
  • 11.8k
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

Solid rings and Tor

A solid ring is a ring $R$ such that the multiplication $R\otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} R \to R$ is an isomorphism. These were classified by Bousfield and Kan; they are subrings of $\mathbb{Q}$, $\mathbb{Z}/...
Jeff Strom's user avatar
  • 12.5k
6 votes
1 answer
231 views

Does Manin's construction of non-commutative endomorphism algebra $\mathrm{End}(A)$ produce Koszul algebra, if $A$ is Koszul?

$\newcommand{\dual}{\mathrm{dual}}\DeclareMathOperator\End{End}\DeclareMathOperator\Fun{Fun}\DeclareMathOperator\Spec{Spec}\DeclareMathOperator\GL{GL}$Around 1986–7 Yu.Manin proposed natural and ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
272 views

Exceptional symmetric spaces embedded in exceptional Lie group

In Yokota (1959) and Atsuyama (1977) papers one can find embedding of projective space $\mathbb OP^2$ into Lie group $F_4$. Lately I come to following idea to have embedding of all four projective ...
user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
762 views

Rewrite sum of radicals equation as polynomial equation

My question is about a method described in [Dr.Math forum][1] for simplifying equations involving sums of radical functions. (The following is a transcription of the example given by Dr. Vogler): --- ...
mvc's user avatar
  • 153
4 votes
1 answer
614 views

About the conjugation of semi-simple subgroups

Let $G$ be a semi-simple algebraic group over $\mathbb{Q}$, I would like to find an integer $d>0$ only depending on $G$ with the following property. For any two semi-simple $\mathbb{Q}$-subgroups $...
Golden Wave 's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
637 views

Faithful finite-dimensional unitary representations

Is there any characterization of the non-compact connected Lie groups that possess faithful finite-dimensional unitary representations?
William of Baskerville's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
357 views

Rank of a $ \mathbb{Z}_{p}[[T]] $ module

Let $p$ be a prime and $M$ is a finitely generated $ \mathbb{Z}_{p}[[T]] $ module. Suppose $M[p]$ denotes the $p$-torsion of $M$. Then $M[p]$ and $M/(p)$ are both $ F_{p}$ vector spaces. So we can ...
Suman's user avatar
  • 1,209
114 votes
2 answers
12k views

How would you solve this tantalizing Halmos problem?

$1-ab$ invertible $\implies$ $1-ba$ invertible has a slick power series "proof" as below, where Halmos asks for an explanation of why this tantalizing derivation succeeds. Do you know one? Geometric ...
Bill Dubuque's user avatar
  • 4,736
106 votes
3 answers
10k views

Has the Lie group E8 really been detected experimentally?

A few months ago there were several math talks about how the Lie group E8 had been detected in some physics experiment. I recently looked up the original paper where this was announced, "Quantum ...
Richard Borcherds's user avatar
74 votes
1 answer
6k views

$R$ is isomorphic to $R[X,Y]$, but not to $R[X]$

Is there a commutative ring $R$ with $R \cong R[X,Y]$ and $R \not\cong R[X]$? This is a ring-theoretic analog of my previous question about abelian groups: In fact, in any algebraic category we may ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
62 votes
25 answers
70k views

Linear Algebra Texts?

Can anyone suggest a relatively gentle linear algebra text that integrates vector spaces and matrix algebra right from the start? I've found in the past that students react in very negative ways to ...
60 votes
8 answers
13k views

Why the Killing form?

I'm teaching a short summer course on algebraic groups and it's time to talk about the Killing form on the Lie algebra. The students are all undergrads of varying levels of inexperience, and I try to ...
Ryan Reich's user avatar
  • 7,273
53 votes
7 answers
14k views

Good lattice theory books?

A recent answer motivated me to post about this. I've always had a vague, unpleasant feeling that somehow lattice theory has been completely robbed of the important place it deserves in mathematics - ...
47 votes
9 answers
11k views

What are the reasons for considering rings without identity?

I think a major reason is because Lie algebras don't have an identity, but I'm not really sure.
42 votes
9 answers
6k views

Is every finite-dimensional Lie algebra the Lie algebra of an algebraic group?

Harold Williams, Pablo Solis, and I were chatting and the following question came up. In Lie group land (where you're doing differential geometry), given a finite-dimensional Lie algebra g, you can ...
Anton Geraschenko's user avatar
40 votes
9 answers
10k views

Simplest examples of rings that are not isomorphic to their opposites

What are the simplest examples of rings that are not isomorphic to their opposite rings? Is there a science to constructing them? The only simple example known to me: In Jacobson's Basic Algebra (...
Amritanshu Prasad's user avatar
38 votes
18 answers
24k views

Learning about Lie groups

Can someone suggest a good book for teaching myself about Lie groups? I study algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, and I like lots of examples. Thanks.
36 votes
3 answers
2k views

Are large powers of polynomials linearly independent?

