Coxeter group
In mathematics, a Coxeter group, named after H. S. M. Coxeter, is an abstract group that admits a formal description in terms of reflections (or kaleidoscopic mirrors). Indeed, the finite Coxeter groups are precisely the finite Euclidean reflection groups; the symmetry groups of regular polyhedra are an example. However, not all Coxeter groups are finite, and not all can be described in terms of symmetries and Euclidean reflections. Coxeter groups were introduced (Coxeter 1934) as abstractions of reflection groups, and finite Coxeter groups were classified in 1935 (Coxeter 1935).
Coxeter groups find applications in many areas of mathematics. Examples of finite Coxeter groups include the symmetry groups of regular polytopes, and the Weyl groups of simple Lie algebras. Examples of infinite Coxeter groups include the triangle groups corresponding to regular tessellations of the Euclidean plane and the hyperbolic plane, and the Weyl groups of infinite-dimensional Kac–Moody algebras.
Standard references include (Humphreys 1992) and (Davis 2007).
Contents
1 Definition
1.1 Coxeter matrix and Schläfli matrix
2 An example
3 Connection with reflection groups
4 Finite Coxeter groups
4.1 Classification
4.2 Weyl groups
4.3 Properties
4.4 Symmetry groups of regular polytopes
5 Affine Coxeter groups
6 Hyperbolic Coxeter groups
7 Partial orders
8 Homology
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
Definition
Formally, a Coxeter group can be defined as a group with the presentation
- ⟨r1,r2,…,rn∣(rirj)mij=1⟩displaystyle leftlangle r_1,r_2,ldots ,r_nmid (r_ir_j)^m_ij=1rightrangle
where mii=1displaystyle m_ii=1 and mij≥2displaystyle m_ijgeq 2 for i≠jdisplaystyle ineq j.
The condition mij=∞displaystyle m_ij=infty means no relation of the form (rirj)mdisplaystyle (r_ir_j)^m should be imposed.
The pair (W,S)displaystyle (W,S) where Wdisplaystyle W is a Coxeter group with generators S=r1,…,rndisplaystyle S=r_1,dots ,r_n is called a Coxeter system. Note that in general Sdisplaystyle S is not uniquely determined by Wdisplaystyle W. For example, the Coxeter groups of type B3displaystyle B_3 and A1×A3displaystyle A_1times A_3 are isomorphic but the Coxeter systems are not equivalent (see below for an explanation of this notation).
A number of conclusions can be drawn immediately from the above definition.
- The relation mii=1displaystyle m_ii=1 means that (riri)1=(ri)2=1displaystyle (r_ir_i)^1=(r_i)^2=1 for all idisplaystyle i ; as such the generators are involutions.
- If mij=2displaystyle m_ij=2, then the generators ridisplaystyle r_i and rjdisplaystyle r_j commute. This follows by observing that
xx=yy=1displaystyle xx=yy=1,
- together with
- xyxy=1displaystyle xyxy=1
- implies that
xy=x(xyxy)y=(xx)yx(yy)=yxdisplaystyle xy=x(xyxy)y=(xx)yx(yy)=yx.
- Alternatively, since the generators are involutions, ri=ri−1displaystyle r_i=r_i^-1, so (rirj)2=rirjrirj=rirjri−1rj−1displaystyle (r_ir_j)^2=r_ir_jr_ir_j=r_ir_jr_i^-1r_j^-1, and thus is equal to the commutator.
- In order to avoid redundancy among the relations, it is necessary to assume that mij=mjidisplaystyle m_ij=m_ji. This follows by observing that
yy=1displaystyle yy=1,
- together with
- (xy)m=1displaystyle (xy)^m=1
- implies that
(yx)m=(yx)myy=y(xy)my=yy=1displaystyle (yx)^m=(yx)^myy=y(xy)^my=yy=1.
- Alternatively, (xy)kdisplaystyle (xy)^k and (yx)kdisplaystyle (yx)^k are conjugate elements, as y(xy)ky−1=(yx)kyy−1=(yx)kdisplaystyle y(xy)^ky^-1=(yx)^kyy^-1=(yx)^k.
