Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2007 / iii / Paper 4 / 3 / ii

Number the simple roots of the G2 root system so that ${\alpha }_1$ is short and ${\alpha }_2$ is long. In the Euclidean plane chooseTheir squared lengths are one and three, and their angle is $150$ degrees. The six positive roots areTogether with their negatives these form the twelve-root diagram: two regular hexagons of radii one and $\sqrt{3}$, rotated by $30$ degrees relative to one another. Solving the fundamental weight equations givesIn particular ${\omega }_1$ is the highest short root and ${\omega }_2$ the highest long root. The root diagram below marks both weights.

To evaluate the Weyl dimension formula, put $a=n_1$, $b=n_2$ and $\lambda =a{\omega }_1+b{\omega }_2$. The Weyl vector is $\rho ={\omega }_1+{\omega }_2$. In the order of positive roots listed above, their coroots have simple-coroot coefficient pairsFor example the short root ${\alpha }_1+{\alpha }_2$ has coroot ${\alpha }_1^{\vee }+3{\alpha }_2^{\vee }$, while the long root $3{\alpha }_1+2{\alpha }_2$ has coroot ${\alpha }_1^{\vee }+2{\alpha }_2^{\vee }$. Pairing with $\lambda +\rho$ and dividing by the same factors at $a=b=0$ gives the G2 dimension polynomialThe denominator is $1\cdot 1\cdot 2\cdot 3\cdot 4\cdot 5$. As checks, the fundamental representations have dimensions seven and fourteen, and $a=b=0$ gives the trivial representation of dimension one.