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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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Compact connected iff semi-simple for Lie Groups?

Are compact & connected Lie Groups in correspondence with semi-simple Lie groups? I think there is a condition on the center (discrete?) but I'm not sure.
Elmore J's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
5k views

Iwasawa Decomposition & Polar Decomposition related how ?

In an earlier post (Use Lie Sub-Groups of GL(3, R) for elastic deformation ? here), I mentioned polar decompositions as in F = RU where R in SO(3) & U in symmetric positive-semidefinite matrices. ...
John Craighead's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
965 views

How do Lie groups classify geometry?

I have often heard that Lie groups classify geometry. For example that $O(n)$ is about real manifolds, $U$ is about almost complex manifolds, $SO(n)$ about orientable real manifolds and so on. I have ...
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5 votes
1 answer
384 views

Conjugacy classes with elliptic limit points

Let $G$ be a reductive algebraic group over $\mathbb R$ and $K$ a maximal compact subgroup. Then we refer to the conjugacy class in $G$ of some $k \in K$ as an elliptic conjugacy class. Question: ...
Tobias Hartnick's user avatar
18 votes
5 answers
6k views

Does a finite-dimensional Lie algebra always exponentiate into a universal covering group

Hi, I am a theoretical physicist with no formal "pure math" education, so please calibrate my questions accordingly. Consider a finite-dimensional Lie algebra, A, spanned by its d generators, X_1,.....
Victor Galitski's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
2k views

Explicit isomorphism between distributions and universal enveloping algebra

The universal enveloping algebra of a Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ is isomorphic to the algebra of distributions on the Lie group $G$ with support at the identity. The proof I have of this fact uses the ...
Najdorf's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
561 views

What is the Schouten bracket for the Chevalley-Eilenberg complex with coefficients in a nontrivial module?

Let $\mathfrak g$ be a Lie algebra. The Chevalley-Eilenberg complex is defined to be $\wedge^* \mathfrak g$ with differential $d\colon \wedge^* \mathfrak g\to \wedge^{*-1}\mathfrak g$ defined by $$d(...
Jim Conant's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
418 views

Centralizers and Cartan involutions

This should be an easy question about centralizers in reductive lie groups, but I wonder if it is already available from the literature. Consider $G$ a connected non-compact semi-simple Lie group, ...
turtle's user avatar
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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
3 votes
1 answer
293 views

the relation between cohomology and Dynkin graphs of lie groups

I heard it said that the cohomology rings of some Lie groups and Grassmannians can be read from the Dynkin graph. Can someone give me any reference?
tiansong's user avatar
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1 answer
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What does the weights of Lie group mean?

Let $\Delta=\{\alpha_1,\alpha_2\}$ be the simple root system of the exceptional Lie group $G_2$ with $\alpha_1$ is short and $\alpha_2$ is long, so $\lambda_1=2\alpha_1+\alpha_2,\lambda_2=3\...
tiansong's user avatar
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Is there a group-scheme equivalent of the theorem that any Lie group is diff. to a compact one cross R^n?

I'm rather ignorant in both fields, but I would still like to endeavor asking this question. I've just learned that any Lie group is diffeomorphic to a compact Lie group cross $\mathbb{R}^n$. While ...
James D. Taylor's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

how to recognize subgroups through Dynkin diagram?

Fix $\mathbb{C}$ as the base field, and reductive groups are assumed to be connected. Consider the example $SO_N\subset SL_N$. $SO_N$ is its own normalizer in $SL_N$, and the rank is much smaller ...
genshin's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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Which covers of Lie groups will I get

Here is a question I get from sitting in my Lie algebra class: Fix a Lie algebra $\mathfrak{h}$, we know there is a unique simply connected Lie group $H$ which serves as the universal cover of other ...
Ying Zhang's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
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Physical Meaning of Constant Velocity Gradient

I'm interested in representing homogeneous elastic deformations using Lie groups/algebras. Homogeneous deformations are those with a deformation gradient F which depends only on time (not position). ...
John Craighead's user avatar
19 votes
3 answers
5k views

What is the outer automorphism group of SU(n)?

