#jsDisabledContent { display:none; } My Account | Register | Help

# Special unitary group

Article Id: WHEBN0000173997
Reproduction Date:

 Title: Special unitary group Author: World Heritage Encyclopedia Language: English Subject: Collection: Publisher: World Heritage Encyclopedia Publication Date:

### Special unitary group

In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree n, denoted SU(n), is the Lie group of n×n unitary matrices with determinant 1 (i.e., real-valued determinant, not complex as for general unitary matrices). The group operation is that of matrix multiplication. The special unitary group is a subgroup of the unitary group U(n), consisting of all n×n unitary matrices. As a compact classical group, U(n) is the group that preserves the standard inner product on Cn.[nb 1] It is itself a subgroup of the general linear group, SU(n) ⊂ U(n) ⊂ GL(n, C).

The SU(n) groups find wide application in the Standard Model of particle physics, especially SU(2) in the electroweak interaction and SU(3) in quantum chromodynamics.[1]

The simplest case, SU(1), is the trivial group, having only a single element. The group SU(2) is isomorphic to the group of quaternions of norm 1, and is thus diffeomorphic to the 3-sphere. Since unit quaternions can be used to represent rotations in 3-dimensional space (up to sign), there is a surjective homomorphism from SU(2) to the rotation group SO(3) whose kernel is {+I, −I}.[nb 2] SU(2) is also identical to one of the symmetry groups of spinors, Spin(3), that enables a spinor presentation of rotations.

## Contents

• Properties 1
• Infinitesimal generators 2
• Fundamental representation 2.1
• n = 2 3
• n = 3 4
• Lie algebra structure 5
• Generalized special unitary group 6
• Example 6.1
• Important subgroups 7
• Remarks 9
• References 10

## Properties

The special unitary group SU(n) is a real Lie group (though not a complex Lie group). Its dimension as a real manifold is n2 − 1. Topologically, it is compact and simply connected. Algebraically, it is a simple Lie group (meaning its Lie algebra is simple; see below). [2]

The center of a group of SU(n) is isomorphic to the cyclic group Zn, and is composed of the diagonal matrices ζ I for ζ an nth root of unity and I the n×n identity matrix.

Its outer automorphism group, for n ≥ 3, is Z2, while the outer automorphism group of SU(2) is the trivial group.

A maximal torus, of rank n − 1, is given by the set of diagonal matrices with determinant 1. The Weyl group is the symmetric group Sn, which is represented by signed permutation matrices (the signs being necessary to ensure the determinant is 1).

The Lie algebra of SU(n), denoted by su(n), can be identified with the set of traceless antihermitian n×n complex matrices, with the regular commutator as Lie bracket. Particle physicists often use a different, equivalent representation: the set of traceless hermitian n×n complex matrices with Lie bracket given by i times the commutator.

## Infinitesimal generators

The Lie algebra su(n) can be generated by n2 operators \hat{O}_{ij}, i, j= 1, 2, ..., n, which satisfy the commutator relationships

\left [ \hat{O}_{ij} , \hat{O}_{k \ell} \right ] = \delta_{jk} \hat{O}_{i \ell} - \delta_{i \ell} \hat{O}_{kj}

for i, j, k, = 1, 2, ..., n, where δjk denotes the Kronecker delta. Additionally, the operator

\hat{N} = \sum_{i=1}^n \hat{O}_{ii}

satisfies

\left [ \hat{N}, \hat{O}_{ij} \right ] = 0,

which implies that the number of independent generators of the Lie algebra is n2 − 1 .[3]

### Fundamental representation

In the defining, or fundamental, representation of su(n) the generators Ta are represented by traceless hermitian matrices complex n×n matrices, where:

T_a T_b = \frac{1}{2n}\delta_{ab}I_n + \frac{1}{2}\sum_{c=1}^{n^2 -1}{(if_{abc} + d_{abc}) T_c} \,

where the f are the structure constants and are antisymmetric in all indices, while the d-coefficients are symmetric in all indices. As a consequence:

\left[T_a, T_b\right]_+ = \frac{1}{n}\delta_{ab} I_n+ \sum_{c=1}^{n^2 -1}{d_{abc} T_c} \,
\left[T_a, T_b \right]_- = i \sum_{c=1}^{n^2 -1}{f_{abc} T_c} \, .

