Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 103 6 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Specht module construction gives a nonzero inclusion over the complex numbers: a polytabloid has coefficient one at its original tabloid, because the row and column stabilizers have trivial intersection, and its span is the corresponding irreducible representation. This establishes without using the multiplicity-one conclusion. Similarly .
By the corrected tensor identity for induced representations and the conjugate-partition sign twist, the multiplicity of in is . The character inner product already computed is the sum of products of multiplicities of common irreducible representations. ThusBoth are positive integers, so . In particularThis deduction avoids assuming the full Young's rule, which would already contain the answer. Alternatively, the permitted one-dimensional R-module homomorphism space gives the same character inner product immediately.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 103 6 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Fix and . Write when a single addable node of a Young diagram turns into . For each positive part , let be the partition of an integer obtained by decreasing that part by one, sorting, and omitting zeros. The Vershik linear relations areEqual row lengths must be counted separately on the right. Equivalently, if is the number of rows whose decrement produces , the right side is . There is no multiplicity coefficient on the left because irreducible restriction branching rule for a symmetric group is simple.
To prove the relations, restrict the Young permutation module to the subgroup fixing . The tabloids split into orbits of a group action according to which labeled row contains . Removing that entry gives, for row , the Young permutation module with composition , which is isomorphic to the one for its sorted partition. HenceIts multiplicity is the right side. On the other hand decompose into irreducible representations first and apply the restriction branching rule for a symmetric group to each summand. Its multiplicity is then the left side. Equality proves the relation.
For example restricts to , so the coefficient is two rather than one. For , the regular representation, the relation reduces to . These checks emphasize why counting distinct resulting partitions without their row multiplicities would give a false recurrence.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 131 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the nonnegative Hodge-Laplacian convention from Question 4. The Bochner-Weitzenbock formula for one-forms isHere is the Levi-Civita connection induced on the cotangent bundle, and the rough Laplacian in a local orthonormal frame isIt is the composition of covariant derivative with its formal adjoint. The Ricci endomorphism is defined by and acts on one-forms by . The musical isomorphism defines by . The associated scalar formula isThese signs make the integrated rough-Laplacian term on a closed manifold.
For a connected manifold, the full Riemannian holonomy group at is the subgroup of consisting of parallel transports around all piecewise smooth loops based at . Its natural action on is the holonomy representation; it induces actions on cotangent spaces and all tensor spaces. The holonomy representation is an irreducible representation when it has no nonzero proper invariant subspace.
The fundamental principle of Riemannian holonomy identifies parallel tensor fields with tensors at fixed by full holonomy. A parallel field returns to its value under every loop. Conversely, transport a fixed tensor along a path from to each point. Any two paths differ by a loop, so the result is independent of the path; local smooth parallel transport yields a smooth parallel field. Evaluation and construction are inverse. Full holonomy, not merely the contractible-loop subgroup, is required for this global correspondence.
On a compact manifold without boundary and with nonnegative Ricci curvature, a harmonic one-form satisfies the integrated Bochner identityBoth terms are nonnegative; therefore . This proves that harmonic one-forms are parallel under nonnegative Ricci curvature. Integration uses the Riemannian volume density and does not require an orientation.
If , a nonzero such form would give a nonzero fixed tangent vector via metric duality and hence a proper invariant line, contradicting irreducibility. This is precisely the irreducible holonomy in dimension at least two has no parallel one-form criterion. Since the question permits harmonic representatives of all classes, it gives , where is the first Betti number.
The covering is finite: its fibre over a point is a closed discrete subset of the compact total space and hence finite. Use the explicitly permitted equality of the Betti numbers of and its finite cover, in particular . This equality is a permission of this question, not a general theorem about finite covers.
