Lie groups, Lie algebras, and their representations
Gwyn Bellamy [email protected] www.maths.gla.ac.uk/∼gbellamy
September 16, 2016
Abstract
These are the lecture notes for the 5M reading course ”Lie groups, Lie algebras, and their representations” at the University of Glasgow, autumn 2015. Contents
1 Introduction i
2 Manifolds - a refresher 2
3 Lie groups and Lie algebras 11
4 The exponential map 20
5 The classical Lie groups and their Lie algebras 30
6 Representation theory 35
7 The structure of Lie algebras 40
8 Complete reducibility 48
9 Cartan subalgebras and Dynkin diagrams 54
10 The classification of simple, complex Lie algebras 65
11 Weyl’s character formula 69
12 Appendix: Quotient vector spaces 76 1 Introduction
Lie groups and Lie algebras, together called Lie theory, originated in the study of natural symme- tries of solutions of differential equations. However, unlike say the finite collection of symmetries of the hexagon, these symmetries occurred in continuous families, just as the rotational symmetries of the plane form a continuous family isomorphic to the unit circle. The theory as we know it today began with the ground breaking work of the Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie, who introduced the notion of continuous transformation groups and showed the crucial role that Lie algebras play in their classification and representation theory. Lie’s ideas played a central role in Felix Klein’s grand ”Erlangen program” to classify all possible geometries using group theory. Today Lie theory plays an important role in almost every branch of pure and applied mathematics, is used to describe much of modern physics, in particular classical and quantum mechanics, and is an active area of research. You might be familiar with the idea that abstract group theory really began with Galois’ work on algebraic solutions of polynomial equations; in particular, the generic quintic. But, in a sense, the idea of groups of transformations had been around for a long time already. As mentioned above, it was already present in the study of solutions of differential equations coming from physics (for instance in Newton’s work). The key point is that these spaces of solutions are often stable under the action of a large group of symmetries, or transformations. This means that applying a given transformation to one solution of the differential equation gives us another solution. Hence one can quickly and easily generate new solutions from old one, ”buy one, get one free”. As a toy example, consider a ”black hole” centred at (0, 0) in R2. Then, any particle on R2 r {(0, 0)}, whose position at time t is given by (x(t), y(t)), will be attracted to the origin, the strength of the attraction increasing as it nears (0, 0). This attraction can be encoded by the system of differential equations
dx −x dy −y = , = . (1) dt (x2 + y2)3/2 dt (x2 + y2)3/2
In polar coordinates (r(t), θ(t)), this becomes
dr −1 = . (2) dt r2
i 1 2 The circle S = {0 ≤ ϑ < 2π} (this is a group, ϑ1 ?ϑ2 = (ϑ1 +ϑ2) mod 2π) acts on R by rotations: ! ! ! cos ϑ − sin ϑ x x cos ϑ − y sin ϑ ϑ · (x, y) = = . sin ϑ cos ϑ y x sin ϑ + y cos ϑ
Then it is clear from (2) that if (x(t), y(t)) is a solution to (1), then so too is
ϑ · (x(t), y(t)) = (x(t) cos ϑ − y(t) sin ϑ, x(t) sin ϑ + y(t) cos ϑ).
Thus, the group S1 acts on the space of solutions to this system of differential equations. The content of these lecture notes is based to a large extent on the material in the books [5] and [8]. Other sources that treat the material in these notes are [1], [2], [4], [9] and [7].
1 2 Manifolds - a refresher
In this course we will consider smooth real manifolds and complex analytic manifolds.
2.1 Topological terminology
Every manifold is in particular a topological space, therefore we will occasionally need some basic topological terms. We begin by recalling that a topological space is a pair (X, T ) where X is a set and T is a collection of subsets of X, the open subsets of X. The collection of open subsets T must include X and the emptyset ∅, be closed under arbitrary unions and finite intersections. Recall that a topological space M is disconnected if there exist two non-empty open and closed subsets U, V ⊂ M such that U ∩ V = ∅; otherwise M is connected. It is path connected if, for any two points x, y ∈ X, there is a path from x to y (every path connected space is connected, but the converse is not true). We say that X is simply connected if it is path connected and the fundamental group π1(X) of X is trivial i.e. every closed loop in X is homotopic to the trivial loop. The space X is compact if every open covering admits a finite subcover. The space X is said to be Hausdorff if for each pair of distinct points x, y ∈ X there exists open sets x ∈ U, y ∈ V with U ∩ V = ∅. n ◦ n For each ` ∈ R+ and x ∈ R , we denote by B`(x), resp. B`(x) , the set of all points y ∈ R such that ||x − y|| ≤ `, resp. ||x − y|| < `. We will always consider Rn as a topological space, equipped with the Euclidean topology i.e. a base for this topology is given by the open balls ◦ B`(x) . Recall that the Heine-Borel Theorem states:
Theorem 2.1. Let M be a subset of Rn. Then, M is compact if and only if it is closed and contained inside a closed ball B`(0) for some ` 0.
n Remark 2.2. If M is some compact subspace of R and {Xi}i∈N a Cauchy sequence in M, then the limit of this sequence exists in M. This fact is a useful way of showing that certain subspaces of Rn are not compact.
2.2 Manifolds
Recall that a real n-dimensional manifold is a Hausdorff topological space M with an atlas A(M) =
{φi : Ui → Vi | i ∈ I}, where {Ui | i ∈ I} is an open cover of M, each chart φi : Ui → Vi is a n homeomorphism onto Vi, an open subset of R , and the composite maps
−1 φi ◦ φj : Vi,j → Vj,i
2 n n are smooth morphisms, where Vi,j = φj(Ui ∩ Uj) ⊂ R and Vj,i = φi(Ui ∩ Uj) ⊂ R . 1 2 2 2 Example 2.3. The circle S = {(x1, x2) | x1 +x2 = 1} ⊂ R is a manifold. We can use stereographic projection to construct charts on S1. Let N = (0, 1) and S = (0, −1) be the north and south poles respectively.
