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group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ...
, a field of
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, a double
coset In mathematics, specifically group theory, a subgroup of a group may be used to decompose the underlying set of into disjoint, equal-size subsets called cosets. There are ''left cosets'' and ''right cosets''. Cosets (both left and right) ...
is a collection of
group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
elements which are equivalent under the symmetries coming from two
subgroup In group theory, a branch of mathematics, given a group ''G'' under a binary operation âˆ—, a subset ''H'' of ''G'' is called a subgroup of ''G'' if ''H'' also forms a group under the operation âˆ—. More precisely, ''H'' is a subgroup ...
s. More precisely, let be a group, and let and be subgroups. Let act on by left multiplication and let act on by right multiplication. For each in , the -double coset of is the
set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...
:HxK = \. When , this is called the -double coset of . Equivalently, is the
equivalence class In mathematics, when the elements of some set S have a notion of equivalence (formalized as an equivalence relation), then one may naturally split the set S into equivalence classes. These equivalence classes are constructed so that elements a ...
of under the
equivalence relation In mathematics, an equivalence relation is a binary relation that is reflexive, symmetric and transitive. The equipollence relation between line segments in geometry is a common example of an equivalence relation. Each equivalence relation ...
: if and only if there exist in and in such that . The set of all double cosets is denoted by H \,\backslash G / K.


Properties

Suppose that is a group with subgroups and acting by left and right multiplication, respectively. The -double cosets of may be equivalently described as
orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...
s for the product group acting on by . Many of the basic properties of double cosets follow immediately from the fact that they are orbits. However, because is a group and and are subgroups acting by multiplication, double cosets are more structured than orbits of arbitrary
group action In mathematics, a group action on a space is a group homomorphism of a given group into the group of transformations of the space. Similarly, a group action on a mathematical structure is a group homomorphism of a group into the automorphism ...
s, and they have additional properties that are false for more general actions. * Two double cosets and are either disjoint or identical. * is the
disjoint union In mathematics, a disjoint union (or discriminated union) of a family of sets (A_i : i\in I) is a set A, often denoted by \bigsqcup_ A_i, with an injection of each A_i into A, such that the images of these injections form a partition of A (th ...
of its double cosets. * There is a one-to-one correspondence between the two double coset spaces and given by identifying with . * If , then . If , then . * A double coset is a
union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
of right cosets of and left cosets of ; specifically, *:\begin HxK &= \bigcup_ Hxk = \coprod_ Hxk, \\ HxK &= \bigcup_ hxK = \coprod_ hxK. \end * The set of -double cosets is in
bijection In mathematics, a bijection, also known as a bijective function, one-to-one correspondence, or invertible function, is a function between the elements of two sets, where each element of one set is paired with exactly one element of the other s ...
with the orbits , and also with the orbits under the mappings HgK \to H(gK) and HgK \to (Hg)K respectively. * If is
normal Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson * ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie * ''Norma ...
, then is a group, and the right action of on this group factors through the right action of . It follows that . Similarly, if is normal, then . * If is a normal subgroup of , then the -double cosets are in one-to-one correspondence with the left (and right) -cosets. * Consider as the union of a -orbit of right -cosets. The stabilizer of the right -coset with respect to the right action of is . Similarly, the stabilizer of the left -coset with respect to the left action of is . * It follows that the number of right cosets of contained in is the
index Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...
and the number of left cosets of contained in is the index . Therefore *:\begin , HxK, &= : H \cap xKx^, K, = , H, : K \cap x^Hx \\ \left : H\right&= \sum_ : K \cap x^Hx \\ \left : K\right&= \sum_ : H \cap xKx^ \end *If , , and are finite, then it also follows that *:\begin , HxK, &= \frac = \frac, \\ \left : H\right&= \sum_ \frac, \\ \left : K\right&= \sum_ \frac. \end * Fix in , and let denote the double stabilizer . Then the double stabilizer is a subgroup of . * Because is a group, for each in there is precisely one in such that , namely ; however, may not be in . Similarly, for each in there is precisely one in such that , but may not be in . The double stabilizer therefore has the descriptions *:(H \times K)_x = \ \cap H \times K = \ \cap H \times K. * ( Orbit–stabilizer theorem) There is a bijection between and under which corresponds to . It follows that if , , and are finite, then *:, HxK, = \times K : (H \times K)_x= , H \times K, / , (H \times K)_x, . * ( Cauchy–Frobenius lemma) Let denote the elements fixed by the action of . Then *:, H \,\backslash G / K, = \frac\sum_ , G^, . * In particular, if , , and are finite, then the number of double cosets equals the average number of points fixed per pair of group elements. There is an equivalent description of double cosets in terms of single cosets. Let and both act by right multiplication on . Then acts by left multiplication on the product of coset spaces . The orbits of this action are in one-to-one correspondence with . This correspondence identifies with the double coset . Briefly, this is because every -orbit admits representatives of the form , and the representative is determined only up to left multiplication by an element of . Similarly, acts by right multiplication on , and the orbits of this action are in one-to-one correspondence with the double cosets . Conceptually, this identifies the double coset space with the space of relative configurations of an -coset and a -coset. Additionally, this construction generalizes to the case of any number of subgroups. Given subgroups , the space of -multicosets is the set of -orbits of . The analog of Lagrange's theorem for double cosets is false. This means that the size of a double coset need not divide the order of . For example, let be the
symmetric group In abstract algebra, the symmetric group defined over any set is the group whose elements are all the bijections from the set to itself, and whose group operation is the composition of functions. In particular, the finite symmetric group \m ...
on three letters, and let and be the cyclic subgroups generated by the transpositions and , respectively. If denotes the identity permutation, then :HeK = HK = \. This has four elements, and four does not divide six, the order of . It is also false that different double cosets have the same size. Continuing the same example, :H(2 3)K = \, which has two elements, not four. However, suppose that is normal. As noted earlier, in this case the double coset space equals the left coset space . Similarly, if is normal, then is the right coset space . Standard results about left and right coset spaces then imply the following facts. * for all in . That is, all double cosets have the same cardinality. * If is finite, then . In particular, and divide .


