Some Results on Lie Groups over R

A PROJECT
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the 10th semester of

Integrated MSc
in

Mathematics

by

Advaith R Nair
M0191303

Under the supervision of

Prof. M S Raghunathan
Department of Mathematics
UM DAE CEBS

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof M S Raghunathan, Department of

Mathematics, UM DAE CEBS, for his motivation and tireless efforts to help me to
get deep knowledge of the topic and supporting me throughout the duration of the
project.

Advaith R Nair

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1 Lie Groups, Lie Algebras and Exponential Map 1

1.1 Lie Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Lie Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 One-parameter Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 The Exponential Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4.1 Elementary properties of Exponential map . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 Commutativity in Lie Algebra 6

2.1 Geometric Interpretation of Lie Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 Discrete Subgroups of Rn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3 Cartan’s Theorem 9
3.1 Proof of Cartan’s theorem: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4 Lie’s Theorem 11

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Chapter 1

Lie Groups, Lie Algebras and

Exponential Map

1.1 Lie Groups

A group G with the structure of an analytic manifold such that the operations
(x, y) → xy and x → x−1 are analytic maps on G and G × G respectively is said
to be a Lie group. Analytic manifold is a manifold with an atlas whose transition
maps are analytic. An analytic function on an open subset U ⊆ Rn is a function
such that for every point x ∈ U there exists a neighbourhood in which it can be
represented by a convergent power series. One could have started with a C 1 or C ∞
manifold, but the imposition of group structure forces the manifold to be analytic.
Analyticity of the map which takes an element to its inverse is a consequence of
implicit function theorem on analyticity of group operation.

Example 1.1.1. A vector space V of dimension n over R is a Lie group under

addition, The atlas being the representation with respect to some basis.

Example 1.1.2. The Orthogonal Group is a subgroup of GL(n, R). The analytic
atlas can be given as follows. Let B = {g|g is symmetric and (1±g) is invertible} and
B ∗ = {g|g is orthogonal and (1 ± g) is invertible} The map C = (1 − A)(1 + A)−1
called Cayley transform is an invertible map from B ∗ to B. One then notes that

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{(Lg (B ∗ ), C◦(Lg )−1 } is an analytic atlas of O(n) and thus is a lie group of dimension
n(n − 1)/2

1.2 Lie Algebra

A vector space g assigned with a bilinear map [∗, ∗] : g × g → g such that

[X, Y ] = −[Y, X]

[X, [Y, Z]] + [Y, [Z, X]] + [Z, [X, Y ]] = 0

for all X, Y, Z ∈ g is called a Lie algebra. Given an analytic manifold M one can
define M to be the set of analytic vector fields on M. X ∈ M can be seen as a
derivation on C ω (M ) as follows.

X : C ω (M ) → C ω (M )

f → (p → Xp f )

Xp f denotes the directional derivative of f along X(p) ∈ Tp (M ). X is clearly a

derivation. Using this view one may define XY or Y X on C ω (M ) but it is easily
seen that this may not necessarily be a derivation and hence not a vector field.
However XY − Y X is a derivation denoted by [X, Y ]. One then observes that M
along with [X, Y ] (which is a lie bracket) is a Lie algebra. Given a Lie group G, for
a choice of vector v0 in Te (G) one can define a vector field given by X(g) = (dlg )(v0 )
where lg : G → G is the left multiplication by g. Such vector fields are invariant
under the differential of an analytic map given by the left multiplication of a group
element and hence called left invariant vector fields. These vector fields form a finite
dimensional lie sub-algebra of G since for any diffeomorphism ψ : M → M ′ where
M and M’ are smooth manifolds, ψ∗ ([X, Y ]) = [ψ∗ (X), ψ∗ (Y )]. This will be from
here on called the lie algebra corresponding to a lie group G and denoted g.

Example 1.2.1. The Lie algebra of GL(n, R) is M (n, R), The Lie bracket operation
is given by [A, B] = AB − BA. The lie algebra of a vector space V over R is the
vector space itself endowed with the trivial lie bracket.

