 Representation ring of a semisimple Lie algebra

The representation ring of finite-dimensional modules for a complex semisimple Lie algebra is the abelian group generated by module classes, with $[V\oplus U]=[V]+[U]$, and multiplication $[V][U]=[V\otimes U]$. Weyl complete reducibility theorem makes the classes of irreducible representations a free integral basis. The formal character map identifies this ring with the Weyl group invariant part of the group ring of a weight lattice. Injectivity follows from distinct highest weights; surjectivity follows by subtracting the character with each maximal dominant weight, whose highest-weight coefficient is one, from a Weyl-invariant finite sum.

// Target: semisimple-lie-algebra.bigb