1 Lie groups and their Lie algebras

Lie theory is a topic of the utmost importance in both physics and differential geometry.

1.1 Lie groups

Definition. A Lie group is a group (G, ), where G is a smooth manifold and the maps

: G G G
(g1 , g2 ) 7 g1 g2

and

i: G G
g 7 g 1

are both smooth. Note that G G inherits a smooth atlas from the smooth atlas of G.

Definition. The dimension of a Lie group (G, ) is the dimension of G as a manifold.

Example 1.1. a) Consider (Rn , +), where Rn is understood as a smooth n-dimensional

manifold. This is a commutative (or abelian) Lie group (since is commutative),
often called the n-dimensional translation group.

b) Let S 1 := {z C | |z| = 1} and let be the usual multiplication of complex numbers.

Then (S 1 , ) is a commutative Lie group usually denoted U(1).

c) Let GL(n, R) = { : Rn Rn | det 6= 0}. This set can be endowed with the
structure of a smooth n2 -dimensional manifold, by noting that there is a bijection

between linear maps : Rn Rn and R2n . The condition det 6= 0 is a so-called
open condition, meaning that GL(n, R) can be identified with an open subset of R2n ,
from which it then inherits a smooth structure.
Then, (GL(n, R), ) is a Lie group called the general linear group.

d) Let V be an n-dimensional R-vector space equipped with a pseudo inner product, i.e.
an bilinear map (, ) : V V R satisfying

i) symmetry: v, w V : (v, w) = (w, v);

ii) non-degeneracy: ( w V : (v, w) = 0) v = 0.

Ordinary inner products satisfy a stronger condition than non-degeneracy, called pos-
itive definiteness, which is v V : (v, v) 0 and (v, v) = 0 v = 0.
Given a symmetric bilinear map (, ) on V , there is always a basis {ea } of V such
that (ea , ea ) = 1 and zero otherwise. If we get p-many 1s and q-many 1s (with
p + q = n, of course), then the pair (p, q) is called the signature of the map. Positive
definiteness is the requirement that the signature be (n, 0), although in relativity we

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 require the signature to be (n 1, 1). A theorem states that there are (up to isomor-
phism) only as many pseudo inner products on V as there are different signatures.
We can define the set

O(p, q) := { : V
V | v, w V : ((v), (w)) = (v, w)}.

The pair (O(p, q), ) is a Lie group called the orthogonal group with respect to the
pseudo inner product (, ). This is, in fact, a Lie subgroup of GL(p + q, R). Some
notable examples are O(3, 1), which is known as the Lorentz group in relativity, and
O(3, 0), which is the 3-dimensional rotation group.

Definition. Let (G, ) and (H, ) be Lie groups. A map : G H is Lie group homo-
morphism if it is a group homomorphism and a smooth map.
A Lie group isomorphism is a group homomorphism which is also a diffeomorphism.

1.2 The left translation map

To every element of a Lie group there is associated a special map. Note that everything we
will do here can be done equivalently by using right translation maps.

Definition. Let (G, ) be a Lie group and let g G. The map

`g : G G
h 7 `g (h) := g h gh

is called the left translation by g.

If there is no danger of confusion, we usually suppress the notation.

Proposition 1.2. Let G be a Lie group. For any g G, the left translation map `g : G G
is a diffeomorphism.

Proof. Let h, h0 G. Then, we have

`g (h) = `g (h0 ) gh = gh0 h = h0 .

Moreover, for any h G, we have g 1 h G and

`g (g 1 h) = gg 1 h = h.

Therefore, `g is a bijection on G. Note that

`g = (g, )

and since : G G G is smooth by definition, so is `g .

The inverse map is (`g )1 = `g1 , since

`g1 `g = `g `g1 = idG .

Then, for the same reason as above with g replaced by g 1 , the inverse map (`g )1 is also
smooth. Hence, the map `g is indeed a diffeomorphism.

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 Note that, in general, `g is not an isomorphism of groups, i.e.

`g (hh0 ) 6= `g (h) `g (h0 )

in general. However, as the final part of the previous proof suggests, we do have

`g `h = `gh

for all g, h G.
Since `g : G G is a diffeomorphism, we have a well-defined push-forward map

(Lg ) : (T G) (T G)
X 7 (Lg ) (X)

where

(Lg ) (X) : G T G
h 7 (Lg ) (X)(h) := (`g ) (X(g 1 h)).

We can draw the diagram

(`g )
TG TG

X (Lg ) (X)

`g
G G
Note that this is exactly the same as our previous

() := 1 .

By introducing the notation X|h := X(h), so that X|h Th G, we can write

(Lg ) (X)|h := (`g ) (X|g1 h ).

Alternatively, recalling that the map `g is a diffeomorphism and relabelling the elements of
G, we can write this as
(Lg ) (X)|gh := (`g ) (X|h ).
A further reformulation comes from considering the vector field X (T G) as an R-linear

map X : C (G)
C (G). Then, for any f C (G)

(Lg ) (X)(f ) := X(f `g ).

Proposition 1.3. Let G be a Lie group. For any g, h G, we have

(Lg ) (Lh ) = (Lgh ) .

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Proof. Let f C (G). Then, we have



(Lg ) (Lh ) (X)(f ) = (Lg ) (Lh ) (X) (f )
= (Lh ) (X)(f `g )
= X(f `g `h )
= X(f `gh )
=: (Lgh ) (X)(f ),

as we wanted to show.

The previous identity applies to the pointwise push-forward as well, i.e.

(`g1 ) (`g2 ) (X|h ) = (`g1 g2 ) (X|h )

for any g1 , g2 , h G and X|h Th G.

