Lie group isomorphism 2026-10-14
An isomorphism of Lie groups is a group isomorphism that is also a diffeomorphism. Both the homomorphism and its inverse preserve the smooth structures. Its identity differential is a Lie algebra isomorphism, but an isomorphism of Lie algebras determines a global Lie group isomorphism without extra period data only for connected simply connected groups.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 1 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Identify the Lie algebra with the tangent space . For , its left-invariant vector field is . Let be its integral curve with . Uniqueness of integral curves and left invariance give wherever initially defined. Repetition of a local curve extends it to all real times. Thus is the unique one-parameter subgroup with derivative at zero, and the Exponential map of a Lie group is defined bySmooth dependence of solutions of differential equations on their initial data and parameters makes this map smooth.
The derivative at zero is particularly simple:It is the identity linear map from to . The inverse function theorem therefore proves that the Exponential map of a Lie group is a local diffeomorphism at zero, producing a local exponential chart. This proves the requested local assertion.
There is a necessary qualification to the other assertion: the image of every one-parameter subgroup lies in the identity component of a Lie group . The correct statement without a connectedness hypothesis isIndeed, if is a group homomorphism, its image is an abelian subgroup. It contains an identity neighborhood by the local result. An open subgroup of a connected group is the entire group: every coset is open, so its complement is also open. Thus , proving that this component is abelian.
Conversely, if is abelian, then is a one-parameter subgroup: its group law follows by commuting the factors. Its derivative at zero is . Uniqueness gives and, at , additivity. This proves the additivity of the Lie exponential map criterion. For connected it is exactly the stated equivalence with an abelian group. For disconnected the unrestricted claim is false: is a nonabelian Lie group, but its exponential is the homomorphism . The original PDF does not impose connectedness in that sentence, so that qualification cannot be omitted.
Now suppose is connected and abelian, of dimension . The exponential is a surjective group homomorphism, and its kernel is discrete by local injectivity at zero. The induced mapis a bijective Lie group homomorphism and a local diffeomorphism, hence a Lie group isomorphism. To identify the quotient, take linearly independent elements spanning the real linear span of , and let . Every coset of in has a representative in the bounded fundamental parallelepiped of these vectors. A discrete additive subgroup has finite intersection with a compact set: otherwise differences of arbitrarily close elements would approach zero, contradicting discreteness at zero. Thus is finite.
It follows that is a finitely generated torsion-free abelian group of rank , hence has a -basis of elements. These basis elements also span its -dimensional real span and are linearly independent over . Extending them to a real basis identifies with . Consequently the classification of connected abelian Lie groups isThe compact circle factors record the periods of the one-parameter subgroups.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 20 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For , let be the left-invariant vector field with value at the identity. Its integral curve through the identity is the unique one-parameter subgroup with . It exists for all real time: local existence followed by translation and the identity extends it indefinitely. The Exponential map of a Lie group isIt is smooth and , because differentiating at zero gives . The inverse function theorem therefore makes it a local diffeomorphism at zero.
If is abelian, the product is a one-parameter subgroup with initial tangent . Uniqueness gives , henceConversely, if this additive homomorphism identity holds, all and commute. Differentiating their adjoint action shows . Alternatively, their commuting images contain an identity neighbourhood; that neighbourhood generates the identity component of a Lie group, so the identity component is abelian. Conversely, if the Lie algebra is abelian, its left-invariant vector fields commute, so their flows commute. Hence all one-parameter subgroups commute; their product with initial tangent is the one-parameter subgroup for . The Lie exponential map is therefore additive, and its image generates an abelian identity component. Thus the stated equivalence holds for connected . Without connectedness the exact assertion is that the Lie exponential map is a homomorphism precisely when is abelian. The converse implication to all of is false: in the Lie algebra consists of , whereRotations satisfy , but a reflection satisfies , so the full orthogonal group is not abelian.
Now take a connected abelian Lie group of dimension . Its Lie exponential map is a homomorphism whose image contains an identity neighbourhood, hence an open subgroup. A connected group has no proper open subgroup, so this map is onto. Its kernel is discrete, since it is injective on a neighbourhood of zero. The induced map is a bijective local diffeomorphism and therefore a Lie group isomorphismHere is the needed classification of . Let be the dimension of its real span. Choose that form a real basis of that span. Their integer span has finite index in : subtract integer multiples of the to put each coset representative in a compact parallelepiped. Only finitely many points of lie there, since discreteness at zero gives a uniform positive separation between distinct points. Thus is finitely generated and torsion-free, and the structure theorem for finitely generated abelian groups makes it free abelian of rank . Its integer basis is a real basis of the span. A linear change of coordinates consequently sends to in .
This proves the classification of connected abelian Lie groups:The isomorphism depends on the choice of lattice basis and complementary vector space. Compactness is equivalent to .