Every vector space over a field has a basis, assuming the axiom of choice. More generally, any linearly independent subset extends to a basis. This is an algebraic Hamel basis: each representation uses a finite linear combination, even when the basis is infinite.[ref]
Use the poset of linearly independent subsets containing :
It is a set, being a subset of the power set of , and is nonempty because .
A short proof outline supplies both essential steps:
Taking proves existence, including , whose basis is the empty set. The chain in a partial order need not be indexed by the natural numbers: only the finitely many members needed for a particular linear relation are compared. An arbitrary union of linearly independent sets can fail: and for a nonzero vector over the real numbers are each linearly independent, but their union is linearly dependent. The nesting of a chain in a partial order is what prevents this failure.
Order the linearly independent subsets of a vector space by inclusion. A chain's union is independent, since every finite relation is contained in one chain member. Zorn's lemma gives a maximal independent subset. A vector outside its span could be adjoined while preserving independence, so it spans. Sending finite-support coefficient families to their linear combinations gives an isomorphism from the free module on that subset to . This supplies an arbitrary, possibly infinite-dimensional basis using the axiom of choice; no pre-existing basis theorem is invoked.
Vector subspace Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A vector subspace is a nonempty subset of a vector space closed under vector addition and scalar multiplication, and is therefore itself a vector space. Equivalently, whenever belong to the subset, so does for all allowed scalars . In particular it contains the zero vector.
For example, the plane is a vector subspace, with basis . Indeed every element is . The parallel plane misses the zero vector and is an affine subspace instead. Homogeneous constraints produce vector subspaces: is the kernel of the linear map . This lets us describe all solutions of a homogeneous linear equation through a basis of its kernel.
Weight basis 2026-10-14
A weight basis of a Lie algebra representation is a basis consisting of weight vectors for a chosen Cartan subalgebra. When the Cartan action is diagonalizable, choose a basis separately in every weight space and combine them. This makes weight multiplicities directly visible and gives diagonal matrices for Cartan elements.
Let , and let be the dual basis. The equivariant contraction sends to . Its kernel has a weight basis consisting of for , for three distinct indices with , and for . The three families have sizes six, three and six. This is the irreducible fifteen-dimensional highest-weight representation with highest weight .
The algebra over defined by has ordered basis , by its differential Ore-extension construction. Its -adic completion is a formal associative formal associative deformation of . In characteristic zero its first-order multiplication term is . The cocycle is not a coboundary: a degree-two coboundary on a commutative algebra is symmetric, whereas .
For complete energy eigenstates of a one-particle Quantum Hamiltonian for identical noninteracting fermions, order their energies . At fixed particle number , the Quantum Hamiltonian and the particle-number constraint are
The ground state occupies the lowest complete one-particle states. A short minimization argument suffices: moving an occupant from a higher energy to an empty lower energy decreases the total energy. This filling describes the ground state at temperature ; exclusion by itself also applies to excited quantum states and at positive temperature. The underlying thermal description is the Fermi-Dirac distribution.[ref]
If the last occupied energy belongs to a group of one-particle states at the same energy and of them must be occupied, with all lower states filled, the ground state subspace has dimension . Exclusion does not select a particular basis or a particular quantum superposition in that subspace. The factor of two for an Electron spatial orbital assumes both spin projections are included; a model restricted to one spin projection has only one state per spatial orbital. A magnetic field can split the degenerate energy levels, and interactions can change the lowest-energy electron configuration. Thus this finite noninteracting filling rule is not a complete prescription for interacting chemical atoms.