Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/iii/paper-3/2/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 3 2 i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Work with a complex semisimple Lie algebra and its root system in the real span of the roots of a root system. The Killing form induces a positive definite inner product on this real root space, after the usual identification with the dual of the real span of the coroots. For each root , its Weyl reflection isThe Weyl group is . The structural facts being used are that these reflections preserve the finite root system, that the roots span , and that the reflections in the simple roots already generate . Thus is finite: it acts faithfully as permutations of . Equivalently, it is the normalizer of the Cartan subalgebra modulo its centralizer in the associated adjoint group.
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