(h,-if BAT) fi ky a i ‘ ue ¥ Liz ALGEBRAS AND LIE GROUPS. EXAMINATION ICTP DipLoMA CoursE IN HIGH ENERGY Puysics. December 17th 2008, 9am. Hani Stunkosa INSTRUCTIONS. “meee HEP Z008- 20% Answer ALL questions. ‘Time allowed: 3 hours 30 minutes.Question 1. ai, What is the definition of the group $U(2)? aii. If M € SU(2) and M =e", what properties must the matrix T’ have? iii, Write a basis for the set of all such T’s aiv. What is the definition of C(SU/(2)), the Lie Algebra of SU(2)? bi. How many generators does the Lie algebra of SU(2), £(SU(2)) have? bii. Write the relations obeyed by these generators. bili. Give the general definition of a representation of £(SU(2)) ? biv. £(SU(2)) has an important representation called the fundamental rep- resenation. Describe this representation. c. Describe in detail (giving all the derivations) the construction of all the finite dimensional representations of £(SU(2)). ci, £((SU(2)) has a 9-dimensional representation, of spin 4. One of the basis vectors of this representation can be denoted as |4,—2 >. What is the vector J-|4,-2 >? Question 2. ai. What is the definition of the Lie group SO(n)? aii. What is the definition of the Lie group SO(n, 1)? aiii, Elements of $O(n) rotate points in n-dimensional space R®. Construct a basis for the fundamental representation of L(SO(n)). aiv. Using the result of aiié derive the commutation relations of L(SO(n)). av. Interpret this formula geometrically. bi. Elements of the Lorentz group SO(n; 1) can be of two types; rotations or boosts. What is a rotation and what is a boost? bil. The Lie algebra £(SO(n,1)) can be given generators my, which obey the relations [rvs Mpo] = irrpvtoy + MypMvs — MovNou — MyeTvp) (1) Derive all the finite dimensional irreducible representations of £(SO(3, 1)). Dili, Are the finite dimensional representations unitary? Explain your an- swer. biv. One of the irreducible representations of £(SO(3, 1)) is two-dimensional 2and is called a (Weyl or chiral) spinor representation. If Yq is a two- component spinor, describe how this spinor transforms under a boost in any spatial direction. Question 3. ai, Derive the matrices of the four dimensional irreducible representation of L£(SU(2)). aii, Write the matrices of two additional four dimensional representations of L£(SU(2)). aii. Explain why the representations in aii are different from the represen- tation in ai. bi. Decompose R°/? @ RY? into a sum of irreducible representations of L£(SU(2)) and explicitly describe the basis vectors for each irreducible rep- resentation (ie including the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients),