Dn root system 2026-10-14
For the complexified Special orthogonal Lie algebra , , choose positive roots of a root system and for . Its Weyl vector is . Dominant coordinates satisfy . The Weyl dimension formula becomes . The case is two independent A1 root systems, while is isomorphic to the A3 root system.
Choose an orthonormal basis in the real Euclidean space containing the root system, and take simple roots
Their squared lengths are . Use the Cartan matrix convention , with the denominator indexed by the column. Direct inner products give
The Dynkin diagram of the B3 root system is a three-node chain with a single bond from node 1 to node 2 and a double bond from node 2 to the short node 3; the arrow points toward node 3. The A3 root system has a chain of three nodes joined by single bonds. A convention putting the row length in the denominator transposes the first displayed Cartan matrix.
For the Extended Dynkin diagram, the highest root is . Add . Its only nonzero off-diagonal inner product among these simple roots is . Deleting the short node 3 leaves the chain , with three equal-length roots, which is .
Figure 1.
Finite Dynkin diagrams and the long-root subalgebra of the extended B3 diagram
. Double-bond arrows point toward the short root. The extended Dynkin diagram adds . Deleting node 3 leaves the blue chain , of type . Details.
More concretely, the long roots form the D3 root system, which is isomorphic to the A3 root system. The corresponding root spaces and Cartan subalgebra generate
for the compact real forms. At the matrix level the inclusion fixes one coordinate in seven-dimensional space. This establishes the required Lie subalgebra inclusion; the associated global groups require the distinction explained in d.
The complexification of a Lie algebra gives , of type A3 root system. Choose simple roots , , , with squared lengths two. The Cartan matrix and Dynkin diagram are
Each line represents a single bond. In the Dynkin label convention , the simple roots have coordinates equal to the rows of .
In the defining representation, apply the simple coroots to the four coordinate basis vectors. Their weights are
Equivalently these are obtained by subtracting successively from the highest weight. The dual representation has the negative weights, hence
All listed weight multiplicities are one, so both dimensions are four.
The highest weight is , the highest root. Its irreducible representation is therefore the Adjoint representation. Under the action on traceless matrices by conjugation, the off-diagonal matrix unit has weight , while the diagonal Cartan subalgebra has zero weight. Thus
The superscript indicates weight multiplicity three. The twelve nonzero weights each have weight multiplicity one, giving in total. This also follows from the tensor product representation : the sixteen differences contain four zero weights, and removing the identity matrix removes one of them.
For the A3 root system, take simple roots for in the hyperplane of an orthonormal . Its Dynkin diagram is the single-bond chain . The Cartan matrix has entries , giving
For a weight , use Dynkin labels . The four weights of the defining representation have labels
They form the weight system with highest weight . Equivalently, subtract successive rows of from that highest weight. The dual representation negates every weight, so the weight system with highest weight is
All these weights have multiplicity one. The numbered Dynkin diagrams used in this solution and in solution are shown below.
Figure 1.
Numbered Dynkin diagrams for the A3 root system and D5 root system, with deletion from the Extended Dynkin diagram
. All bonds are single. In the Extended Dynkin diagram of the D5 root system, deleting node 2 separates nodes 0 and 1 and leaves the three-node chain 4-3-5, giving the root subsystem . Details.
Put and let denote a matrix unit. The antidiagonal matrix satisfies , so the orthogonal condition is , or entrywise . Consequently the diagonal Cartan subalgebra is
We first take . Since , the matrix root basis of the even orthogonal Lie algebra gives
The zero weight space is ; its basis is . No vector of weight occurs, because the corresponding matrix unit is forced to be its own negative. These spaces account for dimensions, exhausting the Special orthogonal Lie algebra. Thus its decomposition as a -module and its Dn root system are
Each nonzero root space has dimension one; the zero weight has multiplicity .
The upper triangular root spaces are precisely those of weights and with . Therefore
These roots form the simple roots. To check that they generate the chosen positive system with nonnegative coefficients, write . For ,
and for use . Empty sums are zero. Their linear independence and these expansions identify the base of the root system.
Equip the real span of the roots in with the inner product making the orthonormal. All roots then have squared length two. The coroots of are , so the fundamental weights of Dn, characterized by , are
Taking their pairings with and verifies the defining identities directly. For each pair , the sum of its two positive roots is . Hence the half-sum of positive roots is
The Dynkin diagram has a chain ending at , which is joined to both and . Every edge is a single bond because the root lengths agree; the nonzero off-diagonal simple-root pairings are minus one. The labelled Dn Dynkin diagram and its low-rank versions are shown below.
Figure 1.
Labelled D-type Dynkin diagrams, including the low-rank cases
. Details.
For , and are orthogonal, giving two disconnected A1 root systems. For , the diagram is the chain , of type A3 root system; the displayed weight formulas still apply. If is allowed, is one-dimensional and abelian: there are no roots or fundamental weights, and .
The single bonds give equal simple-root lengths and inner products, after normalization,
The positive roots of this A3 root system are
The first two sums are roots by the qualified obtuse-root lemma. The last is a root because . All have nonnegative simple-root coordinates, hence are positive.
To prove completeness, first note that every root is Weyl-conjugate to a simple root. For a nonsimple positive root , some , since . Reflection subtracts a positive integer multiple of , decreasing its integer height. The reflected root stays positive: it leaves the coefficients at all other simple roots unchanged, at least one of which is positive; a root has coordinates all of one sign. Repeating this height decrease reaches a simple root. Thus every root has squared length two in this connected single-bond system.
Write an arbitrary positive root as , with nonnegative integers . Its squared length condition is
Thus . For the equation gives ; for or it gives or ; for it gives . These are exactly the six coefficient triples in the displayed list. This proves completeness from the axioms, not merely from recognizing the Dynkin diagram.
Choose the root basis
In the usual invariant inner product, each simple root has squared length , while and . The labeled Dynkin diagram is therefore the following chain, with a single bond between adjacent nodes:
It is type , equivalently the A3 root system. To check the root basis explicitly, the corresponding positive roots are ; these and their negatives are all twelve roots.
The root lattice is . The weight lattice is
Because every Cartan integer is integral, . The Dynkin labels of are
There are three isomorphism classes of complex simple rank-three Lie algebras: types A3 root system, B3 root system, and C3 root system. Use the convention , and order the chain as ---- with .
  • For , take , , and . The double-edge arrow points to the short third root, and
  • For , take , , and . The double-edge arrow points to the short second root, and
The Dynkin labels of a finite-dimensional irreducible representation are those of its highest weight. Thus means the fundamental representation . The weights, written in Dynkin labels and in a lowering order, are
For these are the weights of the defining representation of ; for they are in the vector representation of ; for they are in the defining representation of . Hence the requested dimensions are , , and , respectively.
For equal-length candidate roots, the required inner products are
Set A is invalid because rather than zero; indeed its three vectors sum to zero and are not linearly independent. Set B has all the displayed inner products and is linearly independent, so it is valid. Set C is the standard realization
of the A3 root system and is also valid.