Coxeter matrix and Schläfli matrix
The Coxeter matrix is the n×ndisplaystyle ntimes n, symmetric matrix with entries mijdisplaystyle m_ij. Indeed, every symmetric matrix with diagonal entries exclusively 1 and nondiagonal entries in the set 2,3,…∪∞displaystyle 2,3,ldots cup infty is a Coxeter matrix.
The Coxeter matrix can be conveniently encoded by a Coxeter diagram, as per the following rules.
- The vertices of the graph are labelled by generator subscripts.
- Vertices idisplaystyle i and jdisplaystyle j are adjacent if and only if mij≥3displaystyle m_ijgeq 3.
- An edge is labelled with the value of mijdisplaystyle m_ij whenever the value is 4displaystyle 4 or greater.
In particular, two generators commute if and only if they are not connected by an edge.
Furthermore, if a Coxeter graph has two or more connected components, the associated group is the direct product of the groups associated to the individual components.
Thus the disjoint union of Coxeter graphs yields a direct product of Coxeter groups.
The Coxeter matrix, Mijdisplaystyle M_ij, is related to the n×ndisplaystyle ntimes n Schläfli matrix Cdisplaystyle C with entries Cij=−2cos(π/Mij)displaystyle C_ij=-2cos(pi /M_ij), but the elements are modified, being proportional to the dot product of the pairwise generators. The Schläfli matrix is useful because its eigenvalues determine whether the Coxeter group is of finite type (all positive), affine type (all non-negative, at least one zero), or indefinite type (otherwise). The indefinite type is sometimes further subdivided, e.g. into hyperbolic and other Coxeter groups. However, there are multiple non-equivalent definitions for hyperbolic Coxeter groups.
Coxeter group | A1×A1 | A2 | B2 | H2 | G2 | I~1displaystyle tilde I_1 | A3 | B3 | D4 | A~3displaystyle tilde A_3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coxeter diagram | ||||||||||
Coxeter matrix | [1221]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&2\2&1\endsmallmatrixright] | [1331]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&3\3&1\endsmallmatrixright] | [1441]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&4\4&1\endsmallmatrixright] | [1551]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&5\5&1\endsmallmatrixright] | [1661]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&6\6&1\endsmallmatrixright] | [1∞∞1]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&infty \infty &1\endsmallmatrixright] | [132313231]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&3&2\3&1&3\2&3&1endsmallmatrixright] | [142413231]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&4&2\4&1&3\2&3&1endsmallmatrixright] | [1322313323122321]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&3&2&2\3&1&3&3\2&3&1&2\2&3&2&1endsmallmatrixright] | [1323313223133231]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix1&3&2&3\3&1&3&2\2&3&1&3\3&2&3&1endsmallmatrixright] |
Schläfli matrix | [2002]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix2&0\0&2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−1−1 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix ,2&-1\-1& ,2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−2−2 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix ,2&-sqrt 2\-sqrt 2& ,2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−ϕ−ϕ 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix ,2&-phi \-phi & ,2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−3−3 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix ,2&-sqrt 3\-sqrt 3& ,2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−2−2 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix ,2&-2\-2& ,2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−1 0−1 2−1 0−1 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix ,2&-1& ,0\-1& ,2&-1\ ,0&-1& ,2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−2 0−2 2−1 0 −1 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix , 2&-sqrt 2& ,0\-sqrt 2& , 2&-1\ , 0& ,-1& ,2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−1 0 0−1 2−1−1 0−1 2 0 0−1 0 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix ,2&-1& ,0& ,0\-1& ,2&-1&-1\ ,0&-1& ,2& ,0\ ,0&-1& ,0& ,2endsmallmatrixright] | [ 2−1 0−1−1 2−1 0 0−1 2−1−1 0−1 2]displaystyle left[beginsmallmatrix ,2&-1& ,0&-1\-1& ,2&-1& ,0\ ,0&-1& ,2&-1\-1& ,0&-1& ,2endsmallmatrixright] |
An example
The graph Andisplaystyle A_n in which vertices 1 through n are placed in a row with each vertex connected by an unlabelled edge to its immediate neighbors gives rise to the symmetric group Sn+1; the generators correspond to the transpositions (1 2), (2 3), ... , (n n+1). Two non-consecutive transpositions always commute, while (k k+1) (k+1 k+2) gives the 3-cycle (k k+2 k+1). Of course, this only shows that Sn+1 is a quotient group of the Coxeter group described by the graph, but it is not too difficult to check that equality holds.