The angular one-forms on , pulled back to , represent linearly independent de Rham classes: their periods on the coordinate circles are the standard basis vectors. exact differential forms have zero periods. Thus , forcing . Now is a finite universal covering map because is simply connected. The fundamental group acts freely and transitively on a fibre, or equivalently loop-lifting identifies its elements with the finite set of possible endpoints upstairs. Consequently the intended conclusion isThe printed statement needs the dimension qualification under the usual definition of irreducibility. Take the standard circle , with a point, , and the identity covering . Its Ricci curvature is zero. parallel transport fixes its global unit tangent, so its holonomy representation is the trivial representation on a one-dimensional real vector space, which is irreducible. The allowed Betti-number equality holds for this identity cover, yetThus there is no proof of the unqualified literal assertion in dimension one. If “irreducible holonomy” is instead intended to exclude the one-dimensional trivial representation, the preceding intended proof applies. A connected zero-dimensional manifold is a point and has trivial fundamental group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 18G c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The identity is one conjugacy class. In , conjugation by pairs each element with its inverse, giving four classes represented by , each of size two. All nine elements of are conjugate, since conjugation by changes the reflection component by and squaring is a bijection of .
There are two linear characters: the trivial character and the character equal to one on and minus one on . Write . The remaining four irreducible characters of a representation are induced from the nontrivial characters of , pairing with . They are exactly the two-dimensional representations already proved irreducible. Taking representatives yields the character tableIndeed the induced value on is , equal to two or minus one, and is zero off . The squared dimensions sum to , so this is the complete table.
An element of centralizes only if it equals its inverse, hence only if it is the identity. No reflection centralizes . Thus is cyclic, but the two linear representations kill and each two-dimensional irreducible has a nontrivial kernel of a group homomorphism of order three. Therefore a cyclic centre does not imply a faithful irreducible representation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 3 17G b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Conjugation by partitions into orbits. Each non-singleton orbit has size divisible by , by the orbit-stabilizer theorem. The singleton orbits are exactly . Since is divisible by , . This set contains , so .
For the deduction we also give the representation-theoretic ingredient behind Burnside's theorem: a nonabelian finite simple group has no nontrivial conjugacy class of prime power size. Here is a proof, so no stronger theorem is being assumed without justification. Suppose has class size . For an irreducible character of degree coprime to , the class sum acts as the scalar , which is an algebraic integer: the class sum has an integer-entry matrix in the regular representation, which contains every irreducible representation, so this scalar is an eigenvalue of an integer-entry matrix. Also is an algebraic integer. Bezout's identity then makes an algebraic integer. All its algebraic conjugates have modulus at most , because character values of a representation are sums of roots of unity. An algebraic integer with this property is zero or a root of unity: the monic polynomials of all its powers have uniformly bounded integer coefficients, so two powers must coincide unless it is zero.
Every nontrivial irreducible representation of a simple group is faithful. If were a root of unity, equality in the triangle inequality would force its representing matrix to be scalar, hence central, impossible. Thus whenever , except for the trivial character of a representation. Orthogonality of the identity column and the column in the character table now givesThis would make an algebraic integer, contradicting the fact that rational algebraic integers are integers. The same proof covers class size directly through triviality of the center.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 3 32C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Put and . The canonical commutation relations give , , and the analogous relations for , with all cross-mode operators commuting. Consequently and . Alsoso . This is the Schwinger boson representation of the angular momentum algebra, with in the stated commutators.
The vacuum has , and has occupation numbers , hence eigenvalue . With ,Thus . It is the highest-weight state of the spin-one irreducible representation. There are two other states in this multiplet, and , with eigenvalues . A normalized basis is , , . This count assumes the usual two-mode bosonic Fock space; an extra unmentioned vacuum multiplicity could replicate the multiplet.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 307 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use a positive-energy unitary representation with finite helicity states, excluding continuous-spin representations. In the specified frame the Pauli matrices giveFor every and every state ,Positivity therefore gives on this massless supermultiplet. The equal-chirality anticommutator then shows that every central charge in supersymmetry vanishes on this superalgebra representation.
