Lie Groups and Lie Algebras
2 LIE GROUPS AND LIE ALGEBRAS 2.1 Lie groups The most general definition of a Lie group G is, that it is a differentiable manifold with group structure, such that the multiplication map G G G, (g,h) gh, and the inversion map G G, g g−1, are differentiable.× → But we shall7→ not need this concept in full generality.→ 7→ In order to avoid more elaborate differential geometry, we will restrict attention to matrix groups. Consider the set of all invertible n n matrices with entries in F, where F stands either for the real (R) or complex× (C) numbers. It is easily verified to form a group which we denote by GL(n, F), called the general linear group in n dimensions over the number field F. The space of all n n matrices, including non- invertible ones, with entries in F is denoted by M(n,×F). It is an n2-dimensional 2 vector space over F, isomorphic to Fn . The determinant is a continuous function det : M(n, F) F and GL(n, F) = det−1(F 0 ), since a matrix is invertible → −{ } 2 iff its determinant is non zero. Hence GL(n, F) is an open subset of Fn . Group multiplication and inversion are just given by the corresponding familiar matrix 2 2 2 2 2 operations, which are differentiable functions Fn Fn Fn and Fn Fn respectively. × → → 2.1.1 Examples of Lie groups GL(n, F) is our main example of a (matrix) Lie group. Any Lie group that we encounter will be a subgroups of some GL(n, F).
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