Paper 4, Section II, I

Representation Theory
Part II, 2011

Define the groups SU(2)\mathrm{SU}(2) and SO(3)\mathrm{SO}(3).

Show that G=SU(2)G=\mathrm{SU}(2) acts on the vector space of 2×22 \times 2 complex matrices of the form

V={A=(abca)M2(C):A+At=0}V=\left\{A=\left(\begin{array}{cc} a & b \\ c & -a \end{array}\right) \in \mathrm{M}_{2}(\mathbb{C}): A+\overline{A^{t}}=0\right\}

by conjugation. Denote the corresponding representation of SU(2)\mathrm{SU}(2) on VV by ρ\rho.

Prove the following assertions about this action:

(i) The subspace VV is isomorphic to R3\mathbb{R}^{3}.

(ii) The pairing (A,B)tr(AB)(A, B) \mapsto-\operatorname{tr}(A B) defines a positive definite non-degenerate SU(2)\mathrm{SU}(2) invariant bilinear form.

(iii) The representation ρ\rho maps GG into SO(3)\mathrm{SO}(3). [You may assume that for any compact group HH, and any nNn \in \mathbb{N}, there is a continuous group homomorphism HO(n)H \rightarrow \mathrm{O}(n) if and only if HH has an nn-dimensional representation over R\mathbb{R}.]

Write down an orthonormal basis for VV and use it to show that ρ\rho is surjective with kernel {±I}\{\pm I\}.

Use the isomorphism SO(3)G/{±I}\mathrm{SO}(3) \cong G /\{\pm I\} to write down a list of irreducible representations of SO(3)\mathrm{SO}(3) in terms of irreducibles for SU(2)\mathrm{SU}(2). [Detailed explanations are not required.]