Linear representation theory of dihedral group:D16
This article gives specific information, namely, linear representation theory, about a particular group, namely: dihedral group:D16.
View linear representation theory of particular groups | View other specific information about dihedral group:D16
Summary
We shall use the dihedral group of order 16 with the following presentation:
.
Item | Value |
---|---|
degrees of irreducible representations over a splitting field (such as ![]() ![]() |
1,1,1,1,2,2,2 maximum: 2, lcm: 2, number: 7, sum of squares: 16 |
Schur index values of irreducible representations over a splitting field | 1,1,1,1,1,1,1 |
smallest ring of realization (characteristic zero) | ![]() |
smallest splitting field, i.e., smallest field of realization (characteristic zero) | ![]() |
condition for a field to be a splitting field | The characteristic should not be equal to 2, and the polynomial ![]() For a finite field of size ![]() ![]() |
smallest splitting field in characteristic ![]() |
Case ![]() ![]() Case ![]() ![]() ![]() |
smallest size splitting field | Field:F7. |
degrees of irreducible representations over the rational numbers | 1,1,1,1,2,4 |
Family contexts
Family name | Parameter values | General discussion of linear representation theory of family |
---|---|---|
dihedral group | degree ![]() ![]() |
linear representation theory of dihedral groups |
COMPARE AND CONTRAST: View linear representation theory of groups of order 16 to compare and contrast the linear representation theory with other groups of order 16.
Representations
Summary information
Below is summary information on irreducible representations that are absolutely irreducible, i.e., they remain irreducible in any bigger field, and in particular are irreducible in a splitting field. We assume that the characteristic of the field is not 2, except in the last column, where we consider what happens in characteristic 2.
Name of representation type | Number of representations of this type | Degree | Schur index | Criterion for field | Kernel | Quotient by kernel (on which it descends to a faithful representation) | Characteristic 2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
trivial | 1 | 1 | 1 | any | whole group | trivial group | works |
sign representation with kernel ![]() |
1 | 1 | 1 | any | Z8 in D16: ![]() |
cyclic group:Z2 | works, same as trivial |
sign representation with kernel a maximal dihedral subgroup | 2 | 1 | 1 | any | D8 in D16: ![]() ![]() |
cyclic group:Z2 | works, same as trivial |
two-dimensional irreducible, not faithful | 1 | 2 | 1 | any | center of dihedral group:D16: ![]() |
dihedral group:D8 | indecomposable but not irreducible |
two-dimensional faithful irreducible | 2 | 2 | 1 | The polynomial ![]() ![]() |
trivial subgroup, i.e., it is a faithful linear representation | dihedral group:D16 | PLACEHOLDER FOR INFORMATION TO BE FILLED IN: [SHOW MORE] |
Below are representations that are irreducible over some non-splitting field but split further over a splitting field.
Name of representation type | Number of representations of this type | Degree | Criterion for field | What happens over a splitting field? | Kernel | Quotient by kernel (on which it descends to a faithful representation) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
four-dimensional faithful irreducible | 1 | 4 | The polynomial ![]() ![]() |
splits into the two two-dimensional faithful irreducibles. | trivial subgroup, i.e., it is a faithful linear representation | dihedral group:D16 |
Trivial representation
The trivial representation or principal representation (whose character is called the trivial character or principal character) sends all elements of the group to the matrix
:
Element | Matrix | Characteristic polynomial | Minimal polynomial | Trace, character value |
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1 |
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1 |
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1 |
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1 |
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1 |
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1 |
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1 |
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1 |
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1 |
Sign representation with kernel 
This representation is a one-dimensional representation sending everything in the cyclic subgroup (see Z8 in D16) to
and everything outside it to
.
To keep the descriptions short, we club together the cosets rather than having one row per element:
Elements | Matrix | Characteristic polynomial | Minimal polynomial | Trace, character value |
---|---|---|---|---|
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1 |
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-1 |
Sign representations with kernels
and 
These are sign representations with kernels one of the D8 in D16 subgroups. There are two such representations, one for each subgroup.
To keep the descriptions short, we club together the cosets rather than having one row per element:
Sign representation with kernel :
Elements | Matrix | Characteristic polynomial | Minimal polynomial | Trace, character value |
---|---|---|---|---|
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1 |
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-1 |
Sign representation with kernel
Elements | Matrix | Characteristic polynomial | Minimal polynomial | Trace, character value |
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1 |
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-1 |
Two-dimensional irreducible unfaithful representation
This representation has kernel equal to -- center of dihedral group:D16. It descends to a faithful irreducible two-dimensional representation of the quotient group, which is isomorphic to dihedral group:D8.
To keep the descriptions short, we club together the cosets rather than having one row per element:
Element | Matrix | Characteristic polynomial | Minimal polynomial | Trace, character value |
---|---|---|---|---|
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2 |
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0 |
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-2 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
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0 |
Two-dimensional faithful irreducible representations
Further information: faithful irreducible representation of dihedral group:D16
There are two such representations, and they are related by the group automorphism , and also by the Galois automorphism
for the extension
over
.
We give each of these representations in three forms. One is a representation as orthogonal matrices (with the generator mapping to rotation by an odd multiple of
and
mapping to a reflection), and this representation is realized over the ring
. The second is as complex unitary matrices. The third epresentation is realized over the smaller subring
but the matrices are no longer orthogonal matrices.
