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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
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

Classification of (not necessarily connected) compact Lie groups

I am looking for a classification of compact (not necessarily connected) Lie groups. Clearly, all such groups are extensions of a finite "component group" $\pi_0(G)$ by a compact connected ...
Ben Heidenreich's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
788 views

Reference request: Projective representations of a simply connected real semisimple Lie group lift to unitary representations

I recently got interested in representation theory in quantum mechanics and I read the following theorem: Let $G$ be a simply-connected Lie group with $H^2(\mathfrak{g},\mathbb{R})=0$ and let $\...
Lucas Smits's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
653 views

Reference request for the list of maximal subgroups of SU(3,1)

Is there a reference with the list of maximal subgroups of SU(p,q) for "small" values of p and q? (such as SU(3,1) as suggested in the title of the question)
Matheus's user avatar
  • 1,675
2 votes
1 answer
244 views

Hilbert's Finiteness Theorem for connected semisimple Lie groups in Weyl's "Classical Groups"

First of all, sorry for using this account. Somehow I can't login to my previous one anymore and am thus using the account associated to my MSE one. Also, I already asked the question on MSE, but didn'...
InvisiblePanda's user avatar
59 votes
4 answers
15k views

Group theory in machine learning

I'm a Machine Learning researcher who would like to research applications of group theory in ML. There is a term "Partially Observed Groups" in machine learning theory which has been ...
drosophyllum's user avatar
23 votes
1 answer
1k views

Geodesics in finite groups

It seems that I can generalize a result from compact, connected Lie groups to finite groups, but in order to do so, I need to have some kind of geodesics on finite groups. Below is a proposition for ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
20 votes
6 answers
4k views

Polynomial invariants of the exceptional Weyl groups

Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a simple complex Lie algebra, and let $\mathfrak{h} \subset \mathfrak{g}$ be a fixed Cartan subalgebra. Let $W$ be the Weyl group associated to $\mathfrak{g}$. Let $S(\mathfrak{h}...
Christopher Drupieski's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
2k views

Where did Sophus Lie write the group commutator for two one parameter groups

If $X,Y$ are vector fields and $\def\Fl{\operatorname{Fl}}\Fl^X_t$ and $\Fl^Y_t$ their local flows, let $[\Fl^X_t,\Fl^Y_t]:= \Fl^Y_{-t}\Fl^X_{-t}\Fl^Y_t\Fl^X_t$ denote the group commutator of the ...
Peter Michor's user avatar
  • 25.3k
17 votes
4 answers
5k views

Exceptional isomorphisms of Lie groups

It is known that in low dimensions certain exceptional isomorphisms arise between Lie groups. I have read about some of them in some papers, but I have not been able to find a "systematic" treatment ...
Vader's user avatar
  • 171
16 votes
5 answers
2k views

About the intrinsic definition of the Weyl group of complex semisimple Lie algebras

It may be a easy question for experts. The definition of the Weyl group of a complex semisimple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ is well-known: We first $\textbf{choose}$ a Cartan subalgebra $\mathfrak{h}$...
Zhaoting Wei's user avatar
  • 9,019
15 votes
2 answers
2k views

Isomorphism between Spin(3,2) and Sp(4, R)

I've been using the fact that Spin(3,2) is isomorphic to Sp(4, R) for a while, but I've never seen a proof. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good reference?
MRD1729's user avatar
  • 393
14 votes
5 answers
1k views

History of the notion of $(G,X)$-structure

I'm currently searching for sources and historical basis on the notion of $(G,X)$-structure as it appears in Thurston's work. So far, it appears that he was the first to set it. Many mathematicans ...
R. Alexandre's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
849 views

Groups associated with infinite dimensional Lie algebras

There is a classical correspondence between Lie algebras (over $\mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{C}$) and Lie groups in the finite dimensional case: to every Lie group $G$ there is an associated Lie algebra $\...
shane.orourke's user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
2k views

What is a good introduction to branching rules in representation theory?

I'm looking for a book or introductory article, that explains branching rules in representation theory of real Lie groups. When a Lie group has a set of irreducible representations, I'd like to know ...
Manuel Bärenz's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
3k views

Reference requested: Random walk on groups

I am looking for a good reference to learn about random walks on groups (either finite groups or Lie groups). Ideally, I would like a reference for general theory of random walks on groups that is ...
user47245's user avatar
  • 101
10 votes
2 answers
538 views

Is there an analogue of Mostow-Palais equivariant embedding theorem for noncompact groups

Let $M$ be a (Hausdorff) smooth compact manifold and $G$ a Lie group acting smoothly on $M$. If $G$ is compact then, by Mostow-Palais theorem, there exists an equivariant smooth embedding $M\to {\...
Misha's user avatar
  • 31.2k
8 votes
1 answer
673 views

Classification of compact globally symmetric spaces

It is known that any connected compact Lie group $G$ is a finite quotient of the product of a compact simply connected semisimple Lie group $\tilde{G}$ and a torus $\mathbb{T}^n$ (see for example ...
shrinklemma's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
650 views

Harish-Chandra isomorphism for compact symmetric spaces

I would be interested to have an explicit description of the algebra of invariant differential operators on functions on a compact symmetric space $G/K$. A reference would be especially useful. Below ...
asv's user avatar
  • 21.8k
7 votes
0 answers
508 views

Explicit formula for the Levi-Civita connection on a non-compact Riemannian symmetric space

Let $G/K$ be a non-compact Riemannian symmetric space, endowed with the Riemannian metric coming from the Killing form on the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ of the semi-simple Lie group $G$. Here $K$ is ...
B K's user avatar
  • 1,942
7 votes
2 answers
508 views

Is this characterization of (-1)-eigenspaces of the Weyl group of $E_6$ known?

