Generalized weight space of a Lie algebra representation Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
For a finite-dimensional complex Lie algebra representation of a nilpotent Lie algebra , a generalized weight space is the simultaneous generalized eigenspace displayed above, where is a linear functional. Every occurring vanishes on the derived algebra of . Ordinary weight vectors satisfy the same equations without the powers.
Highest-weight representation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A highest-weight representation is generated by a weight vector killed by every positive-root subspace.
Highest-weight vector Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A highest-weight vector is a nonzero weight vector annihilated by every positive-root raising operator. The module it generates is a highest-weight representation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 1 5 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a finite-dimensional Lie algebra representation , a weight of a representation relative to is a linear functional for which the simultaneous eigenspaceis nonzero. Its elements are weight vectors, and is the weight multiplicity. The set of weights is . For a complex semisimple Lie algebra, the Cartan action on a finite-dimensional module is simultaneously diagonalizable, giving . The set of weights and their multiplicities are distinct information: several basis vectors can occupy the same point of a weight diagram.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 21 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Using the printed convention that the projective points represent lines of binary quartics, the locus of GIT stable points isThe root at infinity is included. We determine stability by calculating every relevant algebraic one-parameter subgroup weight.
Use the natural action . Every nontrivial algebraic one-parameter subgroup of is conjugate to for some integer : its two integral weights of a representation sum to zero, and a basis of weight vectors can be rescaled to have determinant one. WriteIf , then is the multiplicity of a root at the projective point : in the local coordinate , the polynomial begins with a nonzero multiple of .
The Hilbert-Mumford criterion for projective stability, with (active weights), now givesBeing a GIT stable point requires this number to be strictly positive for every nontrivial subgroup. Conjugating the subgroup lets range over the entire projective line. Thus the root-multiplicity criterion for stable binary forms becomes at every point . A nonzero degree-four form over has four projective roots counted with multiplicity, so this means precisely four distinct roots. This is equivalently nonvanishing of its discriminant.
The boundary cases show why a weak inequality would give the wrong answer. A triple or quadruple root can be moved to , leaving only strictly positive weights; its affine representative tends to zero under that subgroup, so it is unstable. If all root multiplicities are at most two, all Hilbert-Mumford values are nonnegative and the point is a GIT semistable point. A double root gives a zero value for a suitable subgroup, so never represents a GIT stable point. More concretely, after putting that double root at one hasand . When there are three distinct roots, this limiting form, representing a GIT semistable point with two distinct roots, is outside the original group orbit, so that group orbit is not closed in the semistable locus. When there are two double roots, a change of coordinates gives , which has the positive-dimensional diagonal torus as stabilizer. Neither case represents a GIT stable point.
For a form with four distinct roots, the projective stabilizer is finite: it permutes the four roots, and a Möbius transformation fixing three distinct points is the identity. Thus its image in injects into the finite permutation group on the roots. The kernel of a group homomorphism for is , also finite. This agrees with the finite-stabilizer condition in geometric invariant theory. The weight calculation already supplies the required strict stability condition for every conjugate subgroup.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 1 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the standard sl2 triple , , . In the tensor product of Lie algebra representations, each operator acts on both factors. PutThese twelve vectors form a weight basis, and . Thus the bases of the weight spaces areThere are no other weights. The weight diagram shows their multiplicities, with the decomposition also displayed for comparison.
Weights and multiplicities of the cubic by quadratic sl2 tensor product and its irreducible summands
. Details. The raising operator acts bywith out-of-range terms omitted. At weights five, three and one its kernels are respectively spanned byAt weight one the kernel equations are and for . At weight minus one they are , , , which force zero; the maps on the two remaining negative-weight spaces are injective as well. Thus these three lines give all nonzero highest-weight vectors up to scalar, at their respective weights. A linear combination of different lines is killed by but is not a weight vector, so is not a highest-weight vector.