Connection with reflection groups
Coxeter groups are deeply connected with reflection groups. Simply put, Coxeter groups are abstract groups (given via a presentation), while reflection groups are concrete groups (given as subgroups of linear groups or various generalizations). Coxeter groups grew out of the study of reflection groups — they are an abstraction: a reflection group is a subgroup of a linear group generated by reflections (which have order 2), while a Coxeter group is an abstract group generated by involutions (elements of order 2, abstracting from reflections), and whose relations have a certain form ((rirj)kdisplaystyle (r_ir_j)^k, corresponding to hyperplanes meeting at an angle of π/kdisplaystyle pi /k, with rirjdisplaystyle r_ir_j being of order k abstracting from a rotation by 2π/kdisplaystyle 2pi /k).
The abstract group of a reflection group is a Coxeter group, while conversely a reflection group can be seen as a linear representation of a Coxeter group. For finite reflection groups, this yields an exact correspondence: every finite Coxeter group admits a faithful representation as a finite reflection group of some Euclidean space. For infinite Coxeter groups, however, a Coxeter group may not admit a representation as a reflection group.
Historically, (Coxeter 1934) proved that every reflection group is a Coxeter group (i.e., has a presentation where all relations are of the form ri2displaystyle r_i^2 or (rirj)kdisplaystyle (r_ir_j)^k), and indeed this paper introduced the notion of a Coxeter group, while (Coxeter 1935) proved that every finite Coxeter group had a representation as a reflection group, and classified finite Coxeter groups.
Finite Coxeter groups
Classification
The finite Coxeter groups were classified in (Coxeter 1935), in terms of Coxeter–Dynkin diagrams; they are all represented by reflection groups of finite-dimensional Euclidean spaces.
The finite Coxeter groups consist of three one-parameter families of increasing rank An,Bn,Dn,displaystyle A_n,B_n,D_n, one one-parameter family of dimension two, I2(p),displaystyle I_2(p), and six exceptional groups: E6,E7,E8,F4,H3,displaystyle E_6,E_7,E_8,F_4,H_3, and H4.displaystyle H_4.
Weyl groups
Many, but not all of these, are Weyl groups, and every Weyl group can be realized as a Coxeter group. The Weyl groups are the families An,Bn,displaystyle A_n,B_n, and Dn,displaystyle D_n, and the exceptions E6,E7,E8,F4,displaystyle E_6,E_7,E_8,F_4, and I2(6),displaystyle I_2(6), denoted in Weyl group notation as G2.displaystyle G_2. The non-Weyl groups are the exceptions H3displaystyle H_3 and H4,displaystyle H_4, and the family I2(p)displaystyle I_2(p) except where this coincides with one of the Weyl groups (namely I2(3)≅A2,I2(4)≅B2,displaystyle I_2(3)cong A_2,I_2(4)cong B_2, and I2(6)≅G2displaystyle I_2(6)cong G_2).
This can be proven by comparing the restrictions on (undirected) Dynkin diagrams with the restrictions on Coxeter diagrams of finite groups: formally, the Coxeter graph can be obtained from the Dynkin diagram by discarding the direction of the edges, and replacing every double edge with an edge labelled 4 and every triple edge by an edge labelled 6. Also note that every finitely generated Coxeter group is an automatic group.[1] Dynkin diagrams have the additional restriction that the only permitted edge labels are 2, 3, 4, and 6, which yields the above. Geometrically, this corresponds to the crystallographic restriction theorem, and the fact that excluded polytopes do not fill space or tile the plane – for H3,displaystyle H_3, the dodecahedron (dually, icosahedron) does not fill space; for H4,displaystyle H_4, the 120-cell (dually, 600-cell) does not fill space; for I2(p)displaystyle I_2(p) a p-gon does not tile the plane except for p=3,4,displaystyle p=3,4, or 6displaystyle 6 (the triangular, square, and hexagonal tilings, respectively).
