Gauge Theories Flashcards
A group G is a set of elements endowed with composition law * that has properties:
i) CLOSURE (the product of any two elements of the group is also an element of the group)
ii) ASSOCIATIVITY (the composition law is associative)
iii) EXISTENCE OF IDENTITY (there is an identity element e that, when applied to element a, returns a)
iv) EXISTENCE OF INVERSE (for each element a, there is an inverse element a^-1, the product of these two is the identity element e).
*the IDENTITY and INVERSEs are unique.
What is an Abelian group?
An abelian group has a composition law that is commutative (i.e: a * b = b * a). {for all elements a and b in G}
Why is (all the real numbers, multiplication) not a group?
There is no inverse element for 0 (at least not a unique one).
What does the discrete group S_n refer to?
What is the order? Is it abelian?
The possible permutations of n objects.
{order n!, non-abelian}
What does the discrete group Z_n refer to?
What is the order? Is it abelian?
(Integers mod n, addition modulo n)
{order n, abelian}
What does the discrete group C_n refer to?
What is the order? Is it abelian?
The cyclic group of order n. {so a^n = e}
Isomorphic to Z_n : abelian.
What is a proper subgroup H of group G?
What is the symbol denoting this?
H contains only elements that are also elements of G.
H does not only contain the identity element.
H is not identical to G.
H c G
What is the “left coset” of a subgroup H of G, for element g of G?
What about the “right coset”?
left coset: gH
right coset: Hg
What is Lagrange’s Theorem?
How might we go about proving this?
For any two (left) cosets of H: g_1 H and g_2 H :
either these cosets are identical, or their intersection is the null element.
Proof by contradiction, assume that both conclusions of the theorem are not true. Propose g_3 which is in the intersection of the two cosets. We can show that g_2 is in the first coset, and so the cosets are identical.
*check notes
What is the symbol for “there exists”?
Backwards capital E.
What is the coset decomposition of a proper subgroup H of G?
What about the coset space G/H?
Coset decomposition basically says that G = the union of left cosets of H with elements g of G. In general, not all elements g will have to be used, the number of elements (nu) required to make the coset decomposition is the “index” of G/H.
G/H is the set of cosets required for a coset decomposition of G in H.
What is a group homomorphism?
i.e: what does it mean for group A to be homomorphic to group B?
All elements a in A are mapped each to a single element b of B. f(a) = b
f(a1*a2) = f(a1) $ f(a2) {where * is the composition law of A and $ of B}
f(A) is a subgroup of B in general, i.e: some elements b in B will not have a counterpart in A.
What is a group isomorphism?
i.e: what does it mean for groups A and B to be isomorphic?
What symbol is used to denote this?
Basically a 1:1 mapping, f(A) = B.
Homomorphism with all elements matched.
Symbol is equals sign with ~ on top.
What is a group endomorphism?
What about automorphism?
Endomorphism means that group A is homomorphic with itself under some operation f(A).
Automorphism means that a group A is isomorphic with itself under some operation f(A).
What does the label “General (G)” mean for a continuous group?
Determinant is not equal to 0.
What does the label “Linear (L)” mean for a continuous group?
Representable by NxN matrices.
What does the label “Special (S)” mean for a continuous group?
Determinant is equal to 1.
What does the label “Orthogonal (O)” mean for a continuous group?
Matrices (in matrix representation of the group) are orthogonal:
Transpose = inverse
What does the label “Unitary (U)” mean for a continuous group?
Matrices (in matrix representation of the group) are unitary:
Hermitian conjugate = inverse
What is the significance of the # independent real parameters of a group?
= the # of group generators
= the # of real group parameters.
Prove that the number of independent parameters of O(N, R) is N(N-1)/2.
- check notes
-start off with N^2 parameters for real NxN matrix.
-Apply orthogonality condition, use index notation, make sure not to double count the constraints.
How many independent real parameters does GL(N, C) have?
What about SL(N, C)?
GL(N, C) has 2N^2 independent real parameters.
SL(N, C) has 2(N^2 - 1) independent real parameters.
How many independent real parameters does O(N, R) have?
