lie groups of type G_2

7/29/2019 lie groups of type G_2

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Can. J. Math., Vol. XXXV, No. 5, 1983, pp. 776-806

ALTERNATING 3-FORMS AND EXCEPTIONALSIMPLE LIE GROUPS OF TYPE G2.

CARL HERZ

Preface. It is now customary to give concrete descriptions of theexceptional simple Lie groups of type G^ as groups of automorphisms ofthe Cayley algebras. There is, however, a more elementary description. LetW be a complex 7-dimensional vector space. Among the alternating3-forms on W there is a connected dense open subset ^(W) of "maximal"forms. If \p F( W) for W = C R V, but in the real domain

there are two cases. The case where ^ is "maximal" gives rise to a real formG^(ty) of G(ty) which is compact! Then there is an invariant positive-definite quadratic form


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LIE GROUPS OF TYPE G: 777

where

SW, % ) = HS-\ S~l

; S"1

-), Sq{; ) = qiS-\ S~1

-).

In Section 1 we consider some generalities about groups of the form

G(q>, \P) = {S G Aut C ( ^ ) l SxP = ^ Sq> = q>}.

These are necessarily groups of automorphisms of quadratic algebras. Forbackground material use [8]. The only thing in Section 1 which is vital forthe sequel is formula (1.23).

The main ideas of this paper occur in Section 2 where we show that thegroup Go(i//) = Ge{^) of linear transformations of V ~ R7 leaving amaximal 3-form \p invariant is the compact group of type G2. Section 3treats the complex case and Section 4 the non-compact, doubly connected,connected real simple Lie group GY(\p) of type G2. Theorems (2.9) and (4.9)classify the "generic" 3-forms on R7. Theorem (3.10) describes the"maximal" 3-forms on C7. The symmetric spaces are described concretelyin Theorems (2.14) and (4.5).

In Section 5 we give very concrete descriptions of the boundaries andparabolic subgroups of G 7^). We shall return to this subject later. One ofour principal objects was to obtain convenient matrix descriptions of these

objects with a view to analytic applications. There is some historicalinterest in the results since Cartan's first work [1] presents the Lie algebragy(^) as infinitesimal transformations of the minimal boundaries Ba and

Bp. In Section 6 we establish the global forms of some local statementsabout G2 in Cartan's thesis [2].

This work arose from conversations with my student, Maurice Chayet,and many of the results come from discussions with him. He deserves notonly my thanks but also a substantial amount of credit. We hope to obtainsimilar concrete descriptions for other exceptional simple groups. Aneffort has been made here to avoid explicit use of the Cayley product

wherever possible. In a few places, e.g. the proof of Theorem (2.13) I havenot succeeded. Unfortunately, while brute force calculations for G2 aremanageable, they get out of hand for the other exceptional groups.

Notational conventions. If Fis a vector space ENDR(F) denotes the ringof R-linear transformations of V; similarly AUTR(F) is a group, etc. Ifo isan involution of Vthen Va denotes the fixed subspace of a; for a group Gcontained in AUT(F), Ga is the centralizer of o in G. When anon-degenerate quadratic form


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778 CARL HERZ


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LIE GROUPS OF TYPE G2 779

Here ANTIc(W,


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r(xy) = r(yx) and r((xy)z) = r(x(yz)).

The existence of the positive-definite adjoint only serves to give theexistence of an hermitean complex conjugation which stabilizes i//.

(1.7) Definition. For a vector product (W,


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If u ^ 0 then Lu = 0 and tr LUL* > 0. This gives

(1.11) PROPOSITION. For a vector product structure (W,


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This shows that every semi-simple Lie algebra is the algebra ofderivations of some ALG(W,


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where L(W) {Lu: u e W}. Moreover, g(


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784 CARL HERZ

where R is homogeneous of degree m 1 and


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The basic identity (2.1) gives a2b2c2 = , w)-in variant subspace which implies

dim G0(^, w) ^ dim 0( 2) X 0(4) - 7,

a contradiction. The conclusion is that

M= -


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(2.8) \LU, Lv] + 2LuXv - 3(wv# - vu# ) = 0

where [A, B] = AB BA. This enables us to prove

(2.9) THEOREM. Put 3(F) for the 35-dimensional vector space of realalternating 3-forms on the 1 -dimensional real vector space V. The maximal

forms constitute a subset ^(V) U ty(V) which is a single orbit ofAUTR(V) for the induced action on 3(F). The subset ^(V) is open andconnected. Given a positive-definite quadratic form


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A = (cos 2a)J for some a e Rwhere

The addition equations yield

B = (sin 2a) J = C, Z) = - (cos 2a) /.

