Representation theory of semisimple Lie algebras

Lie groups and Lie algebras
Classical groups General linear GL(n) Special linear SL(n) Orthogonal O(n) Special orthogonal SO(n) Unitary U(n) Special unitary SU(n) Symplectic Sp(n)
Simple Lie groups Classical An Bn Cn Dn Exceptional G2 F4 E6 E7 E8
Other Lie groups Circle Lorentz Poincaré Conformal group Diffeomorphism Loop Euclidean
Lie algebras Lie group–Lie algebra correspondence Exponential map Adjoint representation Killing form Index Simple Lie algebra Loop algebra Affine Lie algebra
Semisimple Lie algebra Dynkin diagrams Cartan subalgebra Root system Weyl group Real form Complexification Split Lie algebra Compact Lie algebra
Representation theory Lie group representation Lie algebra representation Representation theory of semisimple Lie algebras Representations of classical Lie groups Theorem of the highest weight Borel–Weil–Bott theorem
Lie groups in physics Particle physics and representation theory Lorentz group representations Poincaré group representations Galilean group representations
Scientists Sophus Lie Henri Poincaré Wilhelm Killing Élie Cartan Hermann Weyl Claude Chevalley Harish-Chandra Armand Borel
Glossary Table of Lie groups
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In mathematics, the representation theory of semisimple Lie algebras is one of the crowning achievements of the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras. The theory was worked out mainly by E. Cartan and H. Weyl and because of that, the theory is also known as the Cartan–Weyl theory.^[1] The theory gives the structural description and classification of a finite-dimensional representation of a semisimple Lie algebra (over ${\displaystyle \mathbb {C} }$); in particular, it gives a way to parametrize (or classify) irreducible finite-dimensional representations of a semisimple Lie algebra, the result known as the theorem of the highest weight.

There is a natural one-to-one correspondence between the finite-dimensional representations of a simply connected compact Lie group K and the finite-dimensional representations of the complex semisimple Lie algebra ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {g}}}$ that is the complexification of the Lie algebra of K (this fact is essentially a special case of the Lie group–Lie algebra correspondence). Also, finite-dimensional representations of a connected compact Lie group can be studied through finite-dimensional representations of the universal cover of such a group. Hence, the representation theory of semisimple Lie algebras marks the starting point for the general theory of representations of connected compact Lie groups.

The theory is a basis for the later works of Harish-Chandra that concern (infinite-dimensional) representation theory of real reductive groups.