Lecture Notes In Group Theory

17 maj 2007
Denition 1 (Group). A set a, b, . . . form a group ( if
1. There exists an composition law
a b = ab
that is associative, i.e.
(ab)c = a(bc).
2. The set is closed under this law, i.e.
ab = c (; a, b (.
3. There exists an element e ( with the property
ea = a a (
which we call the identity.
4. Every element a ( has an inverse, denoted a
1
( dened by
aa
1
= e.

Remark that the composition law does not need to be commutative, i.e.
ab ,= ba
in general. A group that do have a commutative composition law are called an Abe-
lian group. The denition for a continous group is the same, but we will not study
continous groups until later. It should also be noted that ab is a unique element in
(. We see this by looking at ab = ad, if this where true, we can use the composition
law and act with the inverse of a, a
1
from the left on both sides and we nd that
a
1
ab = eb = b = d = ed = a
1
ad.
Denition 2 (Subgroup). A subgroup H of a group ( is a subset that itself forms a group.

Two subgruops that also exists are e and ( itself, these are called the trivial subgroups.
Every other subgrup is called a proper subgroup.
Denition 3 (Order). The order of a group ( is the number of elements in (, denoted
g = ord (().
1

Groups of innite order can be both innetly countable or uncountable (including the
continous groups).
Example 1. Group of the triangle
The equilateral triangle have three mirror symmetries, mirror-planes through the midd-
le of a side and its opposite vetex, and three rotational symmetries, 0,
2
3
and
4
3
. These
symmetries form the group C
3v
.
If we consider the ammonia molecule (NH
3
), which looks like this triangle with hydro-
gen in its vertecies, and nitrogen elevated in the center. The ammonia molecule is however
not symmetric with rotation (when we ip the molecule over) because of the nitrogen.
So the group of the ammonia molecule is actually D
3
.
We can represent the rotational symmetries by
e(a, b, c) = (a, b, c) (0 - rotation)
c
3
(a, b, c) = (c, a, b) (
2
3
- rotation)
c
2
3
(a, b, c) = (b, c, a) (
4
3
- rotation).
And the morror symmetries by

a
(a, b, c) = (a, c, b)

b
(a, b, c) = (c, b, a)

c
(a, b, c) = (b, a, c).
This notation
a
is somewhat devious, it doesnt morror on the vertex a but rather on
the rst element of the sequence (i, j, k). It should also be kept in mind that the labe-
ling of the vertecies are an abstract labeling. If we did label the the vertecies we would
destroy the symmetries, since vertex a is dierent from vetex b etc. Also note ord (C
3v
) = 6.
To prove that C
3v
is a group, we will construct its Composition table, a table where
we have preformed all pair compositions.
e c
3
c
2
3

a

b

c
e e c
3
c
2
3

a

b

c
c
3
c
3
c
2
3
e
c
c
2
3
c
2
3
e c
3

a

a

b
e

b

b
e

c

c
e
2
Remark that every element of C
3v
is in every row and in every collumn (sodoku), that
proves that every element of C
3v
has an inverse, since the identity is in very row/collumn.
We also see that the group is non-Abelian.
We have two proper subgroups of C
3v
C
3
= e, c
3
, c
2
3
,
C
S
= e,
a

= e,
b

= e,
c
.

Just as we had in the example above, all groups have a composition table where all rows
and collumns possess each element.
Example 2. Integers
The integers Z under addition forms an Abelian innite descrete group.

Example 3. Rotations in two dimensions

Rotations in two dimensions forms an Abelian continous group, where the angle addi-
tion is addition under modulus 2. This group is called SO(2).

Example 4. Permutation of three identical particles

We have three positions labeled 1,2 and 3. We now represent the symmetry operations
as a sequence of numbers, e.g. (1, 2, 3). For example (1,2,3) means that particle in space
1 goes to 2, and the particle in 2 goes to 3 and the particle in 3 goes where there is space
left, that is 1. The permutaion of three identical particles has several symmetry operations
(1, 2, 3), (1, 3, 2)
(1, 2), (2, 3), (3, 1)
(1)
In a mathematical sence, this is exactly the same group as C
3v
(isomorphic to), but it is
called P
3
.

Denition 4 (Mapping of a group). If we can construct a map between two groups, from
( to H, we call it a
3
homomorphism if f(a)f(b) = f(ab), where we at the lefthand-side uses the composi-
tion law in H and the righthand-side uses the composition law in (. One might call
a homomorphism a mapping where the composition is kept. We say in this case
that ( is homomorphic to H, and denote it ( H.
isomorphism if it is a bijective (one-to-one) homomorphism. We then say that ( is
isomorphic to H, and denote it (

= H.

Generators of a group
Denition 5 (Generators). A groups generators is the smallest set of a group elements
whose succesive composition generated the whole group.

