Contents

CONTENTS

Introduction
Here we introduce a brief history of group theory, and discuss the relation
between group theory and quantum mechanics.
Group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups. The
English word algebra is originated from Arabic work al-jebra meaning
reunion of breaking parts. As a branch of pure mathematics algebra
studies the rules of operations and relations.
The birth of group theory in 1831 (E. Galois) was due to the efforts
of many mathematicians, mainly in the following three areas:
1. Geometry.
A.F. M
obius in 1827, began to classify geometries using the fact that
a particular geometry studies properties invariant under a particular transformation, although he was completely unaware of the group concept.
2. Number theory.
In 1761 L. Euler studied modular arithmetic. In particular he examined the remainders of powers of a number modulo n. Although Eulers
work is not stated in group theoretic terms he does provide an example
of the decomposition of an Abelian group into cosets of a subgroup. He
also proved a special case of the order of a subgroup being a divisor of the
order of the group. C. F. Gauss in 1801 was to take Eulers work much
further and gave a considerable amount of work on modular arithmetic
which amounts to a part of the theory of Abelian groups. He examined
orders of elements and proved (although not in this notation) that there is
a subgroup for every number dividing the order of a cyclic group.
3. Algebraic equations.
Permutations were first studied by J.L. Lagrange in his 1770 paper on
the theory of algebraic equations. Although the beginnings of permutation
group theory can be seen in this work, Lagrange never composes his permutations so in some sense never discusses groups at all. Cauchy played a
3

CONTENTS

major role in developing the theory of permutations. His first paper on the
subject was in 1815 but at this stage Cauchy is motivated by permutations
of roots of equations.
E. Galois was the first to really understand that the algebraic solution of an equation was related to the structure of a group, le groupe des
permutations. By 1832 Galois had discovered that special subgroups (now
called normal subgroups) are fundamental. He calls the decomposition of
a group into cosets of a subgroup a proper decomposition if the right and
left coset decompositions coincide.
About one century later, in 1930s group theory was reformulated by
Wigner and Weyl in order to be applicable to quantum mechanics. In this
book we follow the formalism of the two authors. In many cases group
theory seems a more convenient method for solving problems in quantum
mechanics.
First we use an example to demonstrate some characteristics of group
theory in solving quantum mechanics problem. The example is about one
particle moving in an isotropic harmonic oscillator field.
A) The solution in Schrodinger theory
In this method one solves the differential equation (the Schrodinger
equation), H = E, where = (x, y, z) is the wave function and H is
the Hamiltonian, which writes
1
1
H = (p)2 + V (r) with V (r) = (r)2 .
2
2

(1)

The Hamiltonian can be written as

1
1
1
H = (p21 + x21 ) + (p22 + x22 ) + (p23 + x23 ).
2
2
2

(2)

By solving the above equation with boundary conditions (finite, continuity,...etc), one obtains as follows,
1

n1 n2 n3 (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = Nn1 n2 n3 Hn1 (x1 )Hn2 (x2 )Hn3 (x3 )e 2 (x1 +x2 +x3 ) ,

(3)

where Hn (x) are the Hermite polynomials, i.e.

Hn (x) = (1)n ex

n x2
(e ),
xn

(4)

CONTENTS

and the eigenvalue of energy is

E = n1 + n2 + n3 +

3
3
=N+ .
2
2

(5)

All other physical quantities can be calculated with the wave function
(x1 , x2 , x3 ). In this method the solution process is almost the same as in
classical physics, except that for quantum mechanics there exist hypotheses
that lead to the Schrodinger equation and boundary conditions. We note
that for the application of Schrodinger theory, we must have a well defined
potential V (r).
B) The solution in Heisenberg theory
In this solution one employs quantization and uses an algebraic method
(instead of calculus). We start from the Hamiltonian
1
1
H = (p21 + p22 + p23 ) + (x21 + x22 + x23 ),
2
2

(6)

where pi , xi are operators that obey the following commutation relation:

[xi , pj ] = iij ,

[xi , xj ] = [pi , pj ] = 0,

(7)

which is the consequence of the particle-wave duality.

Then we make the transformations:
1
1
aj = (xj + ipj ) and aj = (xj ipj ).
2
2

(8)

The operators aj and aj obey the commutation relations:

[ai , aj ] = ij ,

[ai , aj ] = 0,

[ai , aj ] = 0.