N
P = (x1, x2)
Q = (z, 0)
S
1 A line through N and P meets the x1-axis in a unique point. This defines a map S r {N} → R.
To get an explicit formula for this, the line through N and P is described by {t(x1, x2) + (1 −
x1 1 t)(0, 1) | t ∈ }. This implies that z = . Therefore we define U1 = S {N}, V1 = and R 1−x2 r R
x1 φ1 : U1 → V1, φ1(x1, x2) = . 1 − x2
Similarly, if we perform stereographic projection from the south pole, then we get a chart
x1 φ2 : U2 → V2, φ2(x1, x2) = , x2 + 1
1 where U2 = S r {S} and V2 = R. −1 For this to define a manifold, we need to check that the transition map φ2 ◦φ1 is smooth. Since 1 −1 U1 ∩ U1 = S r {N,S}, φ1(U1 ∩ U2) = φ2(U1 ∩ U2) = R r {0}. Hence φ2 ◦ φ1 : R r {0} → R r {0}. −1 1 A direct calculation shows that φ2 ◦ φ1 (z) = z . This is clearly smooth. −1 A continuous function f : M → R is said to be smooth if f ◦ φi : Vi → R is a smooth, i.e. infinitely differentiable, function for all charts φi. The space of all smooth functions on M is denoted C∞(M). Example 2.4. The real projective space RPn of all lines through 0 in Rn+1 is a manifold. The n n+1 set of points in RP are written [x0 : x1 : ··· : xn], where (x0, x1, . . . , xn) ∈ R r {0} and × [x0 : x1 : ··· : xn] represents the line through 0 and (x0, x1, . . . , xn). Thus, for each λ ∈ R ,
[x0 : x1 : ··· : xn] = [λx0 : λx1 : ··· : λxn].
3 n n ∼ n The n + 1 open sets Ui = {[x0 : x1 : ··· : xn] ∈ RP | xi 6= 0} cover RP . The maps φi : Ui −→ R , x0 xn n [x0 : x1 : ··· : xn] 7→ ( ,..., xi,..., ) define an atlas on . Thus, it is a manifold. xi b xi RP
Exercise 2.5. Check that the maps φi are well-defined i.e. only depends on the line through n −1 (x0, x1, . . . , xn). Prove that RP is a manifold by explicitly describing the maps φj ◦ φi : φi(Ui ∩ n n Uj) ⊂ R → φj(Ui ∩ Uj) ⊂ R and checking that they are indeed smooth map. The following theorem is extremely useful for producing explicit examples of manifolds.
n m Theorem 2.6. Let m < n and f : R → R , f = (f1(x1, . . . , xn), . . . , fm(x1, . . . , xn)), a smooth map. Assume that u is in the image of f. Then f −1(u) is a smooth submanifold of Rn, of dimension n − m if and only if the differential
∂f i=1,...,m d f = i : n → m v ∂x R R j j=1,...,n|x=v is a surjective linear map for all v ∈ f −1(u).
The proof of the above theorem is based on the inverse function theorem, which implies that −1 −1 for each v in the closed set f (u), there is some ` > 0 such that B`(v) ∩ f (u) ' B`0 (v) for some −1 n (n − m)-dimensional ball B`0 (v). This implies that f (u) is a submanifold of R of dimension (n − m). A proof of this theorem can be found in [10, Corollary 1.29].
2 2 Exercise 2.7. By considering the derivatives of f = x1 + ··· + xn − 1, show that the (n − 1)-sphere Sn−1 ⊂ Rn is a manifold. 2 3 2 Exercise 2.8. Consider the smooth functions f1 = x1 + x2 − x1x2x3 − 1, f2 = x1x2x3 and f3 = 3 x1 3 (2x2 − x3)e from R to R. For which of these functions is the differential dvfi always surjective −1 −1 3 for all v ∈ fi (0)? For those that are not, the closed subset fi (0) is not a submanifold of R . Remark 2.9. Since every point in a manifold admits an open neighborhood homeomorphic to an open subset of Rn, for some n, they are ”especially well-behaved” topological spaces. We mention, in particular, that a connected manifold is path connected and always admits a universal cover.
2.3 Tangent spaces
The tangent space at a point of manifold is extremely important, playing a key role when trying to compare manifolds, study functions on the manifold etc. Intuitively, I hope it is clear what the tangent space at a point should be - it’s simply all vectors tangent to the manifold at that point. Unfortunately, to make this mathematically precise, some of the intuition is lost in the
4 technicalities. Remarkably, there are several equivalent definitions of the tangent space TmM to M at the point m ∈ M. In this course we will see three of these definitions, and show that they are equivalent. The first definition, which we will take as “the definition” is in terms of point derivations.
Definition 2.10. Fix a point m ∈ M.A point derivation at m is a map ν : C∞(M) → R such that the following two properties are satisfied
1. ν is linear i.e. ν(αf + βg) = αν(f) + βν(g) for α, β ∈ R and f, g ∈ C∞(M).
2. It satisfies the derivation rule:
ν(fg) = ν(f)g(m) + f(m)ν(g), ∀ f, g ∈ C∞(M).
