Automorphism of a root system Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-11-05
An automorphism of a root system is an orthogonal transformation of mapping onto itself. The Weyl group is a subgroup of this automorphism group; additional automorphisms can act nontrivially on a Dynkin diagram while preserving a root basis.
BN-pair Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-11-05
A BN-pair in a group consists of subgroups such that , is normal in , and has distinguished involutory generators satisfying the Bruhat multiplication axioms. The quotient is its Weyl group.
Bruhat decomposition 2026-10-14
For a connected reductive algebraic group, a Borel subgroup , and a maximal torus , the Weyl group indexes the double cosets:
Cn Weyl group 2026-10-14
The Weyl group of the Cn root system is the signed symmetric group. A Weyl reflection in changes the sign of coordinate ; one in interchanges coordinates ; one in interchanges and negates both coordinates. These generate all independent sign changes and all permutations, giving order .
Commuting-scalar vacua of four-dimensional N=4 Yang-Mills theory Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
The scalar potential is a positive sum of squared commutators of the six adjoint scalar fields. It vanishes precisely when they commute. For a compact gauge group, simultaneous conjugation puts a commuting tuple in a Cartan subalgebra. Its arbitrary real coordinates are classical flat directions of a scalar potential, with residual identification by the Weyl group. For the simultaneous eigenvalue vectors also obey the tracelessness constraint. Generic values break the gauge group to its maximal torus.
D5 root system 2026-10-25
The root system consists of the forty roots , , in an orthonormal basis. One choice of simple roots is . The Dynkin diagram has a fork at node with ends and . Its Weyl group permutes coordinates and changes an even number of signs. The associated complex simple Lie algebra is . Its two half-spin representations have dimension , with highest weights .
Deligne-Lusztig variety 2026-10-14
For a connected reductive algebraic group and a Weyl group element , this locally closed subset of the flag variety consists of flags in relative position to their Frobenius image. For rational it is , using the twisted right action identity of the Lang map. Its dimension is the length of .
Extremal weight space Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a finite-dimensional irreducible highest-weight representation with highest weight , every weight in the Weyl group orbit is extremal and has weight multiplicity one.
Finite group of Lie type Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
A finite group of Lie type is obtained from rational points of a connected reductive algebraic group with a suitable Frobenius endomorphism of an algebraic group, often followed by central quotient or passage to a derived subgroup. Its complex representations combine finite-group character theory with the geometry of Borel subgroups, maximal algebraic tori, and the Weyl group.
The formal character of a weight module for a minuscule representation of highest weight is . The sum is over distinct points of the Weyl group orbit, so .
Group ring of a weight lattice Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
The group ring of a weight lattice consists of finite sums with integer coefficients, where . A finite-dimensional Lie algebra representation has formal character in this ring. The Weyl group acts by . The ambient ring need not consist of genuine characters; the representation ring of a semisimple Lie algebra of finite-dimensional modules for a complex semisimple Lie algebra identifies with the invariant subring .
// Target: semisimple-lie-algebra.bigb
Harish-Chandra isomorphism 2026-10-31
For a finite-dimensional complex semisimple Lie algebra with Cartan subalgebra , the shifted Harish-Chandra map identifies the centre of the universal enveloping algebra with the Weyl group-invariant polynomial functions on . To normalize the shift, let have highest weight , where is the Weyl vector. A central element acts by a scalar , and is the displayed algebra isomorphism. The Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem gives polynomial dependence on by projecting onto its pure Cartan component and evaluating at . The associated central characters agree exactly when their shifted parameters lie in the same Weyl orbit. Without incorporating the shift into the parameter, the invariance is expressed using the dot action .
Inversion set of a Weyl-group element Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Its cardinality is the Coxeter length; this root-sign definition should not be silently identified with an unspecified permutation inversion convention.
Kostant multiplicity formula 2026-10-14
Multiply the Weyl character formula by the generating series of the Kostant partition function. In each numerator summand, the coefficient of occurs when . Summing those coefficients with the Weyl group signs proves the displayed weight multiplicity formula. Although need not itself be an integral group weight, is in the root lattice, so each partition-function argument is an integral weight.
Longest Weyl-group element Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
The longest element of a finite Weyl group is the element sending all positive roots of a root system to negative roots. It is the longest element of a finite Coxeter group. For the G2 root system it is : its twelve roots form two hexagons, and the dihedral reflection group of a root system contains the rotation through . It determines the highest weight of a dual representation.
Long root 2026-10-05
In an irreducible root system with two root lengths, a long root has the larger length with respect to a Weyl group invariant inner product.
Minuscule representation Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-11-05
A finite-dimensional irreducible representation of a complex semisimple Lie algebra is minuscule if its weights form one Weyl group orbit. Every weight multiplicity is then one, because multiplicities are invariant under the Weyl group and the highest weight has multiplicity one.
By dominant root-lattice highest weights have zero weight, a minuscule weight in the root lattice has zero in its Weyl group orbit. Since every element of the Weyl group is invertible, the highest weight must itself be zero. Thus equality of the weight lattice and root lattice rules out every nontrivial minuscule representation without requiring a classification of root systems.
Past exam of the groups and representations course of the University of Oxford 2018 4 b Solution 2026-10-25
In the convention of a, the fundamental weights areFor a weight in this orthonormal coordinate system, its Dynkin labels areThese labels, rather than the orthonormal coordinates, are used below and in the projection in c.
The highest weight is . Successive subtraction of the simple roots gives the complete stringThe two consecutive short-root steps are allowed because has coroot pairing two with . The weight system of this seven-dimensional vector representation is thereforeAll seven weight multiplicities are one, including the zero weight.
The highest weight is . The Weyl group of the B3 root system acts by signed coordinate permutations. Its orbit is the eight cube vertices , with independent . Starting from , lowering by , then , and then either or generates the middle branches; further lowering reaches all remaining sign choices. Thus the eight-dimensional spin representation hasThe stipulated unit weight multiplicities give dimensions seven and eight by counting these lists.
Past exam of the groups and representations course of the University of Oxford 2023 4 b Solution 2026-10-25
For the D5 root system, take an orthonormal basis and simple roots for , together with . The Dynkin diagram has single bonds , , , , with the fork at node . Thus its Cartan matrix isThe fundamental weight has Dynkin labels . Its pairing with every positive coroot , , is zero or one. Hence its half-spin representation is a minuscule representation, so its weight system is a single Weyl group orbit with multiplicity one. The Weyl group of the D5 root system permutes coordinates and changes an even number of signs. Consequently its complete weight system isThere are such weights. Their Dynkin labels are , explicitlyHere the Lie algebra is , or its compact real form when discussing compact groups. Globally the half-spin representation is a representation of , and does not descend to ; the question only specifies the Lie algebra.