Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 1 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the traceless diagonal Cartan subalgebra of the special linear Lie algebra . Write , so . The standard coordinate vectors are weight vectors of weights , and the tensor product of Lie algebra representations has basisThe weight of this basis vector is . There are two possibilities:The first has basis , with the wedge ordered if necessary. In the second, the tensor's first factor can be any one of the three indicated coordinate vectors. No two different listed coefficient patterns restrict to the same functional on the traceless diagonal Cartan subalgebra: their difference would have to be a multiple of , but its coefficient sum is zero. All unlisted weight spaces are zero. As a check,For , the distinct-index weight is zero and has multiplicity three.
To determine the irreducible summands, take the upper triangular raising operators. The vector is killed by every such operator and has highest weight . The exterior product mapis a Lie algebra representation homomorphism. It has an equivariant right inverseIndeed . The vector is a highest-weight vector of weight .
The Weyl complete reducibility theorem and highest-weight representation theory show that generates an irreducible summand in . To check that it exhausts this kernel, use the Weyl dimension formula with the partition :This equals . The exterior-power Lie algebra representation is irreducible, with highest weight for , and is the one-dimensional trivial representation for . Therefore the tensor product of the standard representation with its exterior square givesEach summand occurs once; their dimensions are and .