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Every matrix in $SU(2)$ has the unique formThe four real coordinates of $(\alpha ,\beta )$ give a smooth bijection with smooth inverse onto the unit three-sphere. Matrix multiplication identifies this model with the unit quaternions. Its round metric is invariant under left and right multiplication by unit quaternions. The actionhas kernel $\{(1,1),(-1,-1)\}$: a kernel pair must have $a=b$ from $q=1$ and must commute with all quaternions. Its derivative is injective, and both dimensions are six, givingThe full isometry group is $O(4)$. Quaternion conjugation reverses orientation and supplies the additional component. Thus an arbitrary isometry has either the displayed left-right form or that form composed with conjugation.

For the Anti-de Sitter spacetime model, writeThe hyperboloid with this quadratic form equal to $-1$ is exactly $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$. Its induced Lorentzian metric is preserved by $M\mapsto AM{B}^{-1}$ for $A,B\in SL(2,\mathbb{R})$. At the identity the metric is $g(U,V)=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{tr}(UV)$ on traceless matrices, so it is the Killing metric divided by eight. This proves the geometric identification, including the metric rather than only the underlying manifold.

A trivial left-right action again forces $A=B$ to be a scalar commuting with all determinant-one matrices, hence $A=B=\pm I$. The differential is injective and both dimensions are six, soThis is the existing left-right double cover of SO0(2,2). The full hyperboloid isometry group is $O(2,2)$. Its other components can be obtained by also using $M\mapsto M^T$ and $M\mapsto CM{C}^{-1}$, $C=\mathrm{diag}(1,-1)$. Transposition reverses one timelike coordinate; conjugation by $C$ reverses one timelike and one spacelike coordinate, so these generate the four component classes. All isometries of these constant-curvature quadrics come from ambient orthogonal transformations: a value and an orthonormal derivative at one point determine an isometry, and the ambient group realizes every such choice.

Here ${\mathrm{AdS}}_3$ means the hyperboloid with periodic time. The physically common causally unwrapped spacetime is its universal cover, modeled by the universal covering Lie group of $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$, and is not itself $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$. Its isometries lift the above local symmetries, with the global covering and central identifications changed accordingly.

Use ambient quadratic form $Q=-(X^0{)}^2-(X^4{)}^2+(X^1{)}^2+(X^2{)}^2$. The printed sine coordinate has a duplicated superscript: it must be $X^2$, not another $X^1$. With that correction the embedding lies on $Q=-1$. Put $s=\sqrt{1+r^2}$. Differentiating the two timelike coordinates giveswhereas the two spatial coordinates give $(d{X}^1{)}^2+(d{X}^2{)}^2=d{r}^2+r^{2}d{\theta }^2$. Their difference is the induced Lorentzian metricThe polar coordinate $\theta$ collapses at $r=0$; this is a coordinate degeneracy, not a degeneracy of the metric.

For the matrix model of anti-de Sitter three-space, defineThen $\det M=-Q$. This linear identification of ambient space with real two-by-two matrices identifies $Q=-1$ with $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$. Its inverse recovers each $X$ by sums and differences of matrix entries, so the identification is global. The identity corresponds to $X^4=1$ and the other coordinates zero. For a traceless tangent matrix $U$, the induced squared norm isPolarization gives $g_I(U,V)=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{tr}(UV)$.

The Killing form of ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2(\mathbb{R})$ is $B(U,V)=4\mathrm{tr}(UV)$. This normalization can be checked without assuming it: for $H=\mathrm{diag}(1,-1)$, $E=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 0& 0\end{array}\right)$ and $F=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right)$, the brackets are $[H,E]=2E$, $[H,F]=-2F$, $[E,F]=H$. Taking traces of their three-dimensional adjoint matrices gives $B(H,H)=8$, $B(E,F)=B(F,E)=4$, and all other basis pairings zero. These agree with $4\mathrm{tr}(UV)$.

Both left and right multiplication by matrices in $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ preserve $-\det M$, hence its polarized ambient bilinear form and the induced metric. Equality at the identity therefore propagates throughout the group:In particular the Killing-form Einstein metric calculation gives $\mathrm{Ric}=-2g$, consistent with unit-radius three-dimensional Anti-de Sitter spacetime.

Every element of $SO(2,2)$ preserves the ambient quadratic form, hence the hyperboloid and its induced metric, and so acts by isometries. Define the left-right double cover of SO0(2,2) byThis is a group homomorphism, since successive actions multiply the two factors in the same order. It preserves $\det M$; as a transformation of the four-dimensional matrix space it has determinant $(\det A{)}^2(\det B^{-1}{)}^2=1$. Thus it takes values in $SO(2,2)$.

If its action is the identity, applying it to $M=I$ gives $A=B$. Commuting with every matrix then forces $A$ to be scalar. The condition $\det A=1$ leaves only $A=I$ or $A=-I$. HenceThe differential is $(a,b):M\mapsto aM-Mb$. A zero differential implies $a=b$ and that $a$ is scalar; tracelessness makes $a=b=0$. It is therefore an isomorphism onto the target Lie algebra, since both dimensions are six. The image is an open subgroup. Since $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ is connected, the image is connected and is exactly the identity component $S{O}_0(2,2)$: an open subgroup of a connected group is also closed and must be the whole group. Thus the precise covering statement isIt is not onto the disconnected full $SO(2,2)$. For example, conjugation $M\mapsto DM{D}^{-1}$, $D=\mathrm{diag}(1,-1)$, sends $(X^0,X^4,X^1,X^2)$ to $(-X^0,X^4,X^1,-X^2)$ and belongs to the other component of $SO(2,2)$. It reverses the orientation of the negative two-plane and is not in the image of the connected source.

The Adjoint representation of a Lie group of $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ preserves its Killing form of metric signature $(2,1)$ and gives a second double cover,Its kernel is the scalar centre; its differential is injective and both dimensions are three, so the same connected-image argument proves surjectivity onto the identity component. The full $SO(2,1)$ again has an additional component. Thus $S{O}_0(2,1)$ is locally the same Lie group geometry as $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$, with its Killing metric, and globally is its central quotient.

With the printed periodic time, the group model has topology $S^1\times {\mathbb{R}}^2$ and closed timelike curves, since varying $t$ at fixed spatial position gives a timelike circle. The causally unwrapped version of Anti-de Sitter spacetime instead has $t\in \mathbb{R}$ and is the universal covering Lie group. It must not be substituted silently for the periodic spacetime specified here.