Thus M = /t(a)MVJR-1(a) where

TW x /cos a/ si na/ \ ._ / / 0\R ( a ) = I sin a/ cos a/J< M ' = l o - J '

Without loss of generality one may suppose that Mv is the restriction of Lvto W. Extending R(a) orthogonally as the identity on W1- we have

L; = R(a)LvR~\a), Lu = R(a)LuR-\a).

Hence, if we replace \p'by R~\a)\p' we have \p, \p' e ^(V,


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(2.13) THEOREM. For each P e TQty) the map S H> SP is adiffeomorphism of GQ(^) onto T${$). The subgroup o /AUT (FQ) mappingTM) to itself is {I}XGM\

Proof Since dim G0(\p) 14 it follows from (2.7) that G0(yp) acts

transitively on the 6-sphere [u
, X P2) X P3 .
Similar arguments give

S(Pl X P3) = eP\ X P3 and ,S(P2 X P3) = P2 X P3.

Thus det S = c3

, so S G GOW0 if det S > 0.Consider the Grassmann manifold GRASS(4, F0) of 4-planes through

the origin in F0. Endowed with the metric induced by a positive-definitequadratic form


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(2.14) THEOREM. Given a maximal 3-form \p on VQ put ^o(\p) for thesubset o/GRASS(4, VQ) constituted by the ^-isotropic 4-planes TT, i.e.,

\p(u, v, w) = 0 for all u, v, w G TT.

Then 20(^) is a regularly imbedded ^-dimensional, simply-connected,compact submanifold of GRASS(4, V0). If GRASS(4, VQ) is given the

Riemannian structure induced by ) is GQ(\P), and the subgroup Go WO leavingTT = VQ a G 2QW) fixed is canonically isomorphic with AUT + (F 0 , where 5" is the unique element of GQW) such that

SP = (TPh TP2, TP3).

This is a monomorphism for if TPk = Pk, k = 1, 2, 3, for 3-orthonormalvectors in a 4-dimensional orthogonal space and T is a rotation thenT = I. The subgroup of GQW) leaving 77 G 2Q W) fixed is clearly the cen-tralizer GQW) of o where TT VQ. The action of GW) on the vectorspace VQ given by restriction of the action on VQ is a homomorphism

G W ) ^ A U T + ( K 0 % ) .


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We have constructed an inverse above; then the restriction map is acanonical isomorphism. The rest is routine.

See [6] for material on symmetric spaces and matters used here and insection 4.

3. Complex Cayley products. Let Wbe a complex 7-dimensional vectorspace. We say that a complex alternating 3-form vp on W is maximal if

(2 .2) i fAifA^ v = 6


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G](^, u) = {S e G^): Su = u),

H = A U T f ( ^ ,


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v X w = AUTf(C/0 ^ 5L(3, C).

Since dimcGiO//, w) ^ 8 we conclude that G\(\p, u) ~ SX(3, C). It follows,since dimcG\(\p) i? 14 that the orbit GiO//)w is a submanifold of {t/ e W:


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(3.10) THEOREM. Put l3(W)for the 35-dimensional vector space over Cof complex alternating 3-forms on the 1 -dimensional complex vector space

W. The maximal forms constitute a connected dense open subset ty(W) which

is a single orbit of AUTC(W) for the induced action on Q3(W). If \p, i// e

*(W) and G(\p) = G(\p') then y = c\p, c e C \ {0}. For each ^ e (W)there exists a complex conjugation 6 which is hermitean for a unique bilinear

form


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For \p G ^(W) dimension-counting shows that every element of Qi(W)can be written in the form d(Y)\p for some Y. A 3-form in ^(W) is fixedunder the action of G(\p) if and only if it is annihilated by all derivativesd(X) with X G Q(XP). Since

d(X)d(Y)^ = 3( [X, Y] W for X G ( ^ ) ,

it follows that d(Y)\p is fixed if and only if Y normalizes g(^) in the Liealgebra END (W). This can only occur when Y G CJ + g(i//). Thus theonly elements of 23(W) left fixed by G(^) are of the form c\p, c G C.

Finally, we record

(3.11) THEOREM. For \p a complex maximal 3-form, the Killing form ofthe real Lie algebra Q(\p) is

KILL(X Y) = 4 Re tr X Y.