Let $P_1,\dots,P_k$ be polynomials over $\mathbf{C}$, no two of them being proportional. Does there exist an integer $N$ such that $P_1^N,\dots,P_k^N$ are linearly independent?
Guillaume Aubrun's user avatar
34 votes
8 answers
4k views

Uncountable counterexamples in algebra

In functional analysis, there are many examples of things that "go wrong" in the nonseparable setting. For instance, my favorite version of the spectral theorem only works for operators on a ...
34 votes
1 answer
5k views

Freyd-Mitchell's embedding theorem

Freyd–Mitchell's embedding theorem states that: if $A$ is a small abelian category, then there exists a ring R and a full, faithful and exact functor $F\colon A \to R\text{-}\mathrm{Mod}$. I have been ...
Bruno Stonek's user avatar
  • 3,004
33 votes
3 answers
6k views

When is a finite dimensional real or complex Lie Group not a matrix group

I have a smattering of knowledge and disconnected facts about this question, so I would like to clarify the following discussion, and I also seek references and citations supporting this knowledge. ...
Selene Routley's user avatar
28 votes
4 answers
5k views

Triality of Spin(8)

Among simple Lie groups, $Spin(8)$ is the most symmetrical one in the sense that $Out(Spin(8))$ is the largest possible group. A description of this outer automorphism groups is as follows. $Spin(8)$ ...
Aliakbar Daemi's user avatar
25 votes
8 answers
6k views

What is the "right" definition of a ring?

This is somewhat related to Greg's question about groups and abelian groups. Suppose you met someone who was well-acquainted with groups, but who was unwilling to accept rings as a meaningful object ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
24 votes
3 answers
2k views

Real Lie groups versus real linear algebraic groups: differences in connexity and fundamental group

There are many introductory texts on real Lie groups, and many on linear algebraic groups in general, but fewer on the specific case of linear algebraic groups over the reals, and even fewer that try ...
Gro-Tsen's user avatar
  • 32.5k
23 votes
3 answers
2k views

How bad can $\pi_1$ of a linear group orbit be?

Let $G$ be a simply connected Lie group and $\mathcal O= G(v)=G/G_v$ a $G$-orbit in some finite-dimensional $G$-module $V$. By the homotopy exact sequence, its fundamental group $\Gamma$ is the ...
Francois Ziegler's user avatar
23 votes
6 answers
5k views

cohomology of BG, G compact Lie group

It has been stated in several papers that $H^{odd}(BG,\mathbb{R})=0$ for compact Lie group $G$. However, I've still not found a proof of this. I believe that the proof is as follows: --> $G$ compact ...
Kevin Wray's user avatar
  • 1,709
22 votes
6 answers
3k views

Automorphism group of real orthogonal Lie groups

I would like to understand what is the "outer-automorphism group" $Out$ of $SO(p,q)$ and $O(p,q)$, where $p+q >0$ and $pq \neq 0$. My working definition of $Out$ is as follows: Let us denote by $...
Bilateral's user avatar
  • 2,816
22 votes
1 answer
1k views

Word maps on compact Lie groups

Let $w=w(a,b)$ be a non-trivial word in the free group $F_2 = \langle a,b \rangle$ and $w_G \colon G \times G \to G$ be the induced word map for some compact Lie group $G$. Murray Gerstenhaber and ...
Andreas Thom's user avatar
  • 25.5k
21 votes
4 answers
5k views

The number of ideals in a ring

Here is a question that I first asked in math.stackexchange, but I think the question must be proposed here. Let $R$ be a finite commutative ring with identity. Under what conditions the number of ...
alex alexeq's user avatar
  • 1,881
20 votes
2 answers
1k views

The first unstable homotopy group of $Sp(n)$

Thanks to the fibrations \begin{align*} SO(n) \to SO(n+1) &\to S^n\\ SU(n) \to SU(n+1) &\to S^{2n+1}\\ Sp(n) \to Sp(n+1) &\to S^{4n+3} \end{align*} we know that \begin{align*} \pi_i(SO(...
Michael Albanese's user avatar
20 votes
3 answers
2k views

Can a module be an extension in two really different ways?

(Edit: I've realized that there was an error in my reasoning when I was convincing myself that these two formulations are equivalent. Hailong has given a beautiful affirmative answer to my first ...
Anton Geraschenko's user avatar
20 votes
4 answers
3k views

Relationship between the cohomology of a group and the cohomology of its associated Lie algebra

Let $G$ be a group and let $k$ be a field (characteristic 0 if you want). Let $L$ be the graded Lie ring associated to the lower central series of $G$, that is, $L$, as a graded abelian group is $\...
Peter Goetz's user avatar
20 votes
3 answers
9k views

Curvature of a Lie group

Since a lie group is a manifold with the structure of a continuous group, then each point of the manifold [Edit: provided we fix a metric, for example an invariant or bi-invariant one] has some scalar ...
Matt's user avatar
  • 251
20 votes
3 answers
840 views

Is there an analogue of the hive model for Littlewood-Richardson coefficients of types $B$, $C$ and $D$?

