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Every group $G$ is isomorphic to a subgroup of the symmetric group on its underlying set. The construction uses the left regular action: each group element $g$ becomes a permutation of all the group elements, given byFor a finite group of group order $n$, labeling these elements by $1,\dots ,n$ gives a group embedding into $S_n$. The same construction works for an infinite group, with the symmetric group of all bijections of its underlying set.^[ref]

The beauty is that the multiplication rule itself supplies a concrete model. Whatever the group elements originally represent, each one rearranges the entire group by multiplication. A product becomes function composition, and no distinctions between group elements are lost. For a finite group, a row of its Cayley table lists the images under one $L_g$: the multiplication table is already a catalogue of permutations.

Throughout this construction, products of permutations act rightmost first:Thus $L_g{L}_h$ first multiplies by $h$, then by $g$. This is a left group action, not a license to reverse the multiplication order in a nonabelian group. Ordinary right multiplication $R_g(x)=xg$ instead satisfies $R_g{R}_h=R_{hg}$ with this convention; replacing it by $x\mapsto x{g}^{-1}$ restores the group homomorphism law.^[ref]

For an explicit cyclic group example, take $C_4=\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}$ under addition, using modular arithmetic. Its left regular action consists of $L_k(x)=k+x(\mathrm{mod}4)$. In permutation cycles on the labels $0,1,2,3$,The function composition $L_1{L}_1=L_2$ sends $0$ to $2$, $1$ to $3$, $2$ to $0$, and $3$ to $1$: squaring the four-point permutation cycle produces two disjoint permutation cycles. Also $L_1{L}_3=L_0$. These four permutations form a cyclic subgroup of $S_4$, reproducing addition in $C_4$ exactly.

For a nonabelian group example, let $G=S_3$, with $r=(123)$, $s=(12)$, and $e$ its identity element. The six group elements are $e,r,r^2,s,rs,r^{2}s$, where $r^3=s^2=e$ and $sr=r^{2}s$. Now the labels being permuted are themselves permutations of three points. Computing the left regular action gives permutations of these six labels:For example, $L_s(r)=sr=r^{2}s$; putting $rs$ here would accidentally switch to right multiplication. Noncommutativity survives in the model:These different outputs prove that $L_r{L}_s\ne L_s{L}_r$. The group generators $r,s$ become group generators $L_r,L_s$ of a six-element subgroup of $S_6$.

Why does a group action here produce a group embedding? Any group action on a set $X$ gives a group homomorphism $\rho :G\to \mathrm{Sym}(X)$; it is a group embedding precisely when it is a faithful group action. The group kernel consists of the group elements fixing every point of $X$. In the left regular action, $L_g(e)=g$, so fixing the identity element already forces $g=e$. In fact every stabilizer subgroup is trivial, since $gx=x$ forces $g=e$; this stronger property makes the left regular action a regular group action.^[ref]

Compare two group actions of the same cyclic group $C_4$. Its left regular action on four labels distinguishes all four group elements. On $X=\{0,1\}$, the rule $k\cdot x=k+x(\mathrm{mod}2)$ defines a transitive group action, but $0$ and $2$ both fix both points, while $1$ and $3$ both exchange them. Its group kernel is $\{0,2\}$, so it is not a faithful group action. Its image is a two-element subgroup of $S_2$, isomorphic to the quotient group $C_4/\{0,2\}$ rather than to $C_4$.

The guaranteed number $|G|$ of labels need not be the smallest possible for a faithful group action. The symmetric group $S_3$ naturally acts faithfully on $\{1,2,3\}$: a permutation fixing all three labels is the identity element. Its left regular action uses six labels instead. Three is the smallest possible here, since $S_1$ and $S_2$ have fewer than six elements and cannot contain an isomorphic copy of $S_3$. Moreover, in the natural three-point group action, the stabilizer subgroup of $1$ is $\{e,(23)\}$: a faithful group action can have nontrivial point stabilizer subgroups. Cayley's construction supplies a universal model, while a smaller model can reveal particular symmetries.

The proof is short. Each $L_g$ is a bijection with inverse $L_{g^{-1}}$. Associativity givesso $\lambda$ is a group homomorphism. If $L_g=L_h$, evaluating both at the identity element gives $g=L_g(e)=L_h(e)=h$. Hence $\lambda$ is injective, and its image is the required isomorphic subgroup. No finiteness assumption entered the argument.

The historical connection is unusually close to the notation. The opening paragraph of Arthur Cayley's 1854 paper already treats permutations as one example of operations on a collection of quantities and explicitly performs the rightmost operation first in a product. It also allows noncommutativity while insisting on associativity. The modern left regular action shows how that viewpoint reaches every abstract group, by choosing the group itself as the set to be acted on.^[ref]

Retain the identification with the left regular action. A group group automorphism $\phi$ of $G$ satisfies $\phi L_g{\phi }^{-1}=L_{\phi (g)}$, so it normalizes $L(G)$ and fixes the identity point.