Here is the first representation in all three forms:
The table below is incomplete, it has only 11 of the 16 elements, more will be added later
Element | Matrix as real orthogonal | Matrix as complex unitary | Matrix as real, non-orthogonal, in ![]() |
Characteristic polynomial | Minimal polynomial | Trace, character value | Determinant |
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2 | 1 |
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1 |
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0 | 1 |
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1 |
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-2 | 1 |
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1 |
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0 | 1 |
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1 |
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0 | -1 |
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0 | -1 |
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0 | -1 |
Four-dimensional faithful irreducible representation over a non-splitting field
Character table
FACTS TO CHECK AGAINST (for characters of irreducible linear representations over a splitting field):
Orthogonality relations: Character orthogonality theorem | Column orthogonality theorem
Separation results (basically says rows independent, columns independent): Splitting implies characters form a basis for space of class functions|Character determines representation in characteristic zero
Numerical facts: Characters are cyclotomic integers | Size-degree-weighted characters are algebraic integers
Character value facts: Irreducible character of degree greater than one takes value zero on some conjugacy class| Conjugacy class of more than average size has character value zero for some irreducible character | Zero-or-scalar lemma
Representation/conjugacy class representative | ![]() |
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trivial | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
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1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -1 | -1 |
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1 | 1 | 1 | -1 | -1 | 1 | -1 |
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1 | 1 | 1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | 1 |
two-dimensional unfaithful, kernel is center | 2 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
first faithful irreducible representation | 2 | -2 | 0 | ![]() |
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0 | 0 |
second faithful irreducible representation | 2 | -2 | 0 | ![]() |
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0 | 0 |
Here are the size-degree-weighted characters (obtained by multiplying the character value by the size of the conjugacy class and dividing by the degree of the representation. Note that size-degree-weighted characters are algebraic integers.
Representation/conjugacy class representative | ![]() |
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trivial | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
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1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -4 | -4 |
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1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | -2 | 4 | -4 |
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1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | -2 | -4 | 4 |
two-dimensional unfaithful, kernel is center | 1 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
first faithful irreducible representation | 1 | -1 | 0 | ![]() |
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0 | 0 |
second faithful irreducible representation | 1 | -1 | 0 | ![]() |
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0 | 0 |
GAP implementation
Degrees of irreducible representations
These can be computed using the CharacterDegrees function:
gap> CharacterDegrees(DihedralGroup(16)); [ [ 1, 4 ], [ 2, 3 ] ]
Character table
The character table can be computed using the Irr and CharacterTable functions:
gap> Irr(CharacterTable(DihedralGroup(16))); [ Character( CharacterTable( <pc group of size 16 with 4 generators> ), [ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 ] ), Character( CharacterTable( <pc group of size 16 with 4 generators> ), [ 1, -1, 1, 1, 1, -1, 1 ] ), Character( CharacterTable( <pc group of size 16 with 4 generators> ), [ 1, 1, -1, 1, 1, -1, -1 ] ), Character( CharacterTable( <pc group of size 16 with 4 generators> ), [ 1, -1, -1, 1, 1, 1, -1 ] ), Character( CharacterTable( <pc group of size 16 with 4 generators> ), [ 2, 0, 0, -2, 2, 0, 0 ] ), Character( CharacterTable( <pc group of size 16 with 4 generators> ), [ 2, 0, E(8)-E(8)^3, 0, -2, 0, -E(8)+E(8)^3 ] ), Character( CharacterTable( <pc group of size 16 with 4 generators> ), [ 2, 0, -E(8)+E(8)^3, 0, -2, 0, E(8)-E(8)^3 ] ) ]
It can be displayed in nicer form using the Display function:
gap> Display(CharacterTable(DihedralGroup(16))); CT2 2 4 2 3 3 4 2 3 1a 2a 8a 4a 2b 2c 8b X.1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 X.2 1 -1 1 1 1 -1 1 X.3 1 1 -1 1 1 -1 -1 X.4 1 -1 -1 1 1 1 -1 X.5 2 . . -2 2 . . X.6 2 . A . -2 . -A X.7 2 . -A . -2 . A A = E(8)-E(8)^3 = ER(2) = r2
Irreducible representations
The irreducible representations can be computed using the IrreducibleRepresentations function:
gap> IrreducibleRepresentations(DihedralGroup(16)); [ Pcgs([ f1, f2, f3, f4 ]) -> [ [ [ 1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ] ], Pcgs([ f1, f2, f3, f4 ]) -> [ [ [ -1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ] ], Pcgs([ f1, f2, f3, f4 ]) -> [ [ [ 1 ] ], [ [ -1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ] ], Pcgs([ f1, f2, f3, f4 ]) -> [ [ [ -1 ] ], [ [ -1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ], [ [ 1 ] ] ], Pcgs([ f1, f2, f3, f4 ]) -> [ [ [ 0, 1 ], [ 1, 0 ] ], [ [ E(4), 0 ], [ 0, -E(4) ] ], [ [ -1, 0 ], [ 0, -1 ] ], [ [ 1, 0 ], [ 0, 1 ] ] ], Pcgs([ f1, f2, f3, f4 ]) -> [ [ [ 0, 1 ], [ 1, 0 ] ], [ [ E(8), 0 ], [ 0, -E(8)^3 ] ], [ [ E(4), 0 ], [ 0, -E(4) ] ], [ [ -1, 0 ], [ 0, -1 ] ] ], Pcgs([ f1, f2, f3, f4 ]) -> [ [ [ 0, 1 ], [ 1, 0 ] ], [ [ -E(8), 0 ], [ 0, E(8)^3 ] ], [ [ E(4), 0 ], [ 0, -E(4) ] ], [ [ -1, 0 ], [ 0, -1 ] ] ] ]