Note further that the (directed) Dynkin diagrams Bn and Cn give rise to the same Weyl group (hence Coxeter group), because they differ as directed graphs, but agree as undirected graphs – direction matters for root systems but not for the Weyl group; this corresponds to the hypercube and cross-polytope being different regular polytopes but having the same symmetry group.
Properties
Some properties of the finite irreducible Coxeter groups are given in the following table. The order of reducible groups can be computed by the product of their irreducible subgroup orders.
Rank n | Group symbol | Alternate symbol | Bracket notation | Coxeter graph | Reflections m = nh/2[2] | Coxeter number h | Order | Related polytopes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | A1 | A1 | [ ] | 1 | 2 | 2 | | |
2 | A2 | A2 | [3] | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | |
3 | A3 | A3 | [3,3] | 6 | 4 | 24 | 3,3 | |
4 | A4 | A4 | [3,3,3] | 10 | 5 | 120 | 3,3,3 | |
5 | A5 | A5 | [3,3,3,3] | 15 | 6 | 720 | 3,3,3,3 | |
6 | A6 | A6 | [3,3,3,3,3] | 21 | 7 | 5040 | 3,3,3,3,3 | |
7 | A7 | A7 | [3,3,3,3,3,3] | 28 | 8 | 40320 | 3,3,3,3,3,3 | |
8 | A8 | A8 | [3,3,3,3,3,3,3] | 36 | 9 | 362880 | 3,3,3,3,3,3,3 | |
n | An | An | [3n−1] | ... | n(n + 1)/2 | n + 1 | (n + 1)! | n-simplex |
2 | B2 | C2 | [4] | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | |
3 | B3 | C3 | [4,3] | 9 | 6 | 48 | 4,3 / 3,4 | |
4 | B4 | C4 | [4,3,3] | 16 | 8 | 384 | -4,3,3 / 3,3,4 | |
5 | B5 | C5 | [4,3,3,3] | 25 | 10 | 3840 | 4,3,3,3 / 3,3,3,4 | |
6 | B6 | C6 | [4,3,3,3,3] | 36 | 12 | 46080 | 4,3,3,3,3 / 3,3,3,3,4 | |
7 | B7 | C7 | [4,3,3,3,3,3] | 49 | 14 | 645120 | 4,3,3,3,3,3 / 3,3,3,3,3,4 | |
8 | B8 | C8 | [4,3,3,3,3,3,3] | 64 | 16 | 10321920 | 4,3,3,3,3,3 / 3,3,3,3,3,4 | |
n | Bn | Cn | [4,3n−2] | ... | n2 | 2n | 2nn! | n-cube / n-orthoplex |
4 | D4 | B4 | [31,1,1] | 12 | 6 | 192 | h4,3,3 / 3,31,1 | |
5 | D5 | B5 | [32,1,1] | 20 | 8 | 1920 | h4,3,3,3 / 3,3,31,1 | |
6 | D6 | B6 | [33,1,1] | 30 | 10 | 23040 | h4,3,3,3,3 / 3,3,3,31,1 | |
7 | D7 | B7 | [34,1,1] | 42 | 12 | 322560 | h4,3,3,3,3,3 / 3,3,3,3,31,1 | |
8 | D8 | B8 | [35,1,1] | 56 | 14 | 5160960 | h4,3,3,3,3,3,3 / 3,3,3,3,3,31,1 | |
n | Dn | Bn | [3n−3,1,1] | ... | n(n − 1) | 2(n − 1) | 2n−1n! | n-demicube / n-orthoplex |
6 | E6 | E6 | [32,2,1] | 36 | 12 | 51840 (72x6!) | 221, 122 | |
7 | E7 | E7 | [33,2,1] | 63 | 18 | 2903040 (72x8!) | 321, 231, 132 | |
8 | E8 | E8 | [34,2,1] | 120 | 30 | 696729600 (192x10!) | 421, 241, 142 | |
4 | F4 | F4 | [3,4,3] | 24 | 12 | 1152 | 3,4,3 | |
2 | G2 | – | [6] | 6 | 6 | 12 | 6 | |
2 | H2 | G2 | [5] | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | |
3 | H3 | G3 | [3,5] | 15 | 10 | 120 | 3,5 / 5,3 | |
4 | H4 | G4 | [3,3,5] | 60 | 30 | 14400 | 5,3,3 / 3,3,5 | |
2 | I2(p) | Dp 2 | [p] | p | p | 2p | p |
Symmetry groups of regular polytopes
All symmetry groups of regular polytopes are finite Coxeter groups. Note that dual polytopes have the same symmetry group.