Example 5. G
6
Lets dene a group by introducing two generators p, q and the following multiplication
rules
p
3
= e, q
2
= e, (qp)
2
= e.
We then construct the group by looking at powers of the generators to begin with, i.e.
p, p
2
, q.
must be elements in the group, but no higher powers, since that gives identity. The last
multiplication rule indicates that qp also is an element of the group. We can then create
one more element, qp
2
through combinations of the already existing elements. So we have
the group
G
6
= e, p, p
2
, q, qp, qp
2

which is the whole group. This might be hard to see, for example why isnt pqp an element
of the group? This is since
pqpq = (pq)
2
= e pqp = q
1
= q since q
2
= e.
Remark here that
G
6

= C
3v
if we let p = c
3
and q =
i
.

We call a group G
n
cyclic if G
n
is dened by p
n
= e, where p is G
n
s only generator. In
this case we call n the order of the gerator which allways is the same as the order of the
group. Remark that G
3

= C
3
.
4
Example 6. Integers
Z
n
is a cyclic group, under addition, of order n, with p = 1 and p
2
= 1 + 1.

Denition 6 (Cosets). The left coset of a subgroup H of (, devides ( into disjoint subsets;
( =
ord G
_
i=1
a
i
H; a
i
(
where we have bH = H if b H (because of the suduko-rule).
The right coset is instead dened by
( =
ordG
_
i=1
Ha
i
; a
i
(.

The number of cosets is

n =
ord (
ord H
.
Example 7. Cosets of C
3v
Lets study C
3v
and its subgroup C
3
. The left coset representation of C
3v
is then
C
3v
= e, c
3
, c
2
3

a
,
b
,
c
.
Notice that the rst set is the subgroup C
3
and the other is a set generated by one of
the
i
C
3
unions. The right and the left coset of C
3v
with respect to C
3
are the same. If
we instead study C
3v
with respect to the subgroup C
S
we have the following left coset
representaion
C
3v
= e,
a
c
3
,
c
c
2
3
,
b
= eC
S
c
3
C
S
c
2
3
C
S
.
and the right coset is dierent
C
3v
= e,
a
c
3
,
b
c
2
3
,
c
.

All cosets have the same number of elements. In the above example we see that we had
three elements in every coset, with respect to C
3
and two elements in every coset with
respect to C
S
.
If the left and right coset are identical, then we say that H is a normal coset of (. A
group is called simple if it has no proper normal subgroups, and semi-simple if it has
no proper Abelian normal subgroups. So from our examples we know that C
3v
is neither
simple nor semi-simple, since it do have an Abelian subgroup.
5
Denition 7 (Factor group). The factor group of ( and H, denoted (/H, is a group
where the elements are the cosets.

Example 8. Factor group

C
3v
/C
3
= eC
3
,
a
C
3

= C
S
Even though the factor group is a group of sets, is can still be isomorphic to a group of
just elements, since the do satisfy the same properties
eC
3

a
C
3
= e
a
C
3
C
3
=
a
C
3
.

Combinations of groups
Denition 8 (Outer direct group). A group ( is called an outer direct group if it can be
written as
( = (
1
(
2
where the sets (
1
and (
2
has the following properties
(
1
( and (
2
( where (
1
(
2
= e.
a
i
(
1
and b
i
(
2
: a
i
b
j
= b
j
a
i
(.

The outer direct product is symmetric, i.e. ( = (

1
(
2
= (
2
(
1
. And because of the
second property of the subgroups must both be normal.
This could represent a object with both geometric symmetries, in (
1
and some more
abstract or internal symmetries, in (
2
, such as spin.
Example 9. Outer direct group
Consider the two groups
S
1
= e, i
C
2
= e, c
2

where the element i represents inversion, e.g. r r, mirroring in one point, and c
2
are
rotation by . We can then form the Outer direct group
( = S
1
C
2

= S
2
= e, c
2
, i,
with = ic
2
.
6

Denition 9 (Inner direct group). A group ( is called an inner direct group if it can be
written as
( = (
1
(
1

= (
1
with elements a
i
a
j
( when a
k
(
1
. Here what we mean by a
i
a
j
is that a
i
is in the
rst group (
1
and a
j
in the second.

This could represent a system of many particles that posesses the same symmetries.
Denition 10 (Semi-direct group). Let (
1
be normal to ( and (
2
not necessarily normal
to (. If these satises
(
1
(
2
= e,
a
i
(
1
, b
j
(
2
then a
i
b
j
(,
We call mathcalG a semi-direct group, and denote this by
( = (
1
(
2
.

Example 10. Semi-direct group

C
3v
= C
3
C
S
.

Denition 11 (Conjugate classes). If we for elements a, b, t ( can write

b = tat
1
we call b conjugate of a with respect to t. Let t be any element of (, then the set b
produced by this conjugation is called the class of a.

The conjugation of the elements a ( lead to disjoint classes.

Example 11. Classes of C
3v
C
3v
has three classes
K
1
= e, K
2
= c
3
, c
2
3
, K
3
=
a
,
b
,
c
.
7

The identity e allways form its own class, infact a class is never a group, except e.
The dimension of a class, i.e. the number of elements, r
a
= dimK
a
is always a devisor
of ord ( = g, and g =

a
r
a
. But the number of classes are not in general a devisor of the
order of the group.
A normal subgroup H of ( is a union of classes of (.
Example 12. We see that C
3
= K
1
K
2
, but we cannot write C
S
as a union of classes,
and it is therefore not normal to C
3v
.