Normalize the remaining supercharges as fermionic raising and lowering operators:They obey the canonical anticommutation relationsChoose a Clifford vacuum of helicity annihilated by every . Such a vector exists because the commuting fermion number operators have eigenvalues and , and lowering every occupied mode produces a nonzero empty state. In an irreducible representation this empty space has dimension one; multiple empty states produce a direct sum of copies. The states areThe canonical anticommutation relations make these states orthonormal for a normalized Clifford vacuum. In the helicity convention , its adjoint has . Thus the Clifford vacuum is the highest-helicity state andReversing the rotation convention reverses the displayed ordering and leaves all counts unchanged. The level- states form the exterior power , which explains the binomial coefficient. Summing the binomial coefficients gives the helicity spectrum of a massless supermultiplet:Each application of a fermionic raising and lowering operator reverses fermion parity. The even and odd levels each contain states, so a physical massless supermultiplet has boson and fermion states.
These formulas describe one irreducible representation of the massless Super-Poincaré algebra at fixed four-momentum. A reducible superalgebra representation can contain several such supermultiplets. Also, the CPT theorem sends helicity to and conjugates internal charges. CPT completion of a supermultiplet may therefore require a second -state supermultiplet, with highest helicity . A necessary condition for the original helicity spectrum of a massless supermultiplet to be self-conjugate is ; internal charges must also admit the conjugation in a realization compatible with the Spin-statistics theorem. Thus this helicity condition alone is not sufficient for CPT completion of a supermultiplet without doubling. In particular, the original irreducible count is not automatically the count after CPT completion of a supermultiplet.
For the conventional bounds on extended supersymmetry, suppose all massless states satisfy . The helicity spectrum of a massless supermultiplet occupies an interval of width , whereas the available interval has width . HenceAn ordinary four-dimensional renormalizable quantum field theory without gravity uses interacting massless fields of spin angular momentum at most one. Massless spin angular momentum requires supergravity, whose gravitational coupling has negative mass dimension and is a nonrenormalizable interaction by power counting in quantum field theory. Setting gives for conventional renormalizable theories. The bound is attained by four-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theory: choosing givesfor its supersymmetric vector multiplet.
Allowing gravity permits , so for conventional theories including gravity. The four-dimensional N=8 supergravity supergravity multiplet attains the bound with :It has states, boson and fermion states. The conventional claim about a maximum “in general” assumes local interacting four-dimensional theories in Minkowski spacetime with a finite spectrum of fields and no massless spin angular momentum above two. It is not a theorem excluding arbitrary free higher-spin angular momentum constructions or all theories in other spacetime settings.
Finally, a chiral gauge spectrum means that the independent left-handed Weyl spinors occur in complex gauge group representations without obligatorily paired conjugate left-handed Weyl spinors. In four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetry, an irreducible matter supermultiplet with helicities can carry a complex gauge group representation . Its CPT completion of a supermultiplet supplies the right-handed antiparticle in , as every left-handed Weyl spinor requires; it does not supply a second independent left-handed Weyl spinor in . Consequently a chiral gauge spectrum is possible.
For , the matter hypermultiplet has helicities before internal charge conjugation. If it carries a complex gauge group representation , its CPT completion of a supermultiplet adds the conjugate hypermultiplet. Equivalently, the resulting full hypermultiplet contains two chiral superfields, one in and one in . These give a vectorlike gauge spectrum. Half-hypermultiplets can occur in pseudoreal representations, which also do not produce genuinely complex chiral gauge spectra. A supersymmetric vector multiplet has Adjoint representation, hence real gauge quantum numbers. Since every algebra contains an subalgebra, the same obstruction applies to greater extended supersymmetry.
Therefore a conventional chiral gauge spectrum is possible only for or . Here means no supersymmetry; among theories with actual supersymmetry, only qualifies. These are necessary structural conditions, not a guarantee that a chosen chiral gauge spectrum satisfies anomaly cancellation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 4 19I Solution 2026-10-03
The special unitary group in two dimensions isLet be its defining group representation, and for letthe homogeneous polynomial representation of SU2 on homogeneous polynomials of degree in two variables. It has degree of a representation . The representations are pairwise nonisomorphic, continuous, finite-dimensional irreducible representations, and the classification of finite-dimensional representations of SU2 says that this is the complete list.
