Past exam of the groups and representations course of the University of Oxford / 2024 / 4

The image is in the unitary group, since $(zU{)}^{†}(zU)=\bar{z}z{U}^{†}U=I$ for $z\in U(1)$ and $U\in SU(n)$. The direct product of groups has multiplication $(z,U)(w,V)=(zw,UV)$. Scalar matrices commute with every matrix, soThus $f$ is a group homomorphism; in particular $f(1,I)=I$.

First prove surjectivity. For any $A\in U(n)$, its determinant has modulus one. Choose $z\in U(1)$ with $z^n=\det A$ and define $U=z^{-1}A$. Then $U^{†}U=I$ and $\det U=z^{-n}\det A=1$, so $A=f(z,U)$.

Next, $f(z,U)=I$ is equivalent to $U=z^{-1}I$. This lies in $SU(n)$ precisely when $z^n=1$. Therefore the kernel of a group homomorphism is the central cyclic groupIts generator is $(\zeta ,{\zeta }^{-1}{I}_n)$, which has order $n$. The inverse phases in the two factors are essential: this is an explicitly embedded subgroup, not a quotient by scalar matrices in just one factor. The first isomorphism theorem now givesThis also holds as a Lie group isomorphism: the induced map is smooth and a continuous bijection from a compact quotient space to the Hausdorff unitary group, and its differential is the Lie algebra isomorphism $(it,X)\mapsto itI+X$. For $n=1$ the kernel of a group homomorphism is trivial, consistently with $SU(1)=\{1\}$.

Use the standard chain ordering of the five simple roots of $SU(6)$. A Young diagram of row lengths $r_1\ge \cdots \ge r_6=0$ has highest weight Dynkin labels $a_i=r_i-r_{i+1}$. A full column of six boxes can be removed because it is the trivial determinant representation. The required data areIn the same order, the Young tableaux areEach upper index transforms by $U$, and each lower index by $U^{-1}$. In particular $M\mapsto UM{U}^{-1}$ is the complex Adjoint representation. The column of five boxes can be represented either by $w_i$ or by the totally antisymmetric tensor $B^{i_1\dots i_5}$, using the invariant six-index alternating tensor:Thus it really is the conjugate representation, rather than a second independent six-dimensional choice. Similarly converting the lower index of $M^i{}_j$ into five alternating upper indices gives the displayed hook Young diagram; the removed trace would be its full six-box column component.

The dimension counts areThe first two count independent entries of symmetric tensors and antisymmetric tensors; the last removes one trace from a mixed tensor. The hook-content formula independently gives these dimensions from the Young diagrams.

Let index $0$ denote the first coordinate, which the embedded $SU(5)$ fixes, and let $a,b=1,\dots ,5$ denote the remaining coordinates. The fundamental representation and its conjugate representation immediately giveFor a symmetric tensor, $S^{00}$ is a trivial representation, $S^{0a}=S^{a0}$ is a $5$, and $S^{ab}$ is the fifteen-dimensional symmetric square of a group representation of $5$. For an antisymmetric tensor, $A^{00}=0$, $A^{0a}=-A^{a0}$ is a $5$, and $A^{ab}$ is the ten-dimensional exterior power ${\Lambda }^{2}5$. HenceHere the left-hand $15$ is the antisymmetric tensor of $SU(6)$, while the right-hand $15$ in the first equation is the symmetric tensor of $SU(5)$; equal dimensions alone do not identify representations of different groups.

Finally decompose the traceless block matrixThe traceless part of $D$ is the Adjoint representation $24$, the column $c$ is $5$, the row $b$ is $\bar{5}$, and the one remaining diagonal trivial representation is generated by $\mathrm{diag}(-5,1,1,1,1,1)$. ThusAll dimensions match: $6=1+5$, $21=15+5+1$, $15=10+5$ and $35=24+5+5+1$.

Among the representations in c, the $10$ of $SU(5)$ occurs in the $15$ of $SU(6)$, while the simplest source of $\bar{5}$ is $\bar{6}$. Thus the economical direct sum containing the prescribed family isThe extra $SU(5)$ multiplets are one $5$ and one trivial representation. Calling $R$ a representation does not require it to be an irreducible representation; none of the five individual choices in c contains both required $SU(5)$ summands.

There is a further physical qualification if this is to be the entire chiral matter content of a consistent grand unified theory. Merely containing one Standard Model family does not guarantee cancellation of the cubic $SU(6)$ gauge anomaly. In the convention $A(6)=1$, one has $A(\bar{6})=-1$ and $A(15)=2$, so the displayed sum has $A(R)=1$. With these types of representations, the minimal anomaly-free completion is insteadBeyond one family this adds a vectorlike gauge spectrum $5\oplus \bar{5}$ and two trivial representations. The conjugate pair can receive a mass after the appropriate symmetry breaking, without removing the remaining family.^[ref] The first boxed answer addresses representation containment; the second includes the extra consistency condition for a chiral gauge theory.