Unitriangular matrix group of degree three
Contents
Definition
Note that the notation used here is sometimes also used for the unitary group, a totally different type of group. Thus, we here stick to the notation
which is less ambiguous.
Over a unital ring
Suppose is a unital ring. The unitriangular matrix group of degree three over
, denoted
,
, or
, is defined as the unitriangular matrix group of
matrices over
. Explicitly, it can be described as the group of upper triangular matrices with 1s on the diagonal, and entries over
(with the group operation being matrix multiplication).
Each such matrix can be described by the three entries
, each of which varies freely over
. The matrix looks like:
In other words, the group itself is given as the following set under matrix multiplication:
The multiplication of matrices and
gives the matrix
where:
The identity element is the identity matrix.
The inverse of a matrix is the matrix
where:
In coordinate form
We may define the group as the set of ordered triples over the ring
(the coordinates are allowed to repeat), with the multiplication law, identity element, and inverse operation given by:
The matrix corresponding to triple is:
This definition clearly matches the earlier definition, based on the rules of matrix multiplication.
Definition by presentation
The presentation given here is based on the presentation for unitriangular matrix group of degree three. We denote by the matrix with 1s on the diagonal,
in the
entry, and zeros elsewhere. Then:
- The following is a generating set: For every element
and for
, include the element
. Since
, this means that for every
, we have generators
,
, and
.
- We can get a presentation of the group using this generating set, by including the following relations:
Relation type | All relations of this type (i.e., we plug in all possible ![]() |
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Note that this presentation can be trimmed quite a bit. In fact, if is a generating set for the additive group of
, the set:
is a generating set for , and we can work out a presentation in terms of this generating set.
Over a field
The same definition as for a unital ring applies to the case where we are working over a field. For a field , the group
(or
) is defined as:
Over a finite field
For a prime power , the unitriangular matrix group of degree three, denoted
or
, is defined as the unitriangular matrix group of degree three over the unique finite field of
elements. It can also be defined in other equivalent ways, where
is the characteristic of the field (i.e., the underlying prime whose power is
:
- It is one of the
-Sylow subgroups of the general linear group of degree three over
, i.e.,
.
- It is one of the
-Sylow subgroups of the special linear group of degree three over
, i.e.,
.
- It is isomorphic to the
-Sylow subgroups of the projective general linear group of degree three over
, i.e.,
.
- It is isomorphic to the
-Sylow subgroups of the projective special linear group of degree three over
, i.e.,
.
Over a finite prime field
The unitriangular matrix group of degree three over a finite prime field is an important non-abelian group of order
. For more on this group, see unitriangular matrix group:UT(3,p).
Upper triangular versus lower triangular
The unitriangular matrix group of degree three can also be defined as the group of lower triangular matrices with 1s on the diagonal. This is because the conjugation by the antidiagonal permutation conjugates the subgroup of upper triangular matrices to the subgroup of lower triangular matrices, and the eigenvalues remain the same.
Elements
Further information: element structure of unitriangular matrix group:UT(3,p), element structure of unitriangular matrix group of degree three over a finite field, element structure of unitriangular matrix group of degree three over a finite discrete valuation ring
Linear representation theory
Further information: linear representation theory of unitriangular matrix group of degree three over a finite field