Spin Group - Quotient Groups

Quotient Groups

Quotient groups can be obtained from a spin group by quotienting out by a subgroup of the center, with the spin group then being a covering group of the resulting quotient, and both groups having the same Lie algebra.

Quotienting out by the entire center yields the minimal such group, the projective special orthogonal group, which is centerless, while quotienting out by {±1} yields the special orthogonal group – if the center equals {±1} (namely in odd dimension), these two quotient groups agree. If the spin group is simply connected (as Spin(n) is for ), then Spin is the maximal group in the sequence, and one has a sequence of three groups,

Spin(n) → SO(n) → PSO(n),

splitting by parity yields:

Spin(2n) → SO(2n) → PSO(2n),

Spin(2n+1) → SO(2n+1) = PSO(2n+1),

which are the three compact real forms (or two, if SO = PSO ) of the compact Lie algebra

The homotopy groups of the cover and the quotient are related by the long exact sequence of a fibration, with discrete fiber (the fiber being the kernel) – thus all homotopy groups for are equal, but and may differ.

For Spin(n) with Spin(n) is simply connected ( is trivial), so SO(n) is connected and has fundamental group while PSO(n) is connected and has fundamental group equal to the center of Spin(n).

In indefinite signature the covers and homotopy groups are more complicated – Spin(p, q) is not simply connected, and quotienting also affects connected components. The analysis is simpler if one considers the maximal (connected) compact and the component group of Spin(p, q).