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1.3 One-parameter Groups
Consider analytic vector field X on analytic manifold M. For a given point p ∈ M
contained in the chart (U, Ψ = (ψi , 1 ≤ i ≤ n)) of the analytic atlas, one can write
P ∂
X = fi ∂xi for analytic fi s. Let F = (f1 , f2 ...fn ), for any analytic function u on
U, then X · u(w) which is the directional derivative of u w.r.t X(w) at w, w ∈ U
P
is fi ∂u/∂xi . Which means if there is a curve on U such that their tangents at a
particular point say w0 on it is the X(w0 ), it must satisfy the following differential
equation.
dΦ(t)
= F (Φ(t))
dt
Theorem 1.3.1. Let Ω (resp. I, resp. U) be open subset of Rm (resp. R, resp. Rn
). Let F : Ω × I × U → Rn and ψ : Ω → U be analytic functions. Then given t0 ∈ I
and p ∈ Ω, one has δ > 0 with Iδ (t0 ) and open neighbourhood Ω0 ⊂ Ω of p such that
there exist an analytic function G : Ω0 × Iδ (t0 ) → U with following properties.
a) ( ∂G
∂t
)(ξ, t) = F (ξ, t, G(ξ, t))
b) G(ξ, t0 ) = ψ(ξ)
This G is also unique in the sense that, for any other function G′ : Ω′0 × Iδ′ (t0 ) → U
satisfying such conditions for a neighbourhood Ω′0 and Iδ′ (t0 ) of p and t0 respectively
one has δ ′′ such that on (Ω0 ∩ Ω′ ) × Iδ′′ (0) then G=G’.

The above theorem proves that not only such a curve exists we could also define
a curve Φξ for each ξ ∈ U such that Φξ (0) = ξ. From part(b) of the theorem,
Φ̃(ξ, t) = Φξ (t) is an analytic function on U ′ × Iδ (0) for an open neigbourhood
U ′ ⊂ U of p. From the uniqueness assertion of the above theorem for t, t0 , t + t0 ∈ I
one could observe that Φ̃(ξ, t + t0 ) = Φ̃(Φ̃(ξ, t0 ), t) ∀ξ ∈ U . In fact we could replace
point p with a compact subset K of M, since it could be covered by a finite number
of open sets which are neighbourhoods of points in K and patching up such functions
on these open sets are guaranteed by the uniqueness assertion of the theorem in the
intersections of these open neighbourhoods. Now in the above Φ̃(ξ, t) for a fixed t,
Φt are local diffeomorphisms of M and when Φt exists ∀t ∈ R for instance when M is
compact, they form a group called the 1-parameter group of local diffeomorphisms
of M. In the next section it will be shown that for a Lie group G, that there exists
such a group for left-invariant vector fields passing through 1 ∈ G which are indeed

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group of diffeomorphisms. They correspond to the integral curves of the vector field
which are also subgroups of G. Such subgroups of a lie group (image of a lie group
homomorphism from R to G) are called 1-parameter subgroups of G.

1.4 The Exponential Map

Consider a Lie Group G and a left-invariant vector field X on G. We could select a
neighbourhood U of 1 ∈ G such that there exist a function Φ̃ : U × Iδ (0) → G with
the properties aforementioned in the chapter. We can extend Φ̃ from U × Iδ (0) to
G × Iδ (0) in the following manner. G can be covered by open sets of the form g · U
define Φ̃g : Iδ (0) × g · U → G as Φ̃g (g · u, t) = g · Φ̃(u, t). Since X is left invariant
these functions satisy the same differential equation and initial condition of the type
mentioned in the last theorem in the intersection due to which they coincide. Thus
Φ : Iδ (0) × G → G defined as Φg at g · U is an analytic function which is the
extension one needed. Now obeserve that any t ∈ R can be written uniquely of the
form n · δ/2 + ξ where 0 < ξ < δ/2. It is easily seen that Φt : G → G (defined for
t < δ as Φ(t, g)) defined as Φnδ/2 ◦ Φξ is well defined. Φ : R × G → G when defined
as Φ(t, g) = Φt (g) is an analytic function which satisfies the differential equation
corresponding to X and initial condition Φ(0, g) = g.
Thus given a lie group G one can define a function expG : g → G defined as
expG (X) = ΦX (1, 1) where ΦX is the function Φ as above corresponding to vector
field X.

