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 2016 iii Paper 103 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For an increasing chain of finite groups , regard every as a subalgebra of . The Gelfand–Tsetlin algebra is the unital algebra generated by their centres:For this paper the chain is , so these centres are . The generators commute: if , an element of commutes with all of , including . Thus the Gelfand–Tsetlin algebra is commutative. Its joint eigenspaces record successive choices in the restriction of an irreducible representation down the chain.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 103 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For , define when their Gelfand–Tsetlin basis lines occur in the same irreducible representation. This is well defined: contains the centre of , whose primitive central idempotents separate the irreducible modules, and part 1(ii) says these central elements are polynomials in the . Consequently the same weight cannot label two different irreducible modules.
For content vectors of standard Young tableaux, an admissible adjacent swap of a standard Young tableau exchanges coordinates whose difference has absolute value greater than . Define as the equivalence relation generated by such swaps within .
Equivalently, after reconstructing the tableaux, means that the two tableaux have the same final Young diagram. Indeed, an admissible swap exchanges consecutive entries in incomparable cells, preserves the diagram and leaves a standard Young tableau. Conversely, tableaux of a fixed shape are linear extensions of a partially ordered set, with the cells ordered by their row and column requirements; any two linear extensions are connected by adjacent swaps of incomparable elements. We explain this connectivity and its spectral consequence in part (v).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 103 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Since , every joint weight has . In , acts by on the trivial representation and by on the sign representation, which exhaust the irreducible representations. ThusThe content vector of a standard Young tableau conditions similarly require the second coordinate to be a neighbour of , soThese vectors correspond respectively to the single-row tableau of shape and the single-column tableau of shape .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 103 3 v Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the tableau representation supplied by Young seminormal form, stated explicitly in Question 5, or its normalized Young orthogonal form. It constructs the complex Specht module with one basis vector for each standard Young tableau of shape . Its adjacent-transposition matrices imply the content eigenvalues directly.
Indeed, start with and use . On an admissible pair , set , , , and . In the orthogonal basis, is andMultiplication givesFor a nonadmissible swap, and the next content differs by the same , giving the same conclusion. Induction therefore proves . Every content vector of a standard Young tableau, reconstructed as a standard Young tableau in part (iv), is consequently a spectral weight. Together with the reverse inclusion,
An admissible adjacent swap has nonzero off-diagonal coefficient in Young orthogonal form, and the local spectral calculation in part (i) keeps it inside one irreducible representation. Thus implies .
Two standard Young tableaux of one shape are connected by admissible swaps. Regard each as a linear extension of a partially ordered set of cells. Move the first cell of the desired extension to the front of the other extension: every cell it crosses is incomparable with it, since otherwise their order would be forced in both extensions. Repeat after fixing that first cell. Each step swaps consecutive labels in incomparable cells. Such cells lie strictly northeast and southwest of each other, so their contents differ by at least in absolute value. These are exactly admissible swaps.
This also establishes irreducibility of the constructed tableau representations. A submodule is invariant under the commuting and hence under their joint spectral projections; since their weights are distinct, it is a sum of tableau lines. A nonzero off-diagonal coefficient propagates any included line along every admissible edge, and connectivity then includes all lines. Different shapes give nonisomorphic modules, since their content-vector sets are disjoint and content reconstruction determines the shape. Finally, the Robinson–Schensted correspondence gives , and the sum of squares of irreducible degrees leaves room for no other irreducible representations.
Thus within each irreducible module the weights are exactly the tableaux of one shape, so implies . Hence the two equivalence relations coincide.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 111 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the following normalization for Fourier analysis on a finite group. Choose one unitary irreducible representation from each equivalence class, including the trivial representation. For a scalar function , putThis convention uses , rather than , in the Fourier transform on a finite group; it makes the normalized convolution on a finite group preserve multiplication order.
The needed representation theory consists of Maschke's theorem and unitarization of a finite-group representation, together with the Schur orthogonality relations:The regular representation contains copies of each , so . Thus the scaled matrix coefficients , and also their complex conjugates, form an orthonormal basis of all scalar functions on . These facts imply Fourier inversion on a finite group and the Parseval identity on a finite group in the formsand henceIn particular, the transform is an isomorphism onto the direct sum of the matrix algebras , with the displayed weighted Hilbert-Schmidt inner product.
Define the normalized convolution on a finite group bySubstituting and using the group representation identity yields the convolution theorem on a finite groupUnlike normalized convolution on a finite group on an abelian group, this product need not commute. If , then . For left translation of a group function and right translation of a group function and ,For an abelian group, every irreducible representation is one-dimensional; this reduces to Fourier analysis on a finite abelian group with characters relabelled by their inverses. These formulas establish the basic scalar theory, with all normalizations and multiplication orders fixed.
