In coordinates , the Heisenberg group law is . Commutation for every forces , hence . The center of a group is therefore the -axis. The surjective group homomorphism has exactly this kernel of a group homomorphism, giving the stated quotient group by the first isomorphism theorem.
Heisenberg group over a prime field Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
Upper-unitriangular three-by-three matrices over the prime finite field form the finite analogue of the real Heisenberg group. In coordinates their multiplication is . The order is , and . For odd , every nonidentity element has order , but the group is nonabelian. For the exponent statement changes, so odd characteristic is essential for the nonisomorphic Gassmann equivalent regular subgroups construction.
Every right-invariant Riemannian metric on the Heisenberg group has Killing vector fields , and . Their Lie brackets of vector fields reproduce and the central relations. Their flows are right translations. The dual frame of the right-invariant coframe is different and has the opposite Lie-bracket sign.
For an odd prime number , a finite p-group that is a product of cyclic subgroups is a powerful p-group. Indeed, has exponent of a finite group and the same minimal generator number . Its cyclic factorization gives , while its Frattini quotient has order . Thus , is an elementary abelian group, and . The condition on the number of factors is essential: the nonabelian Heisenberg group over has exponent and is a product of three cyclic subgroups, although its minimal generator number is two.
The Sunada theorem is the following. Let be a finite normal Riemannian covering of a connected closed Riemannian manifold, with finite deck transformation group . If satisfy Gassmann equivalence, meaning
then and have the same scalar Laplacian spectrum, with multiplicities. Equivalently, an epimorphism yields isospectral covers corresponding to the inverse images of .
Here is the representation-theoretic proof. Every finite-dimensional Laplacian eigenspace of is a group representation of , since isometries commute with the Laplace-Beltrami operator. Eigenfunctions on identify with . Averaging gives the projection , so
The two subgroup orders agree, and the character of a representation is constant on conjugacy classes. The displayed multiplicities are therefore equal for every . This proof also applies when has fixed points on , provided the two subgroups act freely, so their quotients are smooth manifolds. We shall use this extension for an orbifold base in Question 4.
The precise geometric test for an isometry uses the full isometry group of a common universal cover. Equip the simply connected cover of with the lifted metric and let be the subgroups of its deck transformation group corresponding to the two covers. Then
Indeed, such an descends to an isometry of the quotients. Conversely an isometry of the quotients lifts to their simply connected covers; lift its inverse with compatible basepoints to see that the lift is bijective. Since it preserves the lifted metrics locally, it is a global isometry, and equivariance of the covering maps shows that it conjugates the deck subgroups. This proves the criterion, rather than assuming that an isometry must preserve the map to . In particular, nonconjugacy inside alone does not establish nonisometry; the full covering space may have additional isometries. Nonisomorphic fundamental groups are a sufficient topological obstruction, and length-identified geometric configurations provide another.
For a concrete nonisomorphic Gassmann equivalent regular subgroups example, fix an odd prime and take . Embed and through their regular permutation actions. Both have order . Every nonidentity element of has order . For , write its elements as with ; then
over , including , so its nonidentity elements also have order . In a regular action, each nonidentity order- element has cycle type . Thus each subgroup meets the identity class in one element, the class of that cycle type in elements, and every other conjugacy class in zero elements. They are Gassmann equivalent. They are not isomorphic: is abelian, whereas the Heisenberg group has .
To obtain arbitrarily many examples in dimension five, choose distinct odd primes with . For each prime use the preceding pair . Set
A conjugacy class in a direct product is a product of conjugacy classes, and its intersection count with is the product of the individual counts. Thus all subgroups are Gassmann equivalent. They are pairwise nonisomorphic: the unique Sylow -subgroup of is abelian precisely when , and an abstract group isomorphism preserves this property at each prime.
We use the closed-manifold realization of a finitely presented fundamental group in dimension five. Its construction here is short. From a finite presentation of with generators, start with the connected sum of copies of . Its fundamental group is free on those generators. Represent the finitely many relators by disjoint embedded circles, which is possible by general position for curves in a manifold in dimension five. Their oriented normal bundles are trivial. Perform framed circle surgery, removing and inserting . The Seifert-van Kampen theorem shows that each surgery kills exactly the normal closure of the corresponding relator: the attaching circle bounds the new disk, and the new factor contributes no fundamental group. The resulting closed connected five-manifold has .
Choose any smooth Riemannian metric on and lift it to its universal cover . Since is finite, is a compact simply connected five-manifold on which acts freely and isometrically. The Sunada theorem makes all isospectral, while
shows that they are pairwise nonhomeomorphic, hence nonisometric. Taking any members proves for every positive integer , there are pairwise nonisometric closed five-manifolds with the same Laplacian spectrum.
