nLab maximal compact subgroup

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Contents

Context

Group Theory

Topology

topology (point-set topology, point-free topology)

see also differential topology, algebraic topology, functional analysis and topological homotopy theory

Introduction

Basic concepts

Universal constructions

Extra stuff, structure, properties

Examples

Basic statements

Theorems

Analysis Theorems

topological homotopy theory

Contents

Definition

For GG a topological group a compact subgroup is a topological subgroup KGK \subset G which is a compact group.

Definition

A compact subgroup KGK \hookrightarrow G is called maximal compact if it is not properly contained in another compact subgroup of GG.

If GG is a Lie group, it is unique up to conjugation. In a pp-adic group, there may be finitely many conjugacy classes of maximal compact subgroups.

Properties

Definition

A locally compact topological group GG is called almost connected if the quotient topological space G/G 0G/G_0 (of GG by the connected component of the neutral element) is compact.

See for instance (Hofmann-Morris, def. 4.24).

Example

Every compact and every connected topological group is almost connected.

Also every quotient of an almost connected group is almost connected.

Theorem

Let GG be a locally compact almost connected topological group.

Then

This is due to (Malcev) and (Iwasawa). See for instance (Stroppel, theorem 32.5).

Theorem

Let GG be a locally compact almost connected Lie group.

Then a compact subgroup KGK \hookrightarrow G is maximal compact precisely if the coset space G/KG/K is contractible

(in which case, due to theorem , it is necessarily homeomorphic to a Euclidean space).

This is (Antonyan, theorem 1.2).

Remark

In particular, in the above situation the subgroup inclusion

KG K \hookrightarrow G

is a homotopy equivalence of topological spaces.

Examples

For Lie groups

The following table lists some Lie groups and their maximal compact Lie subgroups (e.g. Conrad). See also compact Lie group.

Lie groupmaximal compact subgroup
real general linear group GL(n,)GL(n, \mathbb{R})orthogonal group O(n)O(n)
its connected component GL(n,) 0GL(n,\mathbb{R})_0special orthogonal group SO(n)SO(n)
complex general linear group GL(n,)GL(n, \mathbb{C})unitary group U(n)U(n)
complex special linear group SL(n,)SL(n, \mathbb{C})special unitary group SU(n)SU(n)
symplectic group Sp(2n,)Sp(2n,\mathbb{R})unitary group U(n)U(n)
complex symplectic group? Sp(2n,)Sp(2n,\mathbb{C})compact symplectic group Sp(n)Sp(n)
Narain group O(n,n)O(n,n)direct product group of two orthogonal groups O(n)×O(n)O(n) \times O(n)
unitary group U(p,q)U(p,q)U(p)×U(q)U(p) \times U(q)
special Lorentz/AdS etc. group SO(p,q)SO(p,q)S(O(p)×O(q))S\big(O(p) \times O(q)\big)
Lorentz / AdS pin group Pin(q,p)Pin(q,p)Pin(q)×Pin(q)/{(1,1),(1,1)}Pin(q) \times Pin(q) / \{(1,1), (-1,-1)\}

The following table lists specifically the maximal compact subgroups of the “EE-series” of Lie groups culminating in the exceptional Lie groups E nE_n.

nnreal form E n(n)E_{n(n)}maximal compact subgroup H nH_ndim(E n(n))dim(E_{n(n)})dim(E n(n)/H n)dim(E_{n(n)}/H_n )
2SL(2,)×SL(2, \mathbb{R}) \times \mathbb{R}SO(2)SO(2)43
3SL(3,)×SL(2,)SL(3,\mathbb{R}) \times SL(2,\mathbb{R})SO(3)×SO(2)SO(3) \times SO(2)117
4SL(5,)SL(5, \mathbb{R})SO(5)SO(5)2414
5Spin(5,5)Spin(5,5)(Sp(2)×Sp(2))/ 2(Sp(2) \times Sp(2))/\mathbb{Z}_24525
6E6(6)Sp(4)/ 2Sp(4)/\mathbb{Z}_27842
7E7(7)SU(8)/ 2SU(8)/\mathbb{Z}_213370
8E8(8)Spin(16)/ 2Spin(16)/\mathbb{Z}_2248128

Counterexamples

A maximal compact subgroup may not exist at all without the almost connectedness assumption. An example is the Prüfer group [1/p]/\mathbb{Z}[1/p]/\mathbb{Z} endowed with the discrete (00-dimensional) smooth structure. This is a union of an increasing sequence of finite cyclic groups, each obviously compact.

References

Textbooks accounts:

  • M. Stroppel, Locally compact groups, European Math. Soc., (2006)

  • Karl Hofmann, Sidney Morris, The Lie theory of connected pro-Lie groups, Tracts in Mathematics 2, European Mathematical Society, (2000)

See also

Original articles:

  • A. Malcev, On the theory of the Lie groups in the large, Mat.Sbornik N.S. vol. 16 (1945) pp. 163-189

  • K. Iwasawa, On some types of topological groups, Ann. of Math. vol.50 (1949) pp. 507-558.

  • M. Peyrovian, Maximal compact normal subgroups, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 99, No. 2, (1987) (jstor:pss/2046647)

  • Karl Heinrich Hofmann, Christian Terp, Compact Subgroups of Lie Groups and Locally Compact Groups, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society Vol. 120, No. 2 (Feb., 1994), pp. 623-634 (jstor:2159906, doi:10.2307/2159906)

  • Sergey A. Antonyan, Characterizing maximal compact subgroups (arXiv:1104.1820v1)

The maximal compact subgroups inside the (indefinite) rotation groups

Last revised on March 13, 2023 at 21:31:54. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.