For a connected abelian Lie group, the Lie exponential map is an additive group homomorphism and a local diffeomorphism at zero. Its image is an open subgroup, hence the whole connected group. Its kernel is a discrete additive subgroup of a real vector space. A basis of that kernel identifies it with inside , giving the displayed classification. The compact factors record periods of one-parameter subgroups.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 20 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For , let be the left-invariant vector field with value at the identity. Its integral curve through the identity is the unique one-parameter subgroup with . It exists for all real time: local existence followed by translation and the identity extends it indefinitely. The Exponential map of a Lie group isIt is smooth and , because differentiating at zero gives . The inverse function theorem therefore makes it a local diffeomorphism at zero.
If is abelian, the product is a one-parameter subgroup with initial tangent . Uniqueness gives , henceConversely, if this additive homomorphism identity holds, all and commute. Differentiating their adjoint action shows . Alternatively, their commuting images contain an identity neighbourhood; that neighbourhood generates the identity component of a Lie group, so the identity component is abelian. Conversely, if the Lie algebra is abelian, its left-invariant vector fields commute, so their flows commute. Hence all one-parameter subgroups commute; their product with initial tangent is the one-parameter subgroup for . The Lie exponential map is therefore additive, and its image generates an abelian identity component. Thus the stated equivalence holds for connected . Without connectedness the exact assertion is that the Lie exponential map is a homomorphism precisely when is abelian. The converse implication to all of is false: in the Lie algebra consists of , whereRotations satisfy , but a reflection satisfies , so the full orthogonal group is not abelian.
Now take a connected abelian Lie group of dimension . Its Lie exponential map is a homomorphism whose image contains an identity neighbourhood, hence an open subgroup. A connected group has no proper open subgroup, so this map is onto. Its kernel is discrete, since it is injective on a neighbourhood of zero. The induced map is a bijective local diffeomorphism and therefore a Lie group isomorphismHere is the needed classification of . Let be the dimension of its real span. Choose that form a real basis of that span. Their integer span has finite index in : subtract integer multiples of the to put each coset representative in a compact parallelepiped. Only finitely many points of lie there, since discreteness at zero gives a uniform positive separation between distinct points. Thus is finitely generated and torsion-free, and the structure theorem for finitely generated abelian groups makes it free abelian of rank . Its integer basis is a real basis of the span. A linear change of coordinates consequently sends to in .
This proves the classification of connected abelian Lie groups:The isomorphism depends on the choice of lattice basis and complementary vector space. Compactness is equivalent to .