Every is conjugate to with . The monomial basis of gives the character of the homogeneous polynomial representation of SU2Writing , this is , interpreted by continuity when . The Clebsch-Gordan decomposition for SU2 is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 302 3 Solution 2026-10-03
The root lattice is . The weight lattice isBecause every Cartan integer is integral, . The Dynkin labels of are
There are three isomorphism classes of complex simple rank-three Lie algebras: types A3 root system, B3 root system, and C3 root system. Use the convention , and order the chain as ---- with .
- For , all roots have the same length and the diagram has two single edges. Its Cartan matrix and angles are
The Dynkin labels of a finite-dimensional irreducible representation are those of its highest weight. Thus means the fundamental representation . The weights, written in Dynkin labels and in a lowering order, areFor these are the weights of the defining representation of ; for they are in the vector representation of ; for they are in the defining representation of . Hence the requested dimensions are , , and , respectively.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 1 19F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Maschke's theorem says that if is a finite group and the characteristic of a field does not divide , then every finite-dimensional -representation of is semisimple.
To prove it, let be an invariant subspace of a representation , and choose any linear projection . Average its conjugates:The scalar exists by the characteristic assumption. Reindexing the sum shows that commutes with every . Since each summand restricts to the identity on , so does ; hence is an equivariant projection onto . Its kernel is an invariant complement, and induction on decomposes into irreducible representations.
The isometry group of is the infinite dihedral groupLet be a nonfaithful finite-dimensional complex representation. Its nontrivial normal kernel contains for some , by the stated hint, so factors through the finite quotientMaschke's theorem decomposes this quotient representation into irreducibles. To bound their dimensions, choose a -eigenvector with eigenvalue in an irreducible constituent. The relation givesso is invariant under both generators. Irreducibility makes it the whole constituent, whose dimension is therefore at most two. This proves the result on nonfaithful representations of the infinite dihedral group.
For the requested representation of , let its generator act on the polynomials of degree at most one by translation:In the basis ,This is a nontrivial Jordan block, so it is not diagonalizable. A direct sum of one-dimensional subrepresentations would make diagonalizable, proving that this nonsemisimple translation representation of the infinite cyclic group has the required property.
Finally, on defineThen and , so these operators define a quadratic-polynomial representation of the infinite dihedral group. In the basis they areHere but , so consists of one size-three Jordan block. If were a direct sum of subrepresentations of dimensions at most two, then would be block diagonal with Jordan blocks of sizes at most two, a contradiction. Thus this representation has the required failure of decomposition.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 2 19F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Write the nonabelian group of order 21 asreplacing by gives the same group. Conjugation by splits the six nonidentity elements of the normal subgroup into the two classesEach of the two other cosets is one conjugacy class:Thus the class sizes are , so there are five irreducible characters.
The abelianization is , giving three linear characters. Put and , and defineThe two nontrivial orbits of characters of the normal induce two irreducible characters of degree three. Their values vanish outside , and summing each orbit gives on the two nonidentity classes. The resulting character table isThe degree checkand character orthogonality relations verify that this is the complete table.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 1 19I a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
A representation is completely reducible, or semisimple, when it is a direct sum of irreducible representation. Equivalently, every invariant subspace has an invariant complement.
Maschke's theorem says that every finite-dimensional representation of a finite group over a field of characteristic zero is completely reducible. More generally, it is enough that the field characteristic does not divide .
Schur lemma states the following.
- If and are irreducible -representations, every intertwining operator is either zero or an isomorphism.
- If is finite-dimensional over an algebraically closed field, every -endomorphism of is a scalar multiple of the identity.
Indeed, and are invariant subspaces. If , irreducibility forcesso is an isomorphism. For an endomorphism of a finite-dimensional complex representation, choose an eigenvalue of . The intertwiner has nonzero kernel, so the first part forcesThis proves the Proof of Schur lemma.