There are three series of regular polytopes in all dimensions. The symmetry group of a regular n-simplex is the symmetric group Sn+1, also known as the Coxeter group of type An. The symmetry group of the n-cube and its dual, the n-cross-polytope, is Bn, and is known as the hyperoctahedral group.
The exceptional regular polytopes in dimensions two, three, and four, correspond to other Coxeter groups. In two dimensions, the dihedral groups, which are the symmetry groups of regular polygons, form the series I2(p). In three dimensions, the symmetry group of the regular dodecahedron and its dual, the regular icosahedron, is H3, known as the full icosahedral group. In four dimensions, there are three special regular polytopes, the 24-cell, the 120-cell, and the 600-cell. The first has symmetry group F4, while the other two are dual and have symmetry group H4.
The Coxeter groups of type Dn, E6, E7, and E8 are the symmetry groups of certain semiregular polytopes.
Table of irreducible polytope families | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Family n | n-simplex | n-hypercube | n-orthoplex | n-demicube | 1k2 | 2k1 | k21 | pentagonal polytope | ||||||||
Group | An | Bn |
|
| Hn | |||||||||||
2 | Triangle | Square | p-gon (example: p=7) | Hexagon | Pentagon | |||||||||||
3 | Tetrahedron | Cube | Octahedron | Tetrahedron | | Dodecahedron | Icosahedron | |||||||||
4 | 5-cell | Tesseract | 16-cell | Demitesseract | 24-cell | 120-cell | 600-cell | |||||||||
5 | 5-simplex | 5-cube | 5-orthoplex | 5-demicube | | | ||||||||||
6 | 6-simplex | 6-cube | 6-orthoplex | 6-demicube | 122 | 221 | | |||||||||
7 | 7-simplex | 7-cube | 7-orthoplex | 7-demicube | 132 | 231 | 321 | | ||||||||
8 | 8-simplex | 8-cube | 8-orthoplex | 8-demicube | 142 | 241 | 421 | | ||||||||
9 | 9-simplex | 9-cube | 9-orthoplex | 9-demicube | | |||||||||||
10 | 10-simplex | 10-cube | 10-orthoplex | 10-demicube | |
Affine Coxeter groups
The affine Coxeter groups form a second important series of Coxeter groups. These are not finite themselves, but each contains a normal abelian subgroup such that the corresponding quotient group is finite. In each case, the quotient group is itself a Coxeter group, and the Coxeter graph of the affine Coxeter group is obtained from the Coxeter graph of the quotient group by adding another vertex and one or two additional edges. For example, for n ≥ 2, the graph consisting of n+1 vertices in a circle is obtained from An in this way, and the corresponding Coxeter group is the affine Weyl group of An. For n = 2, this can be pictured as a subgroup of the symmetry group of the standard tiling of the plane by equilateral triangles.
In general, given a root system, one can construct the associated Stiefel diagram, consisting of the hyperplanes orthogonal to the roots along with certain translates of these hyperplanes. The affine Coxeter group (or affine Weyl group) is then the group generated by the (affine) reflections about all the hyperplanes in the diagram.[3] The Stiefel diagram divides the plane into infinitely many connected components called alcoves, and the affine Coxeter group acts freely and transitively on the alcoves, just as the ordinary Weyl group acts freely and transitively on the Weyl chambers. The figure at right illustrates the Stiefel diagram for the G2displaystyle G_2 root system.
