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A finite root system in a real Euclidean vector space $E$ is a finite spanning set $\Phi \subset E\setminus \{0\}$ such that, for every $\alpha \in \Phi$, the root reflectionpreserves $\Phi$, and the Cartan integer $2(\beta ,\alpha )/(\alpha ,\alpha )$ is an integer for all $\alpha ,\beta \in \Phi$. It is reduced when the only scalar multiples of $\alpha$ in $\Phi$ are $\alpha$ and $-\alpha$. Its Weyl group is the subgroup of the orthogonal group generated by the reflections $s_{\alpha }$. A base of a root system $\Delta$ is a basis of $E$ such that every root is an integer combination of elements of $\Delta$ whose nonzero coefficients all have the same sign.

The coroot of $\alpha$ isLet $C$ be the Weyl chamber determined by $\Delta$:The roots $\alpha$ and ${\alpha }^{\vee }$ are positive scalar multiples, so their reflecting hyperplanes and their positive half-spaces are identical. The same chamber $C$ therefore defines positivity in the coroot system ${\Phi }^{\vee }$. Its walls correspond exactly to the rays ${\mathbb{R}}_{>0}{\alpha }^{\vee }$ for $\alpha \in \Delta$. Hence its simple roots arewhich is therefore a base of ${\Phi }^{\vee }$.

For an arbitrary finite-dimensional complex Lie algebra $L$, a Cartan subalgebra is a nilpotent Lie subalgebra $H$ equal to its own normalizer. When $L$ is semisimple, this is equivalently a maximal abelian subalgebra consisting of elements that act semisimply in the Adjoint representation.

Choose such an $H$. Simultaneous diagonalization gives the root-space decompositionThe nonzero weights $\alpha \in H^{\ast }$ are the roots. The restriction of the Killing form $B$ to $H$ is a nondegenerate bilinear form, so each $\alpha$ corresponds to a unique $t_{\alpha }\in H$ with $\alpha (h)=B(t_{\alpha },h)$. On the real span of these $t_{\alpha }$, the restriction of $B$ supplies a positive-definite inner product after choosing the standard real form. The sl2 subalgebra associated with a root givesand shows that these reflections preserve the finite set $\Phi$. Thus the roots form a finite reduced crystallographic root system, whose Weyl group is generated by these reflections.

Write an element of the diagonal torus asand let ${\epsilon }_i$ extract $t_i$. The root-space decomposition iswith one-dimensional root spaces. Thus the $D_n$ root system is

The upper-triangular choice givesA compatible simple system isThe highest root and Weyl vector areThe fundamental weights are

Using the paper's letters, the root lattice and weight lattice are respectivelyTheir quotient is

The Dynkin diagram is the $D_n$ diagram: a chain ${\alpha }_1-\cdots -{\alpha }_{n-2}$ whose last node is joined to both ${\alpha }_{n-1}$ and ${\alpha }_n$. The Extended Dynkin diagram adds ${\alpha }_0=-\theta$ joined to ${\alpha }_2$. For $D_4$, the central node ${\alpha }_2$ consequently has the four leaves ${\alpha }_0,{\alpha }_1,{\alpha }_3,{\alpha }_4$.

For a Cartan subalgebra $\mathfrak{h}$, the root set consists of the nonzero linear functionals $\alpha \in {\mathfrak{h}}^{\ast }$ for which ${\mathfrak{g}}_{\alpha }=\{X:[H,X]=\alpha (H)X\}$ is nonzero. It is the root system of the Lie algebra.

A root system in the real inner product space $V$ is a finite spanning set $\Phi \subset V\setminus \{0\}$ such thatwhere the orthogonal reflectionFor a crystallographic root system one additionally requires $2(\beta ,\alpha )/(\alpha ,\alpha )\in \mathbb{Z}$; that condition is not needed for general finite reflection groups.

A fundamental system of a root system is a basis $\Delta \subset \Phi$ such that every root has either all nonnegative or all nonpositive coordinates in this basis. Its associated positive system of a root system isand $\Phi =\Pi \bigsqcup (-\Pi )$.

The rank is the dimension of a Cartan subalgebra, equivalently the dimension of the real span of its root system.

A reduced root system of rank one is $\Phi =\{\alpha ,-\alpha \}$. Its fundamental weight is $\alpha /2$, and its Weyl group has two elements. Its ordinary Dynkin diagram has one node; adjoining ${\alpha }_0=-\alpha$ gives affine Cartan matrix $\left(\begin{array}{cc}2& -2\\ -2& 2\end{array}\right)$, drawn as a double bond between equal-length roots.

The reflection representation is the action of the Weyl group on the real span of its root system, generated by its Weyl reflections. For an irreducible root system, it is an irreducible representation: if $U$ is an invariant subspace, each root either lies in $U^{\perp }$ or, by subtracting a reflected vector of $U$, lies in $U$. These alternatives partition the roots into orthogonal sets. Irreducibility and spanning force $U=0$ or the whole space.

A root is an individual nonzero vector in a root system. For a complex semisimple Lie algebra, it is a nonzero weight of the Adjoint representation restricted to a Cartan subalgebra; its root space consists of vectors $x$ satisfying $[h,x]=\alpha (h)x$ for all $h$ in that subalgebra.

A root string is the set $S_{\alpha ,\beta }=\Phi \cap (\beta +\mathbb{Z}\alpha )$ for roots $\alpha ,\beta$ of a root system $\Phi$. For nonproportional roots $\alpha$ and $\beta$ of a reduced crystallographic root system, the roots of the form $\beta +n\alpha$ form an unbroken root string $\beta -p\alpha ,\dots ,\beta +q\alpha$, and $p-q=⟨\beta ,{\alpha }^{\vee }⟩$. The root-string theorem explains the endpoint relation. If $\beta =\pm \alpha$, zero is missing and this consecutive-string statement does not apply.

For nonproportional roots $\gamma ,\delta$ of a reduced crystallographic root system, $S_{\gamma ,\delta }=\{\delta -p\gamma ,\dots ,\delta +q\gamma \}$ is consecutive, and $p-q=⟨\delta ,{\gamma }^{\vee }⟩$. Realize the crystallographic root system as the roots of a complex semisimple Lie algebra. The sum of the one-dimensional root spaces in this string is a module for the sl2 subalgebra associated with a root. Its weights are $⟨\delta ,{\gamma }^{\vee }⟩+2n$; they have one fixed parity. Complete reducibility gives a sum of irreducible representations of the sl2 Lie algebra. Two summands of this parity would overlap at weight zero when the parity is even, or at weights $\pm 1$ when it is odd, contradicting the one-dimensional root spaces. Thus there is one irreducible string, whose opposite endpoint weights sum to zero. This proves the relation. For distinct simple roots, $p=0$ and the cardinality is $1-⟨\delta ,{\gamma }^{\vee }⟩$. The nonproportional hypothesis excludes $\delta =\pm \gamma$, where zero is not a root and the consecutive-string statement fails.

A root subsystem of a root system $\Phi$ is a subset that is itself a root system in its real span. In particular, if a subspace $F$ is spanned by roots, $\Phi \cap F$ is a full root subsystem: root reflections in its roots preserve both $\Phi$ and $F$. Reflection-generated subsystems need not contain every ambient root in their span. A pair is a simple root basis only when every subsystem root has integral coordinates of one sign in that pair; merely choosing two independent roots is insufficient.

In an irreducible root system with two root lengths, a short root has the smaller length with respect to a Weyl group invariant inner product.

If two simple roots have angle $5\pi /6$, normalize them to unit vectors $u,v$ with $(u,v)=-\sqrt{3}/2$. For any other unit simple root $w$, set $r=(u,w)\le 0$, $s=(v,w)\le 0$. Its three-root Gram matrix has determinant $1/4-r^2-s^2-\sqrt{3}rs$. Any nonzero $r$ or $s$ has absolute value at least $1/2$, contradicting positive definiteness. Thus all other simple roots are orthogonal to $u,v$. An irreducible root system containing this triple bond must be the rank-two G2 root system.