Casimir goes to Casimir

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In mathematics, "Casimir goes to Casimir" is an aphorism expressing the centrality and universality of the Casimir operator. This can be summarized as follows:

Given any representation V of a semisimple Lie algbera \mathfrak{g}, the Casimir operator induces a \mathfrak{g}-module homomorphism Ω of V (as follows from the centrality of the Casimir operator). Let now V1,V2 be two representations of \mathfrak{g} with corresponding Casimir operators Ω12, and f:V_1\to V_2 a \mathfrak{g}-module homomorphism. Then since Ω is a member of the universal enveloping algebra, it commutes with f, i.e. f\circ \Omega_1=\Omega_2\circ f. Stated less rigorously, Casimir goes to Casimir under any \mathfrak{g}-module homomorphism.