GROUP THEORY

DEFINITIONS
GROUP 1. Closure property 2. Associative property 3. Identity element 4. Inverse SEMI-GROUP Only Closure and Associative property IDEMPOTENT For a G if a2 = a Only idempotent element in a group is the identity element. ABELIAN GROUP Holds Commutative property ORDER OF GROUP The number of elements in a group G is called the order of group G and is denoted by o(G) or |G|. ORDER OF ELEMENT OF GROUP If G is a group, a G, the order or period of a is the least positive integer n such that an = e. The order of a is denoted by o(a) or |a|. SUBGROUP A subset H of a group G is called the subgroup of G if H itself is a group under the same binary operation as dened in G. A subset H of a group G may itself be a group under an operation dierent from that in G, in this case H will not be a subgroup of G. TRIVIAL and NON-TRIVIAL SUBGROUPS Every group G has atleast two subgroups namely G itself and the identity group {e}. These are called the trivial subgroups of G. Any other subgroup of G is called a non-trivial subgroup of G. CYCLIC GROUP (under multiplication) A group G is said to be cyclic group under multiplication if each element of G is a power of one and the same element of G. Such an element of the

group is called the generator of the group. G = {a : an = e} G is a cyclic group of order n generated by a. CYCLIC GROUP (under addition) A group G is said to be a cyclic group under addition generated by a if each element of G is a multiple of a. G = {ka : k Z} CYCLIC SUBGROUP If G is not a cyclic group and H is a subgroup of G such that H = {an : n Z} for some xed a G, then H is called the cyclic subgroup of G. COSETS (under multiplication) Let H be a subgroup of a group (G, .) and a G, then the set aH = {ah : h H} is said to be the left coset of H in G determined by a. Let H be a subgroup of a group (G, .) and a G, then the set Ha = {ha : h H} is said to be the right coset of H in G determined by a. COSETS (under addition) If H is a subgroup of (G, +) and a G, then the set a + H = {a + h : h H} is left coset of H in G determined by a. If H is a subgroup of (G, +) and a G, then the set H + a = {h + a : h H} is right coset of H in G determined by a. PARTITION A collection {A : I} of subsets of set A is called the partition of A if: 1. A = I A 2. A A =

 INDEX The number of left (or right) cosets of subgroups H of a group G is called the index of H in G and is denoted by [G : H] PERMUTATION Let X be a non-empty set. A bijective mapping f : X X is called the permutation on X. If X has n elements, then n! permutations can be taken on X. The permutation f on X is usually written as: f= x1 (x1 )f x2 (x2 )f x3 (x3 )f x4 (x4 )f x5 (x5 )f

where the rst row consists of the elements of X, while the second row consists of their corresponding images under f (images also belong to X). Permutation groups are of considerable importance in quantum mechanics. Consider a system of n identical objects. If we interchange any two or more of these objects, the resulting conguration is indistinguishable from the original one. We can consider each interchange as a transformation of the system and then all such possible transformations form a group under which the system is invariant. IDENTITY PERMUTATION Let X be a non-empty set. A permutation I : X X is said to be the identity permutation on X if: (x)I = x x X

INVERSE PERMUTATION Let X be a non-empty set and f : X X be a permutation on X such that (x)f = y, x, y X then the inverse permutation, f 1 : X X of f is dened as: (y)f 1 = x, Thus: f 1 = x1 (x1 )f 1 x2 (x2 )f 1 x3 (x3 )f 1 x4 (x4 )f 1 x5 (x5 )f 1 x, y X

How to nd inverse permutation: 1. Write images in rst row and corresponding pre-images in second row. 2. Rearrange the columns.

e.g. f= f 1 = = 1 3 3 1 1 4 2 5 5 2 2 6 3 4 4 3 3 1 4 1 1 4 4 3 5 7 7 5 5 2 6 2 2 6 6 7 7 6 6 7 7 5

PRODUCT OF PERMUTATIONS If f : X X and g : X X are two permutations on a non-empty set X, then the permutation f g : X X on X dened as (x)f g = ((x)f )gx X is called product of permutations f and g. The product of two permutations f and g is also called composition of permutations and is denoted by f g. In general, f g = g f Note: If X consists of elements 1, 2, ..., 9 then the symbol (1, 2, 4, 2, 6) means the permutation 1 3 2 6 3 4 4 2 5 5 6 1 7 7 8 8 9 9

CYCLIC PERMUTATION Let X be a non-empty set. Let Y = x1 , x2 , ...., xr be a subset of X consisting of r elements, then the permutation f on X is said to be cyclic permutation or cycle of lenght r if (x1 )f = x2 (x2 )f = x3 (x3 )f = x4 . . . . . . x X Y