Representations
Denition 12 (Representation). A representaion of a group ( is a homomorphic map of
the elements, a (, on to a set of linear operators D(a), acting in some vector space L.

What we will come to call the dimension of a representaion is just the dimesntion of the
vector space (or even Hilbertspace) upon where the operators act.
Denition 13 (Matrix representation). With a basis [ i ) spanning L, we can dene
the matrix representaion of a operator D(a) as
D
ij
(a) := i [ D(a) [ j ) .
This is the represetation we will encounter most in these lectures.

Denition 14 (Identical representations). Two representations, D

and D, are said to be

identical if they are connected by a non-singular transformation S of the basis
[ i

) = S[ i )
D

(a) = S
1
D(a)S; a (.

8
Note the recemblence with ordinary basis change in linear algebra.
Among all mutaual identical representations there is allways one representation that
is unitary, i.e. D
1
(a) = D

(a).
If we would take the trace of any representation of some element Tr D

(a) we see that

Tr D

(a) = Tr
_
S
1
D(a)S
_
= Tr
_
SS
1
D(a)
_
= Tr D(a).
This means that the trace is basis independent, so we can form some concept that is the
same for all identical representations.
Denition 15 (Character). The character of a representation is dened as the trace,
denoted
(a) = Tr D(a).

Let a and b be in the same class of some group (, i.e. a = tbt

1
with t (. Then by
studying the character of a and b in some representation we see that
(b) = (tat
1
) = Tr
_
D(t)D(a)D(t

1)
_
= Tr
_
D(t
1
)D(t)D(a)
_
= Tr (D(e)D(a)) = Tr D(a) = (a)
since the composition law of the elements of the groups should hold in the representation.
We see that for class elements the character is the same.
Denition 16 (Reducible representations). A representation is said to be reducible if the
Hilbertspace L posesses a non-trivial subspace L

L, which is mapped onto itself by all

operators D(a) where a (.

If a representation is not reducible we say it is irriducible.

In general L can be decomposed in a direct sum of invariant subspaces, i.e. closed
under action of its operators,
L =

L
()
where the representations are irreducible in each subspace L
()
D(() =

D
()
(().
9
So if we would have a representation D(() of the same dimension as the Hilbertspace
L we can by a non-singular transformation S transform D(() to D

(() where each element

can be written as
D

(a) =
_

_
D
(1)
(a) 0 . . . 0
0 D
(2)
(a)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. 0
0 . . . 0 D
(n)
(a)
_

_
where n dimL and all D
(i)
(a) irreducible. And all elements have the same form since
if it wouldnt, then for some D
(i)
(b) it wouldnt be in its irreducible form. More formally
we write this as
D(() =
inequiv

D
()
(()
where m

is called the multiplicity, and counts the number of identical representations.

Example 13. Triangular functions-representation of C
3v
Here we will use a Hilbertspace spanned by the functions f
1
(x), f
2
(x), f
3
(x), where
f
i
: R
2
R are dened by
f
i
(x) = e
(xx
i
)
2
where x
i
are the position of the ith corner of the triangle. The functions only dependent
on the distance from one of the corners x
i
to the position x. Since we have chosen a three
dimenstional Hilbertspace we should also obtain a three dimensional representation of C
3v
.
The action of D(a), a (, upon a function is dened as
D(a)f
i
(x) := f
i
(a
1
x)
where a
1
is taken as the faithful representaion.
If we let D(c
3
) act on, say, f
1
D(c
3
)f
1
(x) = f
1
(c
1
3
x) = f
1
(c
2
3
x)
10
Since the functions are only distance dependent, we see from the picture above that
f
1
(c
2
3
x) = f
2
(x)
which is easily generalized to
D(c
3
)f
i
(x) =
3

j=1
D
ji
(c
3
)f
j
(x).
This provides us with the matrix corresponding to D(c
3
)
D(c
3
) =
_
_
0 0 1
1 0 0
0 1 0
_
_
with zero trace, so (c
3
) = 0. The matrix can be read in an easy way. Let the collumns
represent the original function, i.e. rst collumn corresponds to the rst function, after
action with the operator is where the 1 enters. So we read the matrix as rst function goes
to the second, the second function goes to the third and the third where it is space left,
i.e. to the rst.
The opposite direction, c
2
3
is just the transpose of this matrix
D(c
2
3
) = D(c
3
)
T
=
_
_
0 1 0
0 0 1
1 0 0
_
_
which also has zero trace (c
2
3
) = 0, since they are in the same class.
11
From the picture above we can also nd the D(
1
) matrix. we see that f
1
f
1
, f
2
f
3
and f
3
f
2
so the matrix is
D(
1
) =
_
_
1 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 0
_
_
.
This has the character (
1
) = 1. The other mirroring operators representations can be
found the same way. The identity is just the identity matrix
D(e) =
_
_
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
_
_
.
This has the character (e) = dimL = 3.