Suppose Rdisplaystyle R is an irreducible root system of rank r>1displaystyle r>1 and let α1,…,αrdisplaystyle alpha _1,ldots ,alpha _r be a collection of simple roots. Let, also, αr+1displaystyle alpha _r+1 denote the highest root. Then the affine Coxeter group is generated by the ordinary (linear) reflections about the hyperplanes perpendicular to α1,…,αrdisplaystyle alpha _1,ldots ,alpha _r, together with an affine reflection about a translate of the hyperplane perpendicular to αr+1displaystyle alpha _r+1. The Coxeter graph for the affine Weyl group is the Coxeter–Dynkin diagram for Rdisplaystyle R, together with one additional node associated to αr+1displaystyle alpha _r+1. In this case, one alcove of the Stiefel diagram may be obtained by taking the fundamental Weyl chamber and cutting it by a translate of the hyperplane perpendicular to αr+1displaystyle alpha _r+1.[4]
A list of the affine Coxeter groups follows:
Group symbol | Witt symbol | Bracket notation | Coxeter graph | Related uniform tessellation(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
A~ndisplaystyle tilde A_n | Pn+1displaystyle P_n+1 | [3[n]] | ... or ... | Simplectic honeycomb |
B~ndisplaystyle tilde B_n | Sn+1displaystyle S_n+1 | [4,3n−3,31,1] | ... | Demihypercubic honeycomb |
C~ndisplaystyle tilde C_n | Rn+1displaystyle R_n+1 | [4,3n−2,4] | ... | Hypercubic honeycomb |
D~ndisplaystyle tilde D_n | Qn+1displaystyle Q_n+1 | [ 31,1,3n−4,31,1] | ... | Demihypercubic honeycomb |
E~6displaystyle tilde E_6 | T7displaystyle T_7 | [32,2,2] | or | 222 |
E~7displaystyle tilde E_7 | T8displaystyle T_8 | [33,3,1] | or | 331, 133 |
E~8displaystyle tilde E_8 | T9displaystyle T_9 | [35,2,1] | 521, 251, 152 | |
F~4displaystyle tilde F_4 | U5displaystyle U_5 | [3,4,3,3] | 16-cell honeycomb 24-cell honeycomb | |
G~2displaystyle tilde G_2 | V3displaystyle V_3 | [6,3] | Hexagonal tiling and Triangular tiling | |
I~1displaystyle tilde I_1 | W2displaystyle W_2 | [∞] | apeirogon |
The group symbol subscript is one less than the number of nodes in each case, since each of these groups was obtained by adding a node to a finite group's graph.
Hyperbolic Coxeter groups
There are infinitely many hyperbolic Coxeter groups describing reflection groups in hyperbolic space, notably including the hyperbolic triangle groups.
Partial orders
A choice of reflection generators gives rise to a length function l on a Coxeter group, namely the minimum number of uses of generators required to express a group element; this is precisely the length in the word metric in the Cayley graph. An expression for v using l(v) generators is a reduced word. For example, the permutation (13) in S3 has two reduced words, (12)(23)(12) and (23)(12)(23). The function v→(−1)l(v)displaystyle vto (-1)^l(v) defines a map G→±1,displaystyle Gto pm 1, generalizing the sign map for the symmetric group.
Using reduced words one may define three partial orders on the Coxeter group, the (right) weak order, the absolute order and the Bruhat order (named for François Bruhat). An element v exceeds an element u in the Bruhat order if some (or equivalently, any) reduced word for v contains a reduced word for u as a substring, where some letters (in any position) are dropped. In the weak order, v ≥ u if some reduced word for v contains a reduced word for u as an initial segment. Indeed, the word length makes this into a graded poset. The Hasse diagrams corresponding to these orders are objects of study, and are related to the Cayley graph determined by the generators. The absolute order is defined analogously to the weak order, but with generating set/alphabet consisting of all conjugates of the Coxeter generators.
For example, the permutation (1 2 3) in S3 has only one reduced word, (12)(23), so covers (12) and (23) in the Bruhat order but only covers (12) in the weak order.
Homology
Since a Coxeter group Wdisplaystyle W is generated by finitely many elements of order 2, its abelianization is an elementary abelian 2-group, i.e., it is isomorphic to the direct sum of several copies of the cyclic group Z2displaystyle Z_2. This may be restated in terms of the first homology group of Wdisplaystyle W.