1.3 The Lie algebra of a Lie group

In Lie theory, we are typically not interested in general vector fields, but rather on spe-
cial class of vector fields which are invariant under the induced push-forward of the left
translation maps `g .
Definition. Let G be a Lie group. A vector field X (T G) is said to be left-invariant if

g G : (Lg ) (X) = X.

Equivalently, we can require this to hold pointwise

g, h G : (`g ) (X|h ) = X|gh .

By recalling the last reformulation of the push-forward, we have that X (T G) is

left-invariant if, and only if

f C (G) : X(f `g ) = X(f ) `g .

We denote the set of all left-invariant vector fields on G as L(G). Of course,

L(G) (T G)

but, in fact, more is true. One can check that L(G) is closed under

+ : L(G) L(G) L(G)

: C (G) L(G) L(G),

only for the constant functions in C (G). Therefore, L(G) is not a C (G)-submodule of
(T G), but it is an R-vector subspace of (T G).
Recall that, up to now, we have refrained from thinking of (T G) as an R-vector space
since it is infinite-dimensional and, even worse, a basis is in general uncountable. A priori,
this could be true for L(G) as well, but we will see that the situation is, in fact, much nicer
as L(G) will turn out to be a finite-dimensional vector space over R.

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Theorem 1.4. Let G be a Lie group with identity element e G. Then L(G)
=vec Te G.

Proof. We will construct a linear isomorphism j : Te G
L(G). Define

j : Te G (T G)
A 7 j(A),

where

j(A) : G T G
g 7 j(A)|g := (`g ) (A).

i) First, we show that for any A Te G, j(A) is a smooth vector field on G. It suffices
to check that for any f C (G), we have j(A)(f ) C (G). Indeed

(j(A)(f ))(g) = j(A)|g (f )

:= (`g ) (A)(f )
= A(f `g )
= (f `g )0 (0),

where is a curve through e G whose tangent vector at e is A. The map

: R G R
(t, g) 7 (t, g) := (f `g )(t)
= f (g(t))

is a composition of smooth maps, hence it is smooth. Then

(j(A)(f ))(g) = (1 )(0, g)

depends smoothly on g and thus j(A)(f ) C (G).

ii) Let g, h G. Then, for every A Te G, we have

(`g ) (j(A)|h ) := (`g ) ((`h ) (A))

= (`gh ) (A)
= j(A)|gh ,

so j(A) L(G). Hence, the map j is really j : Te G L(G).

iii) Let A, B Te G and R. Then, for any g G

j(A + B)|g = (`g ) (A + B)

= (`g ) (A) + (`g ) (B)
= j(A)|g + j(B)|g ,

since the push-forward is an R-linear map. Hence, we have j : Te G
L(G).

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 iv) Let A, B Te G. Then

j(A) = j(B) g G : j(A)|g = j(B)|g

j(A)|e = j(B)|e
(`e ) (A) = (`e ) (B)
A = B,

since (`e ) = idT G . Hence, the map j is injective.

v) Let X L(G). Define AX := X|e Te G. Then, we have

j(AX )|g = (`g ) (AX ) = (`g ) (X|e ) = Xge = Xg ,

since X is left-invariant. Hence X = j(AX ) and thus j is surjective.

Therefore, j : Te G
L(G) is indeed a linear isomorphism.

Corollary 1.5. The space L(G) is finite-dimensional and dim L(G) = dim G.

We will soon see that the identification of L(G) and Te G goes beyond the level of
linear isomorphism, as they are isomorphic as Lie algebras. Recall that a Lie algebra over
an algebraic field K is a vector space over K equipped with a Lie bracket [, ], i.e. a
K-bilinear, antisymmetric map which satisfies the Jacobi identity.
Given X, Y (T M ), we defined their Lie bracket, or commutator, as

[X, Y ](f ) := X(Y (f )) Y (X(f ))

for any f C (M ). You can check that indeed [X, Y ] (T M ), and that the bracket is
R-bilinear, antisymmetric and satisfies the Jacobi identity. Thus, ((T M ), +, , [, ]) is
an infinite-dimensional Lie algebra over R. We suppress the + and when they are clear
from the context. In the case of a manifold that is also a Lie group, we have the following.

Theorem 1.6. Let G be a Lie group. Then L(G) is a Lie subalgebra of (T G).

Proof. A Lie subalgebra of a Lie algebra is simply a vector subspace which is closed under
the action of the Lie bracket. Therefore, we only need to check that

X, Y L(G) : [X, Y ] L(G).

Let X, Y L(G). For any g G and f C (G), we have

[X, Y ](f `g ) := X(Y (f `g )) Y (X(f `g ))

= X(Y (f ) `g ) Y (X(f ) `g )
= X(Y (f )) `g Y (X(f )) `g


= X(Y (f )) Y (X(f )) `g
= [X, Y ](f ) `g .

Hence, [X, Y ] is left-invariant.

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Definition. Let G be a Lie group. The associated Lie algebra of G is L(G).

Note L(G) is a rather complicated object, since its elements are vector fields, hence we
would like to work with Te G instead, whose elements are tangent vectors. Indeed, we can
use the bracket on L(G) to define a bracket on Te G such that they be isomorphic as Lie
algebras. First, let us define the isomorphism of Lie algebras.

Definition. Let (L1 , [, ]L1 ) and (L2 , [, ]L2 ) be Lie algebras over the same field. A

linear map : L1
L2 is a Lie algebra homomorphism if

x, y L1 : ([x, y]L1 ) = [(x), (y)]L2 .

If is bijective, then it is a Lie algebra isomorphism and we write L1

=Lie alg L2 .

By using the bracket [, ]L(G) on L(G) we can define, for any A, B Te G

[A, B]Te G := j 1 [j(A), j(B)]L(G) ,

where j 1 (X) = X|e . Equipped with these brackets, we have

L(G)
=Lie alg Te G.