Example 14. The irreducible representations of C

3v
It is possible to show that
S =
_
_
1 0 2
1

3 1
1

3 1
_
_
reduces the tree dimensional representation we just found into one one dimensional and
12
one two dimensional irreducible representation. So for example we have
D

(c
3
) = S
1
D(c
3
)S =
_

_
1 0 0
0
1
2

3
2
0

3
2

1
2
_

_ =
_
D
(1)
(c
3
) 0
0 D
(2)
(c
3
)
_
D

(
1
) =
_
_
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
_
_
And the corresponding characters
(c
3
) = 0,
(1)
(c
3
) = 1,
(2)
(c
3
) = 1,
(
1
) = 1,
(1)
(
1
) = 1,
(2)
(
1
) = 0.

The fundamental orthogonality relation for an irreducible representation

Theorem 1. For two irreducible representations, denoted and , of a group (, with
ord( = g, we have the following for a b (:

aG
D
()
ij
(a)D
()
kl
(ba
1
) =
g
d

ij
D
()
kj
(b) (1)
where d

= dim.

This is called a ortogonality relation since on the lefthand side of (1) contains

, which
nonzero only when and are the same representation.
There is a special case of this relation, when b = e, the identity

aG
D
()
ij
(a)D
()
kl
(a
1
) =
g
d

ij

kj
.
Often we are only intrested in studying the characters of some irreducible representation.
We can form the traces of the represented elements by mutiplying both sides by
ij

kl
,
and taking the sum over k and l,

ik

aG
D
()
ii
(a)D
()
kk
(a
1
) =
g
d

ik

ik

ki
. .
d

aG

()
(a)
()
(a
1
) = g

.
13
From the preservation of the composition law of the representation D(a
1
) = D
(1)
(a),
and if the representation is unitary, which is allways possible to nd, we have D(a
1
) =
D

(a). The trace is then (a

1
) = (a)

, which simplies our expression to

aG

()
(a)
()
(a)

= g

.
For a reducible representation, with some character , we can decompose it as a sum
over characters of irreducible representations
(() =

(().
where m

is the number of identical representations. So we can nd a more general relation

aG
(a)
()
(a
1
) =

aG

()
(a)
()
(a
1
) =

= m

g
so we nd the multiplicity do be determined by
m

=
1
g

aG
(a)
()
(a
1
)
=
1
g

aG
(a)
()
(a)

=
1
g
n

i=1
r
i
(K
i
)
()
(K
i
)

where r
i
are the number of elements in the class K
i
and n is the number of classes.
Example 15. The characters of the classes of C
3v
We have earlier found the characters for the elements of C
3v
so now we easily nd the
characters for their corresponding classes
(e) = 3 = (K
1
) = 3, r
1
= 1, (2)
(c
3
) = 0 = (K
1
) = 0, r
2
= 2,
(
1
) = 1 = (K
1
) = 1, r
3
= 3,

Another relation that is usable is

aG
[(a)[
2
=

aG

_
m

()
(a)
__
m

()
(a)
_
=

aG
_

()
(a)
()
(a)

_
m

gm

= g

m
2

.
14
Remark that the sum over all the multiplicities are allways greater or equal to one, i.e.

m
2

1
with equal if and only if m

= 1 for one irreducible representation and zero for all others.

Theorem 2. A representation is irreducible if and only if

aG
[(a)[
2
=
n

a=1
[(K
a
)[
2
r
a
= g.
The number of inequivalent irreducible representations is identicla to the number of
classes.
Burnsides thorem states that
n

=1
(dim)
2
= g.

Example 16. Triangular functions-representation

Let L = spanf
1
, f
2
, f
3
, so dimL = 3, and L is a Hilbertspace. We will now verify
the characters of C
3v
, earlier found, c.f. (2), but now using our newly found relations.
First we check if the representation is reducible
3

a=1
r
a
[(K
a
)[
2
= 1 9 + 2 0 + 3 1
2
= 12 > 6 = ordC
3v
which it apperently is.
Remember from examples 13 and 14 that

(1)
(K
1
) = 1,
(2)
(K
1
) = 2

(2)
(K
2
) = 1,
(2)
(K
2
) = 1

(3)
(K
3
) = 1,
(2)
(K
3
) = 0
with multiplicities
m
1
=
1
6
(3 1 1 + 0 + 1 1 3) = 1
m
2
=
1
6
(3 2 1 + 0 + 1 0) = 1
15
are the characters of the irreducible representations. So if there are no more irreducible
representations we can write this representation as
D(() = D
(1)
(() D
(2)
(().
We have 3 classes, therefor 3 inequivalent irreducible representations, so there is one
more. We can see that m
3
= 0 since d
1
+ d
2
= dimD, so there is no place left fot the
last one. But we can still nd it. Through Burnsides theorem (theorem 2) we nd
d
2
1
+d
2
2
+d
2
3
= 6 = d
2
3
= 6 1 4 = 1
that the dimesion of the last representation is one. We can for the character table for C
3v
K
1
K
2
K
3
1 1 1 1
2 2 -1 0
3 1 x y
To nd the two last characters, i.e.
(3)
(K
2
) = x and
(3)
(K
3
) = y, we can use the
orthogonality condition, i.e.
n

a=1
r
a

()
(K
a
)
()
(K
a
)

= 0; ,=
so using this with representations 1 & 3 and 2 & 3 respectively we get
1 1 1 + 2 1 x + 3 1 y = 0
2 2x = 0 x = 1 y = 1
and thats all the characters for all irreducible representations of C
3v
.

