Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / iii / Paper 1 / 1

Use the standard sl2 triple $H=x{\partial }_x-y{\partial }_y$, $X=x{\partial }_y$, $Y=y{\partial }_x$. In the tensor product of Lie algebra representations, each operator acts on both factors. PutThese twelve vectors form a weight basis, and $H{u}_{ij}=(5-2(i+j))u_{ij}$. Thus the bases of the weight spaces areThere are no other weights. The weight diagram shows their multiplicities, with the decomposition also displayed for comparison.

The raising operator acts bywith out-of-range terms omitted. At weights five, three and one its kernels are respectively spanned byAt weight one the kernel equations are $2a+b=0$ and $b+2c=0$ for $a{u}_{20}+b{u}_{11}+c{u}_{02}$. At weight minus one they are $3a+b=0$, $2b+2c=0$, $c=0$, which force zero; the maps on the two remaining negative-weight spaces are injective as well. Thus these three lines give all nonzero highest-weight vectors up to scalar, at their respective weights. A linear combination of different lines is killed by $X$ but is not a weight vector, so is not a highest-weight vector.

The lowering operator isIn particular,is an explicit basis for the submodule ${\Gamma }_1$. Indeed $Y^2{h}_1=0$, $X{h}_1=0$, $X(Y{h}_1)=h_1$, and the two vectors have weights $1,-1$. The analogous strings from $h_5,h_3$ have dimensions six and four. Their distinct irreducible highest weights and total dimension twelve give the sl2 tensor product of cubic and quadratic symmetric powers

Let $f_1,f_2,f_3$ be the dual basis of $W^{\ast }$, and use $L_1+L_2+L_3=0$. The elementary tensors $e_i\otimes e_j\otimes f_k$ have weight $L_i+L_j-L_k$. Grouping them gives every weight space explicitly:The counts are $6+3\cdot 2+3\cdot 5=27$, so this table exhausts the tensor product. The diagrams below use equilateral coordinates $L_1=(1,0)$, $L_2=(-1/2,\sqrt{3}/2)$, $L_3=(-1/2,-\sqrt{3}/2)$; numbers at points are weight multiplicities.

To decompose the module, first split the first two factors into their symmetric and alternating parts. Put $t_{ij}=(e_i\otimes e_j+e_j\otimes e_i)/2$, including $t_{ii}=e_i\otimes e_i$. The equivariant contractionis onto, since $C(t_{ii}\otimes f_i)=2e_i$. Its kernel $K$ has dimension fifteen and contains the highest-weight vector $t_{11}\otimes f_3$ of weight $2L_1-L_3$.

Here is an explicit weight basis of the trace-free symmetric-square dual tensor module, and thus the requested fifteen-vector basis:Every displayed vector contracts to zero. The first two families occupy distinct one-dimensional weights; at each weight $L_i$ the two vectors in the last family are independent because their respective $t_{ij}\otimes f_j$ terms are distinct. Thus all fifteen are independent and span $K$.

For completeness, $K$ is irreducible, not just an invariant kernel of the right dimension. On elementary tensors the raising action isAt the six weights $2L_i-L_k$, both $E_{12}$ and $E_{23}$ kill the vector only for $(i,k)=(1,3)$. At each weight $-2L_k$, at least one of those operators is nonzero. At weight $L_1$, write a vector as $a(t_{12}\otimes f_2-t_{11}\otimes f_1/2)+b(t_{13}\otimes f_3-t_{11}\otimes f_1/2)$. The two raising equations are $3a+b=0$ and $-a+b=0$, forcing zero. On the two-dimensional weight-$L_2$ space $E_{12}$ is injective, and on the weight-$L_3$ space $E_{23}$ is injective, as substitution in the same action formula shows. Therefore the common raising kernel in $K$ is the single line $\mathbb{C}(t_{11}\otimes f_3)$. By Weyl complete reducibility theorem, every irreducible summand supplies a highest-weight line, so $K$ has only one summand and is irreducible.

The symmetric-factor contraction splits off a defining copy $W$; explicitly $e_i\mapsto {\sum }_j{t}_{ij}\otimes f_j$ is equivariant and its contraction is $4e_i$. For the alternating factor, the invariant volume form identifies ${\Lambda }^{2}W\cong W^{\ast }$, sending $e_1\wedge e_2$ to $f_3$, $e_2\wedge e_3$ to $f_1$ and $e_3\wedge e_1$ to $f_2$. ThereforeThe symmetric dual module is irreducible of dimension six and highest weight $-2L_3$; its symmetric-monomial basis has weights $-2L_i$ and $-L_i-L_j=L_k$, all of multiplicity one. In the original tensor product its highest-weight vector isThe raising action above annihilates it, and its weight is $L_1+L_2-L_3=-2L_3$.

Altogether the Triple tensor decomposition for the defining sl3 representation isThe fifteen-dimensional module has multiplicity one at each $2L_i-L_k$ and $-2L_i$, and multiplicity two at each $L_i$. The six-dimensional module has multiplicity one at $-2L_i$ and $L_i$. Each defining module has the three weights $L_i$, once each. These add to the original table of multiplicities.

The two defining summands are not intrinsically distinguished: other diagonal copies inside their isotypic component have the same three-point weight diagram. Thus the displayed diagrams account for every irreducible submodule type, as well as showing both copies in this decomposition.