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The two Lie groups have the same local infinitesimal structure, but different global topology. This difference determines which Lie algebra representations integrate to representations of each group.

An element of the SU(2) group is a unitary matrix of determinant one. Orthogonality of its columns and its determinant give the unique formThus its group manifold is the unit three-sphere in ${\mathbb{C}}^2\simeq {\mathbb{R}}^4$: this is SU(2) as the three-sphere. In particular it is compact, connected and simply connected. In terms of the Pauli matrices one may also write $U=a_{0}I-i\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{\sigma }$ with real coefficients satisfying $a_0^2+{\mathbf{a}}^2=1$.

Differentiate $U(t{)}^{†}U(t)=I$ and $\det U(t)=1$ at $U(0)=I$. The tangent space consists of traceless skew-Hermitian matrices:The Lie bracket of a Matrix Lie group is the matrix commutator. With $T_a=-i{\sigma }_a/2$, the Pauli matrix multiplication law givesThis derives the SU(2) Lie algebra as a three-dimensional real Lie algebra. The Hermitian physics generators $J_a={\sigma }_a/2$ instead obey $[J_a,J_b]=i{ϵ}_{abc}{J}_c$; they are $i$ times the skew-Hermitian tangent generators, so these are consistent conventions.

The SO(3) group consists of real orthogonal matrices with determinant one. Differentiating $R(t{)}^{T}R(t)=I$ at the identity givesThe determinant condition gives no additional infinitesimal constraint because a skew-symmetric matrix already has trace zero. Define $L_a\mathbf{v}={\mathbf{e}}_a\times \mathbf{v}$. The cross product identity impliesTherefore the SO(3) Lie algebra has the same structure constants and $T_a\mapsto L_a$ is a Lie algebra isomorphism.

The global relation is the Adjoint double cover from SU(2) to SO(3). For $V=\mathbf{v}\cdot \mathbf{\sigma }$, define $R(U)$ byConjugation preserves the real space of traceless Hermitian matrices and its inner product $\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{tr}(VW)=\mathbf{v}\cdot \mathbf{w}$. Hence $R(U)$ is orthogonal. Continuity and connectedness, together with $R(I)=I$, put it in $SO(3)$. Composition of conjugations makes $R$ a group homomorphism. If $R(U)=I$, then $U$ commutes with every Pauli matrix, hence is scalar; unitarity and determinant one leave precisely $U=\pm I$. The differential sends $T_a$ to $L_a$, so it is an isomorphism. More concretely,induces rotation through angle $\theta$ about $\mathbf{n}$, by the Rodrigues rotation formula. Every three-dimensional rotation has such an axis and angle, proving surjectivity. ConsequentlyThe matrices $U$ and $-U$ are antipodal points on the three-sphere, so the SO(3) group manifold is Real projective space ${\mathbb{RP}}^3$. Equivalently, the closed axis-angle ball $\Vert \theta \mathbf{n}\Vert \le \pi$ has opposite boundary points identified. The fundamental group is ${\pi }_1(SO(3))\simeq {\mathbb{Z}}_2$, whereas ${\pi }_1(SU(2))=0$. A $2\pi$ rotation lifts from $I$ to $-I$; a $4\pi$ rotation returns to $I$. Thus the covering is the universal cover and the groups are not globally isomorphic.

For representation theory, specify finite-dimensional complex continuous representations. Compactness permits an invariant Hermitian inner product, obtained by averaging against Haar measure, and therefore complete reducibility. Complexifying either real Lie algebra gives the sl2 Lie algebra. Its finite-dimensional irreducibles are indexed by $n\in {\mathbb{Z}}_{\ge 0}$, have highest weight $n$, and have dimension $n+1$. By integration of a Lie-algebra representation, since $SU(2)$ is simply connected, every such Lie algebra representation integrates uniquely. The resulting homogeneous polynomial representation of SU2 isIn the spin angular momentum notation $j=n/2$, its Hermitian $J_3$ eigenvalues are $j,j-1,\dots ,-j$. The central matrix $-I$ acts on the symmetric power by $(-1{)}^n$, so descent of an SU(2) representation to SO(3) occurs exactly when $n$ is even. HenceFor a reducible representation, every summand must satisfy the descent condition. The spin-one-half doublet is a genuine representation of the covering group but does not define a single-valued representation of $SO(3)$; the spin-one triplet does and is its vector representation. The distinction is topological, rather than a difference in their isomorphic Lie algebras.