Muhammad Hassaan Saleem

Chapter 5
Exercise 5.1
Take two matrices 𝐴, 𝐵 ∈ 𝑆𝑈(2). Now, we can say the following two things about the product

(𝐴𝐵)† = 𝐵 † 𝐴† = 𝐵 −1 𝐴−1 = (𝐴𝐵)−1

det(𝐴𝐵) = det(𝐴) det(𝐵) = 1 ⇒ 𝐴𝐵 ∈ 𝑆𝑈(2)
Now, for the identity matrix 𝕝2×2, we can say that

(𝕝2×2 )† = (𝕝2×2 )−1

det(𝕝2×2 ) = 1 ⇒ 𝕝2×2 ∈ 𝑆𝑈(2)
We also know that ∀ 𝐴 ∈ 𝑆𝑈(2), 𝐴† = 𝐴−1. So, (𝐴−1 )† = (𝐴† )−1 = (𝐴−1 )−1. So, 𝐴−1 ∈ 𝑆𝑈(2)
At last, we also know that the matrix multiplication is associative. So, 𝑆𝑈(2) is a group.
Exercise 5.2
We take two general elements of 𝑆𝑈(2) i.e. 𝑈1 and 𝑈2 .
𝑧1 𝑧2 𝑤1 𝑤2
𝑈1 = (−𝑧 ∗ 𝑧1∗ ) 𝑈2 = (−𝑤 ∗ 𝑤1∗ )
2 2

Now, [𝑈1 , 𝑈2 ] is
𝑧1 𝑧2 𝑤1 𝑤2 𝑤1 𝑤2 𝑧1 𝑧2
[𝑈1 , 𝑈2 ] = (−𝑧 ∗ ∗) ( ∗) − ( ∗) (
2 𝑧1 −𝑤2∗ 𝑤1 −𝑤2∗ 𝑤1 −𝑧2∗ 𝑧1∗ )
𝑧2∗ 𝑤2 − 𝑧2 𝑤2∗ 𝑧1 𝑤2 + 𝑧2 𝑤1∗ − 𝑤1 𝑧2 − 𝑤2 𝑧1∗
= ( ∗ )≠0
−𝑧2 𝑤1 − 𝑧1∗ 𝑤2∗ + 𝑤2∗ 𝑧1 + 𝑤1∗ 𝑧2∗ −𝑧2∗ 𝑤2 + 𝑧2 𝑤2∗
So, the 𝑆𝑈(2) group is not Abelian
Exercise 5.3
Let the points 𝑧 = (𝑧1 , 𝑧2 ) and 𝑤 = (𝑤1 , 𝑤2 ) br points on 𝑆 3 with |𝑧| = 1 and |𝑤| = 1.
The 𝑆𝑈(2) matrices corresponding to the points 𝑧 and 𝑤 in ℂ2 are
𝑧1 𝑧2 𝑤1 𝑤2
𝑍 = (−𝑧 ∗ 𝑧1∗ ) , 𝑊 = (−𝑤 ∗ 𝑤1∗ )
2 2