Now let be faithful and irreducible over . For every , the operator commutes with every . Schur's lemma therefore givesfor some . Faithfulness makes an embeddingSince every finite subgroup of the multiplicative complex numbers is cyclic,This is the cyclic-center obstruction to a faithful irreducible representation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 3 19H Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Let be the space of homogeneous degree- polynomials in . For and a column vector , defineSubstitution preserves degree, andso is a continuous representation of a topological group. This is the homogeneous polynomial representation of SU2.
To prove irreducibility, restrict to the diagonal circleThe monomials are its one-dimensional weight spaces, with distinct weights up to our harmless inverse-action convention. If is invariant, Fourier projection along this circle shows that contains a monomial. Differentiating the action of and complexifying gives the operatorsRepeated applications of and connect every monomial to every other one. Hence contains the entire monomial basis, so .
Every is conjugate to with . Reading the eigenvalues on the monomial basis gives the character of the homogeneous polynomial representation of SU2For this iswith the values at obtained by continuity.
For completeness, let be any finite-dimensional irreducible continuous complex representation of . Its restriction to the diagonal circle splits into integral weight spaces. Choose a vector of largest weight . The raising operator kills it, and the commutation relations show that is a nonnegative integer and that successive applications of the lowering operator form a string of weightsTheir span is an invariant copy of ; irreducibility forces it to equal . Thus the classification of finite-dimensional representations of SU2 says
If the eigenvalues of are , then the eigenvalues on are for . Therefore the character of an exterior square isThe exterior square of an SU2 irreducible representation or the Clebsch-Gordan decomposition for SU2 with flip parity givesThe dimensions check the result.
The third elementary symmetric polynomial in the , together with Newton identities, givesFor the five-dimensional representation , the canonical dualityfinishes the decomposition. The weights sum to zero, so is trivial, and every irreducible is self-dual. Consequently
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 160 1 c i Solution 2026-09-28
Conjugation by a permutation merely permutes the transpositions. Their sum is therefore a conjugacy class sum and belongs to the center of an associative algebra . Since the complex Specht module is an irreducible representation, Schur lemma says that acts on it as a scalar, say .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 1 19H Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
A complex representation of a finite group is a homomorphismfor a finite-dimensional complex vector space . It is an irreducible representation when its only invariant subspaces are and , and its degree is . Two representations are isomorphic when there is an invertible linear map intertwining their -actions.
Write the dihedral group asIn an irreducible representation choose an eigenvector of , which is possible because . If its eigenvalue is , thenThus is invariant under both and . Irreducibility forces , proving as in irreducible complex representations of a finite dihedral group.
Let . Besides the one-dimensional representations described below, define for each indicated These matrices satisfy the defining relations. Since , the only one-dimensional -invariant subspaces are the two coordinate axes, and interchanges them. Hence is irreducible. Their characters satisfywhose values are distinct in the ranges below, so the are pairwise nonisomorphic. This is the family of two-dimensional representations of a finite dihedral group.
If is odd, a one-dimensional character must send to a scalar satisfying and . Thus , while may independently map to or . These give two one-dimensional irreducibles. Takinggives two-dimensional irreducibles, for a total of
If is even, may map to either or , and again may map independently to either sign. This gives four pairwise nonisomorphic one-dimensional irreducibles. Takinggives two-dimensional irreducibles, for a total ofDifferent dimensions distinguish the one- and two-dimensional families, completing the required construction and justification.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 ii Paper 2 19J b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
An invariant bilinear form defines a linear mapInvariance givesso is an -homomorphism. Its kernel is a -subrepresentation of irreducible . Hence either , so , or is injective and therefore a linear isomorphism . In the latter case is a nondegenerate.
If and are two nonzero invariant forms, thenBy Schur lemma, this endomorphism is scalar, so . Cases involving the zero form are immediate. Thus any two invariant bilinear forms are proportional.
Quasirandom group 2026-10-06
A finite group is -quasirandom if every nontrivial irreducible representation over the complex numbers has degree at least . The trivial representation is excluded. Large suppresses correlations of products of arbitrary subsets, through product mixing in a quasirandom group.