[Math] Lie algebra of a quotient of Lie groups

lie-algebraslie-groups

Suppose I have a Lie group $G$ and a closed normal subgroup $H$, both connected. Then I can form the quotient $G/H$, which is again a Lie group. On the other hand, the derivative of the embedding $H\hookrightarrow G$ gives an embedding of Lie algebras, $\mathfrak{h}\hookrightarrow\mathfrak{g}$. Since $H$ is normal, $\mathfrak{h}$ is an ideal of $\mathfrak{g}$, so we can form the quotient algebra $\mathfrak{g}/\mathfrak{h}$.

  1. Is it then true that the Lie algebra of $G/H$ is canonically isomorphic to $\mathfrak{g}/\mathfrak{h}$? (I guess what I really want to know is: is the functor $\phi\mapsto d_e\phi$ exact?)

  2. If so, can we always write $\mathfrak{g}$ as a direct sum of vector spaces $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{h}\oplus\mathfrak{g}'$ where $\mathfrak{g}'$ is a subalgebra of $\mathfrak{g}$ isomorphic to $\mathfrak{g}/\mathfrak{h}$? (I don't mean this to be a direct sum of Lie algebras; there would certainly in general be a nontrivial bracket between $\mathfrak{g}'$ and $\mathfrak{h}$.)

Thank you.

Best Answer

The answer to your first question is yes. Let $p: G\to G/H$ denote the projection. Then $\mathfrak{h}$ is a subspace of the kernel of $p_*: \mathfrak g \to Lie(G/H)$. This is because if $X\in \mathfrak h$ then $p_* X = \frac{d}{dt}\vert_{t=0} p(\exp(tX)) = 0$ since $\exp(tX) \in H$ so $p(\exp(tX))$ is constant. By dimensionality reasons, $\mathfrak{h} = \ker p_*$. Thus $p_*$ gives a canonical isomorphism $\mathfrak g/\mathfrak h \to Lie(G/H)$.

I'm really not sure about your second question.

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