What is a group of symmetries?

Objects with symmetries

How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Understanding symmetries and their

consequences

Zhu Chengbo

Department of Mathematics
National University of Singapore

February, 2006

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Outline

1 What is a group of symmetries?

2 Objects with symmetries

3 How to understand a given symmetry group

4 One of the things which concern me

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

What is a group of symmetries?

Example 1: finite group of symmetries

r 2k π : rotation by 2knπ degrees, k = 0, 1, 2, ..., n − 1.

n
s: reflection (along x-axis).
Group of symmetries of the regular n-gon:

Dn = {r 2k π , sr 2k π | 0 ≤ k ≤ n − 1}.
n n

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Example 2: continuous group of symmetries

Let n → ∞ in Example 1:

Group of symmetries of the circle:

O(2) = distance preserving linear transformations of R2 .

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Characterizing properties:
e (identity transformation)
Two symmetries can be composed (operated one after
another) to obtain another symmetry: x ◦ y
A symmetry has an inverse which is also a symmetry: x −1
Symmetry compositions are “associative":
(x ◦ y ) ◦ z = x ◦ (y ◦ z)

finite groups ≈ symmetries of finite objects

continuous groups = Lie groups

≈ symmetries of continuous objects

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

More examples:
(A) In Rn : the group of linear transformations preserving the
distance
x12 + · · · + xn2 ,
denoted by O(n). This is also the group of symmetries of the
(n − 1)-dimensional sphere in Rn :
S n−1 = {x ∈ Rn : x12 + · · · + xn2 = 1}

More generally: let p + q = n, group of linear transformations

preserving the “pseudo distance"
x12 + · · · + xp2 − xp+1
2
− · · · − xn2 ,
denoted by O(p, q).
Zhu Chengbo Symmetries
 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

(B) In R2 : the group of linear transformations preserving area

form (xy 0 − yx 0 ).
  
a b
SL(2, R) = |a, b, c, d ∈ R, ad − bc = 1
c d
More generally:

R2n = R 2
· · ⊕ R2}
| ⊕ ·{z
n

with the sum of area forms on R2 .

Group of linear transformations preserving this sum of area
forms, denoted by Sp(2n, R).

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

O(p, q) and Sp(2n, R) are my favorite groups!

(classical groups)

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Objects with symmetries

X possesses a certain symmetry G

means that for each g ∈ G, there is an invertible transformation

ρg : X

and various ρg ’s compose just as they do in the group G.

Mathematical notation:
GyX
We say
G acts on X .
Thus rotation group T acts on the circle and O(3) acts on the
two dimensional sphere.
Zhu Chengbo Symmetries
 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

More examples:
(i) SL(2, R) acts on the upper half plane by fractional linear
transformations:

 
az + b a b
g◦z = , g=
cz + d c d

(ii) SL(2, R) acts on two dimensional unit disk and on the circle
(the boundary of the disk).

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

iii) In general there are lots of (closed) subgroups H of G:

G y G/H
(Homogeneous spaces for G)
(i) and (ii) are particular examples of homogeneous spaces for
SL(2, R).

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

(iv) Take G = GL(n, R) (the group of n × n invertible real

matrices). For H = O(n),

GL(n, R)/O(n) = equivalent classes of

positive definite symmetric matrices

For H = Bn (the group of invertible upper triangular matrices),

GL(n, R)/Bn = Flag variety

Upshot: There are lots of exciting spaces with all kinds of

continuous symmetries!

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

How to understand a given symmetry group

Basic idea: You can tell a lot about the real nature of G by
knowing what possible places G can appear (as a group of
transformations), namely through its actions.
Out of all actions, linear actions (by invertible linear
transformations) are by far the simplest.
All actions can be converted in some sense to linear
actions by the following scheme:

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

If
G y X,
let
C(X ) = space of functions on X .
(think C(X ) as the full collection of observables on X )
Then G acts on C(X ) by:

(g · F )(x) = F (g −1 · x), g ∈ G.

