Quaternion group

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Definition

Definition by presentation

The quaternion group has the following presentation:

$\langle i,j,k\mid i^{2}=j^{2}=k^{2}=ijk\rangle$

The identity is denoted $1$, the common element $i^{2}=j^{2}=k^{2}=ijk$ is denoted $-1$, and the elements $i^{3},j^{3},k^{3}$ are denoted $-i,-j,-k$ respectively.

Confused about presentations in general or this one in particular? If you're new to this stuff, check out constructing quaternion group from its presentation. Sophisticated group theorists can read equivalence of presentations of dicyclic group

Verbal definitions

The quaternion group is a group with eight elements, which can be described in any of the following ways:

• It is the group comprising eight elements $1,-1,i,-i,j,-j,k,-k$ where 1 is the identity element, $(-1)^{2}=1$ and all the other elements are squareroots of $-1$, such that $(-1)i=-i,(-1)j=-j,(-1)k=-k$ and further, $ij=k,ji=-k,jk=i,kj=-i,ki=j,ik=-j$ (the remaining relations can be deduced from these).
• It is the dicyclic group with parameter 2, viz $Dic_{2}$.
• It is the Fibonacci group $F(2,3)$.

Multiplication table

In the table below, the row element is multiplied on the left and the column element on the right.

Element	$\!1$	$\!-1$	$\!i$	$\!-i$	$\!j$	$\!-j$	$\!k$	$\!-k$
$\!1$	$\!1$	$\!-1$	$\!i$	$\!-i$	$\!j$	$\!-j$	$\!k$	$\!-k$
$\!-1$	$\!-1$	$\!1$	$\!-i$	$\!i$	$\!-j$	$\!j$	$\!-k$	$\!k$
$\!i$	$\!i$	$\!-i$	$\!-1$	$\!1$	$\!k$	$\!-k$	$\!-j$	$\!j$
$\!-i$	$\!-i$	$\!i$	$\!1$	$\!-1$	$\!-k$	$\!k$	$\!j$	$\!-j$
$\!j$	$\!j$	$\!-j$	$\!-k$	$\!k$	$\!-1$	$\!1$	$\!i$	$\!-i$
$\!-j$	$\!-j$	$\!j$	$\!k$	$\!-k$	$\!1$	$\!-1$	$\!-i$	$\!i$
$\!k$	$\!k$	$\!-k$	$\!j$	$\!-j$	$\!-i$	$\!i$	$\!-1$	$\!1$
$\!-k$	$\!-k$	$\!k$	$\!-j$	$\!j$	$\!i$	$\!-i$	$\!1$	$\!-1$

This image shows visually the Cayley table of the quaternion group, with each element given a different colour. The elements are organized as in the above table: the first column/row corresponds to $1$, the second column/row corresponds to $-1$, etc.

Position in classifications

Type of classification	Name in that classification
GAP ID	(8,4), i.e., the 4th among the groups of order 8
Hall-Senior number	5 among groups of order 8
Hall-Senior symbol	$8\Gamma _{2}a_{2}$

Elements

Further information: Element structure of quaternion group

Conjugacy class structure

Conjugacy class	Size of conjugacy class	Order of elements in conjugacy class	Centralizer of first element of class
$\!\{1\}$	1	1	whole group
$\!\{-1\}$	1	2	whole group
$\!\{i,-i\}$	2	4	$\{1,-1,i,-i\}$, same as $\langle i\rangle$
$\!\{j,-j\}$	2	4	$\{1,-1,j,-j\}$ -- same as $\langle j\rangle$
$\!\{k,-k\}$	2	4	$\{1,-1,k,-k\}$ -- same as $\langle k\rangle$

Automorphism class structure

Equivalence class (orbit) under action of automorphisms	Size of equivalence class (orbit)	Number of conjugacy classes in it	Size of each conjugacy class	Order of elements
$\!\{1\}$	1	1	1	1
$\!\{-1\}$	1	1	1	2
$\!\{i,-i,j,-j,k,-k\}$	6	3	2	4

Arithmetic functions

Basic arithmetic functions

Want to compare and contrast arithmetic function values with other groups of the same order? Check out groups of order 8#Arithmetic functions