The lowering operator isIn particular,is an explicit basis for the submodule . Indeed , , , and the two vectors have weights . The analogous strings from have dimensions six and four. Their distinct irreducible highest weights and total dimension twelve give the sl2 tensor product of cubic and quadratic symmetric powers
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 52 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A highest-weight vector is a nonzero vector satisfying and ; its eigenvalue is the highest weight. Existence does not require the Lie algebra representation to be antihermitian. Since is a nonzero finite-dimensional complex vector space, has an eigenvector with some eigenvalue . The commutator with shows that each nonzero has eigenvalue . Infinitely many such vectors would have distinct eigenvalues and be linearly independent, which is impossible. The last nonzero vector in this raising chain is therefore a highest-weight vector .
Put . The ladder operator relations give . The raising coefficient follows by expanding the commutator of with a power of :The factor is essential: these ladder operators have , rather than the convention with . The same finite-dimensionality argument gives a last nonzero lowered vector , with . Applying to yieldsso . All are nonzero and have distinct eigenvalues. Their span is invariant under and therefore under the original three generators. Irreducibility of the Lie algebra representation makes this span equal to . HenceIn particular, the initial construction produces the largest eigenvalue of , since its full spectrum is now . This establishes the highest weight without assuming beforehand that all eigenvalues are real or that is diagonalizable.
For the additional antihermitian Lie algebra representation, the given definitions imply and . Thus distinct eigenvalues give orthogonal weight vectors. With , write . The adjoint relation and the raising coefficient giveMultiplying this recursion proves the normalized highest-weight lowering formula in the present normalization:Every factorial argument is an integer, even for half-integral . The displayed states have unit norm, mutually distinct eigenvalues, and span , so they form an orthonormal basis. Their phase convention also fixes the positive ladder amplitudeswith the endpoint actions interpreted as zero. These amplitudes will determine the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 52 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The SU(3) Lie algebra is the compact real algebra of traceless skew-Hermitian matrices; its complexification is , a special linear Lie algebra. In an antihermitian Lie algebra representation, the two commuting Cartan operators are Hermitian matrices, and the root operators satisfy . Thus the spectral theorem gives an orthogonal weight-space decompositionA weight diagram plots the pairs , recording the weight multiplicity at each position. One point need not represent only one state. The commutators with give the roots of a root systemThe raising operators move a nonzero weight vector by and the lowering operators move it by . These six root directions form the A2 root system. Each root and its negative generate an SU(2) representation ladder; in particular the pairs with Cartan operators and constrain the two simple-root strings.
Choose a linear functional positive on the three positive roots. A maximal weight for this ordering is killed by every raising operator. In an Irreducible Lie algebra representation it generates the entire representation by lowering, and its weight space has dimension one. The two SU(2) representation strings show that its Dynkin labels are nonnegative integers:Conversely, each such pair specifies exactly one finite-dimensional irreducible highest-weight representation. Write it as . The fundamental weights in these Cartesian coordinates are and , soThe dimension follows from the three positive-root factors in the Weyl dimension formula: , , and . The complex conjugate representation is , with every weight negated. The SU(3) highest-weight coordinates here use as Dynkin labels, not as the plotted Cartesian coordinates.
The weight diagram is invariant under the Weyl group, generated by reflections perpendicular to the two simple roots; its convex hull is the orbit polygon of the highest weight. For it is a point, the trivial representation. If exactly one of is zero, the polygon is an equilateral triangle, with opposite orientations for and . Its edge has root steps. If , it is a hexagon with alternating edge lengths root steps; it is regular precisely when . The diagram contains the lattice points in that polygon belonging to the coset root lattice. A point in a different weight lattice coset is not a weight merely because it lies inside the polygon.