1.4.1 Elementary properties of Exponential map

a) For any t0 ∈ R one has expG (t0 X) = Φ(t0 , 1). This can be easily seen since
the solution of differential equation corresponding to vector field t0 X is uniquely
satisfied by ΦX (t0 t, g).
b) ∀s, t ∈ R, expG ((s + t)X) = expG (sX) · expG (tX). The following is a proof.

Proof. Fix s0 ∈ R, g ∈ G and define curves ϕ(t) and ψ(t) on G as follows

ϕ(t) = g · ΦX (t, 1)

ψ(t) = ΦX (t, g)

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dϕ(t) d(Lg ◦ΦX (t,1))
|
dt t=t0
= dt
dΦX (t,1)
= (dLg )ΦX (t0 ,1) ( dt |t=t0 ) = (dLg )ΦX (t0 ,1) (X(ΦX (t0 , 1))
Since X is left invariant, this becomes X(g · ΦX (t0 , 1)) = X(ϕ(t0 ))
dψ(t) dΦX (t,g)
|
dt t=t0
= dt
|t=t0 = X(ΦX (t0 , g)) = X(ψ(t0 ))
Also note that ϕ(0) = ψ(0) = g. Hence ϕ and ψ are integral curves of analytic
vector field X passing through the same point on G. Thus ϕ(t) = ψ(t) for all t ∈ R
putting g = ΦX (s0 , 1) proves the result.

c) Consider Lie groups G1 and G2 and analytic map f : G1 → G2 . Then image

of the integral curves of a left invariant vector field X on G1 is an integral curve of
(df )(X) on G2 . Thus f (expG1 ) = expG2 (df )

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Chapter 2

Commutativity in Lie Algebra

2.1 Geometric Interpretation of Lie Bracket

Consider any analytic manifold M. Let X be an analytic vector field defined on an
open neighbourhood Ω. If Y is another analytic vector field on Ω, One could define
the following. For a fixed t0 , denote ϕt0 X (x) = ΦX (t0 , x) which is an analytic (local)
diffeomorphism on M. Then ϕtX can act on Y via its differential to give a new
vector field (ΦtX )∗ (Y ). Since Φ(x, t) is an analytic map on an open neighbourhood
of R for a fixed x, (ϕtx )∗ is also one for a fixed v ∈ Tx . Now assume for a p ∈ Ω
that Xp ̸= 0. If U, Ψ is a chart of the analytic atlas centered at p, One can by
composing X with a bijective linear transform assume X(p) = ∂
|.
∂xi p
Now let U ′
be a neighbourhood of p sitting inside U such that for some δ > 0, ΦX maps it
to U for all t ∈ Iδ(0) . Let W = {x ∈ U ′ |x1 = 0} then the map ΦX restricted to
W × Iδ (0) is an analytic map which has the differential to be identitity at (0, 0).
Thus by inverse function theorem there exists a neighbourhood W’ of W and δ ′ < δ
such that, ΦX is an analytic diffeomorphism mapping W ′ × Iδ′ (0) to an open subset
V of U containing p. It is clear that vector field X takes the form ∂x∂ i in the chart
(V, F −1 ◦ Ψ). Now on this chart, let Y =
P ∂
ai ∂xi . It can be easily seen that
d(ϕXt )∗
(ϕXt )(X) = (x1 , x2 , ..., xi + t, ..., xn ) and hence dt
|t=0 = [X, Y ]. It is also evident
that on open sets where X = 0, the one parameter group is identity for all t and
d(ϕXt )∗ d(ϕXt )∗
hence dt
= [X, Y ] = 0. Thus by analytic continuity dt
= [X, Y ] at every
point in Ω. Now consider left-invariant vector fields X,Y on a Lie group G such that

