Thompson groupsIn mathematics, the Thompson groups (also called Thompson's groups, vagabond groups or chameleon groups) are three groups, commonly denoted , that were introduced by Richard Thompson in some unpublished handwritten notes in 1965 as a possible counterexample to the von Neumann conjecture. Of the three, F is the most widely studied, and is sometimes referred to as the Thompson group or Thompson's group. The Thompson groups, and F in particular, have a collection of unusual properties that have made them counterexamples to many general conjectures in group theory.
Amenable groupIn mathematics, an amenable group is a locally compact topological group G carrying a kind of averaging operation on bounded functions that is invariant under translation by group elements. The original definition, in terms of a finitely additive measure (or mean) on subsets of G, was introduced by John von Neumann in 1929 under the German name "messbar" ("measurable" in English) in response to the Banach–Tarski paradox. In 1949 Mahlon M. Day introduced the English translation "amenable", apparently as a pun on "mean".
Locally compact spaceIn topology and related branches of mathematics, a topological space is called locally compact if, roughly speaking, each small portion of the space looks like a small portion of a compact space. More precisely, it is a topological space in which every point has a compact neighborhood. In mathematical analysis locally compact spaces that are Hausdorff are of particular interest; they are abbreviated as LCH spaces. Let X be a topological space. Most commonly X is called locally compact if every point x of X has a compact neighbourhood, i.
Algebra over a fieldIn mathematics, an algebra over a field (often simply called an algebra) is a vector space equipped with a bilinear product. Thus, an algebra is an algebraic structure consisting of a set together with operations of multiplication and addition and scalar multiplication by elements of a field and satisfying the axioms implied by "vector space" and "bilinear". The multiplication operation in an algebra may or may not be associative, leading to the notions of associative algebras and non-associative algebras.
Compact spaceIn mathematics, specifically general topology, compactness is a property that seeks to generalize the notion of a closed and bounded subset of Euclidean space. The idea is that a compact space has no "punctures" or "missing endpoints", i.e., it includes all limiting values of points. For example, the open interval (0,1) would not be compact because it excludes the limiting values of 0 and 1, whereas the closed interval [0,1] would be compact.
Σ-compact spaceIn mathematics, a topological space is said to be σ-compact if it is the union of countably many compact subspaces. A space is said to be σ-locally compact if it is both σ-compact and (weakly) locally compact. That terminology can be somewhat confusing as it does not fit the usual pattern of σ-(property) meaning a countable union of spaces satisfying (property); that's why such spaces are more commonly referred to explicitly as σ-compact (weakly) locally compact, which is also equivalent to being exhaustible by compact sets.
Associative algebraIn mathematics, an associative algebra A is an algebraic structure with compatible operations of addition, multiplication (assumed to be associative), and a scalar multiplication by elements in some field K. The addition and multiplication operations together give A the structure of a ring; the addition and scalar multiplication operations together give A the structure of a vector space over K. In this article we will also use the term [[algebra over a field|K-algebra]] to mean an associative algebra over the field K.
Non-associative algebraA non-associative algebra (or distributive algebra) is an algebra over a field where the binary multiplication operation is not assumed to be associative. That is, an algebraic structure A is a non-associative algebra over a field K if it is a vector space over K and is equipped with a K-bilinear binary multiplication operation A × A → A which may or may not be associative. Examples include Lie algebras, Jordan algebras, the octonions, and three-dimensional Euclidean space equipped with the cross product operation.
Linear groupIn mathematics, a matrix group is a group G consisting of invertible matrices over a specified field K, with the operation of matrix multiplication. A linear group is a group that is isomorphic to a matrix group (that is, admitting a faithful, finite-dimensional representation over K). Any finite group is linear, because it can be realized by permutation matrices using Cayley's theorem. Among infinite groups, linear groups form an interesting and tractable class.
Algebraic groupIn mathematics, an algebraic group is an algebraic variety endowed with a group structure that is compatible with its structure as an algebraic variety. Thus the study of algebraic groups belongs both to algebraic geometry and group theory. Many groups of geometric transformations are algebraic groups; for example, orthogonal groups, general linear groups, projective groups, Euclidean groups, etc. Many matrix groups are also algebraic. Other algebraic groups occur naturally in algebraic geometry, such as elliptic curves and Jacobian varieties.