One can easily check that if ν, µ are point derivations at m and α ∈ R, then ν + µ and αν are point derivations at m. Thus, the set of point derivations forms a vector space. The tangent space to M at m is defined to be the vector space TmM of all point derivations at m. To get some intuition for this notion, lets first consider the case where the manifold M is some just Rn. For n a = (a1, . . . , an) ∈ R , we define the point derivation va at u by
∂f ∂f va(f) = a1 + ··· + an . ∂x1 x=u ∂xn x=u
n ∼ n I claim that a 7→ va defines an isomorphism R → TuR . One can easily check that va is a point derivation. Also, va(xi) = ai, which implies that the map is injective. Therefore the only thing to check is that every point derivation at u can be written as va for some a. Let ν be an arbitrary point derivation and set ai = ν(xi) ∈ R. Then if a = (a1, . . . , an), we need to show that ν −va = 0.
It is certainly zero on each of the coordinate functions xi. Locally, every smooth function has a Taylor expansion
X ∂kf k1 kn f(x) = k k (x1 − u1) ··· (xn − un) . ∂x 1 ∂x 1 ··· ∂xkn x=u k1,...,kn≥0 1 2 n
Using the derivation rule for point derivations it is easy to see that ν(f) − va(f) = 0 too. Thus, ∂ ∂ n n we can think of ,..., as being a basis of Tu for any u ∈ . In particular, it is clear that ∂x1 ∂xn R R n n dim TuR = n for all u ∈ R .
Remark 2.11. The tangent space TmM at m is a locally property of M i.e. it only sees what happens locally on M near m. This statement can be made precise as follows. Let U ⊂ M be
5 an open neighborhood of m. Then, the fact that any smooth function f ∈ C∞(M) restricts to a ∞ smooth function on U i.e. f|U ∈ C (U) means that we can define a canonical map TmU → TmM, ν 7→ νe by νe(f) := ν(f|U ). This map is an isomorphism. In order to prove this, one needs to use the existence of partitions of unity, which in this case imply that every function g ∈ C∞(U) can be extended to a smooth ∞ ∞ function on M i.e. for each g ∈ C (U) there exists f ∈ C (M) such that f|U = g. Since a manifold locally looks like Rn, and the tangent space at m only sees what happens around m, it is not surprising that:
Proposition 2.12. If M is an n-dimensional manifold, then dim TmM = n for all m ∈ M.
Proof. To prove the proposition, we will show that a chart ϕ : U → Rn around m defines an ∼ n isomorphism of vector spaces ϕ∗ : TmM → Tϕ(m)R . The definition of ϕ∗ is very simple. Given ∞ n ν ∈ TmM a point derivation and f ∈ C (R ) a function, we define
ϕ∗(ν)(f) := ν(f ◦ ϕ).
n We leave it to the reader to check that ϕ∗(ν) ∈ Tϕ(m)R is a point derivation. To show that it is an isomorphism, it suffices to note that we also have a map ϕ−1 : Im ϕ → U and hence we can −1 n −1 define a map (ϕ )∗ : Tϕ(m)R → Tm. Unpacking the definitions, one sees that (ϕ )∗ ◦ ϕ∗ = id −1 and ϕ∗ ◦ (ϕ )∗ = Id, as required. For instance,
−1 −1 (ϕ∗ ◦ (ϕ )∗)(ν)(f) = ϕ∗((ϕ )∗(ν))(f) −1 = (ϕ )∗(ν)(f ◦ ϕ) = ν(f ◦ ϕ ◦ ϕ−1) = ν(f).
The second definition of tangent space uses the notion of embedded curves. A curve on M is a smooth morphism γ :(−, ) → M, where ∈ R>0 ∪ {∞}. We say that γ is a curve through m ∈ M if γ(0) = m. Given a curve γ through m, we can construct a point derivation γ at m by the simple rule d γ(f) = (f ◦ γ) . dt t=0 The key point here is that f ◦ γ is just a function (−, ) → R, which we can easily differentiate. Let’s consider the case where M = Rn. If ρ :(−, ) → Rn is a curve in Rn then we can differentiate
6 m
γ
Figure 1: A curve through m and its point derivation.
0 n n 0 it and get a vector ρ (0) ∈ Tρ(0)R = R . Concretely, if ρ(t) = (ρ1(t), . . . , ρn(t)), then ρ (0) is the point derivation n X dρi ∂ ρ0(0) = | (3) dt t=0 ∂x i=1 i at ρ(0). For instance, consider ρ : → 3, ρ(t) = (t2, 3t, 2 sin t), then ρ0(0) = 3 ∂ + 2 ∂ . R R ∂x2 ∂x1 Now the question becomes: when do two curves through m define the same point derivation?
Well we see from the definition that if γ1 ∼ γ2 if and only if
d d ∞ (f ◦ γ1) = (f ◦ γ2) , ∀ f ∈ C (M), dt t=0 dt t=0 then γ1 ∼ γ2 ⇔ γ1 = γ2 ∈ TmM. Denote by [γ] the class of curves through m that are equivalent to γ. The claim is that, as a set at least, the tangent space TmM at m can be identified with the equivalence classes of curves through m, under the above equivalence relation. By construction, there is an injective map from the set of equivalence classes to TmM. So we just need to show that it is surjective i.e.
Lemma 2.13. For any ν ∈ TmM, there exists a curve γ through m such that γ = ν.
Proof. Recall from the proof of Proposition 2.12 that, give a chart ϕ : U → Rn around m, we ∼ n constructed an isomorphism ϕ∗ : TmM → Tϕ(m)R , where (ϕ∗ν)(f) = ν(f ◦ ϕ). Let’s assume that n −1 we can find a curve γ :(−, ) → R through ϕ(m) such that γ = ϕ∗ν. Then let µ = ϕ ◦ γ. We
7 have
d µ(f) = (f ◦ µ) dt t=0 d = (f ◦ ϕ−1) ◦ γ dt t=0 = γ(f ◦ ϕ−1) −1 −1 = (ϕ∗ν)(f ◦ ϕ ) = ν(f ◦ ϕ ◦ ϕ) = ν(f).
n n Thus, it suffices to assume that M = R and m = (m1, . . . , mn) ∈ R . In this case we have seen that ∂ ∂ ν = ai + ··· + an ∂x1 ∂xn for some ai ∈ R. Let γ be the curve γ(t) = (a1t+m1, . . . , ant+mn). Then γ(0) = m and equation (3) shows that γ = ν.
