scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1339030

Publication date 22 September 1999

History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) History of mathematics in the 20th century (01A60) Structure theory for Lie algebras and superalgebras (17B05) Representations of Lie algebras and Lie superalgebras, algebraic theory (weights) (17B10) Representations of Lie algebras and Lie superalgebras, analytic theory (17B15) Lie (super)algebras associated with other structures (associative, Jordan, etc.) (17B60) Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to topological groups (22-01) History of topological groups (22-03) Representations of Lie and linear algebraic groups over real fields: analytic methods (22E45) Semisimple Lie groups and their representations (22E46) Applications of Lie groups to the sciences; explicit representations (22E70)

Review text

This is a more than ten years old paper describing the famous success of Lie theory in the century from 1888, when Sophus Lie started publishing his book ``Theorie der Transformationsgruppen and Killing classified complex semisimple Lie algebras to 1988. The author did not intend to follow the historical evolution of the theory but to report on developments and results in its internal coherence and interdependence. In an introducing first part he starts from linear algebra describing factorization of generic matrices in products of unipotent triangular and diagonal matrices as the essential example of Bruhat decomposition in semisimple or reductive Lie groups. He discusses applications in algebraic geometry, in arithmetic groups, and in the construction of simple finite groups. The title of the second part is: An outline of Lie theory. It starts with the sentence: ``The glue that binds Lie theory together is the notion of a one-parameter group and its infinitesimal generator. From this point of view he discusses the exponential mapping, the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula and the connections between Lie groups and Lie algebras. Discussing the root lattice and the Weyl group there is a list of Coxeter graphs and the Dynkin diagrams followed by a flow diagram putting together all the essentials of Lie theory and the dependences. Only the universal enveloping algebra is missing. The Serre description of simple Lie algebras in terms of generators and relations based on the Cartan matrix is given followed by some hints on Kac-Moody algebras. Applications of reflection groups in invariant theory and in representation theory of graphs are mentioned. The third part is dedicated to Representation theory. Referring to Appendix 1 (Basic concepts of representation theory) the author starts with an example: the quantum harmonic oscillator; ``\(\dots\)to illustrate the potential uses of representation theory, and its attraction. Heisenbergs canonical commutation relations (CCR) are deduced and representations of the Heisenberg Lie algebra are discussed as well as the nilpotent Heisenberg group. There are hints on relations of CCR to invariant theory, algebraic varieties, number theory, \(\theta\)-series, \(K\)-theory, differential equations (Hamiltonian systems), pseudo-differential and Fourier integral operators, etc. Next the author turns to a description of the famous orbit method or geometric quantization, though remarking that it is almost exclusively a method of interpretation and provides little for proofs and computations. After discussing symplectic manifolds and coadjoint and Hamiltonian actions of Lie groups by symplectomorphisms, the author turns to Kirillov's polarization construction for nilpotent groups and his results concerning representations of connected, simply connected nilpotent Lie groups. As an illustration the classical Stone-von Neumann theorem is cited as a specialization for the Heisenberg group. There are results to extend Kirillov's theorem to solvable groups obtained especially by Pukanszky. The representation theory of compact Lie groups and complex semisimple reductive Lie algebras based on Cartans highest weight theory is started with a discussion of \(sl_2\). A generalization of the description of finite-dimensional irreducible representations from \(sl_2\) to all finite-dimensional complex semisimple Lie algebras is given. In a remark fundamental representations and Verma modules are discussed. The next tool is Weyl's character formula and the theorem of Peter-Weyl, i.e. the author turns to regular representations on square integrable functions and their subrepresentations, and then describes Borel-Weil-theory - realization of representations by means of cohomology of line bundles over flag varieties. An illustration of the general theory is given for \(SU_n\). The connection to the orbit method is indicated and the geometric quantization version of the basic representation theory of compact groups is completed by Harish-Chandra's interpretation of Weyl's character formula. According to the representation theory of noncompact semisimple Lie groups, which has attracted a substantial number of mathematicians proving results on finite- and infinite-dimensional, unitary and nonunitary irreducible representations, the author restricts himself to summarize some highlights. He first discusses the notion of principal series as ``\(\dots\) the main concrete objects of study in the representation theory of noncompact semisimple groups \(\dots\). Next Harish-Chandra's notion of tempered representations is noted as an essential point to perform spectral analysis in the space of square integrable functions on noncompact semisimple groups. Discrete series are defined for unimodular locally compact groups and the implications by this definition are shown by a theorem of Godement. In the case of semisimple Lie groups the relations between discrete series and tempered representations are explained. The last two subpoints of the third part on representation theory are devoted to a review of the classifications of irreducible admissible representations of semisimple Lie groups by Langlands and by Vogan, and to the so-called derived functor modules. The heading of the fourth part is: Other directions and applications; and the content is given as follows: 4.1 Combinatorics; 4.1.1 \(S\)-functions, 4.1.2 Multiplicities, 4.1.3 Current events, 4.2 Automorphic forms; 4.3 Physics, geometry, and differential equations. In this point the author recalls several connections between physics, geometry, and differential equations with Lie theory in a general context and with some more detail in two opposite aspects of dynamical systems theory, namely ergodicity on the one side and completely integrable systems on the other. The fourth part almost starts with the following rhetorical question: ``\(\dots\)to what extent should one include the more exotic algebraic structures dreamed up in physics - Jordan algebras, Kac-Moody algebras, Lie `superalgebras', quantum groups, vertex algebras - in `Lie theory'? The reviewer believes that the developments in the last decade have clearly shown that at least Kac-Moody algebras, Lie superalgebras, quantum groups, and vertex algebras not only fit into the framework of Lie theory but are an essential part of it. Investigations on Kac-Moody and affine Lie algebras and the corresponding groups are in a direction of research intended by Sophus Lie himself under the catchword: ``Unendliche Transformationsgruppen. In an introductory remark the author apologizes: ``I make here a blanket apology to the many investigators whose interesting results will be slighted or ignored completely; or maybe worse, treated clumsily. The role of universal enveloping algebra in representation theory is treated marginally by the author, and he ignores the work of Hochschild. In the big list of references (26 pages) Hochschild is cited only once with one of his books. Hochschild introduced Hopf algebras into Lie theory and by this way opened a new possibility to play the fundamental game between representations of the group and representations of its corresponding Lie algebra: by duality (at least in the case of certain algebraic groups). This is basic in the development of quantum groups by the deformation of universal enveloping algebras as well as the definition of vertex algebras. Quantum groups and vertex algebras are from the point of Hopf algebra theory by no means ``exotic algebraic structures and these structures are not only ``dreamed up in physics but investigated in mathematics as a part of Lie theory with important applications in noncommutative geometry and integrable systems. Nevertheless, the paper should be recommended to everyone who is interested in Lie theory or even aims to work in this area. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0921.00016].

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