We also take

\sum_{c,e=1}^{n^2 -1}d_{ace}d_{bce}= \frac{n^2-4}{n}\delta_{ab} \,

as a normalization convention.

In the (n2 − 1) -dimensional adjoint representation, the generators are represented by (n2 − 1) × (n2 − 1) matrices, whose elements are defined by the structure constants themselves:

(T_a)_{jk} = -if_{ajk}.

## n = 2

SU(2) is the following group,

\mathrm{SU}(2) = \left \{ \begin{pmatrix} \alpha&-\overline{\beta}\\ \beta & \overline{\alpha} \end{pmatrix}: \ \ \alpha,\beta\in\mathbf{C}, |\alpha|^2 + |\beta|^2 = 1\right \} ~,

where the overline denotes complex conjugation.

Now, consider the following map,

\begin{align} \varphi : \mathbf{C}^2 &\to \operatorname{M}(2,\mathbf{C}) \\ \varphi(\alpha,\beta) &= \begin{pmatrix} \alpha&-\overline{\beta}\\ \beta & \overline{\alpha}\end{pmatrix},\end{align}

where M(2, C) denotes the set of 2 by 2 complex matrices. By considering C2 diffeomorphic to R4 and M(2, C) diffeomorphic to R8, we can see that φ is an injective real linear map and hence an embedding. Now, considering the restriction of φ to the 3-sphere (since modulus is 1), denoted S3, we can see that this is an embedding of the 3-sphere onto a compact submanifold of M(2, C). However, it is also clear that φ(S3) = SU(2).

Therefore, as a manifold S3 is diffeomorphic to SU(2) and so SU(2) is a compact, connected Lie group.

The Lie algebra of SU(2) is

\mathfrak{su} (2) = \left \{ \begin{pmatrix} ia & -\overline{z}\\ z & -ia \end{pmatrix}: \ a \in \mathbf{R}, z \in \mathbf{C} \right \} ~.

It is easily verified that matrices of this form have trace zero and are antihermitian. The Lie algebra is then generated by the following matrices,

u_1 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & i\\ i & 0 \end{pmatrix} \qquad u_2 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & -1\\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \qquad u_3 = \begin{pmatrix} i & 0\\ 0 & -i \end{pmatrix} ~,

which are easily seen to have the form of the general element specified above.

These satisfy u3u2 = −u2u3 = −u1 and u2u1 = −u1u2 = −u3. The commutator bracket is therefore specified by

The above generators are related to the Pauli matrices by u1 = i σ1,u2 = −i σ2 and u3 = i σ3. This representation is routinely used in quantum mechanics to represent the spin of fundamental particles such as electrons. They also serve as unit vectors for the description of our 3 spatial dimensions in loop quantum gravity.

The Lie algebra serves to work out the representations of SU(2).

## n = 3

The generators of su(3), T, in the defining representation, are:

T_a = \frac{\lambda_a }{2}.\,

where λ the Gell-Mann matrices, are the SU(3) analog of the Pauli matrices for SU(2):

 \lambda_1 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \lambda_2 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & -i & 0 \\ i & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \lambda_3 = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & -1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \lambda_4 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \lambda_5 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 & -i \\ 0 & 0 & 0 \\ i & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \lambda_6 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \lambda_7 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & -i \\ 0 & i & 0 \end{pmatrix} \lambda_8 = \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & -2 \end{pmatrix} .

These \lambda_a span all traceless Hermitian matrices H of the Lie algebra, as required.

They obey the relations

\left[T_a, T_b \right] = i \sum_{c=1}^8{f_{abc} T_c} \,
\{T_a, T_b\} = \frac{1}{3}\delta_{ab} + \sum_{c=1}^8{d_{abc} T_c} \,,
(or, equivalently, \{\lambda_a, \lambda_b\} = \frac{4}{3}\delta_{ab} + 2\sum_{c=1}^8{d_{abc} \lambda_c} ).

The f are the structure constants of the Lie algebra, given by:

f_{123} = 1 \,
f_{147} = -f_{156} = f_{246} = f_{257} = f_{345} = -f_{367} = \frac{1}{2} \,
f_{458} = f_{678} = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}, \,

while all other f_{abc} not related to these by permutation are zero.

