Coroot (${\alpha }^{\vee }$)

The coroot associated with a nonzero root is ${\alpha }^{\vee }=2\alpha /(\alpha ,\alpha )$.

For chosen simple roots, the corresponding coroots are the simple coroots. They form the simple system of the dual root system. The fundamental weights are defined by $⟨{\omega }_j,{\alpha }_i^{\vee }⟩={\delta }_{ij}$, so pairings with simple coroots record coordinates in the fundamental-weight basis.

The dual root system of $\Phi$ is ${\Phi }^{\vee }=\{{\alpha }^{\vee }:\alpha \in \Phi \}$. It has the transposed Cartan matrix, so its Dynkin diagram reverses every multiple-edge arrow; in particular, $B_n$ and $C_n$ are dual.