Function	Value	Similar groups	Explanation
underlying prime of p-group	2
order (number of elements, equivalently, cardinality or size of underlying set)	8	groups with same order
prime-base logarithm of order	3	groups with same prime-base logarithm of order
exponent of a group	4	groups with same order and exponent of a group | groups with same exponent of a group	Cyclic subgroup of order four.
prime-base logarithm of exponent	2	groups with same order and prime-base logarithm of exponent | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and prime-base logarithm of exponent | groups with same prime-base logarithm of exponent
nilpotency class	2	groups with same order and nilpotency class | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and nilpotency class | groups with same nilpotency class
derived length	2	groups with same order and derived length | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and derived length | groups with same derived length
Frattini length	2	groups with same order and Frattini length | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and Frattini length | groups with same Frattini length
minimum size of generating set	2	groups with same order and minimum size of generating set | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and minimum size of generating set | groups with same minimum size of generating set	Generators of two cyclic subgroups of order four.
subgroup rank of a group	2	groups with same order and subgroup rank of a group | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and subgroup rank of a group | groups with same subgroup rank of a group	All proper subgroups are cyclic.
rank of a p-group	1	groups with same order and rank of a p-group | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and rank of a p-group | groups with same rank of a p-group	All abelian subgroups are cyclic.
normal rank of a p-group	1	groups with same order and normal rank of a p-group | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and normal rank of a p-group | groups with same normal rank of a p-group	All abelian normal subgroups are cyclic.
characteristic rank of a p-group	1	groups with same order and characteristic rank of a p-group | groups with same prime-base logarithm of order and characteristic rank of a p-group | groups with same characteristic rank of a p-group	All abelian characteristic subgroups are cyclic.

Arithmetic functions of an element-counting nature

Further information: element structure of quaternion group

Function	Value	Similar groups	Explanation
number of conjugacy classes	5	groups with same order and number of conjugacy classes | groups with same number of conjugacy classes	See element structure of dicyclic groups.
number of equivalence classes under real conjugacy	5	groups with same order and number of equivalence classes under real conjugacy | groups with same number of equivalence classes under real conjugacy	Same as number of conjugacy classes, because the group is an ambivalent group.
number of conjugacy classes of real elements	5	groups with same order and number of conjugacy classes of real elements | groups with same number of conjugacy classes of real elements	Same as number of conjugacy clases, because the group is an ambivalent group.
number of equivalence classes under rational conjugacy	5	groups with same order and number of equivalence classes under rational conjugacy | groups with same number of equivalence classes under rational conjugacy	Same as number of conjugacy classes, because the group is a rational group (though not a rational representation group).
number of conjugacy classes of rational elements	5	groups with same order and number of conjugacy classes of rational elements | groups with same number of conjugacy classes of rational elements	Same as number of conjugacy classes, because the group is a rational group (though not a rational representation group).

Arithmetic functions of a subgroup-counting nature

Further information: subgroup structure of quaternion group

Function	Value	Similar groups	Explanation
number of subgroups	6
number of conjugacy classes of subgroups	6
number of normal subgroups	6	groups with same order and number of normal subgroups | groups with same number of normal subgroups
number of automorphism classes of subgroups	4

Lists of numerical invariants

List	Value	Explanation/comment
conjugacy class sizes	$1,1,2,2,2$	$\pm i,\pm j,\pm k$ are each conjugacy classes of non-central elements.
degrees of irreducible representations	$1,1,1,1,2$	See linear representation theory of quaternion group
order statistics	$1\mapsto 1,2\mapsto 1,4\mapsto 6$
orders of subgroups	$1,2,4,4,4,8$	See subgroup structure of quaternion group

Group properties

Want to compare and contrast group properties with other groups of the same order? Check out groups of order 8#Group properties