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[X, Y ] = 0.
d ∂ d
ΦX (t, ΦY (t, 1))|t=t0 = ΦX (α, β)| α=t0 + (dΦXt0 )|(ΦY (t0 ,1) ( ΦY (t, 1)|t=t0 )
dt ∂α β=ΦY (t0 ,1) dt
= X(ΦY (t0 , 1) · ΦX (t0 , 1)) + dΦXt0 (Y (ΦY (t0 , 1)))

Now since [X,Y]=0, dΦXt0 (Y ) = Y , Thus

= X(ΦY (t0 , 1) · ΦX (t0 , 1)) + Y (ΦX (t0 , 1) · ΦY (t0 , 1))

Now for vector field (dΦX t)(Y ), the one parameter subgroup is ϕXt ◦ ϕY s ◦ ϕ−Xt
which is same as that for Y hence equal to ϕY s . Thus ϕXt ◦ ϕY s = ϕY s ◦ ϕXt Hence
one gets
d
ΦX (t, ΦY (t, 1))|t=t0 = (X + Y )(ΦX (t0 , ΦY (t0 , 1))
dt
From which one can finally deduce expG (X + Y ) = expG (X) · expG (Y ). From the
discussion earlier it is easily seen that the exponential map is analytic in g and has
a non-singular differential at 0 (in fact it is identity linear transform) thus expG
maps a neighbourhood of 0 ∈ g to an open neighbourhood of 1 ∈ G. Any open
neighbourhood of identity element of a topological group G generates the connected
subgroup of G containing identity (say G0 ). Hence for any lie group the connected
subgroup containing 1 is generated by exp(g). If g is abelian, then expG is a group
homomorphism and hence G0 will be abelian. The elements in the kernel of this map
are clearly isolated points but they too form a group. Such subgroups of a topological
group G are called discrete subgroups of G. Hence every connected abelian Lie group
of dimension n is isomorphic to Rn /Γ where Γ is a discrete subgroup of Rn .

2.2 Discrete Subgroups of Rn

Discrete subgroups of a topological group are subgroup on which the topology in-
duced by the group is discrete. The following result classifies the discrete subgroups
of Rn .

Theorem 2.2.1. Let Γ be a discrete subgroup of Rn , then there exists a basis

{u1 , u2 , ..., un } such that Γ = {x ∈ Rn |x = n1 u1 + n2 u2 + · · · + nr ur , nj ∈ Z}

Proof. Let W be a subspace of Rn such that there exist a basis {w1 , w2 , ..., wk } of
L
W such that Γ ∩ W = Z = Zwi . Let u ∈ Γ, u ∈
/ W . Then there are finitely many

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 P
elements of the form bu + ai wi where ai , b ∈ [0, 1]. Let β be the smallest positive
P
number b such that there exist an element of form bu+ ai wi where ai , b ∈ [0, 1]. All
P
other elements of form bu + ai wi will be multiples of this element since otherwise
it would contradict the minimality of β due to Euclid’s division algorithm. Thus one
L
gets Γ ∩ (W + Ru) = Z(βu) Zwi . Since this process stops after a finite number
of steps the theorem is proved.

For a connected abelian lie group G let {v1 , v2 , ...vr } be the ’basis’ of discrete
subgroup Γ of Rn such that G ≃ Rn /Γ. If V1 = span{v1 , v2 , ..., vr }, then Rn = V1 ⊕V2
and G ≃ Rn /Γ ≃ V1 /Γ ⊕ V2 ≃ S k × Rn−k .

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Chapter 3

Cartan’s Theorem

Definition 3.0.1. Lie subgroup H of a Lie group G is an algebraic subgroup of

G which has a topology such that the injective homomorphism i : H → G is an
analytic immersion.