Putting all the tangent spaces into a single family, we get
Definition 2.14. The tangent bundle of M is the set
TM = {(m, v) | m ∈ M, v ∈ TmM}.
The tangent bundle TM is itself a manifold and comes equipped with smooth morphisms i : M,→ TM, i(m) = (m, 0) and π : TM → M, π(m, v) = m.
Exercise 2.15. If M = f −1(0) ⊂ Rn, where f : Rn → Rm, then the tangent space to M at m is n m n n n−1 −1 the subspace Ker(dmf : R → R ) of TmR = R . Describe the tangent space to S = f (0) n 2 2 in R at (1, 0,..., 0), where f = x1 + ··· + xn − 1. ∞ The differential of a function f ∈ C (M), at a point m, is a linear map dmf : TmM → R. 0 In terms of the first definition of a tangent space, dmf([γ]) = (f ◦ γ) (0). In terms of the second n −1 definition of a tangent space, if Xi ∈ Tφi(m)R , then f ◦ φi : Vi → R. Differentiating this function −1 n −1 gives dφi(m)(f ◦ φi ): R → R and we define (dmf)([Xi]) = dφi(m)(f ◦ φi )(Xi). Of course, one must check that both these definitions are actually well-define i.e. independent of the choice of representative of the equivalence class. Let f : M → N be a smooth map between manifolds M and N. Then, for each m ∈ M, f defines a linear map dmf : TmM → Tf(m)M between tangents spaces, given by (dmf)([γ]) = [f ◦γ]. Since we get one such map for all points in m and they vary continuously over M, we actually get
8 a smooth map
df : TM → TN, (df)(m, [γ]) = (f(m), dmf([γ])).
The following fact, which is a consequence of the inverse function theorem, will be useful to us later. Let f : M → N be a smooth map between manifolds M and N such that the differential dmf is an isomorphism at every point m ∈ M. If N is simply connected and M connected then f is an isomorphism.
2.4 Vector fields
A vector field is a continuous family of vectors in the tangent bundle i.e. it is a rule that assigns to each m ∈ M a vector field Xm ∈ TmM such that the family {Xm}m∈M varies smoothly on M. The notion of vector field will be crucial later in relating a Lie group to its Lie algebra.
Definition 2.16. A vector field on M is a smooth morphism X : M → TM such that π◦X = idM . The space of all vector fields on M is denoted Vect(M).
The key point of defining a vector field is that one can differentiate functions along vector fields. Let X be a vector field on M and f : M → R a smooth function. We define X(f)(m) = (f ◦γ)0(0) for some (any) choice of curve through m such that [γ] = Xm.
Lemma 2.17. The vector field X defines a map C∞(M) → C∞(M) satisfying the product rule
X(fg) = X(f)g + fX(g), ∀ f, g ∈ C∞(M). (4)
Proof. Let f, g be smooth maps and m ∈ M. Then,
X(fg)(m) = ((fg) ◦ γ)0(0) = ((f ◦ γ)(g ◦ γ))0(0) = (f ◦ γ)(0)(g ◦ γ)0(0) + (f ◦ γ)0(0)(g ◦ γ)(0) f(m)X(g)(m) + X(f)(m)g(m).
Hence X(fg) = X(f)g + fX(g).
A linear map C∞(M) → C∞(M) satisfying equation (4) is called a derivation. Thus, every vector field defines a derivation. The converse is also true - every derivation defines a unique vector field on M (we won’t need this fact though). An equivalent definition of the action of a vector field is that X(f) is the function on M whose value at m equals (dmf)(Xm). Once should think of vector fields, or derivations, as being continuous families of point derivations.
9 Exercise 2.18. Let M,N and P be manifolds and f : M → N, g : N → P smooth maps. Show that the linear map dm(g ◦ f): TmM → Tg(f(m))P equals (df(m)g) ◦ (dmf). Hint: Using the first definition of the tangent space, this is virtually a tautology.
Exercise 2.19. Since S2 ⊂ R3, we can define the function f : S2 → R by saying that it is the 2 2 restriction of 2x1 −x2 +x1x3. Recall the description of the tangent space T(1,0,0)S given in exercise 2 2.15. Describe d(1,0,0)f : T(1,0,0)S → R. 3 2 Similarly, let g : R → R be the function f = (f1(x1, x2, x3), f2(x1, x2, x3)), where f1(x1, x2, x3) = 3 x3 3 2 x2x1 − x3 sin x1 and f2(x1, x2, x3) = e x2 − cos x2. What is is the linear map d(0,π,1)g : R → R ?
2.5 Integral curves
Let X be a vector field on a manifold M and fix m ∈ M. An integral curve (with respect to X)
γ : J → M through m is a curve such that γ(0) = m and (dxγ)(1) = Xγ(x) for all x ∈ J. Then γ is a solution to the equation d γ(t) = Xγ(x) dt t=x for all x ∈ J. By choosing a chart containing m, the problem of finding an integral curve through m is easily seen to be equivalent to solving a system of linear, first order differential equations. Therefore the fundamental theorem of ordinary differential equations says that there exists some > 0 and an integral curve γ :(−, ) → M. Moreover, γ is unique. One can try to make the open set J ⊂ R as large as possible. There is a unique largest open set on which γ exists; if J is this maximal set then γ : J → M is called the maximal integral curve for X through m.
