In the classification of finite simple groups, groups of Lie type are a set of infinite families of simple lie groups. These are the other infinite families besides te cyclic groups and alternating groups.
A decent list at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_finite_simple_groups, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_Lie_type is just too unclear. The groups of Lie type can be subdivided into:
- Chevalley groups
- TODO the rest
The first in this family discovered were a subset of the Chevalley groups by Galois: , so it might be a good first one to try and understand what it looks like.
TODO understand intuitively why they are called of Lie type. Their names , seem to correspond to the members of the classification of simple Lie groups which are also named like that.
But they are of course related to Lie groups, and as suggested at Video "Yang-Mills 1 by David Metzler (2011)" part 2, the continuity actually simplifies things.
They are the finite projective special linear groups.
This was the first infinite family of simple groups discovered after the simple cyclic groups and alternating groups. The first case discovered was by Galois. You should understand that one first.