Important properties

Property	Satisfied	Explanation	Comment
group of prime power order	Yes
nilpotent group	Yes	prime power order implies nilpotent
supersolvable group	Yes	via nilpotent: finite nilpotent implies supersolvable
solvable group	Yes	via nilpotent: nilpotent implies solvable
abelian group	No	$i$ and $j$ don't commute	Smallest non-abelian group of prime power order
metacyclic group	Yes	Cyclic normal subgroup of order four, cyclic quotient of order two
Dedekind group	Yes	Every subgroup is normal	Smallest non-abelian Dedekind group
T-group	Yes	Dedekind implies T-group

Other properties

Property	Satisfied	Explanation	Comment
monolithic group	Yes	Unique minimal normal subgroup of order two
one-headed group	No	Three distinct maximal normal subgroups of order four
SC-group	No
ACIC-group	Yes	Every automorph-conjugate subgroup is characteristic
ambivalent group	Yes
rational group	Yes	Any two elements that generate the same cyclic group are conjugate	Thus, all characters are integer-valued.
rational-representation group	No	A two-dimensional representation that is not rational.	Contrast with dihedral group:D8, that is rational-representation. See also linear representation theory of dihedral group:D8 and linear representation theory of quaternion group.
maximal class group	Yes
group of nilpotency class two	Yes
extraspecial group	Yes
special group	Yes
Frattini-in-center group	Yes
Frobenius group	No	Frobenius groups are centerless, and this group isn't.
Camina group	Yes	extraspecial implies Camina
group in which every element is automorphic to its inverse	Yes	Follows from being an ambivalent group
group in which any two elements generating the same cyclic subgroup are automorphic	Yes	Follows from being a rational group
group in which every element is order-automorphic	Yes
directly indecomposable group	Yes
centrally indecomposable group	Yes
splitting-simple group	Yes
Schur-trivial group	Yes	See group cohomology of quaternion group
A-group	No	The only Sylow subgroup is itself, which is not abelian.	Joint smallest non-A-group, alongside dihedral group:D8.
2-Engel group	Yes

Subgroups

Further information: Subgroup structure of quaternion group

Automorphism class of subgroups	List of subgroups	Isomorphism class	Order of subgroups	Index of subgroups	Number of conjugacy classes (=1 iff automorph-conjugate subgroup)	Size of each conjugacy class (=1 iff normal subgroup)	Total number of subgroups (=1 iff characteristic subgroup)	Isomorphism class of quotient (if exists)	Nilpotency class
trivial subgroup	$\{1\}$	trivial subgroup	1	8	1	1	1	quaternion group	0
center of quaternion group	$\{1,-1\}$	cyclic group:Z2	2	4	1	1	1	Klein four-group	1
cyclic maximal subgroups of quaternion group	$\{1,-1,i,-i\}$ $\{1,-1,j,-j\}$ $\{1,-1,k,-k\}$	cyclic group:Z4	4	2	3	1	3	cyclic group:Z2	1
whole group	$\{1,-1,i,-i,j,-j,k,-k\}$	quaternion group	8	1	1	1	1	trivial group	2
Total (4 rows)	--	--	--	--	6	--	6	--	--

Subgroup-defining functions and associated quotient-defining functions

Subgroup-defining function	What it means	Value as subgroup	Value as group	Order	Associated quotient-defining function	Value as group	Order (= index of subgroup)
center	elements that commute with every group element	center of quaternion group: $\{1,-1\}$	cyclic group:Z2	2	inner automorphism group	Klein four-group	4
derived subgroup	subgroup generated by all commutators	center of quaternion group: $\{1,-1\}$	cyclic group:Z2	2	abelianization	Klein four-group	4
Frattini subgroup	intersection of all maximal subgroups	center of quaternion group: $\{1,-1\}$	cyclic group:Z2	2	Frattini quotient	Klein four-group	4
Jacobson radical	intersection of all maximal normal subgroups	center of quaternion group: $\{1,-1\}$	cyclic group:Z2	2	?	Klein four-group	4
socle	join of all minimal normal subgroups	center of quaternion group: $\{1,-1\}$	cyclic group:Z2	2	?	Klein four-group	4
Fitting subgroup	join of all nilpotent normal subgroups	whole group	quaternion group	8	Fitting quotient	trivial group	1
join of abelian subgroups of maximum order	join of all abelian subgroups of maximum order among abelian subgroups	whole group	quaternion group	8	?	trivial group	1
join of abelian subgroups of maximum rank	join of all abelian subgroups of maximum rank among abelian subgroups	whole group	quaternion group	8	?	trivial group	1
join of elementary abelian subgroups of maximum order	join of all elementary abelian subgroups of maximum order among elementary abelian subgroups	center of quaternion group: $\{1,-1\}$	cyclic group:Z2	2	?	Klein four-group	4
ZJ-subgroup	center of the join of abelian subgroups of maximum order	center of quaternion group: $\{1,-1\}$	cyclic group:Z2	2	?	Klein four-group	4

