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Concept
Covering group
Summary
In mathematics, a covering group of a topological group H is a covering space G of H such that G is a topological group and the covering map p : G → H is a continuous group homomorphism. The map p is called the covering homomorphism. A frequently occurring case is a double covering group, a topological double cover in which H has index 2 in G; examples include the spin groups, pin groups, and metaplectic groups.
Roughly explained, saying that for example the metaplectic group Mp2n is a double cover of the symplectic group Sp2n means that there are always two elements in the metaplectic group representing one element in the symplectic group.
Let G be a covering group of H. The kernel K of the covering homomorphism is just the fiber over the identity in H and is a discrete normal subgroup of G. The kernel K is closed in G if and only if G is Hausdorff (and if and only if H is Hausdorff). Going in the other direction, if G is any topological group and K is a discrete normal subgroup of G then the quotient map p : G → G/K is a covering homomorphism.
If G is connected then K, being a discrete normal subgroup, necessarily lies in the center of G and is therefore abelian. In this case, the center of H = G/K is given by
As with all covering spaces, the fundamental group of G injects into the fundamental group of H. Since the fundamental group of a topological group is always abelian, every covering group is a normal covering space. In particular, if G is path-connected then the quotient group is isomorphic to K. The group K acts simply transitively on the fibers (which are just left cosets) by right multiplication. The group G is then a principal K-bundle over H.
If G is a covering group of H then the groups G and H are locally isomorphic. Moreover, given any two connected locally isomorphic groups H1 and H2, there exists a topological group G with discrete normal subgroups K1 and K2 such that H1 is isomorphic to G/K1 and H2 is isomorphic to G/K2.
Let H be a topological group and let G be a covering space of H.
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