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For $V={\mathbb{C}}^n$, $n\ge 3$, the tensor product of Lie algebra representations for the special linear Lie algebra splits as displayed. The exterior product map $v\otimes (u\wedge w)\mapsto v\wedge u\wedge w$ has an equivariant right inverse obtained by dividing its three-term alternating insertion by three. Its kernel is the Schur functor of shape $(2,1)$, with highest weight ${\omega }_1+{\omega }_2$ and dimension $n(n^2-1)/3$. The other summand has highest weight ${\omega }_3$ for $n\ge 4$ and is trivial for $n=3$.

The weight space of $2{\epsilon }_i+{\epsilon }_j$ has dimension one when $i\ne j$. The weight space of ${\epsilon }_i+{\epsilon }_j+{\epsilon }_k$ has dimension three for distinct indices. Restricting these functionals to the traceless diagonal Cartan subalgebra creates no additional coincidences; for $n=3$ the latter weight is zero.

A weight basis of a Lie algebra representation is a basis consisting of weight vectors for a chosen Cartan subalgebra. When the Cartan action is diagonalizable, choose a basis separately in every weight space and combine them. This makes weight multiplicities directly visible and gives diagonal matrices for Cartan elements.

For a representation on which a commuting torus or Cartan action is semisimple, the weight decomposition is the direct sum of simultaneous weight spaces. A finite-dimensional representation of a compact torus can be made unitary by Haar measure averaging; its commuting unitary matrices are simultaneously diagonalizable. Each diagonal character is an integral weight of a representation. The decomposition makes tensor and exterior-power weights additive. For nonsemisimple actions, simultaneous generalized eigenspaces give a generalized weight decomposition instead.

The multiplicity of a weight $\mu$ is the dimension of its weight space.

Thus it is a dimension attached to a Weight and its weight space.

A weight of a representation is a functional $\mu$ whose weight space is nonzero.

A weight of a representation is a simultaneous eigenvalue functional for a commuting Cartan subalgebra. In general algebra representations it can be expressed as a one-dimensional character of the acting commutative algebra. A weight vector is an eigenvector carrying that functional; a weight space is the corresponding eigenspace, and weight multiplicity is its dimension.

A weight-space decomposition expresses a Lie algebra representation as a direct sum of simultaneous eigenspaces for a Cartan subalgebra. Each summand is the weight space for its weight. In complex finite-dimensional representations of a semisimple Lie algebra, the simple coroots act as commuting diagonalizable operators, giving this decomposition.

In the symmetric power ${\mathrm{Sym}}^m{\mathbb{C}}^n$ of the defining unitary group representation, diagonal torus weights are indexed by nonnegative integer tuples summing to $m$, with one monomial per weight space. Torus averaging extracts a monomial from any nonzero invariant complex subspace. The complexified Lie algebra acts by $E_{ij}=x_i{\partial }_{x_j}$ on the symmetric algebra. Whenever $a_j>0$, the displayed action moves one unit of degree from $j$ to $i$ with nonzero coefficient. Finite transfers connect every degree-$m$ monomial, so the subspace is the entire representation. The case $m=0$ is the one-dimensional trivial representation. This proof needs neither the Weyl character formula nor the Weyl dimension formula.