If $V_\lambda$, $V_\mu$ and $V_\nu$ are irreducible representations of $\operatorname{GL}_n$, the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient $c_{\lambda\mu}^\nu$ denotes the multiplicity of $V_\nu$ in the ...
Hari's user avatar
  • 313
20 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why do flag manifolds, in the P(V_rho) embedding, look like products of P^1s?

Bert Kostant mentioned an odd fact to me some time ago. As usual (with such statements), fix a complex, connected, reductive) Lie group $G$, with maximal torus $T$, and Weyl vector $\rho$ equal to ...
Allen Knutson's user avatar
19 votes
2 answers
3k views

Does every irreducible representation of a compact group occur in tensor products of a faithful representation and its dual?

(Previously posted on math.SE with no answers.) Let $G$ be a compact Lie group and $V$ a faithful (complex, continuous, finite-dimensional) representation of it. Is it true that every (complex, ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
2k views

What is the geometric object corresponding to a subalgebra in a polynomial ring

Many introductory texts on algebraic geometry set up some sort of algebra-geometry dictionary in which radical ideals correspond to varieties, and so on. I am wondering if there is a geometric way to ...
Thomas Kahle's user avatar
  • 1,961
19 votes
5 answers
2k views

Is there a formula for the Frobenius-Schur indicator of a rep of a Lie group?

Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group group over $\mathbb C$. Let $V$ be a self-dual representation of $G$. Let $\lambda$ be the highest weight of $V$. Write $\lambda$ as a sum of fundamental weights: $...
André Henriques's user avatar
18 votes
3 answers
702 views

Existence of a ring with specified residue fields

Given a finite set of fields $k_1, \ldots, k_n$, is there a (commutative with $1$) ring $R$ with (maximal) ideals $m_i$ such that $R/m_i \cong k_i$? To prevent things from being too easy, I require ...
zcn's user avatar
  • 706
18 votes
3 answers
3k views

Which groups have only real and quaternionic irreducible representations?

Consider a continuous irreducible representation of a compact Lie group on a finite-dimensional complex Hilbert space. There are three mutually exclusive options: 1) it's not isomorphic to its dual (...
John Baez's user avatar
  • 22.3k
18 votes
4 answers
2k views

For which rings $R$ is $\mathrm{SL}_n(R)$ generated by transvections?

Let $R$ be a commutative ring $R$ with $1$, and $n \geq 2$ an integer. Under which conditions is the group $\operatorname{SL}_n(R)$ generated by transvections? (A transvection is a matrix with $1$ ...
Tom De Medts's user avatar
  • 6,614
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

In a compact lie group, can two closed connected subgroups generate a non-closed subgroup?

Let $H$,$K$ be closed connected subgroups of a compact Lie group $G$. Let $L:=\langle H,K \rangle$ be the subgroup they generate, ie, the smallest subgroup of $G$ containing them both. Must $L$ be ...
Bob Yuncken's user avatar
17 votes
6 answers
3k views

What's an example of a transcendental power series?

Let $k$ be a field. What is an explicit power series $f \in k[[t]]$ that is transcendental over $k[t]$? I am looking for elementary example (so there should be a proof of transcendence that does ...
jlk's user avatar
  • 3,284
17 votes
1 answer
3k views

Differences in philosophy between Lie Groups and Differential Galois Theory

As far as I have heard,Sophus Lie's aim was to construct an analogue of galois theory for differential galois theory. I am familiar with lie group but not with differential galois theory. What is the ...
Koushik's user avatar
  • 2,106
17 votes
3 answers
905 views

Existence of translation-invariant basis on $C_c(\mathbb R)$

Consider the space $C_c(\mathbb R)$ of complex-valued continuous functions of compact support. This is a vector space over $\mathbb C$, and I am not considering any topology, so the question is ...
Nick S's user avatar
  • 2,071
16 votes
0 answers
860 views

Is "being a full ring of quotients" a Morita invariant property?

Definition and context: An (associative, unital, not necessarily commutative) ring $R$ is called classical if every regular element of $R$ is a unit. Equivalently, $R$ is its own classical ring of ...
Torsten Schoeneberg's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
1k views

Which commutative groups are the group of units of some field?

Inspired by a recent question on the multiplicative group of fields. Necessary conditions include that there are at most $n$ solutions to $x^n = 1$ in such a group and that any finite subgroup is ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar

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