Classical group

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 classical groups are defined as the special linear groups over the reals ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} }$, the complex numbers ${\displaystyle \mathbb {C} }$ and the quaternions ${\displaystyle \mathbb {H} }$ together with special^[1] automorphism groups of symmetric or skew-symmetric bilinear forms and Hermitian or skew-Hermitian sesquilinear forms defined on real, complex and quaternionic finite-dimensional vector spaces.^[2] Of these, the complex classical Lie groups are four infinite families of Lie groups that together with the exceptional groups exhaust the classification of simple Lie groups. The compact classical groups are compact real forms of the complex classical groups. The finite analogues of the classical groups are the classical groups of Lie type. The term "classical group" was coined by Hermann Weyl, it being the title of his 1939 monograph The Classical Groups.^[3]

The classical groups form the deepest and most useful part of the subject of linear Lie groups.^[4] Most types of classical groups find application in classical and modern physics. A few examples are the following. The rotation group SO(3) is a symmetry of Euclidean space and all fundamental laws of physics, the Lorentz group O(3,1) is a symmetry group of spacetime of special relativity. The special unitary group SU(3) is the symmetry group of quantum chromodynamics and the symplectic group Sp(m) finds application in Hamiltonian mechanics and quantum mechanical versions of it.