The point corresponding to 𝑧 𝑜 𝑤 is given by the following matrix

𝑧1 𝑧2 𝑤1 𝑤2 𝑤1 𝑧1 − 𝑧2 𝑤2∗ 𝑧1 𝑤2 + 𝑧2 𝑤1∗
𝑍𝑊 = (−𝑧 ∗ 𝑧1∗ ) (−𝑤2∗ ∗) = ( )
2 𝑤1 −𝑧2∗ 𝑤1 − 𝑧1∗ 𝑤2∗ −𝑧2∗ 𝑤2 + 𝑧1∗ 𝑤1∗
𝑤1 𝑧1 − 𝑧2 𝑤2∗ 𝑧1 𝑤2 + 𝑧2 𝑤1∗
=( )
−(𝑧1𝑤2 + 𝑧2 𝑤1∗ )∗ (𝑤1 𝑧1 − 𝑧2 𝑤2∗ )∗
So, we see that the corresponding point on 𝑆 3 is given by (𝑤1 𝑧1 − 𝑧2 𝑤2∗ , 𝑧1 𝑤2 + 𝑧2 𝑤1∗ ) ∈ ℂ2
Exercise 5.4
Any 2 × 2 general, anti-hermitian and traceless matrix should have the following form (with 𝑐1 , 𝑐2 , 𝑐3 ∈ ℝ)
𝑖𝑐3 𝑐2 + 𝑖𝑐1
𝑀=( )
−𝑐2 + 𝑖𝑐1 −𝑖𝑐3
𝑖𝑐3 𝑐2 + 𝑖𝑐1 0 1 0 −𝑖 1 0
=( ) = 𝑖𝑐1 ( ) + 𝑖𝑐2 ( ) + 𝑖𝑐3 ( )
−𝑐2 + 𝑖𝑐1 −𝑖𝑐3 1 0 𝑖 0 0 −1
3

= 𝑖 ∑ 𝑐𝑖 𝜎𝑖 (𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛)
𝑖=1

Exercise 5.5
𝑀1 and 𝑀2 can be generators of 𝑆𝑈(2) if they are linear combinations of 𝜎𝑖 for 𝑖 = 1,2,3. So, we have
(summation assumed on repeated indices)

𝑀1 = 𝑐𝑖 𝜎𝑖 , 𝑀2 = 𝑑𝑖 𝜎𝑖
If we want 𝑀1 and 𝑀2 to be independent, then 𝑐𝑖 𝑑𝑖 = 0. Moreover, for normalization purposes, we let
𝑐𝑖 𝑐𝑖 = 𝑑𝑖 𝑑𝑖 = 1
So, the commutator [𝑀1 , 𝑀2 ] becomes

[𝑀1 , 𝑀2 ] = 𝑐𝑖 𝑑𝑗 [𝜎𝑖 , 𝜎𝑗 ] = 2𝑐𝑖 𝑑𝑗 𝜖𝑖𝑗𝑘 𝜎𝑘

So, [𝑀1 , 𝑀2 ] is also a linear combination of 𝜎𝑖 .

Let [𝑀1 , 𝑀2 ] be 𝑀3 . Now, the commutation relations are as follows;

[𝑀1 , 𝑀3 ] = 2𝜖𝑖𝑗𝑘 𝑐𝑝 𝑐𝑖 𝑑𝑗 [𝜎𝑝 , 𝜎𝑘 ] = 4𝜖𝑖𝑗𝑘 𝜖𝑝𝑘𝑙 𝑐𝑝 𝑐𝑖 𝑑𝑗 𝜎𝑙 = 4(𝛿𝑖𝑙 𝛿𝑗𝑝 − 𝛿𝑖𝑝 𝛿𝑗𝑙 )𝑐𝑝 𝑐𝑖 𝑑𝑗 𝜎𝑙

= 4((𝑐𝑖 𝑑𝑖 )𝑀1 − (𝑐𝑖 𝑐𝑖 )𝑀2 ) = −4𝑀2

Moreover, by the Jacobi identity’s, we can verify that

[𝑀1 . [𝑀2 , 𝑀3 ]] = 0

So, [𝑀2 , 𝑀3 ] is proportional to 𝑀1 . So, we see that the set of operators {𝑀1 , 𝑀2 , 𝑀3 } have the usual kind of
commutation relations of 𝑆𝑈(2). So, 𝑀3 = [𝑀1 , 𝑀2 ] is a generator of 𝑆𝑈(2) if 𝑀1 and 𝑀2 are generators.
Exercise 5.6
We say that a general 𝑔 ∈ 𝑆𝑈(2) is parameterized as follows
𝑧1 𝑧2
𝑔(𝑧1 , 𝑧2 ) = (−𝑧 ∗ 𝑧1∗ ) 𝑧1 , 𝑧2 ∈ ℂ
2