Now suppose every nontrivial irreducible representation has . If is a mean-zero function, its component at the trivial representation is zero. The Parseval identity on a finite group gives, for each other ,Using the convolution theorem on a finite group, the Hilbert-Schmidt norm inequality , and the Parseval identity on a finite group once more gives the product mixing in a quasirandom group estimateWrite for the subset density values of , respectively, and let , be balanced subset indicators. Since both are mean-zero functions, . Their squared norms are and . Also , so the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality yieldsIf , the final bound is strictly smaller than . Thus the normalized number of pairs with is positive. Equivalently,This is the desired conclusion for a quasirandom group; the strict inequality ensures positivity rather than merely a nonnegative lower bound.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 111 4 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Within each fixed unitary irreducible representation, choose the selected right singular vectors to be orthonormal. Their corresponding left singular vectors are also orthonormal, even when a singular value is repeated: choose an orthonormal basis in each eigenspace of and put . Therefore, when ,This is (iv), with the unnormalized Hilbert-Schmidt inner product and the Kronecker delta. No orthogonality of differently shaped matrices is being asserted.
For the unheaded continuation, partition into blocks . ThenThe Schur averaging of rectangular matrices formula isfor any matrix . The average is an intertwiner; the Schur lemma makes it zero for inequivalent irreducible representations, and a scalar multiple of the identity for the same representative. The trace determines that scalar in the latter case.
Apply this with . The Hilbert-Schmidt inner product normalization just proved givesExpanding the squared Euclidean norm now yieldsThus the final identity follows from averaging, although itself need not be the identity. The whole construction is the spectral inverse theorem for the matrix-valued U2 quantity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 302 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A Non-Abelian gauge theory promotes an internal group representation symmetry to a spacetime-dependent transformation and introduces a gauge field so that differentiation transforms covariantly. The symmetry is a gauge redundancy: physically meaningful quantities must be invariant under local changes of field representative. We work in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime with signature , and use skew-Hermitian matrix generators throughout.
For the compact Simple Lie group , its real Lie algebra has a negative-definite Killing form. Hence is a positive invariant bilinear form on a Lie algebra. Choose a -orthonormal basis , , with . Invariance makes fully antisymmetric. This construction uses the Adjoint representation and works independently of any chosen scalar representation.
Let be a Lie-algebra-valued gauge potential, with the coupling absorbed into this connection. If is the given finite-dimensional irreducible representation of , its Lie algebra representation definesFor a finite local transformation , require and . Differentiating the first equation forces the gauge-field transformation lawThus the gauge potential transforms inhomogeneously; an ordinary derivative alone would leave an uncancelled derivative of .
The commutator of gauge covariant derivatives determines the gauge field strength:The Lie algebra representation preserves the bracket, so this formula holds for any , including a trivial scalar representation. The gauge field strength itself is defined in the gauge algebra. The transformation of the connection impliesIt is therefore covariant, rather than invariant as a Lie-algebra-valued quantity.
For infinitesimal , the same equations give the infinitesimal gauge transformation with an anti-Hermitian connection:Substitution into cancels the terms containing and gives , the gauge covariance of a scalar covariant derivative.
The Yang-Mills theory has Lagrangian densityThis is the Killing-form Yang-Mills Lagrangian. Its sign uses a positive internal form and the stated spacetime signature. In a -orthonormal basis it is . Gauge invariance follows because is invariant under the adjoint group action. Infinitesimally, the variation is proportional toAfter rescaling , the gauge coupling appears in and in the non-Abelian part of the canonically normalized field strength. Squaring that field strength gives cubic and quartic gauge-field self-interactions. An ordinary local quadratic mass term in the gauge potential is not invariant because its transformation contains .
For the scalar field kinetic term, compactness supplies a positive invariant Hermitian form on its representation space. One can obtain it by averaging any positive form with normalized Haar measure, the unitarization of a compact-group representation. Then is unitary for , and is anti-Hermitian. The Yang-Mills theory coupled to an arbitrary scalar representation hasHere is any real gauge-invariant scalar potential, so . For example,is available for every unitary representation, with giving a bounded quartic contribution. Other invariant interactions may exist for particular representations; the potential is not required to depend only on .
The scalar kinetic term is gauge-invariant because both covariant derivatives transform by the same unitary . Infinitesimally its variation vanishes byThe potential is invariant by its defining condition. For a real irreducible representation, use the averaged positive symmetric form instead and write the kinetic term as ; all transformation and invariance arguments remain valid. Expansion of the covariant kinetic term produces both the linear gauge-scalar interaction and the quadratic term needed by local gauge invariance.