What about SO(N, R)?
both have N(N-1)/2
*i guess the additional requirement of determinant = 0 doesn’t add anything as we already require the matrices to be hermitian?
What is an example of a SO(2) process?
Passive rotation in 2D through some angle about an axis z.
*Check notes for relevant rotation matrix.
What is the formula for the limit representation of e^x?
lim{N->inf} [ 1 + x/N ]^N = e^x
What is the general formula for the construction of Lie Generators?
How is an element of a group formed from its generator?
*check wall notes
*check wall notes
What is an example of an SO(3) process?
Passive rotations in 3D through some angle about a given vector.
*Check notes for matrix representation.
What are the generators of the SO(3) group? (fund. rep.)
Give the general group element.
(X_k)_ij = -i levi-cevita_ijk
General group element e^-i phi (n dot X)
Generators of SO(N) groups are labelled X.
What is an example of a SU(2) process?
Passive (abstract) rotation of a complex 2D vector through some angle about some unit vector.
The angle (group parameter) can take values between 0 and 4pi. *analogy with fermion spin.
What are the generators of SU(2)? (fund. rep.)
Therefore, what commutation relation do they satisfy?
Pauli matrices / 2
Commutator = i levi-cevita T
(*check notes)
Generators of SU(N) groups are labelled T.
Why might we expect connection between SO(3) and SU(2) groups?
What is a faithful isomorphism between these groups?
Both have 3 generators (3 group parameters, 3 independent real parameters).
Their generators satisfy identical commutation relations.
SO(3) is isomorphic to SO(2) / Z_2
(i.e: the coset space of SO(2) with Z_2, which is simply the 2x2 identity and its negative)
*note that in this coset rep. theta goes from 0 to 2pi only, and is therefore correspondent to phi.
What are the requirements for the set of generators of a group to satisfy the Lie Algebra?
Must be closed under commutation relation. The constants are defined to be i * the “structure constants”.
Must satisfy the Jacobi Identity (always true for matrix representable generators).
What is the “fundamental representation” of a Lie Algebra?
Matrices d(F)xd(F) where d(F) is the minimal number of dimensions required to realise the Lie Algebra for continuous group G.
What are the generators of the U(1) group? (fund. rep.)
m where m is in Z.
How is the adjoint representation of a Lie Algebra defined?
*Check wall notes, related to the structure constants. (i.e: no adjoint representation for abelian groups)
What is the metric of the manifold defined by the adjoint representation of a Lie Algebra?
The cartan metric, equal to the trace of two adjoint rep.s
*check wall notes
How is a real Lie Algebra defined?
All structure constants are real.
How is a compact group defined?
What are some properties?
Positive definite cartan metric with real Lie Algebra.
Compact groups have elements bounded from below and above. The cartan metric can be diagonalised and normalised to the dirac delta, i.e: contra- and co-variant representations of generators are equal.
What are Casimir operators?
(in some representation of a Lie Algebra) Matrix representations that commute with all generators of the Lie Algebra.
*Check notes for denotion.
What is an example of a Casimir operator from QM?
Angular momentum squared commutes with all angular momentum operators.
What is the Casimir operator for a compact group?
Simply equal to the identity matrix (for the dimensionality of the rep.) * a “Casimir eigenvalue”.
Also equal to the sum over all squared generators.
*check wall notes
*known as Schur’s lemma
How is the normalisation of a certain rep. of generators defined? (compact group)
Tr(the product of two generators) = normalisation(in that rep.) * dirac delta
*check wall notes
How does the “successive operation” work?
(the composition law for the discrete group S (permutation group))
e.g: for S_3:
(1,3,2) means 1->3, 3->2, 2->1
What must be true of groups A and B for the coset space A/B to be valid?
B must be a proper subgroup of A.
How can we show that a the generators of a unitary group are hermitian?
Consider the representation of group elements in terms of generators.
We know that the group elements are unitary, applying this relation results in the generators being hermitian.
What is an abstract way to show that some space does not form a group?
To form a group, the generators of the space must form a Lie Algebra.
If the generators do not satisfy the two conditions for a Lie Algebra, the space does not form a group.
What does it mean for a matrix to be hermitian?
Equal to its hermitian conjugate.