The shell multiplicities in an SU(3) weight diagram can be stated geometrically. The outer boundary has weight multiplicity one. Removing it leaves the orbit polygon for on the same lattice coset, with every surviving multiplicity reduced by one. Repeating increases the actual weight multiplicity by one at each inward layer until the smaller label reaches zero. The remaining triangular region then has constant multiplicity ; when it is just the central point. A triangular weight diagram has multiplicity one everywhere. Thus , the adjoint representation of SU(3), has six root weights of multiplicity one and two independent zero-weight states; has an outer shell of multiplicity one and an inner triangle of multiplicity two; has twelve outer states, six positions of multiplicity two, and a central position of multiplicity three. The total is . The dominant weight multiplicity formula for sl3 is an algebraic expression of the same rule.
For a tensor product of Lie algebra representations, the Cartan operators add. Consequently its tensor-product weight diagram has weights and multiplicitiesGeometrically, place a copy of the second weight diagram at every weight of the first, multiplying and adding coincident multiplicities. Because the representation is antihermitian, invariant subspaces have invariant orthogonal complements. To decompose the product, select a maximal remaining dominant weight, identify its irreducible highest-weight representation, subtract that representation's whole diagram with its weight multiplicities, and repeat. This highest-weight character subtraction must exhaust every weight, not merely the corners. Unlike the Clebsch-Gordan decomposition for SU2, an SU(3) product may contain repeated copies of an irreducible representation.
The two three-dimensional Fundamental representations of sl3 are and . In , the largest weight is , giving the six-dimensional triangle ; subtracting it leaves the reversed three-dimensional triangle . The first summand consists of symmetric tensors and the second of antisymmetric tensors. In , the weight sums give the six roots once and weight zero three times. Subtracting the octet, whose zero weight has multiplicity two, leaves a singlet. Hence the octet and singlet in a fundamental SU3 tensor product and the two-quark product areThe first dimensions are , and the second are . Next has highest weight , giving . Subtraction leaves one . Together with , this proves the tensor cube of the defining SU(3) representation:The decuplet is fully symmetric in the three factors, the singlet fully antisymmetric, and the two octets have mixed permutation symmetry.
For the quark model, the relevant approximate flavour symmetry rotates the three light quarks in the fundamental . The up quark, down quark, and strange quark basis states have the weight diagram of the defining SU(3) representation. In physical coordinates define isospin and flavor hypercharge . ThenThe last row follows from the Gell-Mann--Nishijima formula , in units of the positive elementary electric charge. The antiquarks transform in and have the negatives of these additive quantum numbers. Each quark has baryon number ; the strange quark has strangeness , while have . Thus , distinguishing flavor hypercharge from electroweak hypercharge. The Weyl group geometry is equilateral in ; using rescales the vertical coordinate.
A conventional meson has valence content , so its flavour symmetry gives a meson octet and a singlet. For the light pseudoscalar mesons, the octet contains the pions at with isospin , the kaons at , their antiparticles at , and the Eta octet state. The central weight multiplicity two is realized byThe orthogonal eta singlet state is . The eta and eta prime mesons are mixtures of , rather than exact octet and singlet mass eigenstates; this gives the pseudoscalar meson nonet. A different spin coupling of the same flavour product gives the vector mesons, again an octet and singlet, including the , , and neutral mixtures. The lowest orbital states have and respectively.
A conventional baryon has three valence quarks, so the tensor-cube decomposition supplies the flavour possibilities. The observed lowest baryon octet has spin and positive parity. Its isospin rows are : the nucleons , the three Sigma baryons, the Lambda baryon, and the two Xi baryons. The central states and have the same weight but different total isospin; this is the physical meaning of the octet's central multiplicity two. The spin-, positive-parity baryon decuplet is the triangle with rowsThe Delta baryons form its top row, and the Omega baryon is the bottom state. All ten weights have multiplicity one. Their electric charges follow directly from the Gell-Mann--Nishijima formula; for example has , so , and has , so .