Examples

* Let be the symmetric group, considered as
permutation In mathematics, a permutation of a set is, loosely speaking, an arrangement of its members into a sequence or linear order, or if the set is already ordered, a rearrangement of its elements. The word "permutation" also refers to the act or proc ...
s of the set . Consider the subgroup which stabilizes . Then consists of two double cosets. One of these is , and the other is for any permutation which does not fix . This is contrasted with , which has n elements \gamma_1 S_, \gamma_2 S_, ..., \gamma_n S_, where each \gamma_i(n) = i. * Let be the group , and let be the subgroup of
upper triangular matrices In mathematics, a triangular matrix is a special kind of square matrix. A square matrix is called if all the entries ''above'' the main diagonal are zero. Similarly, a square matrix is called if all the entries ''below'' the main diagonal are ...
. The double coset space is the
Bruhat decomposition In mathematics, the Bruhat decomposition (introduced by François Bruhat for classical groups and by Claude Chevalley in general) ''G'' = ''BWB'' of certain algebraic groups ''G'' into cells can be regarded as a general expression of the principle ...
of . The double cosets are exactly , where ranges over all n-by-n permutation matrices. For instance, if , then *:B \,\backslash\! \operatorname_2(\mathbf) / B = \left\.


Products in the free abelian group on the set of double cosets

Suppose that is a group and that , , and are subgroups. Under certain finiteness conditions, there is a product on the
free abelian group In mathematics, a free abelian group is an abelian group with a basis. Being an abelian group means that it is a set with an addition operation that is associative, commutative, and invertible. A basis, also called an integral basis, is a subse ...
generated by the - and -double cosets with values in the free abelian group generated by the -double cosets. This means there is a bilinear function :\mathbf \backslash G / K\times \mathbf \backslash G / L\to \mathbf \backslash G / L Assume for simplicity that is finite. To define the product, reinterpret these free abelian groups in terms of the group algebra of as follows. Every element of has the form :\sum_ f_ \cdot xK where is a set of
integer An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number (, , , etc.) or a negative integer with a minus sign (−1, −2, −3, etc.). The negative numbers are the additive inverses of the corresponding positive numbers. In the language ...
s indexed by the elements of . This element may be interpreted as a -valued function on , specifically, . This function may be pulled back along the projection which sends to the double coset . This results in a function . By the way in which this function was constructed, it is left invariant under and right invariant under . The corresponding element of the group algebra is :\sum_ f_ \cdot and this element is invariant under left multiplication by and right multiplication by . Conceptually, this element is obtained by replacing by the elements it contains, and the finiteness of ensures that the sum is still finite. Conversely, every element of which is left invariant under and right invariant under is the pullback of a function on . Parallel statements are true for and . When elements of , , and are interpreted as invariant elements of , then the product whose existence was asserted above is precisely the multiplication in . Indeed, it is trivial to check that the product of a left--invariant element and a right--invariant element continues to be left--invariant and right--invariant. The bilinearity of the product follows immediately from the bilinearity of multiplication in . It also follows that if is a fourth subgroup of , then the product of -, -, and -double cosets is associative. Because the product in corresponds to convolution of functions on , this product is sometimes called the convolution product. An important special case is when . In this case, the product is a bilinear function :\mathbf \backslash G / H\times \mathbf \backslash G / H\to \mathbf \backslash G / H This product turns into an
associative ring In mathematics, rings are algebraic structures that generalize fields: multiplication need not be commutative and multiplicative inverses need not exist. In other words, a ''ring'' is a set equipped with two binary operations satisfying pro ...
whose identity element is the class of the trivial double coset . In general, this ring is
non-commutative In mathematics, a binary operation is commutative if changing the order of the operands does not change the result. It is a fundamental property of many binary operations, and many mathematical proofs depend on it. Most familiar as the name of ...
. For example, if , then the ring is the group algebra , and a group algebra is a
commutative ring In mathematics, a commutative ring is a ring in which the multiplication operation is commutative. The study of commutative rings is called commutative algebra. Complementarily, noncommutative algebra is the study of ring properties that are not sp ...
if and only if the underlying group is abelian. If is normal, so that the -double cosets are the same as the elements of the quotient group , then the product on is the product in the group algebra . In particular, it is the usual convolution of functions on . In this case, the ring is commutative if and only if is abelian, or equivalently, if and only if contains the
commutator subgroup In mathematics, more specifically in abstract algebra, the commutator subgroup or derived subgroup of a group is the subgroup generated by all the commutators of the group. The commutator subgroup is important because it is the smallest normal s ...
of . If is not normal, then may be commutative even if is non-abelian. A classical example is the product of two
Hecke operator In mathematics, in particular in the theory of modular forms, a Hecke operator, studied by , is a certain kind of "averaging" operator that plays a significant role in the structure of vector spaces of modular forms and more general automorphic repr ...
s. This is the product in the Hecke algebra, which is commutative even though the group is the
modular group In mathematics, the modular group is the projective special linear group of matrices with integer coefficients and determinant 1. The matrices and are identified. The modular group acts on the upper-half of the complex plane by fractional l ...
, which is non-abelian, and the subgroup is an
arithmetic subgroup In mathematics, an arithmetic group is a group obtained as the integer points of an algebraic group, for example \mathrm_2(\Z). They arise naturally in the study of arithmetic properties of quadratic forms and other classical topics in number theor ...
and in particular does not contain the commutator subgroup. Commutativity of the convolution product is closely tied to
Gelfand pair In mathematics, a Gelfand pair is a pair ''(G,K)'' consisting of a Group (mathematics), group ''G'' and a subgroup ''K'' (called an Euler subgroup of ''G'') that satisfies a certain property on restricted representations. The theory of Gelfand pairs ...
s. When the group is a
topological group In mathematics, topological groups are logically the combination of groups and topological spaces, i.e. they are groups and topological spaces at the same time, such that the continuity condition for the group operations connects these two str ...
, it is possible to weaken the assumption that the number of left and right cosets in each double coset is finite. The group algebra is replaced by an algebra of functions such as or , and the sums are replaced by
integral In mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented i ...
s. The product still corresponds to convolution. For instance, this happens for the
Hecke algebra of a locally compact group In mathematics, a Hecke algebra of a locally compact group is an algebra of bi-invariant measures under convolution. Definition Let (''G'',''K'') be a pair consisting of a unimodular locally compact topological group ''G'' and a closed subgroup ...
.


