Dual Lie algebra representation 2026-10-05
The dual of a Lie algebra representation on acts on its dual space by . The minus sign makes this a Lie algebra homomorphism: taking transposes reverses the order in a commutator. It is the infinitesimal version of the dual representation of a group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 3 19F c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 3 19F iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 3 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For a partition with at most parts, let be the Schur module constructed in Question 3, equivalently the image of a Young symmetrizer on . For a weakly decreasing integer tuple , put and . Define the rational Schur module byHere is the one-dimensional representation . This is rational, and it is irreducible under the permitted irreducibility assumption; for nonnegative it is the original polynomial Schur module. Larger shifts give the same module, as will also follow from the character formula below.
Write and . For a permutation of the given cycle type, the trace of a permuted tensor power isIn a tensor basis, the trace contracts the matrix entries of around each cycle of ; a cycle of length contributes . This proof applies to nondiagonalizable endomorphisms as well. The eigenvalues give .
The Schur–Weyl duality decomposition, on which and act on the two respective factors, gives the same trace asFor a partition, the character extends polynomially to all endomorphisms because the tensor-power action does. This extension is not asserted for determinant-twisted modules at singular matrices.
We now derive the alternant character formula for the general linear group. Put andUse the permitted symmetric-group character result, the Frobenius alternant character formula:It concerns characters of , rather than assuming the character formula we seek for the general linear group. Substitute the proved trace identity and setThen for every conjugacy class. Independence of the irreducible symmetric-group characters forces .
Each character on diagonal matrices is a symmetric homogeneous polynomial of degree , since conjugation by permutation matrices permutes its arguments. Thus is alternating of degree . Every alternating polynomial of this degree has a unique expansion in alternants : a monomial with repeated exponents has zero coefficient, while each strictly decreasing nonnegative exponent vector is uniquely for a partition of with at most parts. Its coefficient at is the coefficient of that alternant. The identities for therefore give . We have derived the Weyl character formulaFor partitions the quotient is the Schur polynomial, with removable apparent singularities when eigenvalues coincide. For arbitrary dominant integer tuples, multiply the formula for by ; this shifts every numerator exponent by and yields the same boxed formula. The variables must then be nonzero. The expression also shows independence of the shift used to define the determinant twist. Equality of characters identifies these irreducible modules: the group-algebra image on a direct sum of two irreducibles is finite-dimensional and semisimple, and its span of group operators detects the traces on every simple block.
Finally, the character of a dual representation evaluates the original character at . Reverse the numerator's columns after making this substitution. The exponents become . Factoring converts these into for . The denominator undergoes the identical column reversal and factor, so both signs and factors cancel. Hence , andThis tuple is again weakly decreasing, so it is precisely the required dominant label.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 102 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Start with the tensor product of Lie algebra representations, whose action isWriting , the two tensor factors commute, so . This verifies the Lie algebra representation identity over every field.
The exterior square and symmetric square are the quotient vector spacesIn the exterior square, expanding shows that , including in characteristic two. Both defining relation spaces are invariant under the tensor product action: is an exterior relation, and the image of a symmetric relation is a sum of symmetric relations. Thus the quotient actions are well-defined and satisfyFor the printed basis , bases are with and with . Their dimensions are and respectively.
If is invertible in , as representations. Define the flip . It commutes with the Lie algebra action and satisfies . Thereforeare complementary invariant linear projections. The mapsidentify with and with . Their inverses are the corresponding quotient maps restricted to these subspaces. This proves the assertion for every field of odd characteristic, and also for characteristic zero.
Over every field, . The symmetric square of a direct sum isomorphism sends the first two summands into products within and within , and sends to the mixed product . If and are bases, the monomial basis of is the disjoint unionThus the map is bijective, with no division by needed. The Leibniz rule for the action preserves each of these three summands and agrees with its usual Lie algebra representation action, proving equivariance.
For , is trivial and has dimension . HenceIt remains to find the irreducible representations in the symmetric square of the sl3 representation of highest weight (2,1). We give the formal character calculation explicitly.
Let be the defining special linear Lie algebra representation. In Dynkin labels, its weights are , , and ; the dual representation has their negatives. The equivariant contractionis surjective. Its kernel has dimension . The tensor is a highest-weight vector of highest weight in that kernel. By the Weyl complete reducibility theorem, the kernel contains the irreducible representation , whose Weyl dimension formula gives dimension ; therefore the kernel equals . This yieldsMultiplying the six weights of by the three weights of and subtracting those of gives the following full weight multiplicity list:The multiplicities sum to .
For any finite-dimensional weight-space decomposition, a weight of multiplicity contributes to weight in its symmetric square. Distinct weights contribute to . Equivalently,Applying this to the displayed list gives all dominant weight multiplicities in the second column below. The remaining columns are the weight multiplicities of the candidate irreducible representations:For an explicit way to compute each irreducible column, set and use the Weyl character formula in the formA monomial has Dynkin labels . Equivalently, the quotient is enumerated by Semistandard Young tableaux of shape with entries , weakly increasing across rows and strictly increasing down columns; the exponents count the three entries.
The five irreducible columns sum to the column. These are all its dominant weights, and all five candidate characters have no other dominant weights. Every Weyl group orbit meets the dominant chamber, and weight multiplicities are constant on Weyl group orbits. Thus the table proves equality of the full formal characters, and the Weyl complete reducibility theorem givesThe Weyl dimension formula checks the result:Consequently the requested decomposition isIts total dimension is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 138 2 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be a p-regular element, with eigenvalues on . On both acting on and acting on the dual representation , the eigenvalues are . Multiplicative lifts of roots of unity satisfy . HenceAll these identities concern the domain of a Brauer character, namely the p-regular elements. If necessary, extend the p-modular system to contain the relevant roots of unity and use one consistent choice of lifts.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 302 4 c ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The representation with highest weight is the dual representation of . Its weights are the negatives of those of :Thus .