Projective image of the square symmetry group

ID: projective-image-of-the-square-symmetry-group

Let and . They generate the dihedral group of a square, realized by . Its image in the projective linear group has four elements, since opposite matrices become equal. The projective classes of commute because , and each squares to the identity. Sending to gives the Klein four-group. This is an example in which a nontrivial scalar commutator disappears after passing to a projective representation.

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