All the automorphisms of $SU(2)$ seem to be inner, which would mean that $\mathrm{Out}$ $SU(2)$ is trivial. Is that correct? Is this true in general $SU(n)$? I can't quite see -- any thoughts would be ...
soulphysics's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
633 views

Groups of Hodge type, hodge structure on Lie algebra

Hi, Let $W$ be a real algebraic group, and $G$ the associated complex group. Then $W$ is of Hodge type if there is a $\mathbb{C}^*$ action on $G$ such that $U(1)$ preserves $W$ and the action of $-1$ ...
Dan88's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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question about equivariant embeddings of riemannian symmetric domains

Here by riemannian symmetric domain is understood an riemannian symmetric space with only factors of non-compact types. Such domains are realized as quotients of the form $D=G/K$, where $G$ is a ...
genshin's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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How to calculate the dimensions of representations of SO(6) and SO(10)?

The representation of SO(6) is $[i,j,k]$; The representation of SO(10) is $[i,j,k,m,n]$. Is there any analytical formula to calculate the dimensions of those representations? For example, for SO(6)...
Osiris's user avatar
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0 answers
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Use Lie Sub-Groups of GL(3, R) for elastic deformation ?

I'm interested in representing elastic deformations (e.g. stretching) using Lie groups. There are a few references to using $GL(3,\mathbf{R})$ but I'm wondering if possible to use subgroups of $GL(3,\...
John Craighead's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
374 views

a question about centralizers in semi-simple groups

I have a question concerning centralizers in real reductive groups. I'd like to know if the following property is available in any references. Let $L\subset H\subset G$ be an inclusion chain of ...
genshin's user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why is the string group not a Lie group?

The string group $String(n)$ is by definition a 3-connected cover of $Spin(n)$. This definition determines the homotopy type of the string group. [In a previous version of this question I screwed up ...
Konrad Waldorf's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
245 views

evaluating an integral related to the volume of Hessenberg orthogonal matrices

Consider the following integral, $$ {1 \over 4\pi^{2}}\int_{0}^{2\pi}\int_{0}^{2\pi} \sqrt{\, 9 -\sin^{2}\left(\theta_{1} \over 2\right) \sin^{2}\left(\theta_{2} \over 2\right)\,} \,{\rm d}...
John Jiang's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
307 views

Is the object we get when we quotient $U(N)$ by $U(N-k)$ familar?

If we quotient $U(N)$ by $U(N-1)$ we get the odd dimensional sphere $S^{2N-1}$. (Here the quotient is in the sense of embedding $U(N-1)$ in the bottom right hand corner (with 1 as the (1,1) entry and ...
Abtan Massini's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
2k views

Christoffel symbols on a Lie group in Riemann normal coordinates

Consider a coordinate patch around the identity element in a Lie group given by the exponential mapping (Riemann normal coordinates). We have a Levi-Civita connection corresponding to the bi-...
Anatoly Konechny's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
4k views

Nilpotent Lie algebras and unipotent Lie groups

$\mathbf{n}$ is nilpotent Lie algebra with $N$ being the corresponding algebraic Lie group. Now one neat feature of this setting is that you can take the exponential map to be identity. In other words ...
Najdorf's user avatar
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8 votes
4 answers
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"Why" is every polynomial representation of SL(2) selfdual?

Given a field $K$ of characteristic $0$. It seems to me that every finite-dimensional polynomial representation of $\mathrm{SL}_2\left(K\right)$ is self-dual (i. e., isomorphic to its dual). In fact, ...
darij grinberg's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
420 views

Compatible Iwasawa decomposition for embedding of the orthogonal Lie group

I am looking for an embedding of the orthogonal Lie group O(n,C) into GL(m,C) such that the standard Iwasawa decomposition (also known as the QR-decomposition) for the group GL(m,C) induces an ...
Eachara Donk's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
677 views

An identity for sheaf cohomology of flag varieties

Let $G$ be a connected complex semisimple Lie-group, $T$ a maximal torus and $B$ a Borel subgroup containing it. Let $\phi:G\rightarrow G/B$ denote the projection. Given a representation ($\theta,V$) ...
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
8 votes
6 answers
3k views

Explicit equations for Schubert varieties

How can one compute the Schubert variety (by compute I mean having actual polynomials that define it) for SL(n)? If this is well known forgive my ignorance and just point me to the right book/paper. ...
Najdorf's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
378 views

how many injective homomorphism between two lie algebra sl2 and sp6 up to conjugate by Sp6?

how many injective homomorphism between two lie algebra $sl_2 $and $sp_6$ up to conjugate by$Sp_6$ ?
TOM's user avatar
  • 709
1 vote
2 answers
563 views

