Kings College London

University Of London
This paper is part of an examination of the College counting towards the award of a degree.
Examinations are governed by the College Regulations under the authority of the Academic
Board.
ATTACH this paper to your script USING THE STRING PROVIDED
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MSci Examination
CM424Z Lie groups and Lie algebras
Summer 2007
Time Allowed: Two Hours
This paper consists of two sections, Section A and Section B.
Section A contributes half the total marks for the paper.
Answer all questions in Section A.
All questions in Section B carry equal marks, but if more than two are
attempted, then only the best two will count.
NO calculators are permitted.
TURN OVER WHEN INSTRUCTED
2007 c Kings College London
- 2 - Section A CMMS01
SECTION A
A1. (16 points)
(i) State the denition of a matrix Lie group.
(ii) State the denition of the Lie algebra of a matrix Lie group.
(iii) Give (without proof) the Lie algebra o(n) of the matrix Lie group O(n) =
{M Mat(n, R)|M
t
M = 1}.
(iv) Prove that if A o(n) then indeed exp(sA) O(n) for all s R. (You
may use properties of the matrix exponential like
_
exp(A)
_
t
= exp(A
t
), etc.,
without proof.)
(v) Prove conversely that if exp(sA) O(n) for all s R, then A o(n).
A2. (20 points)
(i) State the denition of the property simple of a Lie algebra.
(ii) Let (V, R) be a representation of a Lie algebra g. State the denition of an
invariant subspace of (V, R) and the denition of an irreducible representation.
(iii) Show that if g is a simple Lie algebra, then the adjoint representation of g
is irreducible.
Hint: Suppose the adjoint representation is not irreducible and show that then
g has a proper ideal.
(iv) Let (V, R) be a representation of a Lie algebra g and let
ker(R) =
_
x g

R(x) = 0
_
.
Show that ker(R) is an ideal of g.
See Next Page
- 3 - Section A CMMS01
A3. (14 points)
Consider the two Dynkin diagrams
A
3
=
e
1
e
2
e
3
, B
3
=
e
1
e

2
e
3
(i) Using the labelling of the roots indicated above, give the Cartan matrix
A =
_
_
A
11
A
12
A
13
A
21
A
22
A
23
A
31
A
32
A
33
_
_
for A
3
and B
3
.
(ii) State the denition of the Cartan matrix A
ij
via the simple roots
(i)
.
(iii) Give the angle between the roots
(2)
and
(3)
for A
3
and B
3
.
Hint: Consider the appropriate product of two entries of the Cartan matrix.
See Next Page
- 4 - Section B CMMS01
SECTION B
B4. (i) State the denition of a Cartan subalgebra h of a nite-dimensional semi-
simple complex Lie algebra g.
(ii) Show that the set of diagonal matrices h in sl(n, C) is a Cartan subalgebra.
Hint: Recall that E
kl
is the nn-matrix with entries (E
kl
)
ij
=
ik

jl
and that
E
ij
E
kl
=
jk
E
il
.
Note that the elements of h together with {E
ij
| i = j} span sl(n, C).
Show that for H =

n
k=1

k
E
kk
one has ad
H
E
ij
= (
i

j
)E
ij
.
(iii) Show that the Killing form of the two diagonal matrices G, H h with
G =
n

k=1

k
E
kk
, H =
n

k=1

k
E
kk
is given by (G, H) = 2n

n
k=1

k
.
Hint: Let T
i
be a basis of h. Write
(x, y) =

i
T

i
_
[x, [y, T
i
]]
_
+

i=j
E

ij
_
[x, [y, E
ij
]]
_
and show rst that (E
kk
, E
ll
) = 2n
kl
2.
B5. Consider the following two subsets of Mat(2, C),
s
1
=
_
_
a 0
0 b
_

a, b C
_
, s
2
=
_
_
a b
0 0
_

a, b C
_
.
(i) Show that s
1
and s
2
are Lie subalgebras of Mat(2, C).
(ii) Show that neither s
1
nor s
2
are simple.
(iii) Let g be a complex Lie algebra of dimension 2. Show that g is isomorphic
to either s
1
or to s
2
.
Hint: Distinguish two cases: g abelian and g not abelian. If g is not abelian,
show that there is a nonzero Z g such that for any two X, Y g the Lie
bracket [X, Y ] is proportional to Z. Conclude that one can nd a basis {T, Z}
of g such that [T, Z] = Z.
See Next Page
- 5 - Section B CMMS01
B6. (i) Give matrices H, E, F sl(2, C) such that [H, E] = 2E, [H, F] = 2F and
[E, F] = H. Verify your answer for the case [H, E].
(ii) Let P(x, y) be the complex vector space of polynomials in x and y, i.e.
P(x, y) = span
C
_
x
m
y
n

m, n = 0, 1, 2, . . .
_
.
Denote by

x
the dierentiation with respect to x, e.g.

x
x
m
y
n
= mx
m1
y
n
,
etc. Dene
R(H) = x

x
y

y
, R(E) = x

y
, R(F) = y

x
.
Show that (P(x, y), R) is a representation of sl(2, C).
(iii) Let P(x, y)
d
the subspace of P(x, y) consisting of all polynomials of degree
d, i.e.
P(x, y)
d
= span
C
_
x
m
y
dm

m = 0, 1, . . . , d
_
.
Show that P(x, y)
d
is an invariant subspace of P(x, y).
Final Page