4. Split Cayley products. Let \p be a real alternating 3-form on a7-dimensional real vector space V. Then the identity (2.2) holds with


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l j , A 2 , A3e C with Xi + 2 + A3 = 0 we get an element H(X\, A2, A3) e

g(i/>) defined by

//w = 0, HVJ = XjVj, Hwj = XjWj

in the notation of the proof of (3.8). These elements form a Cartansubalgebra rj of g(^). If Xh A2, A3

G R then //(Ab A2, A3) e gy(i//). Hence,

) = C OR!)7 with )Y diagonalizable over R; this proves that Qy(\p) is anormal real form of $(\p). In view of (3.6), G7^) = G{(t//) and ad is amonomorphism of Gx (1//). Moreover, for X e= qty),

ad exp X = exp ad Jf,

from which it follows that there is a monomorphism of INT(g y(^)) intoGy(\p). The isomorphism ofGy(\p) and INT(gy(^)) follows from the fact thatGy(^) is connected. This is not hard to prove directly, but it is also aconsequence of the fact that AUT(gy(^)), the group of all R-Lie algebraautomorphisms of gy(ip), is connected. A classical proof in the spirit ofCartan [4] is given below (4.8).

Reinterpretation of Theorem (3.7) and Proposition (2.7) give

(4.2) PROPOSITION. Ifu AUTR([ /b $) ~ SX(3, R).If 0 then Lu is a complex structure for u and the hermitean formon u

=


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G^OJ/) -> AUT+(K~a , v) ~ SO(4).

Proof. The element 6 = yo G A U T R ( W ) is an hermitean complex

conjugation for (W,


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Let a be the p-orthogonal involution such that m = V~a and IT-1 = V\wesee that a is an automorphism of the vector product structure. Therefore o

is a Cartan involution in the sense of (4.3). On the other hand, since a eG7^), X H-> aXa is a Lie algebra involution of g7(^). From (3.11) we havefor the Killing form

KILL(X, 0X0) = 4 tr XaXa = - 4 tr XX*

where X* is the transposed of X with respect to the positive-definitequadratic form y(\p). Since all Cartan involutions of anon-compact, real, simple Lie algebra are conjugate under the adjoint

group, it follows that (4.3) describes all Cartan involutions of a>y(\p). Therest of the theorem is a matter of identifying the symmetric space of a Liealgebra with the Cartan involutions; see [7] for the Riemannian structures(one uses the fact that the restriction of the Killing form of ANT1(F, )). F r t n e full group ofisometries see (4.8) below.

It is useful to write the isomorphism of Proposition (4.4) explicitly.

(4.6) PROPOSITION. The inverse of the restriction isomorphism

G^'ff0//)-> AUT + (F~ a , v)of Proposition (4.4) is

D

AUT + (F~ a , G^(xP) whereR(S)u = Su ifu e V~'R(S)v = Se X S(e X v) if v e V,

e being any element of V~a such that


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which is an 8-dimensional irreducible representation.

(4.8) COROLLARY. AUT(g7(ifO) = INT(gy0//)).

Proof. Each class of AUT/INT is represented by an automorphismleaving gY,a(v/0 and gy,~a(i//) invariant. Let T be such an automorphism andsuppose it is the outer automorphism class of g7,0f(^). Then r correspondsto the automorphism r(S) = TST~] of AUT + ( F " a ,


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ir\(Bp) ~ Z2.

(5.3) Remark. Bp is defined independently of the split Cayley productin V. It is also a boundary for the group AUT0(K,


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(5.10) P(p) = {S G (?W): SVk(j>) c Vk(p): k = 2, 5}.

For eac/j Cartan involution a, *7ie maximal compact subgroup G1'0^)operates transitively on Ba and Ba.

Again the proof is contained below.The maximal boundary occurs next.

(5.11) Notation. The differentiable manifold B is the manifold ofordered pairs b = {Up) wherep is a 2-dimensional ^-isotropic subspace ofV and / is a 1-dimensional subspace with lap.

(5.12) Remark. B has a 4-group covering space B+ whose points areb+ = (/+,/? + ) determined by the respective oriented subspaces. The spaceB+ is doubly connected, and

77](B) = quaternion group.

(5.13) Remark. The pairs (/,/?) of ^-isotropic subspaces of F with / c/?, dim / = 1, dim p = 2, constitute an 8-dimensional boundary of thegroup AUT0(F, ).