For each , the elementary abelian group is spanned by the images of . We construct exponents so that equals the ordered product to successively greater precision. Suppose this product agrees with modulo ; initially this is automatic for . Its error modulo can be expressed using the images of . Add the corresponding digits to the exponents . Since , moving each new factor past the other factors changes nothing modulo . The new ordered product therefore agrees with modulo . Termination of the lower p-series proves
No uniqueness of this factorization is asserted for a redundant generating tuple.
The printed converse is false without an additional condition. For any odd , take the Heisenberg group with
Every element is uniquely , with , so is a product of three cyclic subgroups. For strictly upper triangular, and
in characteristic , including . Therefore , whereas . This finite p-group is not powerful, disproving the literal request in the authoritative PDF.
A precise nearby correction is the minimal cyclic factorization criterion for powerful p-groups: require a product of cyclic subgroups, where is the minimal generator number. To prove it, put and . The quotient has exponent and still has minimal generator number , because . Each cyclic factor has image of order at most , so . But by the Burnside basis theorem. Consequently , is an elementary abelian group, and . A product of exactly cyclic subgroups is powerful. A direct product of cyclic groups is also powerful, since it is abelian; neither stronger hypothesis appears in the printed converse.
The identity belongs to the center of a group. If are central, then for every ,
so the center is a subgroup. For a central , for every , giving . Thus the center is a normal subgroup.
Write a matrix of the Heisenberg group as . Direct matrix multiplication and inversion give
The identity is and each matrix has determinant one, so these formulas show closure under products and inverses inside . Hence is a subgroup.
The two products and differ only in their upper-right entries, by . Commutation with every therefore requires for all real . Setting forces ; setting forces . These conditions are also sufficient. Thus
Define the surjective group homomorphism by . The multiplication formula gives , and its kernel of a group homomorphism is precisely . The first isomorphism theorem yields
This center quotient of the real Heisenberg group can also be checked directly: two elements have the same coordinates exactly when they differ by multiplication by a central element, and quotient multiplication adds these coordinates.
For with basis , the step-two Lie algebra has basis and its last element is central. Write
Its first level is and its second level is
The step-two multiplication gives
Consequently the map
is an isomorphism onto the real Heisenberg group. The shift by converts exponential coordinates into the matrix coordinates used for that group. In exponential coordinates the left-invariant horizontal vector fields are
Taking orthonormal gives exactly the Carnot-Carathéodory distance inherited from .
Multiplying the matrices gives the Heisenberg group law
Differentiating at the identity gives all strictly upper-triangular matrices. With , and , the commutator gives
This is the Heisenberg Lie algebra.
The right Maurer-Cartan form is
Thus the right-invariant coframe of the real Heisenberg group is , , . Under a right translation,
we have , , and . All three right-invariant differential forms are preserved.
Every right-invariant Riemannian metric is determined by an arbitrary inner product at the identity. In this coframe its most general expression is
Equivalently,
Products here are symmetric products. If a pseudo-Riemannian metric tensor is intended, replace positive definiteness by nondegeneracy. Since every right translation preserves the coframe, it is an isometry. The action is faithful, and is a group homomorphism, embedding a copy of into the isometry group.
The one-parameter right translations produce the Killing frame for a right-invariant Heisenberg metric:
Their flows are respectively , and . Each preserves , and their Lie brackets of vector fields are , with the other two zero. This explicitly realizes the Heisenberg Lie algebra. These Killing vector fields are left-invariant vector fields; the vector fields dual to the right-invariant coframe are instead , and should not be substituted for these generators.
For the diagonal case, put
The Kaluza-Klein decomposition along a Killing field uses . Completing the square in gives the Heisenberg metric Kaluza-Klein reduction:
These depend only on the quotient coordinates and satisfy . For a diagonal indefinite metric tensor, the same expressions hold wherever ; a null Killing vector field cannot be treated with this completed-square decomposition.
Write the Heisenberg group element as . Matrix multiplication and inversion give
All matrices have determinant one. They contain , are closed under multiplication and inverses, and inherit associativity from matrix multiplication; hence they form a subgroup of .
Two such matrices commute precisely when . Requiring this for every forces . Consequently
The map is a surjective group homomorphism to the additive group , with kernel of a group homomorphism . Equivalently, it gives the explicit quotient group isomorphism
It is well-defined because multiplying by a central element changes only . It is injective because equal imply that the quotient of the two matrices is central, and surjectivity follows by taking . This also proves the needed instance of the first isomorphism theorem directly.
Right-invariant coframe of the real Heisenberg group Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
For the Heisenberg group law , the right Maurer-Cartan form has coefficients . They satisfy and . A general right-invariant Riemannian metric is a constant positive-definite symmetric matrix in this coframe.