A topology of the kind mentioned in the above definition is called the submanifold
topology on the submanifold induced by the injective immersion. This topology is
usually finer than the subspace topology induced by the manifold. In case these
topologies coincide, the submanifold is said to be embedded in the manifold. Cartan
showed that a closed subgroup of a Lie group is an embedded Lie subgroup. The
proof is as follows.

3.1 Proof of Cartan’s theorem:

Given a closed subgroup H of G, one wishes to find a chart of H such that the
inclusion becomes an immersion, for this one can use the exponential map of G via
a suitable vector subspace of g corresponding to H. Define S ⊂ g to be the set of
X such that ∃ Xn ∈ g with Xn → 0 and tn ∈ R with tn → 0 and exp(tn Xn ) ∈ H.
By the virtue of closedness of H in G and property of exponential map, one deduces
that h = span(S) = {X ∈ g|exp(t · X) ∈ H, ∀t ∈ R}. Let h′ be a vector subspace of
g such that g = h ⊕ h′ . Define Φ : g → G by Φ(X + Y ) = exp(X) · exp(Y ) for X ∈ h
and Y ∈ h′ . Φ is a diffeomorphism (inverse function theorem) from a neighbourhood
Ω of 0 ∈ g to neighbourhood U of 1 ∈ G. If one could show that this property is

9
also true when restricted to h (resp. H), we will get a chart for H. If this was not
true, there would exist Xn ∈ h and Yn ∈ h′ with Xn + Yn → 0 and Yn ̸= 0 such that
Φ(Xn + Yn ) ∈ H. Let Z be a limit point of Zn = Yn /||Yn ||, then Z ∈ S thus Z ∈ h
but since Z ∈ h′ by definition Z = 0 which is a contradiction since ||Z|| = 1.
To prove that i is an embedding it is enough to show that a neighbourhood
of unity in H gets mapped to a neighbourhood of unity in i(H) in the subspace
topology induced by G. Let U be a neighbourhood of 1 in H. Let V be a compact
neighbourhood of 1 such that V · V −1 ⊂ U . There exist a countably dense subset of
H, say D such that D ·V = H. i(H) being closed in G is locally compact in subspace
topology. Since i(D)·i(V ) = i(H) is a countable union of closed subsets (isomorphic
to i(V )), by Baire Category Theorem i(V ) as a subset of i(H) has non-empty interior.
Thus for some x ∈ i(V )o , x−1 i(V ) ⊂ i(U ) is a compact neighbourhood of 1 in i(H)
and hence i(U) is a neighbourhood of 1.
Given a Lie subgroup H of a Lie group G, its corresponding Lie algebra h is a
sub-algebra of the lie algebra g (Lie algebra corresponding to G) is given by

{X ∈ g|∃δ > 0, expG (Iδ (0)X) ⊂ H}

The connected component of the Lie Group G containing identity is generated by

exp(g) and it has an exponential chart. The following is an immediate corollary of
Cartan’s theorem.

Corollary 3.1.1. ϕ : G → H is a Lie group homomorphism then kerϕ is a closed

subgroup whose Lie algebra is ker(dϕ)

Corollary 3.1.2. Every continuous Lie group homomorphism is analytic

Proof. Let G, H be lie groups and ϕ : G → H be a continuous Lie group homo-

morphism. Then G′ = {(g, ϕ(g))|g ∈ G} is a closed subgroup of G × H, hence
i : G′ → G × H is an analytic injective immersion. Hence p : G′ → G, pr ◦ i where
pr1 is projection map of G × H onto G is a constant rank (= dim(G)) map and
hence a local diffeomorphism at every point. Since p is invertible analytic map on
G’ ϕ = pr2 ◦ p−1 is an analytic map on G.