I recently needed to know which circles $S$ in a maximal torus $T^6$ of the compact exceptional group $E_6$ yield one-dimensional subspaces $\mathfrak s$ of the Lie algebra $\mathfrak t^6$ that are ...
jdc's user avatar
  • 2,995
6 votes
2 answers
369 views

Connectedness of units in finite-dimensional commutative complex algebras

In the following, an algebra will always mean a finite-dimensional associative commutative unital algebra (over some field $k$). Let $A$ be a $\mathbb{C}$-algebra. I am trying to understand how its ...
M.G.'s user avatar
  • 7,127
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Parallel forms and cohomology of symmetric spaces

Let $G/H$ be a compact symmetric space. Then I believe the following is true: if $\alpha \in \Omega^k(G/H)$ and $\nabla$ the Levi-Civita connection, then $$ (\alpha \text{ is induced by an $\...
Eric O. Korman's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

A request for suggestions of advanced topics in representation theory

Please Note: The main points of the question below are in bold in order to minimize the time required to read the question. Let me begin by stating that I understand representation theory is a vast ...
6 votes
0 answers
234 views

Nascent formal group law

$\DeclareMathOperator\FGL{FGL}$The formal group law (cf. Wikipedia, Ex. 1.6 of nLab, Hazewinkel) derived from an analytic function or formal series $f(x) = x + a_2 x^2 + a_3 x^3 + ...$ and its formal ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
6 votes
0 answers
227 views

Origins of the generalized shift operator exp(t*g(z)d/dz)

Charles Graves in the 1850s investigated iterated operators of the form $g(x) \frac {d}{dx}$ (see page 13 in The Theory of Linear Operators ... (Principia Press, 1936) by Harold T. Davis). Graves ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
5 votes
0 answers
99 views

Does there always exist an irreducible representation occurring with multiplicity one when inducing from $M=Z_K(A)$ to $K$?

This question is a more specific version of Does there always exist an irreducible representation occurring with multiplicity one when inducing from a closed subgroup to a compact Lie group? . Since ...
B K's user avatar
  • 1,942
5 votes
1 answer
720 views

Poincaré–Bendixson theorem on the torus

I was reading the paper A Generalization of a Poincaré-Bendixson Theorem to Closed Two-Dimensional Manifolds by Arthur J. Schwartz which proves the following theorem: THEOREM. Let $M$ be a ...
hamid kamali's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
2k views

Lie subgroups of SU(4)

Other than subgroups of SU(3), what are the Lie subgroups of SU(4)? Assume that the subgroup is closed but not necessarily connected. Additionally, which of these subgroups admit four dimensional ...
Adam Bouland's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
758 views

Riemannian metric of hyperbolic plane

I'm fishing for the origin of the idea to consider "trace scalar product" on the space of ($G$-)orthogonal projectors as means of defining a Riemannian metric on some subset of lines in a vector space....
Vít Tuček's user avatar
  • 8,597
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Local structure of the quotient of a Lie group action

Suppose $M$ is a smooth manifold and a compact Lie group $G$ acts freely on $M$, then it is well known that $M/G$ has a manifold structure. Are there any results for the general case? (a) If the ...
Boyu Zhang's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
165 views

Cocompact lattices in $\mathrm{Sp}(n, 1)$

This is a continuation from my previous question. I am reading the following paper of Cowling-Haagerup, and I was wondering whether there are uniform lattices in $\mathrm{Sp}(n, 1)$. Is there some way ...
Y. Paka's user avatar
  • 131
2 votes
1 answer
214 views

What is the space parametrising the curved sub-Cartan geometries of a flat Cartan geometry?

I'm basically wondering how to make "curved" the first column of the diagram $\require{AMScd}$ \begin{CD} P_1 @>\textrm{inclusion} >> G\\ @V \omega_0 V P_1\cap P_2 V @V\omega V P_2 V\\...
Giovanni Moreno's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
97 views

A duality of finite groups coming from a surjective homomorphism with finite kernel of algebraic tori

$\newcommand{\Hom}{{\rm Hom}} \newcommand{\Gm}{{{\mathbb G}_{m,{\Bbb C}}}} \newcommand{\X}{{\sf X}} $ I am looking for a reference for the following lemma (for which I know a proof): Lemma. Let $\...
Mikhail Borovoi's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
434 views

Reference request: Any connected Lie group has a countable base for its topology

I am looking for a reference for the assertion in the title. This assertion is proved in a comment of user nfdc23 to this question. Has any proof of this assertion been published?
Mikhail Borovoi's user avatar