Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-lie-algebras-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2011/2/iii/solution
Past exam of the Lie algebras course of the University of Oxford 2011 2 iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Every matrix has the unique decompositionBoth summands define invariant subspaces for the Adjoint representation of a Lie algebra. Scalar matrices commute with everything, so is . The traceless matrices form with basis of weights . Their brackets satisfy , , ; the raising and lowering operations connect all three weight lines. This is the simple module . ThereforeAs a check, its zero-weight space has dimension two and its one-weight space is zero, agreeing with part (ii).
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