Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
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
Candidate No: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Desk No: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MSc Examination
7CCMMS01 (CMMS01) Lie groups and Lie algebras
Summer 2010
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.
-2-
A 1.
7CCMMS01 (CMMS01)
20 points
(i) Define: a) group homomorphism, b) group isomorphism, and c) group
automorphism.
(ii) Show that the set of automorphisms of any group G is itself a group
under the operation of composition. This is the automorphism group of
G, Aut(G).
(iii) State the definition of the property simple of a Lie algebra. Show that
if g is simple, then [gg] = g.
(iv) Let L be a Lie algebra and let x L be a fixed element of L. Prove that
the subspace of L spanned by the eigenvectors of ad x is a Lie subalgebra.
A 2.
15 points
(i) State the definition of a matrix Lie group.
(ii) Show that the set of matrices U (n) = {A Mat(n; C) | A A = 1} is
a matrix Lie group for any positive integer n (dont forget to show, in
particular, that it is a group).
(iii) Is U (n) compact? Is it connected? Prove one of those two claims. Hint:
recall that any unitary matrix has an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors.
-3-
A 3.
7CCMMS01 (CMMS01)
15 points
(i) State the definition of the Lie algebra g associated to a matrix Lie group
G.
(ii) The group SO(3) is the group of all 3 3 orthogonal matrices. Using the
definition you stated in (i), show that the Lie algebra of SO(3) is
so(3) = {A Mat(3; C) : AT = A},
i.e. it is the set of all 3 3 anti-symmetric matrices (you can use without
proof the properties of the exponential).
(iii) Consider so(3; C) (this is the complexification of so(3) the algebra that
we get from so(3), but as a vector space over the complex numbers). Let
h so(3; C) be the subalgebra
0 a 0
h = a 0 0 , a C .
0 0 0
Given that h is a Cartan subalgebra of so(3; C), find the roots and the
corresponding root space decomposition.
-4-
B 4.
7CCMMS01 (CMMS01)
-5-
B 5.
7CCMMS01 (CMMS01)
X Y
log(e e ) = X +
dt
0
log(ead X etad Y )
(Y )
1 (ead X etad Y )1
reduces to
1
log(eX eY ) = X + Y + [X, Y ]
2
in the case where [X, Y ] commutes with both X and Y .
(iii) Consider an algebra H over C with basis elements an : n Z {0} and
c, and with bilinear bracket defined by the relations
[cc] = [can ] = [an c] = 0,
[am an ] =
1
m+n,0 c
m
(z) =
n>0
m, n Z {0}.
an z n
n<0
=e
z2
1
z1
22 c
.
-6-
B 6.
7CCMMS01 (CMMS01)
Consider a Lie algebra g over C with Lie bracket denoted by []. A central
extension g of g by C is a new Lie algebra g = g CC (as a vector space),
where C is a central element, and with Lie bracket {} otherwise defined by
{XY } = [XY ] + hX, Y iC
X, Y g g
Final Page