For the A3 root system, take simple roots for in the hyperplane of an orthonormal . Its Dynkin diagram is the single-bond chain . The Cartan matrix has entries , giving
For a weight , use Dynkin labels . The four weights of the defining representation have labels
They form the weight system with highest weight . Equivalently, subtract successive rows of from that highest weight. The dual representation negates every weight, so the weight system with highest weight is
All these weights have multiplicity one. The numbered Dynkin diagrams used in this solution and in solution are shown below.
Figure 1.
Numbered Dynkin diagrams for the A3 root system and D5 root system, with deletion from the Extended Dynkin diagram
. All bonds are single. In the Extended Dynkin diagram of the D5 root system, deleting node 2 separates nodes 0 and 1 and leaves the three-node chain 4-3-5, giving the root subsystem . Details.
For the D5 root system, take an orthonormal basis and simple roots for , together with . The Dynkin diagram has single bonds , , , , with the fork at node . Thus its Cartan matrix is
The fundamental weight has Dynkin labels . Its pairing with every positive coroot , , is zero or one. Hence its half-spin representation is a minuscule representation, so its weight system is a single Weyl group orbit with multiplicity one. The Weyl group of the D5 root system permutes coordinates and changes an even number of signs. Consequently its complete weight system is
There are such weights. Their Dynkin labels are , explicitly
Here the Lie algebra is , or its compact real form when discussing compact groups. Globally the half-spin representation is a representation of , and does not descend to ; the question only specifies the Lie algebra.
The highest root of the D5 root system in our numbering is . Adjoin . The Extended Dynkin diagram has an extra bond . Deleting node leaves the two isolated nodes and the chain , hence the root subsystem .
This is a maximal Lie subalgebra, not merely a full-rank Lie subalgebra. In the orthogonal realization it is , acting on a decomposition. The remaining off-diagonal part transforms as the irreducible tensor product representation of dimension . Any intermediate Lie subalgebra containing one nonzero vector in that complement must contain the entire complement, because this representation is irreducible, and hence all dimensions. This proves maximality.
To apply the supplied projection, write a D5 root system weight as the column of Dynkin labels. Then
For example, the highest weight maps to , and maps to . Applying the same expression to all sixteen weights in solution gives exactly
where and are the four-element weight systems in solution. Each set has eight distinct weights, each of multiplicity one. Since an doublet has weights and an singlet has weight zero, the branching of a representation is
The highest weights of these two summands are and , and checks the dimensions. Here is the convenient covering group; its image inside has a common central identification. Both summands are trivial on .