Phys 701: Group Theory Assignment 1

Due: 3 June 2018

1. Basic facts about groups. Let ( G, ·) be any group, and let e be its identity element.
Prove the following.

(a) The cancellation rule holds. That is, if a, b, c ∈ G and a · b = a · c or b · a = c · a,

then b = c.
(b) The identity element is unique. That is, if e0 is an element in G such that, for all
g ∈ G, e0 · g = g · e0 = g, prove that e0 = e.
(c) The inverse element is unique. That is, if b and c satisfy b · a = a · b = e and
c · a = a · c = e for some a ∈ G, prove that b = c.
(d) Group homomorphisms preserve identity. That is, let ( G 0 , ·0 ) be another group
whose identity element is e0 and let ϕ : G → G 0 be a group homomorphism.
Prove that ϕ(e) = e0 .
(e) Group homomorphisms preserve inverses. That is, ϕ g−1 = ϕ( g)−1 .

2. Dihedral group of order eight. One convenient ‘presentation’ of D4 , the dihedral

group of order eight, is as follows. Define the complex functions R and C such
that, for any a, b ∈ R,

R( a + ib) = −b + ia and C ( a + ib) = a − ib.

Another way to say this is that R( x ) = ix and C ( x ) = x ∗ , the complex conjugate

of x for any x ∈ C. Then D4 = h R, C i, where the group operation is function
composition (◦). In other words, D4 is generated by R and C.

(a) Show that C ◦ R ◦ C = R−1 . Hence show that D4 as defined here does indeed
have order 8.
(b) Show that this presentation of D4 is isomorphic to the presentation involving
cycle notation. (Recall that an isomorphism is a bijective homomorphism.)
(c) Find all the subgroups of D4 . Which ones are invariant?

  number can be written as a two-dimensional real vector: a +

(d) Any complex
a
ib 7→ . Using this fact, define a faithful representation ρ : D4 →
b
GL R2 . (Recall that a faithful representation of a group G is an injective

homomorphism from G to the general linear group of some vector space.)

(e) Show that ρ is irreducible; i.e. there is no one-dimensional subspace V ⊂ R2
such that, for any v ∈ V and any A ∈ ρ ( D4 ), Av ∈ V.

1
3. The Pauli Group. Define the Pauli matrices to be
     
0 1 0 −i 1 0
σ1 := , σ2 := , σ3 := ,
1 0 i 0 0 −1
where i is the usual complex unit (i.e. i2 = −1). Define σ0 to be the 2 × 2 identity
matrix. The Pauli group is the set
n  o
(−i )` σk k, ` = 0, 1, 2, 3


together with matrix multiplication as its group operation.

(a) Prove that the Pauli group is indeed a group.
(b) Prove that the Pauli group is generated by the Pauli matrices, i.e. show that
the Pauli group is equal to hσ1 , σ2 , σ3 i.
(c) Identify the conjugacy classes of the Pauli group.
(d) Identify all subgroups of the Pauli group. Which are invariant?
4. Discrete Fourier Transform. Let Z/nZ denote the integers modulo n for some
natural number n > 1. The group operation is addition modulo n. For any
` ∈ Z/nZ, define the function χ` : Z/nZ → GL(1, C) such that
χ` (k) := eik`π/n .
(a) Show that χ` is a representation of Z/nZ for every ` ∈ Z/nZ. The repre-
sentation χ` is called a character of Z/nZ
(b) Define a product ∗ between characters as follows: for any `, `0 ∈ Z/nZ,
χ` ∗ χ`0 is the representation χ`,`0 defined so that
χ `,` 0 ( k ) : = χ ` ( k ) χ ` 0 ( k ) .
Show that {χ` |` ∈ Z/nZ} equipped with the ∗ product is an abelian group.
This is called the character group of Z/nZ.
(c) Show that Z/nZ is isomorphic to its character group.
(d) Show that
∑ χ` (k )χ`0 (k ) = nδ`,`0 .
k∈Z/nZ

(e) Define the discrete Fourier transform matrix

 
χ0 (0) χ1 (0) ··· χ n −1 (0 )
1  χ0 (1)
 χ1 (1) ··· χ n −1 (1 ) 
F = (χ` (k ))k,` = √  .

.. .. ... ..
n . . . 
χ0 ( n − 1) χ1 ( n − 1) · · · χ n −1 ( n − 1 )

Show that F is unitary, i.e that F † F = I where

χ0 (0) ∗ χ0 (1) ∗ · · · χ0 ( n − 1) ∗
 
∗ χ1 (1) ∗ · · · χ1 ( n − 1) ∗
1  χ1 (0)

F † = (χk (`)∗ )k,` = √  .

.. .. ... ..
n . . . 
χ n −1 (0 ) ∗ χ n −1 (1 ) ∗ · · · χ n −1 ( n − 1 ) ∗