Now, as we know that

3

𝑔−1 𝜎𝑎 𝑔 = ∑ 𝑀𝑎𝑏 (𝑔(𝑧1 , 𝑧2 ))𝜎𝑏

𝑏=1

We can construct 𝑀𝑎𝑏 (𝑔(𝑧1 , 𝑧2 )) as follows (after some work)

 𝑅𝑒(𝑧12 − 𝑧22 ) 𝐼𝑚(𝑧12 + 𝑧22 ) −2𝑅𝑒(𝑧1 𝑧2 )
𝑀𝑎𝑏 (𝑔(𝑧1 , 𝑧2 )) = (−𝐼𝑚(𝑧12 − 𝑧22 ) 𝑅𝑒(𝑧12 + 𝑧22 ) 2 𝐼𝑚 (𝑧1 𝑧2 ) )
2𝑅𝑒(𝑧1 𝑧2∗ ) 2 𝐼𝑚 (𝑧1 𝑧2∗ ) |𝑧1 |2 − |𝑧2 |2
Now, we can choose some specific values of 𝑧1 and 𝑧2 to get the following matrices from 𝑆𝑂(3)

𝛼 𝛼 1 0 0
𝑀𝑎𝑏 (𝑔 (cos , −𝑖 sin )) = (0 cos 𝛼 − sin 𝛼 )
2 2
0 sin 𝛼 cos 𝛼

𝛽 𝛽 cos 𝛽 0 − sin 𝛽
𝑀𝑎𝑏 (𝑔 (cos , −sin )) = ( 0 1 0 )
2 2 sin 𝛽 0 cos 𝛽

𝑖𝛾 cos 𝛾 − sin 𝛾 0
−
𝑀𝑎𝑏 (𝑔 (𝑒 2 , 0)) = ( sin 𝛾 cos 𝛾 0)
0 0 1
So, we can see that 𝑔(𝑧1 , 𝑧2 ) exist for all the three Euler transformations and hence, every element of 𝑆𝑂(3)
can be mapped to a 𝑔(𝑧1 , 𝑧2 ) ∈ 𝑆𝑈(2) and hence, the mapping 𝑆𝑈(2) → 𝑆𝑂(3) is surjective. (Shown)
Exercise 5.7
The infinitesimal matrix is given as
𝑀 = 𝕀3 + 𝜖𝑇
In other words, we can say that
𝑀𝑖𝑗 = 𝛿𝑖𝑗 + 𝜖𝑇𝑖𝑗

We calculate the determinant of this infinitesimal matrix element by the Laplace rule

𝜖𝑖𝑗𝑘 det(𝑀) = 𝜖𝑎𝑏𝑐 (𝛿𝑖𝑎 + 𝜖𝑇𝑖𝑎 )(𝛿𝑗𝑏 + 𝜖𝑇𝑗𝑏 )(𝛿𝑘𝑐 + 𝜖𝑇𝑘𝑐 ) = 𝜖𝑖𝑗𝑘 (𝐼 + 𝑡𝑟(𝑇))

So, 𝑡𝑟(𝑇) = 0 for det(𝑀) = 1. But, the matrix 𝑇is anti-symmetric. So, its trace is already 0. So, the
determinant condition doesn’t impose another condition.
Exercise 5.8
Any 3 × 3 real anti symmetric matrix can be written as
0 𝑐3 𝑐2
𝑀 = (−𝑐3 0 𝑐1 ) 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐1 , 𝑐2 , 𝑐3 ∈ ℝ
−𝑐2 −𝑐1 0
Now, we have
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
𝑀 = 𝑐1 (0 0 1) + 𝑐2 ( 0 0 0) + 𝑐3 (−1 0 0) = 𝑐𝑖 𝐽𝑖
0 −1 0 −1 0 0 0 0 0
So, any real, anti-symmetric matrix can be written as a linear combination of 𝐽 matrices.
Exercise 5.9
The 𝐽 matrices are given as
 0 0 0 0 0 −1 0 1 0
𝐽1 = (0 0 1) , 𝐽2 = (0 0 0 ) , 𝐽3 = (−1 0 0)
0 −1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
The commutation relations are as follows
0 1 0
[𝐽1 , 𝐽2 ] = (−1 0 0) = −𝜖123 𝐽3
0 0 0
0 0 0
[𝐽2 , 𝐽3 ] = (0 0 −1) = −𝜖231 𝐽1
0 1 0
0 0 1
[𝐽3 , 𝐽1 ] = ( 0 0 0) = −𝜖312 𝐽2
−1 0 0
So, we have [𝐽𝑖 , 𝐽𝑗 ] = −𝜖𝑖𝑗𝑘 𝐽𝑘