Light pseudoscalar meson octet, spin-one-half baryon octet, and spin-three-halves baryon decuplet in isospin and flavour-hypercharge coordinates
. Details. The two algebraic octets do not mean that two independent ground-state octets must occur. A three-quark colour singlet has a completely antisymmetric colour wavefunction. For a symmetric spatial ground state, the Pauli exclusion principle therefore requires a symmetric combined spin-flavour wavefunction. The symmetric flavour decuplet pairs with symmetric spin ; mixed flavour octets pair with mixed spin in one symmetric combination. Equivalently, the symmetric spin-flavour SU6 representation hasThe three-quark flavour singlet is the antisymmetric combination. For a spatially symmetric ground state it would require an antisymmetric spin state of three spin- particles, but . The Pauli constraint on three-quark flavour multiplets thus excludes it from this ground-state sector; orbital excitation permits other multiplets.
Finally, this flavour symmetry is approximate: the unequal light-quark masses, especially the larger strange-quark mass, and electromagnetic interactions split masses within the multiplets and permit octet-singlet mixing. The weight diagrams classify flavour states, rather than asserting exact equality of their masses. Colour SU(3) is a separate gauge action on each flavour and supplies the colour-singlet constraint; it is not the approximate flavour action used in the eightfold way. The light conventional mesons organize into flavour octets and singlets, while the spatial ground-state three-quark baryons form one spin- octet and one spin- decuplet.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 23 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Here representations mean finite-dimensional rational representations of . Put . The irreducibles areThe invariant alternating form on identifies with , so these can equally be realized as binary forms of degree . With basis , the standard Lie algebra generators act asThe distinct torus weights and these nonzero lowering and raising coefficients show irreducibility: any nonzero invariant subspace contains a weight vector, and repeated applications of obtain the entire basis.
For exhaustion, choose a highest-weight vector of an irreducible representation, so , . The sl2 highest-weight lowering formula, obtained by induction from , is . If but , applying to the latter equality gives , hence . The vectors have distinct weights and span an invariant submodule, so irreducibility makes it the whole representation. After rescaling basis vectors it is . Complete reducibility from Question 2 now describes every representation as a finite direct sum of these symmetric powers. Their central element acts by .
The symbolic method for binary-form invariants works as follows. Write a degree- form as and introduce a formal letter . The formal power is converted to by the linear substitution . This is an umbral linear rule, not a claim that every form is an actual power of a linear form.
For a coefficient polynomial of degree , polarize it into copies of the form, represented by letters . Each letter must occur with degree . In characteristic zero, polarization and evaluation on equal forms recover the original coefficient polynomial. The basic invariant expressions in the letters are bracketsThey are invariant because . Invariant tensors on copies of a two-dimensional space are spanned by pairwise alternating contractions; equivalently, the invariant polynomials in the letters are generated by these brackets. One can see the tensor statement from the two-row Young-symmetrizer description of the determinant powers in tensor space. Their basic relations include and . Multiply brackets, ensure the required degree in each letter, symmetrize letter copies as needed, and apply the umbral substitutions. This gives all coefficient invariants, and also works for joint invariants of several forms.
For example, for , the expression becomes , the quadratic discriminant up to its conventional scalar. Contractions leaving variable indices unpaired give covariants. A useful systematic construction is the transvectant of binary forms:For forms of degrees , this is an equivariant form of degree . The corresponding tensor decomposition isIts character identity follows by multiplying the weight sums; complete reducibility then gives the decomposition, and alternating contractions supply the displayed maps onto its summands.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 3 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A highest-weight vector is a nonzero weight vector such that for every positive root . Its weight of a representation is a highest weight. For an irreducible finite-dimensional Lie algebra representation, this is the unique highest weight of a representation, and generates the module; a reducible module can have several highest weights of different summands.