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

representations = linear actions

Big advantages:
Representations can be superimposed (direct sum).
Representations can multiplied (tensor product).
Elements in G are represented by invertible linear
transformations and so can be analyzed in great detail.
The family of invertible linear transformations must behave
(according to the symmetry law of G), thus greatly limiting
their possibilities.

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Take T = {eiθ }, the circle group. For each integer k ,

 
iθ cos k θ sin k θ
e 7→
− sin k θ cos k θ

is a representation of the circle group by 2 × 2 invertible real

matrices.
If you like complex numbers,

eiθ 7→ eik θ .

Call this (1-d) representation χk .

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Any representation ρ of T on a vector space V is in a

suitable sense a direct sum of χk with multiplicities:
X
ρ= mk χk ,
k

where mk are non-negative integers. Consequently

for any vector v ∈ V ,
X
v= vk , ρθ (vk ) = eik θ vk .
k

(vk is a simultaneous eigenvector for ρθ ).

All representations of the circle group thus enjoy “Fourier
Series" expansion. For functions on the circle:
X
C(T ) = χk .
k

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Remarks:
Linear transformations having simultaneous eigenspace
decomposition commute with each other.
One therefore should not expect such such simultaneous
eigenspace decompositions for groups which are not
“commutative".

Example: G = SO(3), the group of rotations in R3 . It has a

natural representation on R3 .
Claim: apart from the zero space and R3 , there are no other
subspaces (1-d or 2-d) which are preserved by all rotations.

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Appropriate analog of simultaneous eigenstates:

irreducible representations

For each non-negative integer j, there is a unique

irreducible representation πj of SO(3) with dimension
2j + 1.
(j is called the spin)
They exhaust all irreducible representations of SO(3).
(if you like, elementary particles with SO(3) symmetry)
(Recall) SO(3) y S 2 :
X
C(S 2 ) = πj .
j

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Example: G = SL(2, R). It is not commutative, and worse it is

not compact. This means there are directions in SL(2, R) which
can go to infinity:
 
a 0
, a → ∞.
0 a−1
Irreducible unitary (think “physically relevant") representations
of SL(2, R) are either
the trivial one dimensional representation, or are
infinite-dimensional!

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Where are they?

(A) In space of functions on R:

 
−(1+νi) ax + b a b
(g · F )(x) = |cx + d| F( ), g −1 = .
cx + d c d

(B) In certain space of holomorphic functions on the upper half

plane:
 
az + b a b
(g · F )(z) = (cz + d)−k F ( ), g −1 = .
cz + d c d

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Fundamental tasks:
Find all possible irreducible representations of a given G
(done by Langlands)
Find all possible irreducible unitary representations of a
given G (only done for some Lie groups of low rank, like
SL(2, R))
For all naturally occurring representations, carry out the
harmonic synthesis

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

One of the things which concern me

All familiar
X = Mm,n (R).
Fix p, q such that p + q = m. Then

O(p, q) y Mm,n (R) (by matrix multiplication from left), and so

O(p, q) y C(Mm,n (R)).

Observation: The function space has a far larger symmetry
than the action of O(p, q).

Hidden Symmetries!
(by certain action of Sp(2n, R))

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Now look for possible irreducible representations of O(p, q) and

Sp(2n, R) which can be obtained as an image (think “shadow")
of C(Mm,n (R)):
C(Mm,n (R)) 7→ π ⊗ π 0 .
(Howe): There is a 1-1 correspondence of such representations of
O(p, q) and Sp(2n, R)!

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

Now the game began:

What is the nature of this pairing of representations?

Related questions:
Can one produce many interesting representations
(unknown by previous methods) through this formalism?
What can you do with them (applications)?

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries

 What is a group of symmetries?
Objects with symmetries
How to understand a given symmetry group
One of the things which concern me

My talk ends

Thank you!

Zhu Chengbo Symmetries