Adjoint representation of a Lie algebra Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The adjoint representation is . For a semisimple Lie algebra, its nonzero weights are the roots and its zero-weight space is the Cartan subalgebra.
Borel subalgebra Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
For a choice of positive roots, the corresponding Borel subalgebra is , the sum of a Cartan subalgebra and all positive root spaces.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 102 2 ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The weights of lie below in the positive-root order, and every weight space is finite-dimensional. A nonzero submodule is stable under the Cartan subalgebra, so it is a direct sum of its weight spaces. Choose a maximal weight occurring in . Every positive-root operator would raise its weight; maximality therefore makes it kill any nonzero . Thus is a singular vector.
The Casimir element is central and acts throughout byThe same element acts on the highest-weight vector of weight byBoth are the action of one operator on the same module, so the scalars agree and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 102 4 ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Choose a short simple root and a long simple root , with and angle . The six positive roots of the G2 root system areand their negatives complete the two concentric hexagons of short and long roots. The fundamental weights areso is itself a short root and is the highest root.
The seven-dimensional representation has weight seteach with weight multiplicity one. Their positive heights are , so the q-character of a highest-weight representation isThis is one weight string, hence
The representation is the fourteen-dimensional Adjoint representation. Its nonzero weights are the twelve roots, and its zero-weight space is the two-dimensional Cartan subalgebra. The positive root heights are , soSplitting this into ordinary strings gives