(xr )f = x1 and (x)f = x

Note: Product of two cyclic permutations need not be cyclic. DEGREE OF PERMUTATION If X is a nite set having n elements and f is a permutation on X, then n is called degree of permutation of f . 4

 ORDER OF PERMUTATION The order of permutation f on a non-empty set X is the least positive integer n such that f n = I, where I is the identity permutation. How to nd order of permutation: 1. Decompose f as a product of cyclic permutations f1 , f2 , . . . , fk of lengths n1 , n2 , . . . , nk respectively (ignoring the cycles of length 1 which represent identity permutaiton). 2. Order of f = L.C.M of n1 , n2 , . . . , nk SYMMETRIC GROUP (Sn , ) The set Sn of all permutations on a set X with n elements is a group under the operation of composition of permutations. The group (Sn , ) of permutations on X is called the symmetric group of degree n. The order of Sn is n!. TRANSPOSITION A cycle of lenght two is called transposition. e.g. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 9 4 5 6 7 8 is a transposition. EVEN and ODD PERMUTATIONS A permutation f in Sn is said to be an even permutation if it can be written as a product of an even number of transpositions. A permutation f in Sn is said to be an odd permutation if it can be written as a product of an odd number of transpositions.

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THEOREMS
If G is a group, then (ab)1 = b1 a1 If G is an abelian group then: (ab)n = an bn If a.a = e a, b G then: G is an abelian group. If each element of a group G is its own inverse, then: G is an abelian group. If a group G has three elements, then: G is an abelian group. 5 a, b G, n Z a, b G

 If G is a group such that (ab)n = an bn for three consecutive natural numbers n, then: G is an abelian group. Let (G, ) be a group. A non-empty subset H of G is a subgroup of G if and only if a, b H, the element a b H, where b is the inverse of b. Let (G, ) be a group. A non-empty subset H of G is a subgroup of G if and only if: 1. a, b H a b H 2. a H a H where a is inverse of a Let (G, .) (or (G, +)) be a group and H be a non-empty nite subset of G such that H is closed under multiplication (addition) then H is a subgroup of G. The intersection of any collection of subgroups of a group (G, ) is a subgroup of G. Teh union of two subgroups H and K of a group G is a subgroup of G if and only if either H K or K H. Let G be an abelian group and H the set of all elements of nite order in G, then H is a subgroup of G. Let G be a group and H a subgroup of G then for any a G, the set aHa1 (or a1 Ha) is a subgroup of G. Let (G, ) be an abelian group and H a subset of G consisting of those elements a G such that a = a then H is a subgroup of G. Let (G, ) be an abelian group and H a subset of G consisting of those elements of G which are of the second order, then H is a subgroup of G. Let H be the subset of a group G, then H is a subgroup of G if and only if: 1. H 2 = H 2. H 1 = H If H and K are subgroups of an abelian group then HK is a subgroup of G. Every subgroup of an abelian group is abelian. Every cyclic group is abelian. Every subgroup of a cyclic group is cyclic. The order of a cyclic group is equal to the order of its generator. 6

 An innite cyclic group has exactly two distinct generators (if a is a generator then other generator is a1 ). If G is a cyclic group of order n generated by a, then for each positive divisor d of n, there is a unique subgroup of G of order d. If H is a subgroup of G then H itself is both left coset and right coset of H in G. Let H be a subgroup of a group G, then the set of all left cosests (or all right cosets) of H in G denes a partition of G. In an abelian group, every left coset is equal to the corresponding right coset. Let H be a subgroup of a group G, then the number of left cosets is equal to the number of right cosets in G. LAGRANGE THEOREM: The index and the order of a subgroup of a nite group divides the order of the group. The order of an element of a nite group divides the order of the group. Any group of prime order is cyclic. Any group of prime order has no non-trivial subgroups. If a is an element of a group G, then a|G| = e (|G| = order of group ) If H and K are two nite subgroups of a group G with relatively prime orders, then H K = {e}. Every permutation of degree n can be written as product of cyclic permutations acting on mutually disjoint sets. The order of a cyclic permutation of length n is n. Every cyclic permutation can be expressed as a product of transpositions. (a1 , a2 , a3 , , ak ) = (a1 , a2 )(a1 , a3 )(a1 , a4 ) (a1 , ak ) or = (a2 , a1 )(a2 , a3 )(a2 , a4 ) (a2 , ak ) Hence every cyclic permutation can be expressed as a product of transpositions, possibly in innitely many ways. Every permutation of degree n can be expressed as a product of transpositions. The product of two even or odd permutations is an even permutation. The product of an even permutation and an odd permutation. 7

 The number of even permutations in Sn is equal to the number of odd permutations in Sn for all n 2. The set of even permutations is a subgroup of S3 .
(Summary Notes of Basic Group Theory by Arooj Mukarram)