Group theory |
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Group theory |
Cyclic group Zn
Symmetric group, Sn Dihedral group, Dn Alternating group An Mathieu groups M11, M12, M22, M23, M24 Conway groups Co1, Co2, Co3 Janko groups J1, J2, J3, J4 Fischer groups F22, F23, F24 Baby Monster group B Monster group M |
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Solenoid (mathematics)
Circle group General linear group GL(n) Special linear group SL(n) Orthogonal group O(n) Special orthogonal group SO(n) Unitary group U(n) Special unitary group SU(n) Symplectic group Sp(n) Lorentz group Poincaré group Conformal group Diffeomorphism group Loop group Infinite-dimensional Lie groups O(∞) SU(∞) Sp(∞) |
In mathematics, SO(8) is the special orthogonal group acting on eight-dimensional Euclidean space. It could be either a real or complex simple Lie group of rank 4 and dimension 28.
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Like all special orthogonal groups of SO(8) is not simply connected, having a fundamental group isomorphic to Z2. The universal cover of SO(8) is the spin group Spin(8).
The center of SO(8) is Z2, the diagonal matrices (as for all SO(2n) for ), while the center of Spin(8) is Z2×Z2 (as for all Spin(4n), ).
SO(8) is unique among the simple Lie groups in that its Dynkin diagram (shown right) (D4 under the Dynkin classification) possesses a three-fold symmetry. This gives rise to peculiar feature of Spin(8) known as triality. Related to this is the fact that the two spinor representations, as well as the fundamental vector representation, of Spin(8) are all eight-dimensional (for all other spin groups the spinor representation is either smaller or larger than the vector representation). The triality automorphism of Spin(8) lives in the outer automorphism group of Spin(8) which is isomorphic to the symmetric group S3 that permutes these three representations. The automorphism group acts on the center Z2 x Z2 (which also has automorphism group isomorphic to which may also be considered as the general linear group over the finite field with two elements, ). When one quotients Spin(8) by one central Z2, breaking this symmetry and obtaining SO(8), the remaining outer automorphism group is only Z2. The triality symmetry acts again on the further quotient SO(8)/Z2.
Sometimes Spin(8) appears naturally in an "enlarged" form, as the automorphism group of Spin(8), which breaks up as a semidirect product: .
Its Weyl/Coxeter group has 4!×8=192 elements.