Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 102 1 iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
For a finite-dimensional Lie algebra representation on , the Trace form of a Lie algebra representation isWrite again , , and . The operator commutes with both and . Direct use of the cyclic property of the trace givesIn the last line, cyclicity and turn into . Thus the nonzero vector is orthogonal to the basis , and hence to all of . The bilinear form is therefore degenerate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 102 1 ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Let represent . Since is central, commutes with and . Over the complex number field , has an eigenvalue , and its corresponding eigenspace is invariant under all three operators. The irreducibility of therefore makes this eigenspace all of , so . Taking the trace ofgives by the cyclic property of the trace; hence .
The remaining operators and commute. Two commuting operators on a nonzero finite-dimensional complex vector space have a common eigenvector, whose span is invariant. Irreducibility therefore forces . Conversely, every pair defines a one-dimensional irreducible representation byThese are all the finite-dimensional irreducible representations.