The Schur multiplier M(W)displaystyle M(W), equal to the second homology group of Wdisplaystyle W, was computed in (Ihara & Yokonuma 1965) for finite reflection groups and in (Yokonuma 1965) for affine reflection groups, with a more unified account given in (Howlett 1988). In all cases, the Schur multiplier is also an elementary abelian 2-group. For each infinite family Wndisplaystyle W_n of finite or affine Weyl groups, the rank of M(Wn)displaystyle M(W_n) stabilizes as ndisplaystyle n goes to infinity.
See also
- Artin group
- Triangle group
- Coxeter element
- Coxeter number
- Complex reflection group
- Chevalley–Shephard–Todd theorem
- Coxeter–Dynkin diagram
Iwahori–Hecke algebra, a quantum deformation of the group algebra- Kazhdan–Lusztig polynomial
- Longest element of a Coxeter group
- Supersolvable arrangement
References
^ Brink, Brigitte; Howlett, RobertB. (1993), "A finiteness property and an automatic structure for Coxeter groups", Mathematische Annalen, 296 (1): 179–190, doi:10.1007/BF01445101, Zbl 0793.20036..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ Coxeter, Regular polytopes, §12.6 The number of reflections, equation 12.61
^ Hall 2015 Section 13.6
^ Hall 2015 Chapter 13, Exercises 12 and 13
Further reading
Björner, Anders; Brenti, Francesco (2005), Combinatorics of Coxeter Groups, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 231, Springer, ISBN 978-3-540-27596-1, Zbl 1110.05001
Bourbaki, Nicolas (2002), Lie Groups and Lie Algebras: Chapters 4-6, Elements of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-3-540-42650-9, Zbl 0983.17001
Coxeter, H. S. M. (1934), "Discrete groups generated by reflections", Annals of Mathematics, 35 (3): 588–621, doi:10.2307/1968753, JSTOR 1968753
Coxeter, H. S. M. (1935), "The complete enumeration of finite groups of the form ri2=(rirj)kij=1displaystyle r_i^2=(r_ir_j)^k_ij=1", J. London Math. Soc., 1, 10 (1): 21–25, doi:10.1112/jlms/s1-10.37.21
Davis, Michael W. (2007), The Geometry and Topology of Coxeter Groups (PDF), ISBN 978-0-691-13138-2, Zbl 1142.20020
Grove, Larry C.; Benson, Clark T. (1985), Finite Reflection Groups, Graduate texts in mathematics, 99, Springer, ISBN 978-0-387-96082-1
Hall, Brian C. (2015), Lie groups, Lie algebras, and representations: An elementary introduction, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 222 (2nd ed.), Springer, ISBN 978-3319134666
Humphreys, James E. (1992) [1990], Reflection Groups and Coxeter Groups, Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics, 29, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-43613-7, Zbl 0725.20028
Kane, Richard (2001), Reflection Groups and Invariant Theory, CMS Books in Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-0-387-98979-2, Zbl 0986.20038
Hiller, Howard (1982), Geometry of Coxeter groups, Research Notes in Mathematics, 54, Pitman, ISBN 978-0-273-08517-1, Zbl 0483.57002
Ihara, S.; Yokonuma, Takeo (1965), "On the second cohomology groups (Schur-multipliers) of finite reflection groups" (PDF), Jour. Fac. Sci. Univ. Tokyo, Sect. 1, 11: 155–171, Zbl 0136.28802, archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-23
Howlett, Robert B. (1988), "On the Schur Multipliers of Coxeter Groups", J. London Math. Soc., 2, 38 (2): 263–276, doi:10.1112/jlms/s2-38.2.263, Zbl 0627.20019
Vinberg, Ernest B. (1984), "Absence of crystallographic groups of reflections in Lobachevski spaces of large dimension", Trudy Moskov. Mat. Obshch., 47
Yokonuma, Takeo (1965), "On the second cohomology groups (Schur-multipliers) of infinite discrete reflection groups", Jour. Fac. Sci. Univ. Tokyo, Sect. 1, 11: 173–186, Zbl 0136.28803
External links
Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001) [1994], "Coxeter group", Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. / Kluwer Academic Publishers, ISBN 978-1-55608-010-4- Weisstein, Eric W. "Coxeter group". MathWorld.
Jenn software for visualizing the Cayley graphs of finite Coxeter groups on up to four generators