Root-string theorem 2026-10-05
For nonproportional roots of a reduced crystallographic root system, is consecutive, and . Realize the crystallographic root system as the roots of a complex semisimple Lie algebra. The sum of the one-dimensional root spaces in this string is a module for the sl2 subalgebra associated with a root. Its weights are ; they have one fixed parity. Complete reducibility gives a sum of irreducible representations of the sl2 Lie algebra. Two summands of this parity would overlap at weight zero when the parity is even, or at weights when it is odd, contradicting the one-dimensional root spaces. Thus there is one irreducible string, whose opposite endpoint weights sum to zero. This proves the relation. For distinct simple roots, and the cardinality is . The nonproportional hypothesis excludes , where zero is not a root and the consecutive-string statement fails.
Let the left and right fermions transform in , where is the two-dimensional irreducible representation of the symmetric group and is the sign representation. Let the scalar field be a trivial representation. In matching orthonormal bases, invariance of says that commutes with . The Schur lemma forces each diagonal irreducible block to be scalar and both mixed blocks to vanish, giving the displayed form. Thus after a vacuum expectation value , the physical fermion mass matrix has singular values : unbroken enforces a degenerate doublet. In a common nonorthonormal basis with invariant Gram matrix , the doublet coefficient is ; canonical normalization recovers .
Semisimple representation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A representation is semisimple when it is a direct sum of irreducible representations. Equivalently, every invariant subspace has an invariant complement.
If and , select the singular values of the matrix Fourier blocks. Their weighted count lies between and . Scaling unit right singular vectors and their corresponding unit left singular vectors by gives matrices satisfying and Hilbert-Schmidt inner product orthogonality within each chosen irreducible representation. The Schur averaging of rectangular matrices then gives for the concatenated and the corresponding block diagonal matrix .
Standard Young tableau Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
Figure 1.
All five standard Young tableaux of shape in the English convention
. Details.
A standard Young tableau of shape is a Young tableau that uses exactly once and strictly increases left to right along every row and top to bottom down every column. Formally, a bijection is standard when
whenever the indicated cells belong to the Young diagram. We write for the set of such fillings and for its cardinality.
For , the five standard Young tableaux are listed below, with each pair giving the top row followed by the bottom row:
There are no others: the upper-left entry must be , and choosing the two bottom-row entries fixes both increasing row orders. Of the six choices of two entries from , only bottom row fails, because its would lie below . Hence by direct enumeration, independently of the hook-length formula.
The cells occupied by form a Young diagram: every cell above or to the left of an occupied cell has a smaller label. Consequently a standard Young tableau is equivalently a path from the empty shape to in the Young branching graph, adjoining one addable node of a Young diagram at each step. For , the successive shapes are
Conversely, number the cell added at step by to recover the standard Young tableau. This path interpretation also makes a standard Young tableau a linear extension of a partially ordered set defined by the row and column requirements; see Stanley's Algebraic Combinatorics, Chapter 8, on tableaux and paths in Young's lattice.
The usefulness goes beyond counting: the standard polytabloid basis of a Specht module over the complex numbers is indexed by , so . Each of the five pictured standard Young tableaux therefore labels one basis element of the irreducible representation of the symmetric group , whose dimension over the complex numbers is five. The filled diagrams index the basis; the actual vectors are polytabloids. The hook-length formula computes this dimension without listing all the standard Young tableaux.
The regular group representation of a finite group over the complex numbers contains each irreducible representation with multiplicity equal to its dimension. Consequently the sum of the squared dimensions is the group order. Once a list of distinct irreducibles exhausts this sum, it is complete.
A linear combination of atomic orbitals chosen to transform under an irreducible representation of the molecular point group. Relative orbital signs must be transformed as well as the positions of their centres. Such combinations organize a Hamiltonian operator into symmetry blocks; combinations of the same symmetry generally still mix and need not themselves be molecular orbitals.
Symmetry coordinate 2026-10-20
A linear combination of atomic displacements adapted to an irreducible representation of a molecular point group. Symmetry coordinates reduce the dynamical matrix into independent symmetry blocks; several coordinates in the same block can still mix.
Td molecular point group 2026-10-20
The 24-operation molecular point group of an ideal regular tetrahedron, including improper operations. Its irreducible representations are , with dimensions . The polar-vector representation is , the axial-vector representation is , and symmetric quadratic functions transform as .
For traceless generators, the tensor product of Lie algebra representations has generators . The trace of their summed squares is the sum of the two factor Casimir traces; the cross term vanishes because . Decomposition into irreducible representations, with multiplicities counted, gives the displayed identity. Without tracelessness an extra term is present. A one-dimensional abelian representation of charge one tensored with itself has Casimir four, not the sum two; semisimple Lie algebras avoid this problem because every generator is a sum of commutators.
Three identical quadrupole quanta occupy the third symmetric power of the five-dimensional spin-two space. Its dimension is , and its irreducible representations have , each once. All have positive parity. This counts allowed angular states in the ideal harmonic nuclear quadrupole vibration; anharmonic interactions can split their energies.
Trivial representation Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-14
The trivial representation sends every group element to the identity operator. A one-dimensional constant-coordinate line in a permutation representation is an example: relabelling positions leaves a uniform assignment unchanged. A trivial action on a higher-dimensional vector space has many invariant subspaces and is therefore not an irreducible representation.
Unitary irreducible representation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A unitary irreducible representation is both unitary and irreducible. Such representations are the building blocks in the harmonic analysis of groups and in quantum symmetry classifications.
Vibronic state 2026-10-20
A joint electronic and vibrational quantum state of a molecule. In a product approximation its irreducible representation is the tensor product of group representations of the electronic and vibrational factors.
Weight projection matrix 2026-10-25
A coordinate matrix expressing restriction of weights to the Cartan subalgebra of a Lie subalgebra. With Dynkin labels as column vectors, its rows encode the subalgebra's coroots in terms of the original coroots. It need not be an idempotent projection operator: an equal-rank embedding can give an invertible matrix. Applying it to the full weight system, including weight multiplicities, permits reconstruction of the restricted irreducible representations.
Young tableau Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
A Young tableau is a filling of a Young diagram with entries, typically positive integers. The shape is the partition of an integer giving its row lengths. We draw Young tableaux in the English convention of Young diagram, with left-aligned rows arranged from top to bottom. A filling need not obey increasing conditions unless these are specified: standard Young tableaux use each of exactly once and strictly increase along rows and down columns; Semistandard Young tableaux permit repetitions and require weakly increasing rows and strictly increasing columns.
In the constructions for a symmetric group involving Young symmetrizers, tabloids, and polytabloids, an unqualified numbered Young tableau means a bijective filling by , with no increasing condition imposed. This narrower convention is compatible with the broader use needed for Semistandard Young tableaux. Historically, Young's work connected these fillings to representation theory of the symmetric group; in particular, the equality between standard Young tableau counts and irreducible representation degrees over the complex numbers predates the modern hook-length formula. See Stanley's Algebraic Combinatorics, historical notes to Chapter 8.