(9)

Since
1
1
(x1 ip1 )(x1 + ip1 ) = (x21 ip1 x1 + ix1 p1 + p21 )
2
2
1
1
1
1 2
(x1 + p21 ) i[p1 , x1 ] = (x21 + p21 ) ,
=
2
2
2
2

a1 a1 =

(10)

etc, the Hamiltonian can be rewritten as

3
H = a1 a1 + a2 a2 + a3 a3 + .
2

(11)

CONTENTS

The meaning of a1 can be revealed in the following. Suppose

H1 |n1 >= En1 |n1 >
and a1 |n1 > forms a new state which may have a different eigenvalue E :

H1 a1 |n1 >= E a1 |n1 > .

One subtracts a1 H1 |n1 > from both sides of the equation and obtain
(H1 a1 a1 H1 )|n1 >= (E En1 )a1 |n1 > .
Since
one obtains

[H1 , a1 ] = a1 ,
E En1 = 1 or E = En1 + 1,

which means that the action of a1 on |n1 > increases the energy by a unit,
i.e.
a1 |n1 > |n1 +1 > .
Therefore one can create all the states from the ground state (denoted
as |0 >) by applying ai repeatedly:
|n1 n2 n3

(ai )ni
|0 > .
>=
ni
i=1

(12)

In this method commutators are employed, and a tedious calculus derivation is avoided. The method looks more elegant than the previous one.
However, one still needs to know in advance the analytical form of the potential, as is the case of the Schrodinger theory.
C) The solution in Group theory
Starting from the operators ai and ai and the commutation relations
(eq.(9)) one can construct the generators Tij = ai aj , which form a closed
set under commutations such that
[Tij , Trs ] = jr Tis is Trj .

(13)

In terminology of group theory the operators Tij generate the U (3) group.
The Casimir operator of the U (3) group is
C(U 3) = T11 + T22 + T33 ,

(14)

CONTENTS

which is the same as the Hamiltonian of harmonic oscillator (eq. (11)). It

is easy to show that C(U (3)) commutes with all the generators. i.e.
[C(U (3)), Trs ] = 0,

(15)

therefore, we claim that the harmonic oscillator system has the U (3) symmetry. The physical quantities of the system can be expressed by the
generators of this group. For example the angular momentum operator
= x p can be expressed as
L
L1 = x2 p3 x3 p2 = i(a3 a2 a2 a3 ) = i(T32 T23 ).
The most important consequences of the U (3) symmetry is that there may
exist degeneracy in calculated spectrum as well as selection rules in transitions.
In practice, one often solves the problem in a reverse way: starting
from the experimentally observed degeneracy in energy and selection rules
in transition one can guess a symmetry (of a group G) for the system, and
then use the group-theoretical method to calculate physical quantities. By
comparing the calculation with experiment data one can determine if the
assumed symmetry is correct or not, or it needs a modification. A big
advantage of the group theory method is that it does not require detailed
knowledge on the Hamiltonian, which is not available in many branches of
modern physics, especially in particle physics and nuclear physics. This is
the reason that the group theory is now applied to almost all the branches
of modern physics.
Due to the formulation of Wigner and Weyl, there exists the following
correspondence between quantum mechanics and group theory:
Group Theory
Irreps
Generators
The Casimir Operator

Quantum Mechanics
Eigenstates
Physical Quantities
The Hamiltonian

Another feature of the group theory is that one group can be used to
describe several systems that are quite different in nature. The following
is one example:

CONTENTS

1. The SU (3) model for p-shell nuclei

Due to observation of rotational bands, Elliott proposed the SU (3)
symmetry for rotational nuclei. In the p-shell nuclei there are three orbital
states,
a0 |0 >
a1 |0 >
a1 |0 >
l, m : (1, 1)

(1, 0)

(1, 1)

which are degenerate in energy. The SU (3) group is generated by the

following nine operators:
LM = (a a
)M
(2)
QM = (a a
)M
(1)

(M = 1, 0, 1)
(M = 2, 1, 0, 1, 2),

and the group has the subgroup chain

SU (3) SO(3) SO(2).
2. The SU (3) model for Quarks
According to the degeneracy in the masses of hadrons, the SU (3) quark
model was proposed. One assume that the three types of quarks
u
au

d
ad

s
as

are degenerate in energy. The SU (3) group is generated by the generators

Tij = ai aj . The system is described by a subgroup chain
SU (3) SU (2) SO(2).
In view of the intimate relation between quantum mechanics and group
theory we suggest that students with prior knowledge on quantum mechanics take the group theory as an alternative mathematical formalism of
quantum mechanics.