Exercise 5.10
We concentrate on the following expression (summation implied on repeated indices)
𝑔−1 𝜎𝑎 𝑔 = 𝑀𝑎𝑏 (𝑔)𝜎𝑏
Writing its infinitesimal form, we have

(𝕀2 − 𝑖𝜖𝑝 𝜎𝑝 )𝜎𝑎 (𝕀2 + 𝑖𝜖𝑞 𝜎𝑞 ) = (𝕀3 + 𝑖𝜖𝑞 𝑇𝑞 (𝜎𝑎 ))𝑎𝑏 𝜎𝑏

⇒ 𝜎𝑎 − 𝑖𝜖𝑝 [𝜎𝑎 , 𝜎𝑝 ] = 𝜎𝑎 + 𝑖𝜖𝑝 (𝑇𝑝 (𝜎𝑎 ))𝑎𝑏 𝜎𝑏

So, we get

[𝜎𝑝 , 𝜎𝑎 ] = (𝑇𝑝 (𝜎𝑎 ))𝑎𝑏 𝜎𝑏

𝑖
Multiplying by 2 and taking a sum over 𝑎 by multiplying by some numbers 𝑋𝑝 , we get

𝑖𝜎𝑎 𝑖𝜎𝑏
𝑋𝑝 [𝜎𝑝 , ] = 𝑋𝑝 (𝑇𝑝 (𝜎𝑎 ))𝑎𝑏 ( )
2 2
Now, we declare 𝑋𝑝 𝜎𝑝 as , we see that
𝑖𝜎𝑎 𝑖𝜎𝑏
[𝑋, ] = Φab (𝑋) ( )
2 2
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 Φ𝑎𝑏 (𝑋) = 𝑋𝑝 (𝑇𝑝 (𝜎))𝑎𝑏

So, we see that as Φ𝑎𝑏 (𝑋) is a linear combination of the generators of 𝑆𝑂(3), it is also in the Lie algebra of
𝑆𝑂(3).
We can see a fact from the generators of 𝑆𝑂(3)
0 0 0 0 0 −1 0 1 0
𝑇1 = (0 0 1) , 𝑇2 = (0 0 0 ) , 𝑇3 = (−1 0 0)
0 −1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
That the generators 𝑇𝑝 can be written as (𝑇𝑐 )𝑏𝑎 = −𝜖𝑎𝑏𝑐 . Now, since we saw that Φ𝑎𝑏 (𝑋) = 𝑋𝑝 (𝑇𝑝 (𝜎))𝑎𝑏 , we
can conclude that
Φ𝑎𝑏 (𝑋) = −𝜖𝑏𝑎𝑝 𝑋𝑝 (𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛)