Definition 2.20. A vector field X on M is said to be complete if, for all m ∈ M, the maximal integral curve through m with respect to X is defined on the whole of R.
∂ ∂ 2 Exercise 2.21. Let X be the vector field x1 − (2x1 + 1) on . Construct an integral curve ∂x1 ∂x2 R γ for X through (a, b) ∈ R2. Is X complete?
2.6 Complex analytic manifolds
All the above definitions and results hold for complex analytic manifolds, where M is said to be a complex analytic manifold if the atlas consists of charts into open subsets of Cn such that the −1 transition maps φi ◦ φj are biholomorphic. All maps between complex analytic manifolds are holomorphic e.g. holomorphic vector fields or Chol(M), the spaces of holomorphic functions on M.
10 3 Lie groups and Lie algebras
In this section we introduce the stars of the show, Lie groups and Lie algebras.
3.1 Lie groups
Let (G, m, e) be a group, where m : G × G → G is the multiplication map and e ∈ G the identity element.
Definition 3.1. The group (G, m, e) is said to be a Lie group if G is a manifold such that both the multiplication map m, and inversion g 7→ g−1, are smooth maps G × G → G, and G → G respectively.
We drop the notation m and simply write gh for m(g, h) if g, h ∈ G.
Example 3.2. Let S1 ⊂ C be the unit circle. Multiplication on C restricts to S1 ×S1 → S1, making it a Lie group. It is the group of rotations of the real plane.
2 Example 3.3. The set of invertible n × n matrices GL(n, R) is an open subset of Rn and hence a manifold. Matrix multiplication and taking inverse are smooth maps. Therefore GL(n, R) is a Lie group. Example 3.4. Every finite group can be considered as a zero-dimensional Lie group. Example 3.5. Let SO(3) denote the set of all 3 by 3 real matrices A such that AAT = 1 and det(A) = 1. It is clear that this set is a group under the usual multiplication of matrices.
3.2 Morphisms of Lie groups
A morphism φ : G → H between Lie groups is a group homomorphism which is also a smooth map between manifolds.
Exercise 3.6. For g ∈ G, let Lg : G → G be the map Lg(h) = gh of left multiplication.
1. Using the fact that ig : G,→ G × G, ig(h) = (g, h), is a smooth map, show that Lg : G → G is a smooth map.
2. Using part (1), show that if U ⊂ G is an open subset and g ∈ G, then gU is also open in G.
3. Similarly, show that if C ⊂ G is a closed subset then gC is also closed in G.
11 Hints: In part 1. use the fact that the composite of two smooth maps is smooth. In parts 2. and 3. recall that a map f : X → Y between topological spaces is continuous if and only if f −1(U) is open, resp. f −1(C) is closed, in X for all U ⊂ Y open, resp. C ⊂ Y closed. Assume that the Lie group G is connected. Then, as the following proposition shows, one can tell a great deal about the group by considering the various neighborhoods of the identity.
Proposition 3.7. Let G be a connected Lie group and U an open neighborhood of the identity. Then the elements of U generate G.
Proof. Recall that G connected implies that the only non-empty closed and open subset of G is G itself. Since the map g → g−1 is smooth, U −1 = {g−1 | g ∈ U} is open in G. Thus, U ∩ U −1 is also open. It is non-empty because e ∈ U ∩ U −1. Replacing U by this intersection we may assume that g−1 ∈ U if and only if g ∈ U. By exercise 3.6, if g ∈ U then gU is open in U. Hence S U · U = g∈U gU is open in G. This implies by induction that H = {g1 ··· gk | gi ∈ U} is an open subset of G. But it’s easy to check that H is also a subgroup of G. Therefore, to show that H = G, it suffices to show that H is closed in G. Let C = G r H. Since H is open in G, C is closed. We assume that C 6= ∅. Notice that if g ∈ C, then gH ⊂ C and hence H ⊂ g−1C, a closed subset of G. Thus, H is contained in the 0 T −1 0 intersection C = g∈C g C. The arbitrary intersection of closed sets is closed, thus C is closed. Hence it suffices to show that H = C0. If f ∈ C0 r H then, in particular, f ∈ (f −1)−1(G r H) i.e. there exists g ∈ G r H such that f = (f −1)−1g = fg. But this implies that g = e belongs to G r H; a contradiction. In particular, if f : G → H is a morphism of Lie groups with G connected then Proposition 3.7 implies that f is uniquely defined by what it does on neighborhoods of the identity. Taking smaller and smaller neighborhoods of e, one eventually ”arrives” at the tangent space of G at e and the map def : TeG → TeH. Remarkably this linear map captures all the information about the original morphism f,
Theorem 3.8. Let G and H be Lie groups, with G connected. Then a morphism f : G → H is uniquely defined by the linear map def : TeG → TeH.
What this really means is that if f, g : G → H are morphisms of Lie groups then f = g if and only if def = deg. The proof of Theorem 3.8 is given in section 4; see Corollary 4.20. Exercise 3.9. Let G = R×(=: R r {0}), where the multiplication comes from the usual multipli- cation on R. Show that the map φ : G → G, φ(x) = xn is a homomorphism of Lie groups. What is TeG? Describe deφ : TeG → TeG.
12 Naturally, one can ask, as a converse to Theorem 3.8, which linear maps TeG → TeH extend to a homomorphism of groups G → H? Surprisingly, there is a precise answer to this question. But before it can be given we will need to introduce the notion of Lie algebras and describe the Lie algebra that is associated to each Lie group.