We can write the orthogonality reltaion in matrix form. Let

X
a
=
()
(K
a
)
_
r
a
g
so that we get
X

a
= X

a
=
_
r
a
g

()
(K
a
)
()
where the rst index denes collumns, and the second rows. Then we can write the ort-
hogonality relation as
XX

= I
or equivalently

a
X
a
X
()
a
=

.
16
Example 17. Cyclic groups The cyclic group C
n
was dened as the group generated by
c
n
, that have the property that c
n
n
= e. C
n
is abelian, therefor it has n-classes, and we
should be able to nd n number of irreducible representations, all of dimension one.
_

()(cn)
_
n
=
()
(c
n
n
) =
()
(e)
= 1
The characters that solve the above equation is

()
(c
n
) = e
2i
k
n
; k = 0, . . . , n 1.
and generates all elements of C
n
. Let us introduce the identity irreducible representation,
denoted A
1
, and apply the ortogonality relation with respect to . This gives
n1

k=0
e
2i
k
n
1

=
1 e
2ik
1 e
2i
1
n
= 0
since to the most left we have a geometric sum and the zero is demanded by the orthogo-
nality relation. The character table would be
K
1
. . . K
n
A
1
1 . . . 1
.
.
.
.
.
.
A
n
1
where all rows and collums are all dierent permutations of e
2i
k
n
. The notation we use
here, A for a one dimensional irreducible representation and E, T, G and H for succeeding
higher dimensions are called Mulleken notation, and is what we will start use from here
on.

Projection operators
We can devide the space of operations into the spaces of each irreducible representation
L =

L
()
and [
i
)
i=1,...,dimL
(
)
is a basis of L
()
. When a operator of some irreducible representa-
tion acts on one of the basis vectors it will be contained in the space of that representation,
i.e. we have
D(a)[
i
) =
dim

j=1
D
()
ji
(a)[
j
)
a linear combination of the basis of that subspace.
17
Denition 17 (Projection operator). The unitary operator
P
()
i
=
dim
g

i
D
()
ii
(a)

D(a)
is called the projection operator, and projects any vector in L onto [
i
). This is can be
seen by using the orthogonality relation
P
()
i
[
j
) =
dim
g

aG
D
()
ii
(a)

(D(a)[
j
))
=
dim
g

aG
D
()
ii
(a)

k
D
()
kj
(a)[
k
)
=
dim
g

k
_

ij

ki
g
dim
_
[
k
)
=

ij
[
i
) .
There is also a projection operator that projects onto the complete subset L,
P
()
=

i
P
()
i
=
dim
g

aG

()
(a)

D(a).

Denition 18 (Shift operator). Another useful operator is the shift operator that is
dened by
S
()
ij
=
dim
g

aG
D
()
ij
(a)

D(a)
that
S
()
ij
[
k
) =

ij
[
i
)

Remark the resemblance with the ladder/step operators in quantum mechanics, as they
also generates the other basis vectors in L
()
.
The projection operator is idempotent, i.e.
_
P
()
i
_
2
= P
()
i
.
18
Point groups
The groups we have studied so far are called point groups. A point group always consists
of two types of elements:
Proper rotations: c
n
, which describes rotations around a n-fold axis.
Improper rotations: c
n
i, where i is the inversion; ix = x.
Example 18. Improper rotations in C
3v
When we acted with
b
we mirrored the triangle as in the gure bellow.
a
b
c
b
a
c
But we can also represent the same action by a inversion and a 2-fold rotation, as
illustrated bellow.
b
a
c
b
a c
a
c
b
What we have concluded is
b
= c
2
i = ic
2
, and the same can be done for the other
non-proper rotation elements in C
3v
.

We donate the improper rotations either by i

n
= c
n
i as rotation-inversions or by
s
n
= c
n

n
as mirrors.
Proper point groups
The proper point groups only contains elements of proper rotations, and there are ve
types of proper point groups.
C
n
: The cyclic group, is dened by c
n
n
= e, and is Abelian and or order n.
19
D
n
: The dihedral group, dened by c
n
n
= e = c
2
2
, that is the symmetry has one n-fold
axis and one 2-fold axis. This group has order 2n and the the number of classes are
determined by
n + 6
2
; for even n,
n + 3
2
; for odd n.
T: The tetrahedral group, dened by c
3
3
= c
2
2
= (c
3
c
2
)
3
= e, that is the symmetry has
four 3-fold axes and three 2-fold axes (three sided pyramid). The order of this group
is 12 and has 4 classes.
O: The octahedral group, dened by c
4
4
= c
2
2
= (c
4
c
2
)
3
= e, that is the symmetry has
three 4-fold axes, four 3-fold axes and six 2-fold axes (the cube). The order is 24 and
has 5 classes.
Y : The icosahedral group, dened by c
5
5
= c
2
2
= (c
5
c
2
)
3
= e, that is the symmetry has
six 5-fold axes, ten 3-fold axes and 15 2-fold axes. The order is 60 and the number
of classes is 5.
Improper point groups
Improper point groups can be obtained in two ways, either as a outer direct product with
C
i
= e, i or by decomposition of a proper point group into cosets with respect to a
normal subgroup of index 2, i.e.
(
p
= H aH
forms an improper point group (
p
= H iaH.
In the rst case the following new groups
C
n