Exercise 5.11
The formula of concern is
(𝐽𝑐 )𝑏 𝑎 = −𝜖𝑎𝑏𝑐
We construct the 𝐽 matrices as follows
−𝜖111 −𝜖211 −𝜖311 0 0 0
𝐽1 = (−𝜖211 −𝜖221 −𝜖321 ) = (0 0 1)
−𝜖131 −𝜖231 −𝜖331 0 −1 0
−𝜖112 −𝜖212 −𝜖312 0 0 −1
𝐽2 = (−𝜖122 −𝜖222 −𝜖322 ) = (0 0 0 )
−𝜖132 −𝜖232 −𝜖332 1 0 0
−𝜖113 −𝜖213 −𝜖313 0 1 0
𝐽3 = (−𝜖123 −𝜖223 −𝜖323 ) = (−1 0 0)
−𝜖313 −𝜖233 −𝜖333 0 0 0
So, we get the same matrices as before.
Chapter 6
Exercise 6.1
The commutation relation for 𝑅(𝑇𝑎 ) is
𝑖𝜎𝑐
𝑖[𝜎𝑎 , 𝜎𝑏 ]/2 02 𝑖(𝑖𝜖𝑎𝑏𝑐 𝜎𝑐 /2) 02 02
[𝑅(𝑇𝑎 ), 𝑅(𝑇𝑏 )] = ( )=( ) = 𝑖𝜖𝑎𝑏𝑐 ( 2 ) = 𝑖𝜖𝑎𝑏𝑐 𝑅([𝑇𝑎 , 𝑇𝑏 ])
02 02 02 02
02 02
So, the concerned representation is a representation of 𝑆𝑈(2).
Exercise 6.2
The concerned matrix is
𝑅𝑈 (𝑋) 0𝑚×(𝑛−𝑚)
𝑅𝑊 (𝑋) = ( )
0(𝑛−𝑚)×𝑚 𝑅𝑌 (𝑋)

The commutation of the concerned matrix is

𝑅𝑈 (𝑋) 0𝑚×(𝑛−𝑚) 𝑅𝑈 (𝑌) 0𝑚×(𝑛−𝑚)
[𝑅𝑊 (𝑋), 𝑅𝑊 (𝑌)] = [( ),( )]
0(𝑛−𝑚)×𝑚 𝑅𝑌 (𝑋) 0(𝑛−𝑚)×𝑚 𝑅𝑌 (𝑌)

[𝑅𝑈 (𝑋), 𝑅𝑈 (𝑌)] 0𝑚×(𝑛−𝑚) 𝑅𝑈 ([𝑋, 𝑌]) 0𝑚×(𝑛−𝑚)

=( )=( )
0(𝑛−𝑚)×𝑚 [𝑅𝑌 (𝑋), 𝑅𝑌 (𝑋)] 0(𝑛−𝑚)×𝑚 𝑅𝑌 ([𝑋, 𝑌])

= 𝑅𝑊 ([𝑋, 𝑌])
So, 𝑅𝑊 (𝑋) is a representation.
Exercise 6.3
The commutation relation is
[𝑇𝑎 , 𝑇𝑏 ] = 𝑖𝜖𝑎𝑏𝑐 𝑇𝑐
We can see that the left hand side just gets a negative sign on taking the hermitian conjugate as there are only
products of 𝑇𝑎 and 𝑇𝑏 on that side. It doesn’t matter if the matrices are Hermitian or antihermitian, this side
behaves the same way. However, the right hand side can behave accordingly by changing its sign iff 𝑇𝑎 is
Hermitian. So, 𝑇𝑎 is Hermitian.
Exercise 6.4
[ℎ, 𝑒± ] = [𝑇3 , 𝑇1 ± 𝑖 𝑇2 ] = [𝑇3 , 𝑇1 ] ± 𝑖[𝑇3 , 𝑇2 ] = 𝑖𝜖312 𝑇2 ± 𝑖 (𝑖 𝜖321 𝑇1 )

= ±(𝑇1 ± 𝑖 𝑇2 ) = ±𝑒±
Moreover, we have
[𝑒+ , 𝑒− ] = [𝑇1 + 𝑖𝑇2 , 𝑇1 − 𝑖𝑇2 ] = −𝑖[𝑇1 , 𝑇2 ] + 𝑖[𝑇2 , 𝑇1 ] = 𝑇3 + 𝑇3 = 2𝑇3 = 2ℎ
Exercise 6.5
We investigate the following object
𝐸+ 𝐸−𝑛
Using the commutation relation [𝐸+ , 𝐸− ] = 2𝐻, we get

