Iwasawa Decomposition - Definition

Definition

  • G is a connected semisimple real Lie group.
  • is the Lie algebra of G
  • is the complexification of .
  • θ is a Cartan involution of
  • is the corresponding Cartan decomposition
  • is a maximal abelian subalgebra of
  • Σ is the set of restricted roots of, corresponding to eigenvalues of acting on .
  • Σ+ is a choice of positive roots of Σ
  • is a nilpotent Lie algebra given as the sum of the root spaces of Σ+
  • K, A, N, are the Lie subgroups of G generated by and .

Then the Iwasawa decomposition of is

and the Iwasawa decomposition of G is

The dimension of A (or equivalently of ) is called the real rank of G.

Iwasawa decompositions also hold for some disconnected semisimple groups G, where K becomes a (disconnected) maximal compact subgroup provided the center of G is finite.

The restricted root space decomposition is

where is the centralizer of in and is the root space. The number is called the multiplicity of .

Read more about this topic:  Iwasawa Decomposition

Famous quotes containing the word definition:

    The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.
    William James (1842–1910)

    It’s a rare parent who can see his or her child clearly and objectively. At a school board meeting I attended . . . the only definition of a gifted child on which everyone in the audience could agree was “mine.”
    Jane Adams (20th century)

    The very definition of the real becomes: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction.... The real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced. The hyperreal.
    Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)