scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1004522
The well-known spectral theorem in linear algebra may be formulated as saying that given a selfadjoint transformation \(S\) of \(\mathbb{R}^n\), there is an orthonormal basis for \(\mathbb{R}^n\) consisting of eigenvectors of \(S\). A somewhat less well-known theorem gives normal forms for skew-adjoint transformations: there is an orthonormal basis with respect to which a skew-adjoint transformation \(A\) satisfies the conditions: \(Ae_i=0\), \(i>2p\); \(Ae_{2i-1}=-\chi_ie_{2i}\), \(Ae_{2i}=\chi_ie_{2i-1}\), \(i\leq p\). A restatement of the above is that \(S\) can be represented by a diagonal matrix and that \(A\) can be represented by a matrix which is block diagonal with \(p\) \(2\times 2\) blocks of the form \[ \left[\begin{matrix} 0&\chi_i\\ -\chi_i&0\end{matrix} \right]. \] In this note we solve the analogous problem when \(\mathbb{R}^n\) is replaced by \(\mathbb{R}^{n,1}\), \((n+1)\)-dimensional Lorentzian space. Our motivation for considering this problem comes from the theory of Lie groups and its application to Hamiltonian systems. If \(G\) is a Lie group, then it acts as linear transformations of its Lie algebra \({\mathcal G}\) by the adjoint action and on the dual space \({\mathcal G}^*\) by the co-adjoint action. When \(G\) is a matrix group, the Lie algebra is a matrix Lie algebra, and the action of \(G\) on \({\mathcal G}\) is just conjugation. In general, the coadjoint action is different from the adjoint action, but when the Lie group is semi-simple there is a natural isomorphism between \({\mathcal G}\) and \({\mathcal G}^*\), and the coadjoint action may also be regarded as conjugation. The orbits of the coadjoint action are symplectic manifolds and form a natural setting for the study of Hamiltonian systems with symmetries. Now in the case where \(G=\text{SO} (n,\mathbb{R})\), the group of orientation-preserving orthogonal transformations of \(\mathbb{R}^n\), the Lie algebra \({\mathcal G}=\text{so}(n)\) is just the algebra of skew-symmetric matrices. The normal forms theorem gives canonical representatives of the orbits of the (co-)adjoint action. Our goal is to give a similar characterization of the orbits of the adjoint action of the semi-simple Lie group \(\text{SO}^+ (n,1)\) on its Lie algebra \(\text{so} (n,1)\). Note that the group \(\text{SO}^+ (n,1)\) is isomorphic to the group of rigid motions of hyperbolic \(n\)-dimensional space, and its Lie algebra in the space of infinitesimal rigid motions (or Killing fields) on hyperbolic space.
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