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The connected $(1+2)$-dimensional Poincare group isThe semidirect product records that Lorentz transformations act nontrivially on translations, which is what organizes momentum orbits. For a representative momentum $p$, its little group is the stabilizer $G_p=\{\Lambda \in S{O}^{+}(1,2):\Lambda p=p\}$. Wigner's classification constructs irreducible particle representations by inducing a unitary irreducible representation of $G_p$ along the Lorentz orbit of $p$.

If a group $K$ acts on a finite set $X$, it acts on the direct product of groups $H^X$ by permuting its factors. The resulting semidirect product is the permutation wreath product. For $K=S_m$ acting on $m$ two-point blocks and $H=C_2$, it describes independent within-block swaps combined with a permutation of blocks, and has order $2^{m}m!$. The action on $X$ is part of the definition; it need not be the regular action used in a regular wreath product.

The Poincare group is the semidirect product of spacetime translations by the Lorentz group. It is the isometry group of Minkowski spacetime.

Let $G=⟨S\mid R⟩$ and $H=⟨T\mid U⟩$ be group presentations, and let $\varphi :H\to \mathrm{Aut}(G)$ be a group homomorphism. Choose a word $w_{t,s}(S)$ representing $\varphi (t)(s)$ for each pair of generators. Then the semidirect product has presentationThe cross-relations allow every word to be written in factor order $gh$, and the multiplication rule matches the prescribed action. The natural homomorphisms to and from the semidirect product are inverse on the generators. Finite factor presentations yield a finite group presentation.

If $K$ is a finitely generated group, then the semidirect product $K⋊H$ is a residually finite group exactly when both $K$ and $H$ are residually finite groups. To separate an element whose $H$ coordinate is nontrivial, use a finite quotient of $H$. For $1\ne k\in K$, choose a finite-index normal subgroup $U$ omitting $k$, and intersect all subgroups of index at most $[K:U]$ to obtain a characteristic finite-index subgroup $C\le U$. The induced map into $(K/C)⋊\mathrm{im}(H\to \mathrm{Aut}(K/C))$ has finite target and separates $k$. More generally, finite generation can be replaced by a separating family of finite-index normal subgroups invariant under the given $H$ action.

If a group homomorphism section $i:G/N\to G$ satisfies $\pi i=\mathrm{id}$, then each $g\in G$ has a unique form $i(q)n$ with $q\in G/N$ and $n\in N$: take $q=\pi (g)$ and $n=i(q{)}^{-1}g$. Thus $(q,n)\mapsto i(q)n$ is a bijection. It is a homomorphism for the ordinary direct product of groups exactly when the section image centralizes $N$. In general it describes a semidirect product with a nontrivial conjugation action.

A group extension is split when its quotient homomorphism admits a group-homomorphic section. Equivalently, the middle group is a semidirect product of the kernel by the quotient.

This Lie group acts on the plane by $v\mapsto x+\rho v$ with $\rho >0$. Its multiplication is $(\rho ,x)({\rho }^{\prime },x^{\prime })=(\rho {\rho }^{\prime },x+\rho x^{\prime })$, and its inverse is $({\rho }^{-1},-{\rho }^{-1}x)$. It is a semidirect product in which positive dilation acts on the translation subgroup. A dilation generator $D$ and translation generators $T_1,T_2$ have Lie brackets $[D,T_a]=T_a$ and $[T_1,T_2]=0$.

Let $p$ be prime, $a\in {\mathbb{F}}_p^{\times }$, $x,y\in \mathbb{Z}/(p-1)\mathbb{Z}$ and $u,v\in {\mathbb{F}}_p$. Fermat's little theorem makes the displayed multiplication well defined. Its identity is $(0,0)$ and inverse is $(-x,-a^{-x}u)$; associativity follows by expanding both bracketings. Projection onto the first coordinate is a group homomorphism with normal cyclic kernel of order $p$. Under the change $U=a^{-x}u$, multiplication becomes $(x,U)(y,V)=(x+y,U+a^{-x}V)$, the semidirect product of the additive prime field by the cyclic group of order $p-1$. The group is abelian precisely when $a=1$; $a$ need not be a generator of the multiplicative field group.