3.3 The adjoint action
In this section we will define the Lie algebra of a Lie group. The idea is that geometric objects are inherently non-linear e.g. the manifold M ⊂ R3 defined by the non-linear equation x5 +y5 −z7 = 1. The same applies to Lie groups. But humans don’t seem to cope very well with non-linear objects. Therefore Lie algebras are introduced as linear approximations to Lie groups. The truly remarkable thing that makes Lie theory so successful is that this linear approximation captures a great deal (frankly unjustifiable) of information about the Lie group. We begin with automorphisms. An automorphism φ of a Lie group is an invertible homomor- phism G → G. Exercise 3.10. Show that the set Aut(G) of all automorphisms of G forms a group. An easy way to cook up a lot of automorphisms of G is to make G act on itself by conjugation. Namely, for each g ∈ G, define Ad(g) ∈ Aut(G) by Ad(g)(h) = ghg−1. This defines a map G → Aut(G), g 7→ Ad(g), called the adjoint action. Exercise 3.11. Check that Ad is a group homomorphism. If φ ∈ Aut(G) belongs to the image of Ad, we say that φ is an inner automorphism of G. We may also consider Ad as a smooth map G × G → G, Ad(g, h) = ghg−1. The key reason for introducing the adjoint action is that it fixes the identity i.e. Ad(g)(e) = e for all g ∈ G. If we return to the setting of Theorem 3.8, then the homomorphism f : G → H also sends e ∈ G to e ∈ H. Moreover, the diagram
f G / H (5)
Ad(g) Ad(f(g)) G / H f is commutative; that is,
Ad(f(g))(f(u)) = f(Ad(g)(u)) for all u ∈ G.
13 So we can being our linear approximation process by differentiating diagram (5) at the identity, to get a commutative diagram of linear maps
def TeG / TeH (6)
de Ad(g) de Ad(f(g)) TeG / TeH def
However, if we want to check that def really is the differential of some homomorphism f : G → H then (6) doesn’t really help because the right vertical arrow is de Ad(f(g)) and we would need to know the value f(g) for g 6= e i.e. we still need to see what f is doing away from the identity element. To overcome this problem, we will use the different interpretation of Ad as a map G × G → G, (g, h) 7→ ghg−1. Just as in diagram 5, we get a commutative diagram
f×f G × G / H × H (7)
Ad Ad G / H. f
The temptation now is just to differentiate this diagram at (e, e). But this is not quite the right thing to do. Instead, we differentiate each entry of Ad, resp. of f × f, separately to get a bilinear map. You may not have see the definition of bilinear before. As a remainder,
Definition 3.12. Let k be a field and U, V and W k-vector spaces. A map b : U × V → W is said to be bilinear if both b(u, −): V → W and b(−, v): U → W are linear maps, ∀ u ∈ U, v ∈ V , i.e.
b(αu1 + βu2, γv1 + δv2) = αγb(u1, v1) + αδb(u1, v2) + βγb(u2, v1) + βδb(u2, v2),
for all u1, u2 ∈ U, v1, v2 ∈ V, α, β, γ, δ ∈ k.
Remark 3.13. The bidifferential: if M,N and K are manifolds and f : M ×N → K is a smooth map, the the bidifferential b(m,n)f of f at (m, n) ∈ M × N is a bilinear map TmM × TnN →
Tf(m,n)K. Informally, one first fixes m ∈ M to get a smooth map fm : N → K. Differentiating at 0 n, we get a linear map dnfm : TnN → Tf(m,n)K. Then we fix w ∈ TnN and define fw : M → TK 0 0 by f (m) = dnfm(w). Differentiating again we get dmfw : TmM → Tf(m,n)K and hence b(m,n)f : 0 TmM × TnN → Tf(m,n)K given by (v, w) 7→ (dmfw)(v). If one differentiates along M first and 2 2 then along N then we get the same bilinear map. This follows from the fact that ∂ f = ∂ f ∂xi∂xj ∂xj ∂xi
14 for a smooth map f : Rn → R. Thus, we get a commutative diagram of bilinear maps
b(e,e)f×f TeG × TeG / TeH × TeH (8)
b(e,e) Ad b(e,e) Ad TeG / TeH. def
Notice that only the biderivative of f at the identity appears in the above diagram. We have no need to know what f does away from the identity. To make the notation less cumbersome we fix g = TeG and h = TeH. Then [−, −]G := b(e,e) Ad : g × g → g is a bilinear map. This is the Lie bracket on the vector space g. Thus, we have shown
Proposition 3.14. Let f : G → H be a morphism of Lie groups. Then, the linear map def : g → h preserves brackets i.e.
(def)([X,Y ]G) = [(def)(X), (def)(Y )]H , ∀ X,Y ∈ g. (9)
This leads us to the following key result, which is one of the main motivations in the definition of Lie algebras.
Theorem 3.15. Let G and H be Lie groups, with G simply connected. Then a linear map g → h is the differential of a homomorphism G → H if and only if it preserves the bracket, as in (9).
