Representation theory of finite groupsThe representation theory of groups is a part of mathematics which examines how groups act on given structures. Here the focus is in particular on operations of groups on vector spaces. Nevertheless, groups acting on other groups or on sets are also considered. For more details, please refer to the section on permutation representations. Other than a few marked exceptions, only finite groups will be considered in this article. We will also restrict ourselves to vector spaces over fields of characteristic zero.
Fundamental representationIn representation theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, a fundamental representation is an irreducible finite-dimensional representation of a semisimple Lie group or Lie algebra whose highest weight is a fundamental weight. For example, the defining module of a classical Lie group is a fundamental representation. Any finite-dimensional irreducible representation of a semisimple Lie group or Lie algebra can be constructed from the fundamental representations by a procedure due to Élie Cartan.
Compact Lie algebraIn the mathematical field of Lie theory, there are two definitions of a compact Lie algebra. Extrinsically and topologically, a compact Lie algebra is the Lie algebra of a compact Lie group; this definition includes tori. Intrinsically and algebraically, a compact Lie algebra is a real Lie algebra whose Killing form is negative definite; this definition is more restrictive and excludes tori,. A compact Lie algebra can be seen as the smallest real form of a corresponding complex Lie algebra, namely the complexification.
Simple Lie groupIn mathematics, a simple Lie group is a connected non-abelian Lie group G which does not have nontrivial connected normal subgroups. The list of simple Lie groups can be used to read off the list of simple Lie algebras and Riemannian symmetric spaces. Together with the commutative Lie group of the real numbers, , and that of the unit-magnitude complex numbers, U(1) (the unit circle), simple Lie groups give the atomic "blocks" that make up all (finite-dimensional) connected Lie groups via the operation of group extension.
Real form (Lie theory)In mathematics, the notion of a real form relates objects defined over the field of real and complex numbers. A real Lie algebra g0 is called a real form of a complex Lie algebra g if g is the complexification of g0: The notion of a real form can also be defined for complex Lie groups. Real forms of complex semisimple Lie groups and Lie algebras have been completely classified by Élie Cartan. Using the Lie correspondence between Lie groups and Lie algebras, the notion of a real form can be defined for Lie groups.
Module (mathematics)In mathematics, a module is a generalization of the notion of vector space in which the field of scalars is replaced by a ring. The concept of module generalizes also the notion of abelian group, since the abelian groups are exactly the modules over the ring of integers. Like a vector space, a module is an additive abelian group, and scalar multiplication is distributive over the operation of addition between elements of the ring or module and is compatible with the ring multiplication.
Affine Lie algebraIn mathematics, an affine Lie algebra is an infinite-dimensional Lie algebra that is constructed in a canonical fashion out of a finite-dimensional simple Lie algebra. Given an affine Lie algebra, one can also form the associated affine Kac-Moody algebra, as described below. From a purely mathematical point of view, affine Lie algebras are interesting because their representation theory, like representation theory of finite-dimensional semisimple Lie algebras, is much better understood than that of general Kac–Moody algebras.
Krull dimensionIn commutative algebra, the Krull dimension of a commutative ring R, named after Wolfgang Krull, is the supremum of the lengths of all chains of prime ideals. The Krull dimension need not be finite even for a Noetherian ring. More generally the Krull dimension can be defined for modules over possibly non-commutative rings as the deviation of the poset of submodules. The Krull dimension was introduced to provide an algebraic definition of the dimension of an algebraic variety: the dimension of the affine variety defined by an ideal I in a polynomial ring R is the Krull dimension of R/I.
Change of ringsIn algebra, a change of rings is an operation of changing a coefficient ring to another. Given a ring homomorphism , there are three ways to change the coefficient ring of a module; namely, for a right R-module M and a right S-module N, one can form the induced module, formed by extension of scalars, the coinduced module, formed by co-extension of scalars, and formed by restriction of scalars. They are related as adjoint functors: and This is related to Shapiro's lemma.
Compact groupIn mathematics, a compact (topological) group is a topological group whose topology realizes it as a compact topological space (when an element of the group is operated on, the result is also within the group). Compact groups are a natural generalization of finite groups with the discrete topology and have properties that carry over in significant fashion. Compact groups have a well-understood theory, in relation to group actions and representation theory. In the following we will assume all groups are Hausdorff spaces.
