The antisymmetrized direct product of the basis

{x, y} in C3v
AtkinsFriedman, p. 169
The character table for the group C3v is
C3v

2 C3

3 v

A1
A2
E

1
1
2

1
1
1

1
1
0

z, z 2 , x2 + y 2
{x, y}, {xy, x2 y 2 }, {xz, yz}

Rz
Rx , Ry

The general formula to calculate the characters of the antisymmetrized direct

product of the basis that spans the irreducible representation (l) is


1  (l)
() (R) =
(R)2 (l) R2 .
2
The basis {x, y} in C3v spans E, so were going to find the characters of the
antisymmetric part of E E:

1  (E)
(E)2 (E) (E)
() (E) =
2
1
= (4 2) = 1;
2

1  (E)
(C3 )2 (E) (C3 )
2
1
= (1 (1)) = 1;
2

() (C3 ) =


1  (E)
(v )2 (E) (E)
2
1
= (0 2) = 1.
2

() (v ) =

The characters 1, 1 and 1 for, respectively, E, C3 and v correspond to the

symmetry species A2 . We conclude that the antisymmetric part of E E is A2 .