 Solution

A group is a nonempty set $G$ with an operation $G\times G\to G$, $(g,h)\mapsto gh$, satisfying associativity, an identity element $e$ with $eg=ge=g$, and an inverse element $g^{-1}$ with $g{g}^{-1}=g^{-1}g=e$ for every $g$. These are the group axioms. An Abelian group additionally satisfies $gh=hg$ for every pair. A subgroup is a subset that is itself a group under the restricted operation; equivalently, it is nonempty and closed under $h{k}^{-1}$.

Let $R:G\to \mathrm{GL}(V)$ be a nonzero, finite-dimensional complex irreducible representation of an Abelian group. For each fixed $g$, commutativity givesThus $R(g)$ is an intertwining operator from $R$ to itself. By Schur's lemma over the complex numbers, $R(g)={\lambda }_g{I}_V$. Every line in $V$ is therefore an invariant subspace. Since $R$ is irreducible, this forcesThis is the finite-dimensional convention used throughout the paper. Without it, the literal assertion for arbitrary Abelian groups needs qualification. A concrete counterexample is $G=\mathbb{C}(t{)}^{\times }$ acting by multiplication on the complex vector space $V=\mathbb{C}(t)$ of rational functions. Any nonzero invariant complex vector subspace containing $f$ contains $gf$ for every nonzero rational $g$, hence contains every rational function. This is an infinite-dimensional irreducible representation. The scalar conclusion of Schur's lemma used above depends on finite dimensionality.