Here is an existence argument for every nonzero finite-dimensional module . For each simple root, its root operators and coroot form an sl2 subalgebra associated with a root. The classification of finite-dimensional sl2 representations shows that this coroot acts diagonalizably with integral eigenvalues. These commuting coroots span the Cartan subalgebra, so simultaneous diagonalization gives a finite weight-space decompositionChoose a real linear functional on the weight lattice span that is positive on every simple root, hence on every positive root, and choose a weight maximizing among the finitely many weights of . If and , thenso belongs to if nonzero. For positive , that would contradict maximality because . Thus every nonzero is a highest-weight vector. Every nonzero finite-dimensional module therefore has a highest weight. The zero module has no nonzero vector or weight, so it is the vacuous exception to the literal unrestricted wording.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 3 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For the defining representation, the standard coordinate vectors are weight vectors of weights , respectively. Thus the weight diagram has four axial points and the origin, each of multiplicity one.
For the Adjoint representation, the eight nonzero weights of a representation are the roots from part (ii), each of multiplicity one, with the displayed as basis. The zero weight space is the Cartan subalgebra, with basisThe Adjoint representation diagram therefore has the four axial points, four diagonal points, and the origin of multiplicity two. The multiplicities sum to ten, as they must.
Defining and adjoint so5 weight diagrams with multiplicities
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 45 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Start with a nonzero highest-weight vector and set . The sl2 highest-weight lowering formula follows inductively from the commutator relations:Indeed gives the weight formula, and turns the coefficient at step into at step . The nonzero have distinct eigenvalues, so are linearly independent. Finite dimensionality therefore forces a last nonzero vector . Applying to gives , hence . This also proves that no earlier vector can vanish. Thus the cyclic highest-weight representation generated by isIt is irreducible: spectral projections in select a weight vector from any nonzero invariant subspace, and its nonzero raising and lowering coefficients then generate the whole string. This gives the classification of finite-dimensional sl2 representations used for each root direction below.
For the SU(3) Lie algebra, the repeated-index relation is the trace constraint . The displayed generators are a basis of its complexification, not nine independent generators or three individually vanishing diagonal elements. Realize them by matrix units as ; the compact real algebra is obtained from anti-Hermitian combinations. Thenand , , , . Substituting into the given commutators givesThus both root pairs obey the required sl2 Lie algebra relations. More generally, their Cartan matrix isA weight vector with eigenvalues moves by under and by under . The third negative-root operator is and moves it by . In the required weight diagram coordinatesthese moves are , and respectively. Successive lowerings from a highest-weight vector, with linear dependencies removed, construct the following bases.
For Dynkin labels , use the defining action of SU(3) on . Its highest vector is ; lowering gives and . There are no further independent vectors. The weight diagram of the defining SU(3) representation, in the present rescaled coordinates, isand . Any invariant weight subspace raises to and lowers to all three vectors, proving irreducibility.
For , use the adjoint representation of SU(3) on traceless matrices, with acting by . The highest vector is : both and vanish, while . Lowering gives and . Further lowering produces and , then and , and finally . Consequently the basis is the six off-diagonal matrix units together with :The six nonzero weights have weight multiplicity one, and zero has multiplicity two. Thus . Its irreducibility follows also because an adjoint-invariant subspace is an ideal and is a simple Lie algebra.
For , take the symmetric cubic representation of SU(3), , realized by homogeneous degree-three polynomials. Hereso is a highest-weight vector with eigenvalues . For ,which is nonzero and constructs every monomial. These monomials form a basis and have distinct weights . If an invariant subspace is nonzero, joint spectral projections in select one monomial; repeated transfers its powers to , and repeated transfers all its powers to , reaching . Lowering then generates the whole basis, proving irreducibility without merely assuming the dimension formula. The plotted weights arewith multiplicity one at every point. Hence .
SU(3) weights in the three requested representations, with the two independent zero-weight octet states marked
. Details. For approximate flavor symmetry, identify with the up quark, down quark and strange quark. The defining representation is their flavour triplet. The baryon octet realizes and contains the spin- nucleons and the multiplets; its central double weight distinguishes and . The baryon decuplet realizes the symmetric flavour representation , containing the spin- multiplets. In standard isospin and flavor hypercharge normalization, and , so these plots use and . Three-quark spin and flavour combine subject to the Pauli constraint on three-quark flavour multiplets and the antisymmetric three-quark colour singlet. The adjoint flavour representation also describes a meson octet. A distinct, exact colour SU(3) gauge symmetry places quarks in its defining representation and gluons in its adjoint octet; colour and flavour here are different physical group actions.
