Published August 2005 | Version v1
Journal article

A constructive algorithm for the Cartan decomposition of SU(2N)

  • 1. Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA (United Kingdom)
  • 2. Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2BW (United Kingdom)

Description

We present an explicit numerical method to obtain the Cartan-Khaneja-Glaser decomposition of a general element G is a member of SU(2N) in terms of its 'Cartan' and 'non-Cartan' components. This effectively factors G in terms of group elements that belong in SU(2n) with n<N, a procedure that can be iterated down to n=2. We show that every step reduces to solving the zeros of a matrix polynomial, obtained by truncation of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula, numerically. All computational tasks involved are straightforward and the overall truncation errors are well under control

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Mathematical Physics
Journal Volume
46
Journal Issue
8
Journal Page Range
p. 082108-082108.11
ISSN
0022-2488
CODEN
JMAPAQ

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
37015340
Subject category
S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
ALGORITHMS; ERRORS; MATRICES; POLYNOMIALS; QUANTUM MECHANICS; SU-2 GROUPS
Descriptors DEC
FUNCTIONS; LIE GROUPS; MATHEMATICAL LOGIC; MECHANICS; SU GROUPS; SYMMETRY GROUPS

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2005 American Institute of Physics