There is a very concrete description of B+

(and hence of 5).(5.15) THEOREM. Let o be a Cartan involution of Gy(\^). Put W = C

0 R K tfftd /ef 6 be the complex conjugation 0 = yo. Put Te($) for the Zornmanifold, see (2.12), associated with the maximal 3 form \p on W. Define

K(o) = {P G T0W): oP = -P).

Then for each P e K(o) the map S H* SP is a diffeomorphism ofG1'0^) withK(o), and there exists a G^^^-equivariant diffeomorphism B+ > K(a).

Proof. Fix the Cartan involution a. Given b+ = (/+,/? + )


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Then P = (Ph P2, ^3) ^ W0 and Ph P2, P3 is an orthonormal triad. Since

oP = -P and o


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Dh(h) is completely determined as a derivation of the vector product(V,


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The first three associated with ut() and the last three with no(/).

(5.21) THEOREM. Given p e Ba the corresponding maximal parabolicsubgroup is the semi-direct product

P(p) = AUT(p) X Exp(n(p))

where n(p) is the 5-dimensional Heisenberg Lie algebra composed of the

elements

D(u, v), u G. p \ v e p

with centre made up of those elements with u e p and the Lie bracket givenby

[D(u, v), D(u\ v')] = (4/3)v(u, u')D(y, v').

The epimorphism P(p) > AUT(/?) is the restriction map while the action onp/p is given by an epimorphism A\JT(p) A\JT{p/p, ( / ) AUT(K3I/)/K,(/))

is an epimorphism, and for S e P(l), v ^ I we have

Sv = (det p(S))v.

(5.23) COROLLARY. If v e F \ { 0 } J


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6. Historical remarks. In the late 19th century, the theory of Lie groupsis essentially the theory of Lie algebras, and the theorems about groups areproved for local Lie groups. The first presentation of the complex simple

Lie algebra of type Gi, &(ip) in our notation, were given by Engel [5] andCartan [1] in 1893. A fuller description can be found on pp. 146-151 ofCartan\s thesis [2]. With suitable interpretations these results all haveglobal versions.

The quadric Bp defined by (5.1) has tangent bundle T(Bp) with acanonical identification

Ti(Bp)^ K6(/)/K,(/),

and the restriction of the quadratic form


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Proof. Given p +


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The group SO(4) is identified with Qx X Qx modulo the centre which isgenerated by (1, 1). Denote by Ka and Kp the respective images inSO(4). Both have unique coset representatives of the form

zb (JC, j ) , j c g 1j = fl + bj + ck with a2 + b2 + c2 = 1.

Thus #f t and 5^ have coincident sections in Gy,a(\p) ^ SO (4). Moreover

the covering transformations over Ba and Bp are diffeomorphic. Insummary, we have

(6.4) THEOREM. B is a regular submanifold ofBa X Bp in such a way thatthe projections B > Ba, B Bp give circle bundles. There are smooth

a bsections Ba B and Bp > B such that a(Ba) = b(Bp).

I take this theorem to be a global interpretation of the statement at thetop of page 151 in [2].

Added in proof. Much of the essential content of Theorem 3.10 waspreviously found by J. A. Schouten, in Klassifizierung der alter nier endenGrssen dritten Grades in 1 Dimenionen, Rendiconti del Circolo Matemati-co di Palermo 55 (1931), 137-156.

REFERENCES

1. E. Cartan, Sur la structure des groupes simples finis et continus, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris J16

(1893), p. 784-786 = Oeuvres compltes II (Gauthier-Villars, Paris 1952), 99-101.2. Sur la structure des groupes de transformations finis et continus, Thesis ( 1894) =Oeuvres compltes II, 137-287.

3. Les groupes rels simples, finis et continus, Ann. Ecole Norm. Sup. Paris 31 (1914),263-355 = Oeuvres compltes II, 399-491.

4. Sur certaines formes riemanniennes remarquables des geometries groupe fondamental simple, Ann. Ecole Norm. Sup. Paris 44 (1927), 345-467 = Oeuvres compltes 12,867-988.

5. F. Engel, Sur un groupe simple quatorze paramtres, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 116 (1893),786-788.

6. S. Helgason, Differential geometry, Lie groups, and symmetric spaces (Academic Press, NewYork, 1978).

7. C. Herz, Symmetric spaces, (to appear).8. R. D. Schafer, An introduction to nonassociative algebras (Academic Press, New York,

1966).9. M. Zorn, The automorphisms of Cayley's non-associative algebra, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.

U.S.A. 21 (1935), 355-358.

McGill University,

Montreal, Quebec

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