Conversely let a normalizing permutation $n$ fix the identity. Its conjugation on $L(G)$ induces a group group automorphism $\phi$ characterized by $n{L}_g{n}^{-1}=L_{\phi (g)}$. Evaluating at the identity gives $n(g)=\phi (g)$, so the whole identity stabilizer in the normalizer is exactly $\mathrm{Aut}(G)$. For arbitrary $n$, put $t=n(1)$. Then $L_t^{-1}n$ fixes the identity and is an group automorphism; thus every element has a unique expression $L_t\phi$.

The translation subgroup is normal in its normalizer, its intersection with the group automorphism subgroup is trivial, and the multiplication rule isConsequentlyThe action in this semidirect product is the natural evaluation of group automorphisms on $G$. This normalizer is the holomorph, realized as all permutations $x\mapsto t\phi (x)$. The decomposition is established from the regular group action itself rather than only from an order comparison.

Give $C(G)$, the space of continuous functions on a compact space, its uniform norm. The left regular action is $l_{g}f(x)=f(g^{-1}x)$. The group law gives $l_g{l}_h=l_{gh}$ and $l_e=I$, and each translation is a linear isometry because $x\mapsto g^{-1}x$ is a bijection of $G$.

For fixed $f\in C(G)$, the map $(g,x)\mapsto f(g^{-1}x)$ is continuous. Compactness of the $x$-space makes this dependence uniform: for a given $g_0$ and $\epsilon >0$, continuity gives a neighbourhood of $g_0$ and a neighbourhood of each $x$ on which the difference from $f(g_0^{-1}x)$ is less than $\epsilon$; a finite cover of $G$ permits one common neighbourhood of $g_0$. Hence $\Vert l_{g}f-l_{g_0}f{\Vert }_{\infty }\to 0$. The estimatethen proves the joint continuity of the action on $G\times C(G)$.

For a left action on the continuous dual space, use the contragredient conventionIt satisfies $T_g{T}_h=T_{gh}$ and preserves the dual unit ball $B^{\prime }$. If the printed prime denotes the literal transpose $l_g^{\ast }\varphi =\varphi \circ l_g$, these maps instead satisfy $l_g^{\ast }{l}_h^{\ast }=l_{hg}^{\ast }$ and form a right action; replacing $g$ by $g^{-1}$ gives the left action above. Their invariant functionals are the same.

For $g_i\to g$ and ${\varphi }_i\to \varphi$ in the weak-star topology on $B^{\prime }$, every $f\in C(G)$ satisfiesThe first term uses strong continuity of translation and $\Vert {\varphi }_i\Vert \le 1$; the second uses weak-star convergence at one fixed function. This proves the requested joint weak-star topology continuity.

To obtain Haar measure, consider the set $K$ of positive linear functionals $\varphi$ on $C(G)$ with $\varphi (1)=1$. Such functionals have norm one: for complex $f$, choose a phase making $\varphi (f)$ real and nonnegative and use $\mathrm{Re}(e^{it}f)\le \Vert f{\Vert }_{\infty }$; this gives $|\varphi (f)|\le \Vert f{\Vert }_{\infty }$, with equality on the constant-one function. Thus $K\subseteq B^{\prime }$. Evaluation at the identity belongs to $K$, and positivity and normalization are weak-star closed conditions. The Banach-Alaoglu theorem makes $K$ a nonempty compact convex set. Each $T_g$ is a continuous affine self-map of it.

Here is the fixed-point step, including why no commutativity assumption on $G$ is needed. For any finite list $g_1,\dots ,g_n$, the Schauder-Tychonoff fixed-point theorem gives a fixed point $\varphi \in K$ of $n^{-1}{\sum }_j{T}_{g_j}$. Let $H$ be the closed subgroup they generate and, for real $f\in C(G)$, set $h(x)=\varphi (l_{x}f)$ on $H$. It is continuous and satisfiesAt a maximum point $x_0$, every summand must have the same maximum value. Iteration gives that value at all inverse-generator words times $x_0$. The closure of their positive-word monoid is a closed subsemigroup of a compact group, hence is the entire generated subgroup $H$. Density and continuity make $h$ constant on $H$. Therefore $\varphi$ is fixed by each of $T_{g_1},\dots ,T_{g_n}$, first on real functions and then on complex functions by linearity. The closed fixed-point sets consequently have the finite intersection property in $K$, so compactness gives a common fixed functional for every $g\in G$.

The Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem converts this positive functional into a regular Borel probability measure ${\mu }_l$ with $\varphi (f)=\int fd{\mu }_l$. Its invariance gives left translation invariance of the measure. It has full support: if a nonempty open set had measure zero, a finite collection of its left translates would cover the compact group and force ${\mu }_l(G)=0$, contradicting normalization. Thus it is a normalized left Haar measure. The right translation action gives a normalized right Haar measure ${\mu }_r$ by the same argument.

For uniqueness and equality, take any $f\in C(G)$ and apply the Fubini theorem toFor fixed $y$, left invariance of ${\mu }_l$ makes the inner integral $\int fd{\mu }_l$. Reversing the order, for fixed $x$, right invariance of ${\mu }_r$ makes the inner integral $\int fd{\mu }_r$. Since both total masses are one,Uniqueness in the Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem gives $\boxed{{\mu }_l={\mu }_r}$. Comparing any normalized left Haar measure to this fixed right Haar measure proves uniqueness as well. The conclusion is uniqueness of normalized Haar measure. Without normalization, the printed uniqueness claim is false: even on the one-point group, ${\delta }_e$ and $2{\delta }_e$ are distinct Haar measures. In general the result is uniqueness up to a positive scalar, and left and right probability normalizations coincide.

Take $X=G$ and let $g$ act by left multiplication $L_g(x)=gx$. Each $L_g$ is a permutation, with inverse $L_{g^{-1}}$. Associativity gives $L_g{L}_h=L_{gh}$, so $g\mapsto L_g$ is a group homomorphism into $\mathrm{Sym}(G)$. If $L_g$ is the identity permutation, evaluating it at the identity element gives $g=1$. ThusThis is the Cayley theorem, realized by the left regular action, which is a faithful group action.

A permutation representation is a group homomorphism $\rho :G\to \mathrm{Sym}(\Omega )$, equivalently a group action on a set $\Omega$. The left regular action takes $\Omega =G$ and $\rho (g)(h)=gh$. Each such map is a bijection, and $\rho (g_1{g}_2)=\rho (g_1)\rho (g_2)$. If $\rho (g)$ is the identity, evaluating at the identity element gives $g=1$. Thus the representation is faithful. Numbering the elements of $G$ identifies $\mathrm{Sym}(G)$ with the symmetric group $S_n$, proving Cayley theorem:For a nonabelian simple group, compose this faithful representation with the sign of a permutation homomorphism $S_n\to \{1,-1\}$. Its kernel is a normal subgroup of $G$, hence either trivial or all of $G$. A trivial kernel would embed $G$ in a group of order two, contradicting noncommutativity. Therefore every represented element is even, and the same representation embeds $G$ in the alternating group $A_n$.

Finally let $S_3$ act on the two cosets of its normal subgroup $A_3$. An even permutation fixes both cosets, whereas an odd permutation exchanges them. This gives $S_3\to S_2$ with kernel $A_3$; explicitly, send even permutations to the identity and odd permutations to $(12)$.

A group action on a nonempty set $X$ is simply transitive when exactly one group element sends any chosen point to any other:Equivalently it is both a transitive group action and a free group action; this is also a regular group action. Transitivity supplies a transport, and freeness makes it unique. Conversely, putting $y=x$ in the uniqueness condition shows that every stabilizer subgroup is $\{e\}$, since the identity element already fixes $x$. In a transitive group action, checking that just one stabilizer subgroup is trivial suffices: all the others are conjugate subgroups.

The cyclic group $C_3$ in the diagram under transitive group action is simply transitive. More generally, the left regular action of any group $G$ on itself is simply transitive: the equation $gx=y$ has the unique solution $g=y{x}^{-1}$, using the inverse element of $x$. This shows why the property is useful: every position has a unique label relative to a chosen starting position.

Choose a point $x_0\in X$. Its orbit mapis a bijection and an equivariant map from the left regular action: ${\varphi }_{x_0}(hg)=h\cdot {\varphi }_{x_0}(g)$. This identifies $X$ with a copy of $G$, but $X$ does not come with a preferred identity element. If $x_1=a\cdot x_0$, then ${\varphi }_{x_1}(g)={\varphi }_{x_0}(ga)$: changing the chosen point composes this identification with right multiplication by $a$. An old label $g$ therefore becomes the new label $g{a}^{-1}$, which also specifies the side of multiplication for a noncommutative group.

The transport from $x$ to $y$ remains independent of the chosen point. Writing $x=b\cdot x_0$ and $y=c\cdot x_0$, it is $c{b}^{-1}$. With $x_1=a\cdot x_0$, the new labels are $b{a}^{-1}$ and $c{a}^{-1}$, andFor a finite group, simple transitivity implies $|X|=|G|$. Conversely, a transitive group action with $|X|=|G|<\infty$ is simply transitive by the orbit-stabilizer theorem. Equality of cardinalities alone is insufficient without transitivity: the cyclic group $C_2$ can fix both points of a two-point set, giving two group orbits and two possible self-transports at each point.