Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/iii/paper-1/3/c/solution

A smooth vector field on a smooth manifold is a smooth section of its tangent bundle: it assigns smoothly to each point. On a Lie group, it is a left-invariant vector field when
For , define . Smoothness of multiplication makes this a smooth vector field, and plus the chain rule proves left invariance. Every left-invariant vector field arises this way from its value at the identity.
For a matrix Lie group, , because the derivative at zero of is . The printed group name in this subpart must be read as , rather than the additive vector space : it is the matrix-group calculation consistent with the preceding subparts. At the specified matrix,
A tangent vector at a nonidentity group element need not itself be trace-free; here is trace-free, as required. If one instead interpreted the printed as its additive Lie group, the field would be the constant field , a different problem.

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