2𝐻𝐸−𝑛−1 + 𝐸− 𝐸+ 𝐸−𝑛−1
Using the commutation relation recursively, we get

𝐸+ 𝐸−𝑛 = (2𝑝)𝐻𝐸−𝑛−1 + 2(1 + 2 + ⋯ + (𝑝 − 1))𝐸−𝑛−1 + 𝐸−𝑝 𝐸+ 𝐸−𝑛−𝑝

When 𝑝 = 𝑛, we get the following action on the highest state

𝐸+ 𝐸−𝑛 𝜙 ′ = 2𝑛𝐻𝐸−𝑛−1 𝜙 ′ + 𝑛(𝑛 − 1)𝐸−𝑛−1 𝜙 ′ (𝑖𝑖𝑖)
I used the formula for the summation of integers and the fact that 𝜙′ is annihilated by 𝐸+ .
Now, we can use the commutation relation [𝐻, 𝐸− ] = −𝐸− to deduce after some simple algebra that

𝐻𝐸−𝑛−1 𝜙 ′ = (𝑗 − 𝑛 + 1)𝐸−𝑛−1 𝜙′
So, (𝑖𝑖𝑖) becomes
𝐸+ 𝐸−𝑛 𝜙 ′ = [2𝑛(𝑗 − 𝑛 + 1) + 𝑛(𝑛 − 1)]𝐸−𝑛−1 𝜙 ′
= 𝑛(2𝑗 − 𝑛 + 1)𝐸−𝑛−1 𝜙′
Exercise 6.6
Using the commutation relation [𝑒+ , 𝑒− ] = 2ℎ, we have
1 1
𝐶2 = ℎ2 + (𝑒+ 𝑒− + 𝑒− 𝑒+ ) = ℎ2 + (2ℎ + 2𝑒− 𝑒+ ) = ℎ2 + ℎ + 𝑒− 𝑒+
2 2
[𝐶2 , ℎ] = [𝑒− 𝑒+ , ℎ] = [𝑒− , ℎ]𝑒+ + 𝑒− [𝑒+ , ℎ] = −2𝑒− 𝑒+ + 2𝑒− 𝑒+ = 0
 [𝐶2 , 𝑒− ] = [ℎ2 , 𝑒− ] + [ℎ, 𝑒− ] + [𝑒− 𝑒+ , 𝑒− ]
= −ℎ𝑒− − 𝑒− ℎ − 𝑒− + 2ℎ𝑒− = ℎ𝑒− − ℎ𝑒− = 0
A similar calculation shows that [𝐶2 , 𝑒+ ] = 0

Exercise 6.7
We know that [𝐶2 , 𝑒− ] = 0. Since all the states are made by applying 𝑒− on the highest weight state 𝜙′, we can
immediately see from the above commutation relation that the value that 𝐶2 assumes for 𝜙′ is the value
assumed by every other state. Moreover, the last term in 𝐶2 doesn’t contribute to 𝐶2 𝜙′ as 𝜙′ is annihilated by
𝑒+ .
So, the value assumed by all the states is calculated as follows

𝐶2 𝜙 ′ = (ℎ2 + ℎ)𝜙 ′ = 𝑗(𝑗 + 1)𝜙 ′ (𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛)

Exercise 6.8
The 𝑗 = 0 has only one generator. So we can call it the spin zero representation. It is a trivial representation.
Exercise 6.9
We assume that
[𝑅(𝑋), 𝑅(𝑌)] = 𝑅([𝑋, 𝑌])
Then
[𝑅 ∗ (𝑋), 𝑅 ∗ (𝑌)] = (([𝑅∗ (𝑋), 𝑅 ∗ (𝑌)])∗ )∗ = (𝑅(𝑌)𝑅(𝑋) − 𝑅(𝑋)𝑅(𝑌))∗ = −𝑅 ∗ ([𝑋, 𝑌])
⇒ [𝑅 ∗ (𝑋), 𝑅 ∗ (𝑌)] = −𝑅 ∗ ([𝑋, 𝑌])
We can multiply the left hand side two times by −1 and it doesn’t matter. So, we can write the equation as
[−𝑅 ∗ (𝑋), −𝑅 ∗ (𝑌)] = −𝑅 ∗ ([𝑋, 𝑌]) (𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛)