In theoretical physics,

Eugene Wigner Eugene Paul "E. P." Wigner ( hu, Wigner Jenő Pál, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his co ...

and

Erdal İnönü Erdal İnönü (6 June 1926 – 31 October 2007) was a Turkish theoretical physicist and politician, who served as the interim Prime Minister of Turkey between 16 May and 25 June 1993. He also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey from ...

have discussed the possibility to obtain from a given Lie group a different (non-isomorphic) Lie group by a group contraction with respect to a continuous subgroup of it. That amounts to a limiting operation on a parameter of the Lie algebra, altering the structure constants of this Lie algebra in a nontrivial singular manner, under suitable circumstances. For example, the Lie algebra of the

3D rotation group In mechanics and geometry, the 3D rotation group, often denoted SO(3), is the group of all rotations about the origin of three-dimensional Euclidean space \R^3 under the operation of composition. By definition, a rotation about the origin is a t ...

, , etc., may be rewritten by a change of variables , , , as : . The contraction limit trivializes the first commutator and thus yields the non-isomorphic algebra of the plane Euclidean group, . (This is isomorphic to the cylindrical group, describing motions of a point on the surface of a cylinder. It is the

little group 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 ...

, or stabilizer subgroup, of null

four-vectors In special relativity, a four-vector (or 4-vector) is an object with four components, which transform in a specific way under Lorentz transformations. Specifically, a four-vector is an element of a four-dimensional vector space considered as a ...

Minkowski space In mathematical physics, Minkowski space (or Minkowski spacetime) () is a combination of three-dimensional Euclidean space and time into a four-dimensional manifold where the spacetime interval between any two events is independent of the iner ...

.) Specifically, the translation generators , now generate the Abelian normal subgroup of (cf.

Group extension In mathematics, a group extension is a general means of describing a group in terms of a particular normal subgroup and quotient group. If Q and N are two groups, then G is an extension of Q by N if there is a short exact sequence :1\to N\;\ove ...

), the parabolic Lorentz transformations. Similar limits, of considerable application in physics (cf. Correspondence principles), contract * the de Sitter group to the

Poincaré group The Poincaré group, named after Henri Poincaré (1906), was first defined by Hermann Minkowski (1908) as the group of Minkowski spacetime isometries. It is a ten-dimensional non-abelian Lie group that is of importance as a model in our und ...

, as the de Sitter radius diverges: ; or * the

to the Galilei group, as the

speed of light The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant that is important in many areas of physics. The speed of light is exactly equal to ). According to the special theory of relativity, is the upper limit ...

diverges: ; or * the Moyal bracket Lie algebra (equivalent to quantum commutators) to the Poisson bracket Lie algebra, in the

classical limit The classical limit or correspondence limit is the ability of a physical theory to approximate or "recover" classical mechanics when considered over special values of its parameters. The classical limit is used with physical theories that predict n ...

as the

Planck constant The Planck constant, or Planck's constant, is a fundamental physical constant of foundational importance in quantum mechanics. The constant gives the relationship between the energy of a photon and its frequency, and by the mass-energy equivale ...

vanishes: .

Notes

References

* * * * * {{Cite journal, last1=Segal, first1=I. E., author-link = Irving Segal, doi = 10.1215/S0012-7094-51-01817-0, title=A class of operator algebras which are determined by groups, journal= Duke Mathematical Journal, volume=18, pages=221, year=1951 Lie algebras Lie groups Mathematical physics