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MA473 Content

Content: A reflection is a linear transformation that fixes a hyperplane and multiplies a complementary vector by -1. The dihedral group can be generated by a pair of reflections. The main goal of the module is to classify finite groups (of linear transformations) generated by reflections. The question appeared in 1920s in the works of Cartan and Weyl as the Weyl group is a finite crystallographic reflection group. In fact, if you have done MA453 Lie Algebras then you are already familiar with classification of semisimple Lie algebras, which is essentially the classification of crystallographic reflection groups.

Besides classifications, we will concentrate on examples and polynomial invariants.

Reference: R. Goodman, The Mathematics of Mirrors and Kaleidoscopes, American Mathematical Monthly.

www.math.rutgers.edu/~goodman/pub/monthly.pdf

Book:

J. E. Humphreys, Reflection groups and Coxeter groups, Cambridge University Press, 1992.