Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2003 / iii / Paper 57 / 6 / b / Solution

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.