Locally connected spaceIn topology and other branches of mathematics, a topological space X is locally connected if every point admits a neighbourhood basis consisting entirely of open, connected sets. Throughout the history of topology, connectedness and compactness have been two of the most widely studied topological properties. Indeed, the study of these properties even among subsets of Euclidean space, and the recognition of their independence from the particular form of the Euclidean metric, played a large role in clarifying the notion of a topological property and thus a topological space.
Cross productIn mathematics, the cross product or vector product (occasionally directed area product, to emphasize its geometric significance) is a binary operation on two vectors in a three-dimensional oriented Euclidean vector space (named here ), and is denoted by the symbol . Given two linearly independent vectors a and b, the cross product, a × b (read "a cross b"), is a vector that is perpendicular to both a and b, and thus normal to the plane containing them. It has many applications in mathematics, physics, engineering, and computer programming.
Tarski monster groupIn the area of modern algebra known as group theory, a Tarski monster group, named for Alfred Tarski, is an infinite group G, such that every proper subgroup H of G, other than the identity subgroup, is a cyclic group of order a fixed prime number p. A Tarski monster group is necessarily simple. It was shown by Alexander Yu. Olshanskii in 1979 that Tarski groups exist, and that there is a Tarski p-group for every prime p > 1075. They are a source of counterexamples to conjectures in group theory, most importantly to Burnside's problem and the von Neumann conjecture.
Jordan algebraIn abstract algebra, a Jordan algebra is a nonassociative algebra over a field whose multiplication satisfies the following axioms: (commutative law) (). The product of two elements x and y in a Jordan algebra is also denoted x ∘ y, particularly to avoid confusion with the product of a related associative algebra. The axioms imply that a Jordan algebra is power-associative, meaning that is independent of how we parenthesize this expression. They also imply that for all positive integers m and n.
Classical groupIn mathematics, the classical groups are defined as the special linear groups over the reals R, the complex numbers C and the quaternions H together with special automorphism groups of symmetric or skew-symmetric bilinear forms and Hermitian or skew-Hermitian sesquilinear forms defined on real, complex and quaternionic finite-dimensional vector spaces. Of these, the complex classical Lie groups are four infinite families of Lie groups that together with the exceptional groups exhaust the classification of simple Lie groups.
C*-algebraIn mathematics, specifically in functional analysis, a C∗-algebra (pronounced "C-star") is a Banach algebra together with an involution satisfying the properties of the adjoint. A particular case is that of a complex algebra A of continuous linear operators on a complex Hilbert space with two additional properties: A is a topologically closed set in the norm topology of operators. A is closed under the operation of taking adjoints of operators.
Group of Lie typeIn mathematics, specifically in group theory, the phrase group of Lie type usually refers to finite groups that are closely related to the group of rational points of a reductive linear algebraic group with values in a finite field. The phrase group of Lie type does not have a widely accepted precise definition, but the important collection of finite simple groups of Lie type does have a precise definition, and they make up most of the groups in the classification of finite simple groups.
Lie algebraIn mathematics, a Lie algebra (pronounced liː ) is a vector space together with an operation called the Lie bracket, an alternating bilinear map , that satisfies the Jacobi identity. Otherwise said, a Lie algebra is an algebra over a field where the multiplication operation is now called Lie bracket and has two additional properties: it is alternating and satisfies the Jacobi identity. The Lie bracket of two vectors and is denoted . The Lie bracket does not need to be associative, meaning that the Lie algebra can be non associative.
Countably compact spaceIn mathematics a topological space is called countably compact if every countable open cover has a finite subcover. A topological space X is called countably compact if it satisfies any of the following equivalent conditions: (1) Every countable open cover of X has a finite subcover. (2) Every infinite set A in X has an ω-accumulation point in X. (3) Every sequence in X has an accumulation point in X. (4) Every countable family of closed subsets of X with an empty intersection has a finite subfamily with an empty intersection.
Locally compact groupIn mathematics, a locally compact group is a topological group G for which the underlying topology is locally compact and Hausdorff. Locally compact groups are important because many examples of groups that arise throughout mathematics are locally compact and such groups have a natural measure called the Haar measure. This allows one to define integrals of Borel measurable functions on G so that standard analysis notions such as the Fourier transform and spaces can be generalized.