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Chapter 4

Lie’s Theorem

Given a Lie group G, one can assign an analytic automorphism on it corresponding

to an element g ∈ G given by conjugation. The differential of this map gives a
representation of G on g. This representation is called adjoint representation of G,
denoted Ad : G → EndR (g). The derivative of this map gives a representation of
the Lie algebra denoted by ad. Using properties of exponential map, one gets that
Ad(exp(tX)) = exp(tad(X)) and g(exptX)g −1 = exp(tAdg X). It can be shown
that ad(X)(Y ) = [X, Y ]. The following theorem by de-Rham is useful in proving
the fundamental theorem of Lie theory.

Theorem 4.0.1. Let M be an analytic manifold, then there exists isomorphism

of the de-rham cohomology of M on the singular cohomolgy of M. Given another
smooth manifold N and an analytic map F : M → N these respective isomorphisms
commute with the maps induced by F between their p-th cohomology groups for all
p ∈ N.

Theorem 4.0.2. Given a lie group G with lie algebra g and its Lie sub-algebra h,
there is a Lie subgroup of G with the lie algebra h

Proof. Part(i): Consider N = {g ∈ G|Ad(g)(h) = h} which by Cartan’s theorem

is a Lie subgroup of G with lie algebra n = {X ∈ g|[X, h] ⊂ h} which contains h.
Thus replacing G with the connected component of N with identity, one can assume
h to be Ad(G)-stable. Further, for such an h one gets a representation of G on g/h
induced by Ad. The kernel B of this map is a Lie subgroup (again by Cartan’s
theorem) with Lie algebra b = {X ∈ g|[X, Y ] ∈ h ∀Y ∈ g}. Clearly b ⊃ h ⊃ [b, b].

11
Replacing G again by B, one may further assume g ⊃ h ⊃ [g, g]
Part(ii): With the above assumptions the 1-forms {ωr |1 ≤ r ≤ q = dimR (g/h)}
induced by a fixed basis of g/h are closed. To see this one needs to show dωr (X, Y ) =
0 for all left invariant vector fields X and Y since all analytic vector fields are linear
combinations over C ω (G) of left invariant vector fields over G, but for a smooth
1-form ω, dω(X, Y ) = X · ω(Y ) − Y · ω(X) + ω([X, Y ]) hence for ωr are closed (since
first two terms are 0 since ω(X) and ω(Y ) are constant functions as X and Y are
left invariant and third term is zero from the assumption made in part (i)). Since
all analytic forms are locally exact, there is an open set U containing 1 and analytic
functions {fr : U → R|1 ≤ r ≤ q} such that dfr = ωr|U with fr (1) = 0 so that the
map f : U → Rq , f = (f1 , f2 , ...fr ) is an analytic map. Now consider V ⊂ U such
that V · V ⊂ U . (U ∈ U such that 1 ∈ U ). The left invariance of ω causes the map
fy : V → Rq , for a fixed y ∈ V , fy (x) = f (x · y) − f (x) − f (y) to be such that dfy = 0
on entirety of V for all y ∈ V implying that fy is locally constant on V. But since
f (1) = 0 that would imply, f (x · y) = f (x) + f (y) for all x, y ∈ V . When G is simply
connected every global 1-form is of the form du where u is an analytic function on
entirety of M, Thus by analytic continuity we can extend f to all of G such that
f (x · y) = f (x) + f (y) making f a lie group homomorphism. The kernel of this map
has the lie algebra to be the kernel of its differential at unity which is precisely h.
If G is not simply connected one can find a Lie subgroup of the universal cover G̃
say H̃ with the lie algebra h. The group H = H̃/H̃ ∩ ker(p) (p being the covering
map) has a natural lie group structure (ker(p) ∩ H̃ being discrete subgroup) with
lie algebra h.

Corollary 4.0.3. Ado’s theorem states that every finite dimensional lie algebra is
a sub-algebra of Lie algebra of a large enough general linear group. This combined
with the Lie theorem concludes that there is a Lie group corresponding to every finite
dimensional Lie algebra. Although it is not necessarily unique.

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