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In group theory, a simple Lie group is a connected non-abelian Lie group ''G'' which does not have nontrivial connected normal subgroups. A simple Lie algebra is a non-abelian Lie algebra whose only ideals are 0 and itself (or equivalently, a Lie algebra of dimension 2 or more, whose only ideals are 0 and itself). A direct sum of simple Lie algebras is called a semisimple Lie algebra. An equivalent definition of a simple Lie group follows from the Lie correspondence: a connected Lie group is simple if its Lie algebra is simple. An important technical point is that a simple Lie group may contain ''discrete'' normal subgroups, hence being a simple Lie group is different from being simple as an abstract group. Simple Lie groups include many classical Lie groups, which provide a group-theoretic underpinning for spherical geometry, projective geometry and related geometries in the sense of Felix Klein's Erlangen programme. It emerged in the course of classification of simple Lie groups that there exist also several exceptional possibilities not corresponding to any familiar geometry. These ''exceptional groups'' account for many special examples and configurations in other branches of mathematics, as well as contemporary theoretical physics. While the notion of a simple Lie group is satisfying from the axiomatic perspective, in applications of Lie theory, such as the theory of Riemannian symmetric spaces, somewhat more general notions of semisimple and reductive Lie groups proved to be even more useful. In particular, every connected compact Lie group is reductive, and the study of representations of general reductive groups is a major branch of representation theory. ==Comments on the definition== Unfortunately there is no single standard definition of a simple Lie group. The definition given above is sometimes varied in the following ways: *Connectedness: Usually simple Lie groups are connected by definition. This excludes discrete simple groups (these are zero-dimensional Lie groups that are simple as abstract groups) as well as disconnected orthogonal groups. *Center: Usually simple Lie groups are allowed to have a discrete center; for example, SL(2, R) has a center of order 2, but is still counted as a simple Lie group. If the center is non-trivial (and not the whole group) then the simple Lie group is not simple as an abstract group. Some authors require that the center of a simple Lie group be finite (or trivial); the universal cover of SL(2, R) is an example of a simple Lie group with infinite center. *R: Usually the group R of real numbers under addition (and its quotient R/Z) are not counted as simple Lie groups, even though they are connected and have a Lie algebra with no proper non-zero ideals. Occasionally authors define simple Lie groups in such a way that R is simple, though this sometimes seems to be an accident caused by overlooking this case. *Matrix groups: Some authors restrict themselves to Lie groups that can be represented as groups of finite matrices. The metaplectic group is an example of a simple Lie group that cannot be represented in this way. *Complex Lie algebras: The definition of a simple Lie algebra is not stable under the ''extension of scalars''. The complexification of a complex simple Lie algebra, such as sl(''n'', C) is semisimple, but not simple. The most common definition is the one above: simple Lie groups have to be connected, they are allowed to have non-trivial centers (possibly infinite), they need not be representable by finite matrices, and they must be non-abelian. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Simple Lie group」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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