Automorphisms and endomorphisms

Further information: endomorphism structure of quaternion group

Construct	Value	Order	Second part of GAP ID (if group)
endomorphism monoid	endomorphism monoid of Q8	28	--
automorphism group	symmetric group:S4	24	12
inner automorphism group	Klein four-group	4	2
outer automorphism group	symmetric group:S3	6	1
group of class-preserving automorphisms	Klein four-group	4	2
group of IA-automorphisms	Klein four-group	4	2
quotient of class-preserving automorphism group by inner automorphism group	trivial group	1	1
quotient of IA-automorphism group by inner automorphism group	trivial group	1	1
group of center-fixing automorphisms	symmetric group:S4	24	12
extended automorphism group	direct product of S4 and Z2	48	48
holomorph	holomorph of Q8	192	1494
inner holomorph	inner holomorph of D8 ($D_{8}$ and the quaternion group have the same holomorph)	32	49

Linear representation theory

Further information: linear representation theory of quaternion group

Summary

The quaternion group is one of the few examples of a rational group that is not a rational-representation group. In other words, all its characters over the complex numbers are rational-valued, but not every representation of it can be realized over the rationals.

The character table of the quaternion group is the same as that of the dihedral group of order eight. Note, however, that the fields of realization for the representations differ, because one of the representations of the quaternion group has Schur index two.

Item	Value
Degrees of irreducible representations over a splitting field (such as $\mathbb {C}$ or ${\overline {\mathbb {Q} }}$)	1,1,1,1,2 maximum: 2, lcm: 2, number: 5, sum of squares: 8
Schur index values of irreducible representations	1,1,1,1,2 (characteristic zero) maximum: 2, lcm: 2 1,1,1,1,1 (characteristic other than 0,2)
Smallest ring of realization for all irreducible representations (characteristic zero)	There are multiple candidates. $\mathbb {Z} [i]$ where $i$ is a square root of $-1$, equivalently $\mathbb {Z} [t]/(t^{2}+1)$, the ring of Gaussian integers is one candidate. Another is $\mathbb {Z} [{\sqrt {-2}}]$ or $\mathbb {Z} [t]/(t^{2}+2)$. More generally, any ring of the form $\mathbb {Z} [\alpha ,\beta ]$ where $\alpha ^{2}+\beta ^{2}=-1$ is a ring of realization for all irreducible representations. In particular, $\mathbb {Z} [{\sqrt {-m^{2}-1}}]$ works for any rational $m$.
Minimal splitting field (i.e., field of realization) for all irreducible representations (characteristic zero)	There are multiple candidates. $\mathbb {Q} (i)$ or $\mathbb {Q} [t]/(t^{2}+1)$ works, so does $\mathbb {Q} ({\sqrt {2}}i)$ or $\mathbb {Q} [t]/(t^{2}+2)$. More generally, $\mathbb {Q} (\alpha ,\beta )$ where $\alpha ^{2}+\beta ^{2}=-1$ is a splitting field. In particular, $\mathbb {Q} ({\sqrt {-1-m^{2}}})$ works for any rational $m$. See minimal splitting field need not be unique, minimal splitting field need not be cyclotomic
Ring generated by character values (characteristic zero)	$\mathbb {Z}$
Field generated by character values (characteristic zero)	$\mathbb {Q}$ (hence it is a rational group) See also: Field generated by character values need not be a splitting field|rational not implies rational-representation
Condition for being a splitting field for this group	Sufficient condition: the characteristic is not two and there exist $\alpha ,\beta$ in the field such that $\alpha ^{2}+\beta ^{2}+1=0$. In particular, every finite field of characteristic not two is a splitting field, because every element of a finite field is expressible as a sum of two squares and in particular, $-1$ is a sum of two squares in any finite field.
Minimal splitting field (characteristic $p\neq 0,2$)	The prime field $\mathbb {F} _{p}$
Smallest size splitting field	field:F3, i.e., the field of three elements.
Orbit structure of irreducible representations over splitting field under automorphism group	orbit sizes: 1 (degree 1 representation), 3 (degree 1 representations), 1 (degree 2 representation) number: 3
Orbit structure of irreducible representations over splitting field under multiplicative action of one-dimensional representations, i.e., up to projective equivalence	orbit sizes: 4 (degree 1 representations), 1 (degree 2 representation) number: 2
Degrees of irreducible representations over a non-splitting field, e.g., the field of rational numbers or the field of real numbers	1,1,1,1,4 number: 5
Groups with same character table	Dihedral group:D8

