Problem of extending representations (Q1059162)

When a group representation, possessing an invariant subspace, is written, in matrix terms, in upper triangular block form, the off- diagonal block defines an element of a first cohomology group. This point of view can be generalised to the case of nested invariant subspaces. For two subspaces the full representation defines a quintuple consisting of three subrepresentations/quotient representations together with a pair of elements from two first cohomology groups. Furthermore, the cohomological product of these elements into a third first cohomology group is forced to be zero by the representation property. On the other hand given such a quintuple, but where the cohomological product is not necessarily zero, there is an obstruction to constructing a representation of the group. It is shown, however that a representation of a group extension can be found. This set up is explored further in the case of unitary representations in an indefinite metric, and illustrated by use of a group which is a semi-direct product of the multiplicative group of positive real numbers with the additive group of n-dimensional real vectors.