_
C
nh
; neven,
S
2n
; n odd.
D
n

_
D
nh
; neven,
D
nd
; n odd.
T T
h
O O
h
Y Y
h
where h and d stand for horizontal and diagonal, respectively, and is a x index, dierent
from n.
20
The other case we can nd the following groups
C
2n
w.r.t. C
n

_
C
nh
; n even,
S
2n
; nodd.
D
n
w.r.t. C
n
C
nv
D
2n
w.r.t. D
n

_
D
nh
; n even,
D
nd
; nodd.
O w.r.t. T T
d
The other does not have any normal subgroups.
Example 19. The nding of C
3v
By looking at C
3
and D
3
we see that
C
3
= e, c
3
, c
2
3
,
D
3
= e, c
3
, c
2
3
, c
2
, c
2
c
3
, c
2
c
2
3
= e, c
3
, c
2
3
c
2
e, c
3
, c
2
3
= C
3
c
2
C
3
.
So we nd the C
3v
group by
C
3v
= C
3
ic
2
C
3

= C
3
C
3
.

Molecular vibrations
With a molecule consisting of N atoms, the position can be varried in 3N directions. So
we should be able to nd a representation of the point group in this displacement space,
i.e. a 3N dimensional representation.
Example 20. The NH
3
molecule, with point group C
3v
has four atoms, so we look for a
12-dimensional representation.
Displacement in Cartesian coordinates give us the representation as a direct group of
atomic permutation on internal rotations. So our representation can be written
D(a) = D
at
(a) D
int
(a)
which has a trivial generalization to the N-atom case. For example
D(c
3
) =
_

_
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
1 0 0 0
0 0 0 1
_

1
2

3
2
0

3
2

1
2
0
0 0 1
_

_
where the rst matrix describes to which new places the atoms has been moved, and since
c
3
is a rotation around the fourth atom, only the last column has its entry on the diagonal.
And it has the character
(c
3
) = Tr (D
at
(c
3
)) Tr (D
int
(c
3
)) = 0.
21
The character can be generalized to the expression
(a) = Tr D(a) = N
a

int
(a)
where N
a
is the number of atoms unmoved by the action of a. And

int
(a) =
_
2 cos + 1 ; proper a = c
n
,
2 cos 1 ; improper a = s
n
where measures the angle of rotation.
The other characters:
(e) = 12
() = N
a

int
() = 2 1 = 2.
e 2c
3
3

(1)
A
1
1 1 1

(2)
A
2
1 1 -1

(3)
E 2 -1 0
And the corresponding multiplicities are found by the orthogonality relation
m
A
1
=
1
g

r
a

(A
1
)
(K
a
)(K
a
)

=
1
6
(1 12 + 2 0 1 + 6) = 3,
m
A
2
=
1
6
(12 + 0 + (6)) = 1,
m
E
=
1
6
(24 + 0 + 0) = 4.
So our representation can be written
3

=1
m

()
= 3A
1
A
2
4E.
Two types of atomic movements are uninteresting, that is those movement that simulta-
neously translates or rotates the whole molecule. Both these are three dimensional

trans
(a) =
_
2 cos + 1 ; a = c
n
2 cos 1 ; a = s
n
vector

rot
(a) =
_
2 cos + 1 ; a = c
n
(2 cos 1) ; a = s
n
psedovector
So for example

trans
(e) = 3
trans
(c
3
) = 0
trans
() = 1,

rot
(e) = 3
rot
(c
3
) = 0
rot
() = 1.
22
These are reducible
_
[Trans] = A
1
E
[Rot] = A
2
E
The irreducible parts that are left forms the vibrations
[Vib] = 2A
1
2E.
And in general we have that the character of the vibration is

vib
(a) =
_
(N
a
2)(2 cos + 1) ; a = c
n
N
a
(2 cos 1) ; a = s
n

Space groups
The space groups are groups of symmetry elements which brings a crystal onto itself. We
represent the crystal as
R(m) +b
i
; m Z
3
where R(m) is the crystal and b
i

i=1,...,d
is a basis.
Example 21. Consider one basis b
i
= 0, then the space group
( = T
(3)
(
0
where T
(3)
consists of three dimensional translations and (
0
is the point group that brings
R(m) R(m

). If b (
0
then in a 3-dimensional representation we can represent the
lattice in unit vectors a
i

i=1,...,3
R(m) =
3

i=1
m
i
a
i

We have that m

= D(b)m, and since all m

i
are integers, we realize that
(b) = Tr (D(b)) Z.
And (b) = 2 cos 1 = k Z, so we deduce that 0

, 60

, 90

, 120

, 180

, . . ., where
these angles correspond to one-fold, six-fold, four-fold, three-fold and two-fold axises, re-
spectively. Mark that there are no ve- or seven-fold axis.
We have 7 possible point groups.
23
Bravais lattices: 14
S
2
: triclinic 1
C
2h
: monoclinic 2
D
2h
: orthorhombic 4
D
3d
: rhombohedral 1
D
4h
: tetragonal 2
D
6h
: hexagonal 1
O
h
: cubic 3
We denote a element of a space group as a[t (, where a is a proper or improper
rotation and t is the translation. This element acts on the radius vector x in the following
way:
a[tx = D(a)x +t
where D(a) is in the faithful representation.
There are some important algebraic rules
a[t
1
b[t
2
= ab[at
1
+t
2

a[t
1
= a
1
[ a
1
t
a[0 (
0
, (a point group).
e[m T
(3)
, (translational group).
A space group element a[t with t / T
(3)
is called a non-symmorphic group ele-
ment. However t
p
T
(3)
; p Z.
We also see that T
(3)
always is a normal subgroup of the space group (, since
a[te[ma[t
1
= a[am+ta
1
[ a
1
t
= e[ aa
1
t +am+t
= e[am T
(3)
.
In general we can decompose ( in terms of left or right cosets with respect to T
(3)
( =
h

i=1
a
i
[t
i
T
(3)
(3)
where one element is the identity, say the rst element, i.e. a
1
[t
1
= e[0.
24
While a[t
i=1,...,h
generally does not form a group, but the set of point group ele-
ments a
i

i=1,...,h
do form a point group, we call this the isogonal point group (
0
with
ord(
0
= h. However if t
i
= 0, i.e. we only have symmorphic elements, then (
0
( and
( can be written as
( = T
(3)
(
0
and is a symmorphic space group.
We have several subgroups of the seven crystallographic groups. There are 73 sym-
morphic space groups. The non-symmorphic elements can be divided into two types
Glide planes: [t ( and t
2
T
(3)
Screw axis: c
n
[t; c
n
[t
n
T
(3)
.
This provides 157 non-symmorphic space groups. So there are a total of 230 space
groups with 32 dierent isogonal point groups.
Representations of space groups
Induced by T
(3)
-abelian, normal subgroup gives 1-dim irreducible representations
T
(3)
= T
1
T
2
T
3
along the unit vectors a
1
, a
2
, a
3
, respectively. We can impose a condition on T
i
,
e[m
i

N
i
= e[0
where N
i
>> 1 is called the Born - von K

Arm

An number, to make T
i
cyclic. The
character of the elements of this irreducible representation is then

(n
i
)
(e[m
i
)
N
i
= 1 ; n
i
= 0, . . . , N
i1

(n
i
)
(e[m
i
) = exp
_
2i
m
i
n
i
N
i
_
or for T
(3)

(n)
(e[m) = exp
_
_
2i
3

j=1
m
j
n
j
N
j
_
_
Denition 19. The reciprocal lattice is a lattice K dened by
K m = 2l; l Z
Expressed in the conjugate space basis
K =
3

i=1
m

i
a

i
; m

i
Z
where a

i
= 2
ijk
a
j
a
k
a
i
a
j
a
k
a
i
a

j
= 2
ij
25

We can here introduce a wave vector

k =
3

j=1
n
j
N
j
a

j
; n
j
= 0, . . . , N
j1
inside the unit volume: a

i
a

j
a

ijk
, called the Brillouin zone. Whence

k
(e[m) = exp (ik R(m))
is the character of the irreducible representation k of T
(3)
.
Let (k, x) be the function spanning the 1-dim invariant subspace L
k
, called the Bloch
function
D
(k)
(e[m)(k, m) = exp (ik R(m)) (k, x)
Using the coset decomposition of (, (3) we can dene the action of a
i
[t
i
on (k, x).
With the the faithful representation (a 3-dimensional real space) we get
D(a
i
[t
i
)(k, x) = (k, e[t
i

1
x) = (k, a
1
i
(x t
i
)).
Since k and x are position vectors in two conjugate spaces (reciprocal and real, respectively)
one can show (since a
1
i
= a
T
, orthonormal) that
(k, a
1
(x t
i
)) = (ak, x t
i
).
We interpret this as rotation in real space corresponds to the inverse rotation in reciprocal
space. This is a Bloch function too since
D(e[m)(ak, x +t) = exp (iak R(m)) (a
i
k, x t
i
)
but it belongs to the irreducible representation a
i
k and not k.
Symmorphic
We have two cases
1. a
i
k = k ( mod K). This set of rotations a
i
form the little cogroup of k,

(
k
(
0
.
2. a
i
k = k

,= k ( mod K). Then k

is said to belong to k, star of k. The order is

ordk =
ord (
0
ord

(
k
.
26
Irreducible Brillouin zone
For a general k-point: ord

(
k
= 1 we have that
dimk = ord(
0
.
The
1
ord G
0
part of the Brillouin zone contains all the information, since a
i
k = k

can be
expanded to the whole zone.
For a limited set of ks, the

(
k
is non-trivial, we call these
symmetry
_
_
_
points
lines
planes
on the wedge of IBZ.
Example 22. In the picture bellow the BZ is illustrated and we also see the k and k

s
as crosses mirrored by the the mirror planes.