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 .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 1 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose a positive system of a root system and the corresponding triangular decomposition of a Lie algebra . A primitive element of a Lie algebra representation of weight is a nonzero vector with for every and . Thus it is a highest-weight vector; the choice of positive roots is part of this definition. A highest-weight representation is generated by such a vector.
Let be the corresponding Borel subalgebra. Define its one-dimensional Lie algebra representation by the scalar on and zero on . This respects the Lie bracket, since . The induced Verma moduleis nonzero: the Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem identifies its underlying vector space with , and is a primitive element of weight . Its weight spaces are finite dimensional, its top weight space is the line , and all other weights are with and at least one positive coefficient.
A proper submodule cannot contain , because generates . More strongly it has no component of weight : any finite sum of distinct weight vectors can be projected onto its individual components by a polynomial in a generic element of . Therefore the sum of all proper submodules still misses the top weight line and is proper. It contains every proper submodule, so the irreducible quotient of a Verma moduleis irreducible and retains the nonzero primitive element . This constructs the requested representation for every . It is not asserted to be finite dimensional for arbitrary .
For the sl2 Lie algebra, use , and , with , , . The classification of finite-dimensional sl2 representations gives one irreducible for every integer . In a basis its action iswhere . These formulas satisfy the three Lie brackets. Any nonzero invariant subspace contains a weight vector by polynomial projection using ; repeated application of gives , and applications of then give the entire basis. Thus is irreducible.
Conversely, in any finite-dimensional irreducible module, start with an eigenvector of and apply until reaching a nonzero vector with . This process terminates because increases the eigenvalue by two and only finitely many eigenvalues occur. Write . The sl2 highest-weight lowering formula givesLet and , which again follows from the finite set of weights. Applying to the latter identity yields , so . The resulting distinct weight vectors span an invariant subspace, hence the entire irreducible module. Therefore and its primitive weight is , with ; its weights are .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 42 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A weight of a representation of is a joint eigenvalue of two commuting generators spanning a Cartan subalgebra. Equivalently it describes the character by which the diagonal maximal torus acts on a weight vector. Use the Hermitian generatorsTheir multiples by are in the SU(3) Lie algebra. A vector with weight acquires the phase under . The conventional generator is related by ; using instead just rescales the vertical weight coordinate.
In the defining group representation, the coordinate vectors are joint eigenvectors. The weight diagram of the defining SU(3) representation therefore hasComplex conjugation reverses all torus phases, so the weights of are , each with multiplicity one. The conjugation bar is essential: the tensor product here is .
Weights add in a tensor product of group representations. Thus the nine weights of this product are . There are three zero weights from , and the remaining six areTo turn this weight calculation into a direct-sum decomposition, identify the tensor product with by . The group acts by . This gives two invariant spaces,The scalar line has weight zero and is the trivial group representation . The traceless space has the six nonzero weights just computed, represented by the off-diagonal matrix units , and two zero weights, represented by traceless diagonal matrices. Its dimension is eight and it is the complex Adjoint representation . ThereforeThis proves the octet and singlet in a fundamental SU3 tensor product with the correct central weight multiplicities.
The singlet is irreducible because it is one-dimensional. For the octet, an invariant complex subspace of is stable under commutators with the complexified Lie algebra. Commuting Cartan generators project it into weight spaces. If it contains any nonzero root vector , commutation with produces ; further commutators produce the opposite root and all other matrix units, hence the whole traceless algebra. If it contains only a nonzero diagonal traceless matrix , two diagonal entries differ, so supplies a root vector and reduces to the preceding case. There is no nonzero proper invariant subspace. The octet is irreducible, not a sum of six one-dimensional weight spaces and two singlets: the nondiagonal generators connect those spaces.
