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Concept
Heisenberg group
Summary
In mathematics, the Heisenberg group , named after Werner Heisenberg, is the group of 3×3 upper triangular matrices of the form
under the operation of matrix multiplication. Elements a, b and c can be taken from any commutative ring with identity, often taken to be the ring of real numbers (resulting in the "continuous Heisenberg group") or the ring of integers (resulting in the "discrete Heisenberg group").
The continuous Heisenberg group arises in the description of one-dimensional quantum mechanical systems, especially in the context of the Stone–von Neumann theorem. More generally, one can consider Heisenberg groups associated to n-dimensional systems, and most generally, to any symplectic vector space.
In the three-dimensional case, the product of two Heisenberg matrices is given by:
As one can see from the term math|ab, the group is non-abelian.
The neutral element of the Heisenberg group is the identity matrix, and inverses are given by
The group is a subgroup of the 2-dimensional affine group Aff(2): acting on corresponds to the affine transform .
There are several prominent examples of the three-dimensional case.
If a, b, c, are real numbers (in the ring R) then one has the continuous Heisenberg group H3(R).
It is a nilpotent real Lie group of dimension 3.
In addition to the representation as real 3×3 matrices, the continuous Heisenberg group also has several different representations in terms of function spaces. By Stone–von Neumann theorem, there is, up to isomorphism, a unique irreducible unitary representation of H in which its centre acts by a given nontrivial character. This representation has several important realizations, or models. In the Schrödinger model, the Heisenberg group acts on the space of square integrable functions. In the theta representation, it acts on the space of holomorphic functions on the upper half-plane; it is so named for its connection with the theta functions.
If a, b, c, are integers (in the ring Z) then one has the discrete Heisenberg group H3(Z). It is a non-abelian nilpotent group.
Official source
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