Character table

This character table works over characteristic zero and over any other characteristic not equal to two once we reduce the entries mod the characteristic:

Representation/Conjugacy class	$\{1\}$ (identity; size 1)	$\{-1\}$ (size 1)	$\{i,-i\}$ (size 2)	$\{j,-j\}$ (size 2)	$\{k,-k\}$ (size 2)
Trivial representation	1	1	1	1	1
$i$-kernel	1	1	1	-1	-1
$j$-kernel	1	1	-1	1	-1
$k$-kernel	1	1	-1	-1	1
2-dimensional	2	-2	0	0	0

Distinguishing features

Smallest of its kind

• This is a non-abelian nilpotent group of smallest possible order, along with dihedral group:D8.
• This is a non-abelian Dedekind group (or Hamiltonian group) of smallest possible order. Dedekind means that every subgroup is normal.

Different from others of the same order

• It is the only non-abelian Dedekind group of its order.
• It is the only non-abelian T-group of its order.
• It is the only group of its order for which the rank (in the sense of the maximum possible rank of an abelian subgroup) is strictly smaller than the minimum size of generating set: For this group, the former is 1 and the latter is 2.

GAP implementation

Group ID

This finite group has order 8 and has ID 4 among the groups of order 8 in GAP's SmallGroup library. For context, there are groups of order 8. It can thus be defined using GAP's SmallGroup function as:

SmallGroup(8,4)

For instance, we can use the following assignment in GAP to create the group and name it $G$:

gap> G := SmallGroup(8,4);

Conversely, to check whether a given group $G$ is in fact the group we want, we can use GAP's IdGroup function:

IdGroup(G) = [8,4]

or just do:

IdGroup(G)

to have GAP output the group ID, that we can then compare to what we want.

Hall-Senior number

This group of prime power order has order 8 and has Hall-Senior number 5 among the groups of order 8. This information can be used to construct the group in GAP using the Gap3CatalogueGroup function as follows:

Gap3CatalogueGroup(8,5)

WARNING: There is some disagreement between the GAP 3 catalogue numbers and the Hall-Senior numbers for some abelian groups, but it does not affect this group.

For instance, we can use the following assignment in GAP to create the group and name it $G$:

gap> G := Gap3CatalogueGroup(8,5);

Conversely, to check whether a given group $G$ is in fact the group we want, we can use GAP's Gap3CatalogueIdGroup function:

Gap3CatalogueIdGroup(G) = [8,5]

or just do:

Gap3CatalogueIdGroup(G)

to have GAP output the group ID, that we can then compare to what we want.

Short descriptions

Description	Functions used	Mathematical comment
SylowSubgroup(SL(2,3),2)	SylowSubgroup and SL	The $2$-Sylow subgroup of special linear group:SL(2,3)
ExtraspecialGroup(2^3,'-')	ExtraspecialGroup	The extraspecial group of order $2^{3}$ and '-' type
SylowSubgroup(SL(2,5),2)	SylowSubgroup and SL	The $2$-Sylow subgroup of special linear group:SL(2,5)