The proof of Theorem 3.15 will be given in section 4; see Theorem 4.18. Example 3.16. As an example to keep some grasp on reality, we’ll consider the case G = GL(V ), where V is some n-dimensional real vector space (so V ' Rn). Then, for matrices A, B ∈ GL(V ), Ad(A)(B) = ABA−1 is really just naive matrix conjugation. For G = GL(V ), the tangent space
TeGL(V ) equal End(V ), the space of all linear maps V → V (after fixing a basis of V , End(V ) 2 is just the space of all n by n matrices over R so that End(V ) ' Rn ). If A ∈ GL(V ) and Y ∈ End(V ), then differentiating Ad with respect to B in the direction of Y gives
−1 −1 A(1 + Y )A − A(1)A −1 d(A,1) Ad(Y ) = lim = AY A . →0
Thus, d(A,1) Ad is just the usual conjugation action of A on End(V ). Next, for each Y ∈ End(V ), −1 we want to differential the map A 7→ d(A,1) Ad(Y ) = AY A at 1 ∈ GL(V ). This will give a linear
15 map ad(Y ) : End(V ) → End(V ). If X,Y ∈ End(V ), then (1 + X)−1 = 1 − X + 2X2 − · · · . So,
(1 + X)Y (1 − X + 2X2 − · · · ) − Y ad(Y )(X) = lim →0 XY − Y X + 2 ··· = lim = XY − YX. →0
Thus, b(1,1) Ad(X,Y ) = [X,Y ] = XY − YX, the usual commutator of matrices. 0 As explained in remark 3.13, [−, −]G is defined by differentiating the map AdY : G → g given 0 by AdY (g) = (de Ad(g))(Y ). Swapping arguments, we may also consider the map Ad(g): g → g again given by Y 7→ (de Ad(g))(Y ). Exercise 3.17. Show that Ad(g) ◦ Ad(h) = Ad(gh) for all g, h ∈ G. Conclude that Ad(g) is an invertible linear map and hence defines a group homomorphism Ad : G → GL(g). The map Ad : G → GL(g) is a morphism of Lie groups. Its differential at the identity is denoted ad : g → End(g). Applying Proposition 3.14 to this situation gives the following lemma, which will be useful later.
Lemma 3.18. The map ad preserves brackets i.e. ad([X,Y ]G) = [ad(X), ad(Y )]E, where [A, B]E := AB − BA is the bracket on End(g).
Remark 3.19. One can check that ad(Y )(X) = ad(X)(Y ) = [X,Y ]G for all X,Y ∈ g.
3.4 Lie algebras
We define here the second protagonist in the story - the Lie algebra. We’ve essential already seen above that for each Lie group G, the space g is an example of a Lie algebra.
Definition 3.20. Let k be a field and g a k-vector space. Then g is said to be a Lie algebra if there exists a bilinear map [−, −]: g × g → g, called the Lie bracket, such that
1. The Lie bracket is anti-symmetric meaning that
[X,Y ] = −[Y,X], ∀ X,Y ∈ g.
2. The Jacobi identity is satisfied:
[X, [Y,Z]] + [Z, [X,Y ]] + [Y, [Z,X]] = 0, ∀ X,Y,Z ∈ g.
16 Exercise 3.21. Assume that char k 6= 2. Show that the first axiom in the definition of a Lie algebra is equivalent to the condition [X,X] = 0 for all X ∈ g. Example 3.22. Let M be a manifold. Then the space Vect(M) of vector fields on M is a Lie algebra via the rule [X,Y ] := X ◦ Y − Y ◦ X, where X ◦ Y is the vector field that acts on C∞(M) by first applying Y and then applying X. Example 3.23. Let V be a k-vector space and gl(V ) = End(V ) the space of all linear maps V → V . Then, as we have already seen, gl(V ) is a Lie algebra, the general linear Lie algebra, with bracket [F,G] = F ◦ G − G ◦ F . If V is n-dimensional, then we may identify gl(V ) with gl(n, k), the Lie algebra of n × n matrices, where the bracket of two matrices A and B is just the commutator [A, B] = AB − BA. The Lie algebra gl(n, k) contains many interesting Lie subalgebras such as n(n, k) the Lie algebra of all strictly upper triangular matrices or b(n, k) the Lie algebra of upper triangular matrices. Exercise 3.24. Prove that gl(n, k) is a Lie algebra, and that b(n, k) and n(n, k) are Lie subalgebras of gl(n, k).
3.5 The Lie algebra of a Lie group
Recall that we defined in section 3.3 a bracket [−, −] on the tangent space g at the identity of a Lie group G. As expected,
Proposition 3.25. The pair (g, [−, −]) is a Lie algebra.
Proof. The bracket is bilinear by construction. Therefore we need to check that it is anti-symmetric and satisfies the Jacobi identity. By exercise 3.21, to check that the first axiom holds it suffices to show that [X,X] = 0 for all X ∈ g. Recall from the first definition of tangent spaces that an element X ∈ g can be written γ0(0) for some γ :(−, ) → G. Let Y = ρ0(0) be another element in g. We can express the bracket of X and Y in terms of γ and ρ. First, for each t ∈ (−, ) and g ∈ G, Ad(γ(t))(g) = γ(t)gγ(t)−1. Then, taking g = ρ(s) and differentiating ρ to get Y ,
d (d Ad(γ(t)))(Y ) = γ(t)ρ(s)γ(t)−1 | . e ds s=0
Thus, d ad(X)(Y ) = γ(t)ρ(s)γ(t)−1 | | . ds s=0 t=0
17 In particular,
d d [X,X] = ad(X)(X) = γ(t)γ(s)γ(t)−1 | | dt ds s=0 t=0 d d = γ(s) | | dt ds s=0 t=0 d = X | = 0. dt t=0
We have implicitly used the fact that γ(t)γ(s) = γ(s)γ(t) for all s, t. This is proved in Lemma 4.6 below. Using the anti-symmetric property of the bracket, the Jacobi identity is equivalent to the identity [X, [Y,Z]] − [Y, [X,Z]] = [[X,Y ],Z] for all X,Y,Z ∈ g. Recall that ad(X)(Y ) = [X,Y ]. Therefore the above identity can be written [ad(X) ◦ ad(Y ) − ad(Y ) ◦ ad(X)](Z) = ad([X,Y ])(Z), which would follow from the identity ad(X) ◦ ad(Y ) − ad(Y ) ◦ ad(X) = ad([X,Y ]) in End(g). But this is exactly the statement of Lemma 3.18 that ad preserves brackets.
A Lie algebra h is said to be abelian if [X,Y ] = 0 for all X,Y ∈ h. Exercise 3.26. Let H be an abelian Lie group. Show that its Lie algebra h is abelian.
