In mathematics, particularly in the area of abstract algebra known as group theory, a characteristic subgroup is a subgroup that is mapped to itself by every automorphism of the parent group. Because every conjugation map is an inner automorphism, every characteristic subgroup is normal; though the converse is not guaranteed. Examples of characteristic subgroups include the commutator subgroup and the center of a group. A subgroup H of a group G is called a characteristic subgroup if for every automorphism φ of G, one has φ(H) ≤ H; then write H char G. It would be equivalent to require the stronger condition φ(H) = H for every automorphism φ of G, because φ−1(H) ≤ H implies the reverse inclusion H ≤ φ(H). Given H char G, every automorphism of G induces an automorphism of the quotient group G/H, which yields a homomorphism Aut(G) → Aut(G/H). If G has a unique subgroup H of a given index, then H is characteristic in G. Normal subgroup A subgroup of H that is invariant under all inner automorphisms is called normal; also, an invariant subgroup. ∀φ ∈ Inn(G): φ[H] ≤ H Since Inn(G) ⊆ Aut(G) and a characteristic subgroup is invariant under all automorphisms, every characteristic subgroup is normal. However, not every normal subgroup is characteristic. Here are several examples: Let H be a nontrivial group, and let G be the direct product, H × H. Then the subgroups, {1} × H and H × {1, are both normal, but neither is characteristic. In particular, neither of these subgroups is invariant under the automorphism, (x, y) → (y, x), that switches the two factors. For a concrete example of this, let V be the Klein four-group (which is isomorphic to the direct product, ). Since this group is abelian, every subgroup is normal; but every permutation of the 3 non-identity elements is an automorphism of V, so the 3 subgroups of order 2 are not characteristic. Here V = {e, a, b, ab} . Consider H = {e, a and consider the automorphism, T(e) = e, T(a) = b, T(b) = a, T(ab) = ab; then T(H) is not contained in H.

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Orthogonal group
In mathematics, the orthogonal group in dimension , denoted , is the group of distance-preserving transformations of a Euclidean space of dimension that preserve a fixed point, where the group operation is given by composing transformations. The orthogonal group is sometimes called the general orthogonal group, by analogy with the general linear group. Equivalently, it is the group of orthogonal matrices, where the group operation is given by matrix multiplication (an orthogonal matrix is a real matrix whose inverse equals its transpose).
Normal subgroup
In abstract algebra, a normal subgroup (also known as an invariant subgroup or self-conjugate subgroup) is a subgroup that is invariant under conjugation by members of the group of which it is a part. In other words, a subgroup of the group is normal in if and only if for all and The usual notation for this relation is Normal subgroups are important because they (and only they) can be used to construct quotient groups of the given group.
Commutator subgroup
In mathematics, more specifically in abstract algebra, the commutator subgroup or derived subgroup of a group is the subgroup generated by all the commutators of the group. The commutator subgroup is important because it is the smallest normal subgroup such that the quotient group of the original group by this subgroup is abelian. In other words, is abelian if and only if contains the commutator subgroup of . So in some sense it provides a measure of how far the group is from being abelian; the larger the commutator subgroup is, the "less abelian" the group is.
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