Applications

When a group G has a
transitive group action In mathematics, a group action on a space is a group homomorphism of a given group into the group of transformations of the space. Similarly, a group action on a mathematical structure is a group homomorphism of a group into the automorphism g ...
on a set S, computing certain double coset decompositions of G reveals extra information about structure of the action of G on S . Specifically, if H is the stabilizer subgroup of some element s\in S , then G decomposes as exactly two double cosets of (H,H) if and only if G acts transitively on the set of distinct pairs of S. See
2-transitive group A group G acts 2-transitively on a set S if it acts transitively on the set of distinct ordered pairs \. That is, assuming (without a real loss of generality) that G acts on the left of S, for each pair of pairs (x,y),(w,z)\in S\times S with x \neq ...
s for more information about this action. Double cosets are important in connection with
representation theory Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebraic structures by ''representing'' their elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies modules over these abstract algebraic structures. In essen ...
, when a representation of is used to construct an
induced representation In group theory, the induced representation is a representation of a group, , which is constructed using a known representation of a subgroup . Given a representation of '','' the induced representation is, in a sense, the "most general" represent ...
of , which is then restricted to . The corresponding double coset structure carries information about how the resulting representation decomposes. In the case of finite groups, this is Mackey's decomposition theorem. They are also important in
functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics)#Defini ...
, where in some important cases functions left-invariant and right-invariant by a subgroup can form a
commutative ring In mathematics, a commutative ring is a ring in which the multiplication operation is commutative. The study of commutative rings is called commutative algebra. Complementarily, noncommutative algebra is the study of ring properties that are not sp ...
under
convolution In mathematics (in particular, functional analysis), convolution is a operation (mathematics), mathematical operation on two function (mathematics), functions ( and ) that produces a third function (f*g) that expresses how the shape of one is ...
: see
Gelfand pair In mathematics, a Gelfand pair is a pair ''(G,K)'' consisting of a Group (mathematics), group ''G'' and a subgroup ''K'' (called an Euler subgroup of ''G'') that satisfies a certain property on restricted representations. The theory of Gelfand pairs ...
. In geometry, a Clifford–Klein form is a double coset space , where is a
reductive Lie group In mathematics, a reductive group is a type of linear algebraic group over a field. One definition is that a connected linear algebraic group ''G'' over a perfect field is reductive if it has a representation with finite kernel which is a direct ...
, is a closed subgroup, and is a discrete subgroup (of ) that acts
properly discontinuously In mathematics, a group action on a space is a group homomorphism of a given group into the group of transformations of the space. Similarly, a group action on a mathematical structure is a group homomorphism of a group into the automorphism g ...
on the
homogeneous space In mathematics, particularly in the theories of Lie groups, algebraic groups and topological groups, a homogeneous space for a group ''G'' is a non-empty manifold or topological space ''X'' on which ''G'' acts transitively. The elements of ' ...
. In
number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777â ...
, the
Hecke algebra In mathematics, the Hecke algebra is the algebra generated by Hecke operators. Properties The algebra is a commutative ring. In the classical elliptic modular form theory, the Hecke operators ''T'n'' with ''n'' coprime to the level acting o ...
corresponding to a
congruence subgroup In mathematics, a congruence subgroup of a matrix group with integer entries is a subgroup defined by congruence conditions on the entries. A very simple example would be invertible matrix, invertible 2 Ã— 2 integer matrices of determinan ...
of the
modular group In mathematics, the modular group is the projective special linear group of matrices with integer coefficients and determinant 1. The matrices and are identified. The modular group acts on the upper-half of the complex plane by fractional l ...
is spanned by elements of the double coset space \Gamma \backslash \mathrm_2^+(\mathbb) / \Gamma; the algebra structure is that acquired from the multiplication of double cosets described above. Of particular importance are the Hecke operators T_m corresponding to the double cosets \Gamma_0(N) g \Gamma_0(N) or \Gamma_1(N) g \Gamma_1(N), where g= \left( \begin 1 & 0 \\ 0 & m \end \right) (these have different properties depending on whether and are
coprime In mathematics, two integers and are coprime, relatively prime or mutually prime if the only positive integer that is a divisor of both of them is 1. Consequently, any prime number that divides does not divide , and vice versa. This is equivale ...
or not), and the diamond operators \langle d \rangle given by the double cosets \Gamma_1(N) \left(\begin a & b \\ c & d \end \right) \Gamma_1(N) where d \in (\mathbb/N\mathbb)^\times and we require \left( \begin a & b \\ c & d \end \right)\in \Gamma_0(N) (the choice of does not affect the answer).


References

{{reflist Group theory