Skip to main content
4 of 4
broken link fixed, cf. https://meta.mathoverflow.net/q/5301/70594
Glorfindel
  • 2.8k
  • 6
  • 28
  • 38

Example can be found, for instance, in Boris Weisfeiler's paper "Abstract homomorphisms of big subgroups of algebraic groups", pages 149-150, see

Link

His example of a discontinuous representation $\rho$ of $SO(n, {\mathbb R})$ to a semidirect product $H$ of $SO(n, {\mathbb R})$ with the abelian group ${\mathbb R}^N$ (the Lie algebra of $SO(n)$), works for $SL(2, {\mathbb R})$ as well. Actually, Weisfeiler's example is even more dramatic: The image of the compact group $SO(n)$ under $\rho$ is dense in the noncompact Lie group $H$. Weisfeiler's paper also lists many positive results on rigidity of abstract homomorphisms of Lie groups.

Misha
  • 31.2k
  • 1
  • 94
  • 163