The invariant inner products, gauge covariant derivatives and gauge field strength together construct the full theory for every compact Simple Lie group and every supplied finite-dimensional irreducible representation of the scalar fields. Both finite and infinitesimal transformation laws have been included, and every sign follows the same anti-Hermitian convention.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 102 4 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Choose a positive root system for a complex semisimple Lie algebra, with Weyl group and Weyl vector . For a dominant integral weight , let denote its finite-dimensional irreducible representation, and use formal symbols with . Its formal character of a weight module is . The Weyl character formula saysHere , the sign of the product of simple root reflections. The Weyl denominator formula isThe quotient is initially interpreted in the fraction field of the group algebra of the weight lattice; the theorem makes it a finite character.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 103 1 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Work over the complex numbers. The chain has multiplicity-free restriction: each irreducible representation restricts to a direct sum of pairwise inequivalent irreducible representations. This structural fact can be proved before identifying the branching diagram. Indeed, the permitted Olshanskii centralizer lemma makes commutative, since it is generated by the center at the previous level and the commuting element . In each irreducible block this is the endomorphism algebra of the restricted module; a repeated summand would give a noncommutative matrix algebra factor. Thus no identification of the branching graph with Young diagrams is being assumed here.
Successively restricting an irreducible representation gives one-dimensional spaces indexed by paths of irreducible representations from the trivial -module to . Choosing one nonzero vector in each gives a Gelfand–Tsetlin basis. Define the Gelfand–Tsetlin algebra as the subalgebra of acting diagonally in all these bases. The Artin–Wedderburn theorem identifiesUnder this identification the Gelfand–Tsetlin algebra is the direct sum of the full diagonal matrix algebras in the indicated bases, so it is commutative.
To see that it is actually available inside the group algebra, let be the central primitive idempotent selecting the irreducible representation of . For a path the productis the projection onto in its final irreducible representation and is zero in every other final block. These products commute: a center at a higher level commutes with every element at a lower level. The are precisely the diagonal matrix units, and therefore span the proposed algebra.
If an element of the group algebra commutes with every , its matrix preserves every and is diagonal in every block. It already belongs to the Gelfand–Tsetlin algebra. Thuswhich proves that it is a maximal commutative subalgebra.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 103 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the Young–Jucys–Murphy elements in the group algebra . Their joint spectrum isEquivalently one can use the regular representation, which contains every irreducible representation. The commuting elements are self-adjoint in a unitary representation, so there is a simultaneous eigenbasis.
A standard Young tableau has entries increasing along each row and down each column. If entry occupies cell , its Content of a Young-diagram cell is . Define the set of content vectors of standard Young tableaux byThe shape here is a partition of an integer; it is not itself the vector of eigenvalues. For both sets consist of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 103 2 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The first Young–Jucys–Murphy element is the empty sum . Applying it to the nonzero simultaneous eigenvector defining a point of the joint spectrum gives . HenceFor the remaining spectral arguments use the following local facts, without assuming the restriction branching rule for a symmetric group: consecutive eigenvalues are distinct; a difference makes act on the corresponding line as ; every other adjacent interchange gives another point of the joint spectrum in the same irreducible representation. These are the local spectral rules for Young–Jucys–Murphy elements. They follow from and the one- or two-dimensional analysis of the two neighboring eigenspaces. They are the appropriate local results used below.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 103 2 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The local spectral interchanges preserve an irreducible representation, and standard Young tableaux of a fixed shape are connected by admissible adjacent interchanges. Different shapes have different multisets of Young-diagram cell contents. Their elementary symmetric functions in the Young–Jucys–Murphy elements are central: the identityproves this coefficient by coefficient. By the Schur lemma, one irreducible representation cannot therefore contain two different shape classes. The multiset determines a diagram because the counts on its positive and negative diagonals determine its arm and leg lengths at the diagonal cells.
Different irreducible representations cannot share a joint eigenvalue vector: the Gelfand–Tsetlin algebra is generated by the Young–Jucys–Murphy elements, so all its elements would act identically on that vector in both representations, whereas a central primitive idempotent distinguishes their two blocks. Thus distinct irreducibles give distinct shape classes.
The number of irreducible representations is the number of conjugacy classes, each indexed by a partition of an integer. Every spectral vector gives a tableau by the preceding construction. Closure under admissible interchanges makes every shape class that occurs occur in full. The two counts then force every shape to occur, with exactly one irreducible representation per shape. This supplies .
On restricting to , delete the last coordinate. For tableaux of shape , the entry occupies one Removable node of a Young diagram. Grouping by that node gives one copy of the corresponding module; the path decomposition has simple multiplicities. Hence the restriction branching rule for a symmetric group isThe different removable nodes produce distinct partitions. The multiplicity-free structural input defining the Gelfand–Tsetlin basis is distinct from identifying this graph with the graph of Young diagrams.
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.