A3.15

Symmetries and Groups in Physics
Part II, 2002

(i) Let D6D_{6} denote the symmetry group of rotations and reflections of a regular hexagon. The elements of D6D_{6} are given by {e,c,c2,c3,c4,c5,b,bc,bc2,bc3,bc4,bc5}\left\{e, c, c^{2}, c^{3}, c^{4}, c^{5}, b, b c, b c^{2}, b c^{3}, b c^{4}, b c^{5}\right\} with c6=b2=ec^{6}=b^{2}=e and cb=bc5c b=b c^{5}. The conjugacy classes of D6D_{6} are {e},{c,c5},{c2,c4},{c3},{b,bc2,bc4}\{e\},\left\{c, c^{5}\right\},\left\{c^{2}, c^{4}\right\},\left\{c^{3}\right\},\left\{b, b c^{2}, b c^{4}\right\} and {bc,bc3,bc5}\left\{b c, b c^{3}, b c^{5}\right\}.

Show that the character table of D6D_{6} is

\begin{tabular}{l|rrrrrr} D6D_{6} & ee & {c,c5}\left\{c, c^{5}\right\} & {c2,c4}\left\{c^{2}, c^{4}\right\} & {c3}\left\{c^{3}\right\} & {b,bc2,bc4}\left\{b, b c^{2}, b c^{4}\right\} & {bc,bc3,bc5}\left\{b c, b c^{3}, b c^{5}\right\} \ \hlineχ1\chi_{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 \ χ2\chi_{2} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1-1 & 1-1 \ χ3\chi_{3} & 1 & 1-1 & 1 & 1-1 & 1 & 1-1 \ χ4\chi_{4} & 1 & 1-1 & 1 & 1-1 & 1-1 & 1 \ χ5\chi_{5} & 2 & 1 & 1-1 & 2-2 & 0 & 0 \ χ6\chi_{6} & 2 & 1-1 & 1-1 & 2 & 0 & 0 \end{tabular}

(ii) Show that the character of an SO(3)S O(3) rotation with angle θ\theta in the 2l+12 l+1 dimensional irreducible representation of SO(3)S O(3) is given by

χl(θ)=1+2cosθ+2cos(2θ)++2cos((l1)θ)+2cos(lθ)\chi_{l}(\theta)=1+2 \cos \theta+2 \cos (2 \theta)+\ldots+2 \cos ((l-1) \theta)+2 \cos (l \theta)

For a hexagonal crystal of atoms find how the degeneracy of the D-wave orbital states (l=2)(l=2) in the atomic central potential is split by the crystal potential with D6D_{6} symmetry and give the new degeneracies.

By using the fact that D3D_{3} is isomorphic to D6/{e,c3}D_{6} /\left\{e, c^{3}\right\}, or otherwise, find the degeneracies of eigenstates if the hexagonal symmetry is broken to the subgroup D3D_{3} by a deformation. The introduction of a magnetic field further reduces the symmetry to C3C_{3}. What will the degeneracies of the energy eigenstates be now?