The symmetric coefficients d take the values:

d_{118} = d_{228} = d_{338} = -d_{888} = \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} \,
d_{448} = d_{558} = d_{668} = d_{778} = -\frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \,
d_{146} = d_{157} = -d_{247} = d_{256} = d_{344} = d_{355} = -d_{366} = -d_{377} = \frac{1}{2}. \,

As a topological space, SU(3) is a direct product of a 3-sphere and a 5-sphere, S3⊗ S5.

A generic SU(3) group element generated by a traceless 3×3 hermitian matrix H, normalized as tr(H2) = 2 , is given by[4]

\exp\left( i\theta H\right) =
\left[ -\tfrac{1}{3}~I\sin\left( \phi +2\pi/3\right) \sin\left( \phi-2\pi/3\right) -\tfrac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} ~H\sin\left( \phi\right) -\tfrac{1}{4}~H^{2}\right] \frac{\exp\left( \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}~i\theta\sin\phi\right) }{\cos\left( \phi+2\pi/3\right) \cos\left( \phi-2\pi/3\right) }
+\left[ -\tfrac{1}{3}~I\sin\left( \phi\right) \sin\left( \phi -2\pi/3\right) -\tfrac{1}{2\sqrt{3}}~H\sin\left( \phi+2\pi/3\right) -\tfrac{1}{4}~H^{2}\right] \frac{\exp\left( \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}~i\theta \sin\left( \phi+2\pi/3\right) \right) }{\cos\left( \phi\right) \cos\left( \phi-2\pi/3\right) }
+\left[ -\tfrac{1}{3}~I\sin\left( \phi\right) \sin\left( \phi +2\pi/3\right) -\tfrac{1}{2\sqrt{3}}~H\sin\left( \phi-2\pi/3\right) -\tfrac{1}{4}~H^{2}\right] \frac{\exp\left( \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}~i\theta \sin\left( \phi-2\pi/3\right) \right) }{\cos\left( \phi\right) \cos\left( \phi+2\pi/3\right) }

where

\phi\equiv \tfrac{1}{3}\left( \arccos\left( \tfrac{3}{2}\sqrt{3}\det H\right) -\tfrac{\pi}{2}\right) .

for elementary representation theory facts.

## Lie algebra structure

The above representation bases generalize to n > 3, using generalized Pauli matrices.

If we choose an (arbitrary) particular basis, then the subspace of traceless diagonal n×n matrices with imaginary entries forms an (n − 1)-dimensional Cartan subalgebra.

Complexify the Lie algebra, so that any traceless n×n matrix is now allowed. The weight eigenvectors are the Cartan subalgebra itself, as well as the matrices with only one nonzero entry which is off diagonal. Even though the Cartan subalgebra h is only (n − 1)-dimensional, to simplify calculations, it is often convenient to introduce an auxiliary element, the unit matrix which commutes with everything else (which is not an element of the Lie algebra!) for the purpose of computing weights—and that only. So, we have a basis where the i-th basis vector is the matrix with 1 on the i-th diagonal entry and zero elsewhere. Weights would then be given by n coordinates and the sum over all n coordinates has to be zero (because the unit matrix is only auxiliary).

So, SU(n) is of rank n − 1 and its Dynkin diagram is given by An−1, a chain of n − 1 vertices, o−o−o−o---o. Its root system consists of n(n − 1) roots spanning a n − 1 Euclidean space. Here, we use n redundant coordinates instead of n − 1 to emphasize the symmetries of the root system (the n coordinates have to add up to zero).

In other words, we are embedding this n − 1 dimensional vector space in an n-dimensional one. Thus, the roots consists of all the n(n − 1) permutations of (1, −1, 0, ..., 0). The construction given above explains why. A choice of simple roots is

\begin{align} (&1, -1, 0, \dots, 0), \\ (&0, 1, -1, \dots, 0), \\ &\ldots \\ (&0, 0, 0, \dots, 1, -1). \end{align}

Its Cartan matrix is

\begin{pmatrix} 2 & -1 & 0 & \dots & 0 \\ -1 & 2 & -1 & \dots & 0 \\ 0 & -1 & 2 & \dots & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots & 2 \end{pmatrix}.

Its Weyl group or Coxeter group is the symmetric group Sn, the symmetry group of the (n − 1)-simplex.