In the quark model, take as the defining flavour triplet and their antiquarks as the conjugate triplet. A colour-singlet quark-antiquark state with relative orbital angular momentum and total spin has and parity . Thus this flavour decomposition classifies a pseudoscalar meson nonet: a meson octet and a singlet. The use of approximate flavor symmetry is important; the strange quark is heavier, so these states need not have equal masses.
In the diagram, is flavor hypercharge, not electroweak hypercharge. Mesons have baryon number zero, so equals their strangeness, and electric charge is . The outer six weight states areThe pions form an isospin triplet, completed at the centre by . The four kaons occupy the two hypercharge-one and two hypercharge-minus-one weights. In particular electrically neutral kaons are not at the centre of the weight diagram.
Pseudoscalar meson weights in flavour isospin and hypercharge, showing the two octet states and separate singlet at the centre
. Details. An orthonormal basis of the three central flavour combinations isThe Eta octet state is the second zero weight of the octet; the eta singlet state is the separate invariant scalar. Both have isospin zero, whereas the neutral pion has isospin one. All have , so the location of a weight alone does not determine either isospin or irreducible multiplet. Their neutral flavour-diagonal states have charge conjugation and hence .
The physical eta and eta prime mesons are mixtures of the octet and singlet combinations, conventionally described at this level byFlavour breaking and the singlet axial anomaly affect their masses and mixing. The neutral pion is much lighter, about , and decays predominantly to two photons. The eta has mass about and important two-photon and three-pion decay modes; the eta prime has mass about and important decays to . The singlet axial anomaly explains why the eta prime is not an additional light Goldstone boson merely because the flavour tensor product contains a singlet. The centre contains two octet directions and one singlet direction; physical eta mixing combines the latter two, leaving the isospin-one neutral pion separate to a good approximation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 2 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the sl2 Lie algebra relations , and . A highest-weight vector satisfies and , and . For , . Assuming the formula at , one getsThus the sl2 highest-weight lowering formula isIn particular a finite-dimensional Irreducible Lie algebra representation has highest weight and weight vectors , as in the classification of finite-dimensional sl2 representations.
Let be a finite-dimensional Irreducible Lie algebra representation of a complex semisimple Lie algebra, with highest weight . Write , taking it to be zero when is not a weight, and let be the half-sum of positive roots. The Killing form induces an inner product on the real span of weights. Freudenthal multiplicity formula statesThe sums are finite. For a weight , the coefficient on the left is positive: move into the dominant Weyl chamber, use that a weight is below in dominance order, and note that does not increase on moving back out of that chamber. The resulting recursion starts from .
Here is a proof using the allowed Casimir operator. Choose root vectors for positive and negative roots, normalized by , and let satisfy . Invariance of a bilinear form on a Lie algebra gives . If are dual bases of the Cartan subalgebra under , the Casimir operator isOn the weight space of , the first sum acts by . Replacing with givesDefine . The cyclic trace identity between adjacent weight spaces and the commutator relation yieldIterate upwards until the weight spaces vanish to obtain . Finally take the trace of the displayed restriction of . Its Casimir eigenvalue is , so subtracting proves the formula. This trace argument handles weight multiplicities greater than one without choosing a separate sl2 Lie algebra string through each vector.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 102 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the coroot normalization , with the pairing understood via the root system and its invariant inner product. A dominant integral weight, called a dominant weight here, is a functional such thatEquivalently, with , where the fundamental weights satisfy . If dominance and integrality are defined separately, dominance means the inequalities and membership in the weight lattice means integrality.
A highest-weight vector is a nonzero weight vector , so for all , annihilated by every positive root space:The last condition is equivalently annihilation by the raising operators for the simple roots.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 302 3 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Cartan-Weyl basis obeysFor a highest-weight vector , and . Successive nonzero lowerings give the weight basisFinite dimensionality requires the highest weight to be a nonnegative integer. The weights are , each with multiplicity one, so .