The dimensions of the irreducible representations are given by

(
k
, which gives us a
three dimensional representation.
In the non-symmorphic case a general k-point is exactly the same. And symmetry
points are determined by a case-to-case study of the irreducible representation of

(
k
.
27
Example 23. Diamond structure Bravais lattice: face centered cubic (fcc). Basis:
b
1
= [0, 0, 0] , b
2
=
_
1
4
,
1
4
,
1
4
_
in real space, expressed in units of a
i
. The corresponding reciprocal space is also cubic.

Spectroscopy
We are now going to study the matrix elements
f [ Q [ i )
that is a transition from an initial to an nal state through the operator Q, e.g. a radiation
eld.
Assume we know that the system has the symmetry described by (. And we know that
all states can be labeled by irreducible representations of (. In addition the operators can
be decomposed into terms that transform according to the irreducible transformation.
In general we have Q

= D(a)QD(a)
1
transformations. This can be decomposed into
operators
_
Q
()
i
_
i=1,...,d
where each transforms according to its irreducible representation
, i.e.
Q

()
i
= D(a)Q
()
D(a)
1
=

j
D
()
ji
Q
()
j
Example 24. Radiation elds and its multipole expansion, the strongest term is usually
the electric dipole. This translates as a vector, and can be either reducible or not. (e.g. T
2
of T
d
)

In the most general case we have

f [ Q
()
j
[ i )
where , and are irreducible representations of ( and j = 1, . . . , d

. The rst action is

[ ji ) := Q
()
j
[ i )
28
and
D(a)[ ji ) = D(a)Q
()
j
D(a)
1
D(a)[ i ) =

k,l
D
()
kj
(a)Q
()
k
D
()
li
(a)[ l )
=

k,l
D
()
kl,ji
(a)[ kl ) .
So we see that [ ji ) transforms according to the inner direct product representation ()
which is in general reducible.
The character

()
(a) = Tr D
()
(a) =

k,l
D
()
kl,kl
(a)
=

k,l
D
()
kk
(a)D
()
ll
(a) =
()

()
and hence
D
()
=
IR

D
()
=
IR

([)D

which is called the Clebsch-Gordan decomposition, and ([) are called the reduction
coecient which is
([) =
1
g
n

a=1
r
a

()
(K
a
)
()
(K
a
)
()
(K
a
)

.
Example 25. ([) = ([)
C
3v
A
1
A
2
E
A
1
A
1
A
2
E
A
2
A
2
A
1
E
E E E A
1
A
2
E
The rst non-trivial element is E A
2
, since it should be two dimensional, so it is
either A
1
A
2
, E, 2A
1
or 2A
2
, doing the explicit study it turns out to be E. Observe also
that A
1
is always on the diagonal.

If we have the full representation then we need the Clebsch-Gordan coecients

_
s
ij k
_
29
where s determines which since it is possible that there will be several, and s =
1, . . . , ([), i = 1, . . . , d

, k = 1, . . . , d

, j = 1, . . . , d

. So now we have
f [ Q
()
j
[ i ) =

s,k
f [
_

s
ji k
_

[ k

; s )
=

s
f [ k

; s )
_

s
ji k
_

fk
=

s
f [ f : s )
_
s
ji k
_

And matrix elements are zero whenever () is not in ( ). Also note that f [ f; s )
is independent of i, j and f, since it is just a normalization factor.
Theorem 3. Wigner-Eckhart theorem
f [ Q
()
j
[ i ) =

_
s
ji f
_
[ [Q
()
[ [ )
. .
reduced matrix elements
.

In principle the symmetry group ( can be a product of independent symmetries,

( = (
1
(
2
.
The irreducible representations of ( are labeled by the the irreducible representations of
(
1
and (
2
independently.
Often [ i ) is a many body system so one of the factor groups is the permutation
group P
n
.
Theorem 4. Cayleys theorem
Every group of ord( = n is isomorphic to a subgroup of P
n
.

Theorem 5. Any permutation can be decomposed in its independent cycles.

Example 26.
P
3

= C
3v
_
_
_
(123), (321) K
2
cycles of 3
(12)(3), (23)(1), (31)(2) K
3
cycles of 2+1
(1) K
1
cycles of 1
30

The classes can be labeled by () = (

1
, . . . ,
n
) where
i
is the number of i-cycles.
Remark that
classes

i
i
i
= n.
Example 27.
P
3
:
_
_
_
(3, 0, 0) 3 1 + 0 + 0 = 3
(1, 1, 0) 1 1 + 1 2 + 0 = 3
(0, 0, 1) 0 + 0 + 1 3 = 3

In the permutation group P

n
there are the same number of irreducible representations
as classes.
Denition 20.

k
=
n

i=k

i
; [] = [
1
, . . . ,
n
]

Young diagram
We can get the irreducible representations through Young-tableaux

1
= 4

2
= 2

3
= 1
with
i
= 0 for i > 3, and by then lling the boxes with integers 1, . . . , n increasing both
row and column.
Example 28. P
3
All possible diagrams
1 2 3
[3]1-dimensional (A
1
)
1 2
3
or
1 3
2
[2, 1] 2-dimensional (E)
1
2
3
[1
3
] = [1, 1, 1] 1-dimensional (A
2
)

There are always one irreducible representation [n] and one [1

n
] called the symmetric
and anti-symmetric representation, respectively.
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