Reps of groups and reps of algebras

I've got what might be a couple of very basic questions on the fundamental representations of locally isomorphic semi-simple Lie groups and their relationship to representations of the corresponding ...
fourthinternational's user avatar
21 votes
2 answers
1k views

Geometric interpretation of exceptional symmetric spaces

Elie Cartan has classified all compact symmetric spaces admitting a compact simple Lie group as their group of motion.There are 7 infinite series and 12 exceptional cases. The exceptional cases are ...
JME's user avatar
  • 3,022
13 votes
4 answers
5k views

Fundamental group of Lie groups

Let $T$ be a torus $V/\Gamma$, $\gamma$ a loop on $T$ based at the origin. Then it is easy to see that $$2 \gamma = \gamma \ast \gamma \in \pi_1(T).$$ Here $2 \gamma$ is obtained by rescaling $\gamma$...
Andrea Ferretti's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
742 views

Restriction map for Lie algebra/Lie group cohomology associated to a complex semisimple Lie algebra and a semisimple Lie-subalgebra

Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a finite-dimensional complex semisimple Lie algebra (or the corresponding Lie group). For definiteness, I'll take $\mathfrak{g}$ to be of type $A_n$, that is, $\mathfrak{g} = \...
Christopher Drupieski's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the Hopf algebra structures in the homology of the based loop spaces of $E_7$ and $E_8$?

Since $\Omega X$ is a $H$-space, if it has homology of finite type, the homology acquires the structure of a Hopf algebra. Bott has shown that for $X=G$ a Lie group, in fact $H_*(\Omega X)$ is free ...
skupers's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
661 views

module of sections of the horizontal bundle

Some times ago I posted this question here. There I carelessly assumed that if you have a set of sections of a vector bundle which span every fiber pointwise, they also generate the module of smooth ...
student's user avatar
  • 1,222
5 votes
2 answers
390 views

Dimensions of Jordan blocks associated to representations

Given a linear representation $\rho$ of $SL_n(\mathbb C)$ of finite dimension $m$, the image $\rho(U)$ of a maximal unipotent Jordan block $U\in SL_n$ decomposes into generally several Jordan blocks ...
Roland Bacher's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
9k views

Maurer-Cartan form

I suppose given a Lie Group ($G$) and its corresponding Lie Algebra ($\mathfrak{g}$) every element in its dual defines a Maurer-Cartan form on the whole Lie Group? Let $\omega \in \mathfrak{g}^*$ be ...
Anirbit's user avatar
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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
4 votes
2 answers
302 views

Can SO_n(R) be approximated arbitrarily well using a discrete subgroup?

Let $G := SO_n(R)$ be equipped with the Euclidean metric on vectors of length $n^2$. Is it true that for any $\epsilon >0$, there is a finite subgroup of $G$ which intersects every metric ball of ...
Hari's user avatar
  • 313
8 votes
1 answer
730 views

Status of Hilbert-Smith conjecture and H-S conjecture for Hölder actions

The Hilbert-Smith conjecture states that If $G$ is a locally compact group which acts effectively on a connected manifold as a topological transformation group then is $G$ a Lie group. It was ...
Zarathustra's user avatar
  • 1,414
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
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
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
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27 votes
5 answers
9k views

Textbook or lecture notes in topological K-Theory

I am looking for a good introductory level textbook (or set of lecture notes) on classical topological K-Theory that would be suitable for a one-semester graduate course. Ideally, it would require ...
3 votes
0 answers
2k views

How big is the center of an orthogonal group?

How big is the center of an arbitrary orthogonal group $O(m,n)$? In the special case of the "circle group" $O(2)$, it's clear that $|\zeta O(2)|$ = 1. In the case of $O(3)$, it seems clear that the ...
soulphysics's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

Todd class and Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff, or the curious number $12$

The number $12$ (or, probably we shall say Bernoulli numbers in general) appears in many places in Mathematics, sometimes leading to unexpected connections between different topics. For instance, ...
Bo Peng's user avatar
  • 1,525
14 votes
4 answers
8k views

Some basic questions about Chern-Simons theory

Let the Chern-Simons lagrangian for a group $G$ be, $$L= k \epsilon^{\mu \nu \rho} Tr[A_\mu \partial _ \nu A_\rho + \frac{2}{3} A_\mu A_\nu A_\rho]$$ Then it is claimed that on "infinitesimal" ...
Anirbit's user avatar
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