## Generalized special unitary group

For a field F, the generalized special unitary group over F, SU(p, q; F), is the group of all linear transformations of determinant 1 of a vector space of rank n = p + q over F which leave invariant a nondegenerate, Hermitian form of signature (p, q). This group is often referred to as the special unitary group of signature p q over F. The field F can be replaced by a commutative ring, in which case the vector space is replaced by a free module.

Specifically, fix a Hermitian matrix A of signature p q in GL(n, R), then all

M \in \mathrm{SU}(p, q, R)

satisfy

\begin{align} M^{*} A M &= A \\ \det M &= 1. \end{align}

Often one will see the notation SU(p, q) without reference to a ring or field; in this case, the ring or field being referred to is C and this gives one of the classical Lie groups. The standard choice for A when F = C is

A = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 0 & i \\ 0 & I_{n-2} & 0 \\ -i & 0 & 0 \end{bmatrix}.

However there may be better choices for A for certain dimensions which exhibit more behaviour under restriction to subrings of C.

### Example

An important example of this type of group is the Picard modular group SU(2, 1; Z[i]) which acts (projectively) on complex hyperbolic space of degree two, in the same way that SL(2,9;Z) acts (projectively) on real hyperbolic space of dimension two. In 2005 Gábor Francsics and Peter Lax computed an explicit fundamental domain for the action of this group on HC2.[5]

A further example is SU(1, 1; C), which is isomorphic to SL(2,R).

## Important subgroups

In physics the special unitary group is used to represent bosonic symmetries. In theories of symmetry breaking it is important to be able to find the subgroups of the special unitary group. Subgroups of SU(n) that are important in GUT physics are, for p > 1, np > 1 ,

\mathrm{SU}(n) \supset \mathrm{SU}(p)\times \mathrm{SU}(n-p) \times \mathrm{U}(1),

where × denotes the direct product and U(1), known as the circle group, is the multiplicative group of all complex numbers with absolute value 1.

For completeness, there are also the orthogonal and symplectic subgroups,

\begin{align} \mathrm{SU}(n) &\supset \mathrm{SO}(n), \\ \mathrm{SU}(2n) &\supset \mathrm{Sp}(n). \end{align}

Since the rank of SU(n) is n − 1 and of U(1) is 1, a useful check is that the sum of the ranks of the subgroups is less than or equal to the rank of the original group. SU(n) is a subgroup of various other Lie groups,

\begin{align} \mathrm{SO}(2n) &\supset \mathrm{SU}(n) \\ \mathrm{Sp}(n) &\supset \mathrm{SU}(n) \\ \mathrm{Spin}(4) &= \mathrm{SU}(2) \times \mathrm{SU}(2) \\ \mathrm{E}_6 &\supset \mathrm{SU}(6) \\ \mathrm{E}_7 &\supset \mathrm{SU}(8) \\ \mathrm{G}_2 &\supset \mathrm{SU}(3) \end{align}

See spin group, and simple Lie groups for E6, E7, and G2.

There are also the accidental isomorphisms: SU(4) = Spin(6) , SU(2) = Spin(3) = Sp(1) ,[nb 3] and U(1) = Spin(2) = SO(2) .

One may finally mention that SU(2) is the double covering group of SO(3), a relation that plays an important role in the theory of rotations of 2-spinors in non-relativistic quantum mechanics.

## Remarks

1. ^ For a characterization of U(n) and hence SU(n) in terms of preservation of the standard inner product on n, see Classical group.
2. ^ For an explicit description of the homomorphism SU(2) → SO(3), see Connection between SO(3) and SU(2).
3. ^ Sp(n) is the compact real form of Sp(2n, C). It is sometimes denoted USp(2n). The dimension of the Sp(n)-matrices is 2n × 2n.

## References

1. ^ Halzen, Francis; Martin, Alan (1984). Quarks & Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics. John Wiley & Sons.
2. ^ Wybourne, B G (1974). Classical Groups for Physicists, Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 0471965057 .
3. ^ R.R. Puri, Mathematical Methods of Quantum Optics, Springer, 2001.
4. ^ Rosen, S P (1971). "Finite Transformations in Various Representations of SU(3)". Journal of Mathematical Physics 12 (4): 673.
5. ^ Francsics, Gabor; Lax, Peter D. "An Explicit Fundamental Domain For The Picard Modular Group In Two Complex Dimensions".
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.

Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.