3.6 Ideals and quotients
Let g be a Lie algebra. A subspace h of g is called a subalgebra if the bracket on g restricts to a bilinear map [−, −]: h × h → h. This makes h into a Lie algebra. A subalgebra l is said to be an ideal if [l, g] ⊂ l. If l is an ideal of g then the quotient vector space g/l is itself a Lie algebra, with bracket [X + l,Y + l] := [X,Y ] + l.
Exercise 3.27. Let l ⊂ g be an ideal. Check that the bracket on g/l is well-defined and that g/l is indeed a Lie algebra. Exercise 3.28. Let l be a Lie subalgebra of g such that [g, g] ⊂ l. Show that l is an ideal and that the quotient g/l is abelian. Exercise 3.29. Show that n(2, k) is a one-dimensional ideal in b(2, k). More generally, show that n(n, k) is an ideal in b(n, k). What are the dimensions of b(n, k) and n(n, k)? Is the quotient b(n, k)/n(n, k) abelian?
18 3.7 Lie algebras of small dimension
Let g be a one-dimensional Lie algebra. Then g = k{X} for any 0 6= X ∈ g. What is the bracket on g? The fact that the bracket must be anti-symmetric implies that [X,X] = 0. Therefore the bracket is zero and g is unique up to isomorphism.
When dim g = 2, let X1,X2 be some basis of g. If the bracket on g is not zero, then the only non-zero bracket can be [X1,X2] = −[X2,X1] and hence [g, g] is a one dimensional subspace of g. Let Y span this subspace. Let X be any element not in [g, g] so that X,Y is also a basis of g. Then [X,Y ] must be a non-zero element in [g, g], hence it is a multiple of Y . By rescaling X, we may assume that [X,Y ] = Y . This uniquely defines the bracket on g (and one can easily check that the bracket does indeed make g into a Lie algebra). Thus, up to isomorphism there are only two Lie algebras of dimension two. In dimension three there are many more examples, but it is possible to completely classify them. The most important three dimensional Lie algebra is sl(2, C), the subalgebra of gl(2, C) consisting of matrices of trace zero. Exercise 3.30. Let ! ! ! 0 1 0 0 1 0 E = ,F = ,H = , 0 0 1 0 0 −1
Show that {E,F,H} is a basis of sl(2, C). Calculate [H,E], [H,F ] and [E,F ].
19 4 The exponential map
In this section, we define the exponential map. This allows us to go back from the Lie algebra of a Lie group to the group itself.
4.1 Left-invariant vector fields
First we note that there is a natural action of G on C∞(G), the space of all smooth functions on G. Namely, given f ∈ C∞(G) and g, h ∈ G, define the new function g · f by
(g · f)(h) = f(g−1h). (10)
Now let X ∈ Vect(G) be a vector field on G. Since X is uniquely defined by its action on C∞(G), we can define an action of G on Vect(G) by
(g · X)(f) = g · [X(g−1 · f)], ∀ f ∈ C∞(G). (11)
It might seem a bit strange that I’ve just decided to put in the (−)−1 into equation (10), but this is necessary to ensure that both C∞(G) and Vect(G) become left G-modules. The vector field X is said to be left invariant if g · X = X for all g ∈ G. We denote by VectL(G) ⊂ Vect(G) the subspace of all left invariant vector fields. Exercise 4.1. Show that VectL(G) is a Lie subalgebra of Vect(G).
Lemma 4.2. Let G be a Lie group. The map X 7→ Xe defines an isomorphism of vector spaces VectL(G) −→∼ g.
L Proof. Let X ∈ Vect (G). We will show that X is unique defined by its value Xe at e. Let g, h ∈ G ∞ −1 and f ∈ C (G). First we consider the differential dh(g · f): ThG → R. Since (g · f)(h) = f(g h), we have g · f = f ◦ Lg−1 , where Lg : G → G is defined by Lg(h) = gh. Thus, dh(g · f) = dg−1hf ◦ dhLg−1 . Then,
[(g · X)(f)](h) = [g · (X(g−1 · f))](h) = [X(g−1 · f)](g−1h) −1 = [dg−1h(g · f)](Xg−1h)
= (dhf) ◦ (dg−1hLg)(Xg−1h).
Since X is assumed to be left invariant, this implies that (dhf)(Xh) = (dhf) ◦ (dg−1hLg)(Xg−1h)
20 for all f ∈ C∞(G). Hence
Xh = (dg−1hLg)(Xg−1h), ∀ g, h ∈ G. (12)
In particular, taking h = g shows that Xg = (deLg)(Xe) i.e. X is uniquely defined by Xe. Thus, the map X 7→ Xe is injective.
Conversely, for each X ∈ g, define the vector field Xe on G by Xeg = (deLg)(X). This means ∞ that Xe(f)(h) = (dhf)(deLh(X)) for all f ∈ C (G). It is left as an exercise to check that Xe belongs to VectL(G).
Exercise 4.3. Check that the vector field Xe defined in the proof of Lemma 4.2 is left invariant.
Remark 4.4. One can actually show that the isomorphism X 7→ Xe of Lemma 4.2 is an isomor- phism of Lie algebras.
× × ∂ ∞ × × Example 4.5. Let G = (R , ·). Then TG = R ×R and Vect(G) = {f ∂x | f ∈ C (R )}. If α ∈ R and f ∈ C∞(G), then the group R× acts on C∞(R×) by (α · f)(p) = f(α−1p) e.g. α · xn = αnxn since (α · xn)(β) = xn(α−1β) = (α−1β)n.
This implies that C∞(R×)G = R. Similarly,
∂ ∂ α · f (xn) = α · f (αnxn) ∂x ∂x = (α · f)nαnxn−1 ∂ = α(α · f) (xn). ∂x