quotient group


Before defining quotient groupsMathworldPlanetmath, some preliminary definitions must be introduced and a few established.

Given a group G and a subgroupMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmath H of G, the http://planetmath.org/node/122relationMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmath L on G defined by aLb if and only if b-1aH is called left congruencePlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmath modulo H; similarly the relation defined by aRb if and only if ab-1H is called congruence modulo H (observe that these two relations coincide if G is abelianMathworldPlanetmath).

Proposition.

Left (resp. right) congruence modulo H is an equivalence relationMathworldPlanetmath on G.

Proof.

We will only give the proof for left congruence modulo H, as the for right congruence modulo H is analogous. Given aG, because H is a subgroup, H contains the identityPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmath e of G, so that a-1a=eH; thus aLa, so L is http://planetmath.org/node/1644reflexiveMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmath. If bG satisfies aLb, so that b-1aH, then by the of H under the formation of inversesMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmath, a-1b=(b-1a)-1H, and bLa; thus L is symmetricMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmath. Finally, if cG, aLb, and bLc, then we have b-1a,c-1bH, and the closure of H under the binary operationMathworldPlanetmath of G gives c-1a=(c-1b)(b-1a)H, so that aLc, from which it follows that L is http://planetmath.org/node/1669transitiveMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmath, hence an equivalence relation. ∎

It follows from the preceding that G is partitioned into mutually disjoint, non-empty equivalence classesMathworldPlanetmath by left (resp. right) congruence modulo H, where a,bG are in the same equivalence class if and only if aLb (resp. aRb); focusing on left congruence modulo H, if we denote by a¯ the equivalence class containing a under L, we see that

a¯={bGbLa}={bGa-1bH}={bGb=ah for some hH}={ahhH}.

Thus the equivalence class under L containing a is simply the left cosetMathworldPlanetmath aH of H in G. Similarly the equivalence class under R containing a is the right coset Ha of H in G (when the binary operation of G is written additively, our notation for left and right cosets becomes a+H={a+hhH} and H+a={h+ahH}). Observe that the equivalence class under either L or R containing e is eH=H. The index of H in G, denoted by |G:H|, is the cardinality of the set G/H (read “G modulo H” or just “G mod H”) of left cosets of H in G (in fact, one may demonstrate the existence of a bijectionMathworldPlanetmath between the set of left cosets of H in G and the set of right cosets of H in G, so that we may well take |G:H| to be the cardinality of the set of right cosets of H in G).

We now attempt to impose a group on G/H by taking the of the left cosets containing the elements a and b, respectively, to be the left coset containing the element ab; however, because this definition requires a choice of left coset representatives, there is no guarantee that it will yield a well-defined binary operation on G/H. For the of left coset to be well-defined, we must be sure that if aH=aH and bH=bH, i.e., if aaH and bbH, then abH=abH, i.e., that ababH. Precisely what must be required of the subgroup H to ensure the of the above condition is the content of the following :

Proposition.

The rule (aH,bH)abH gives a well-defined binary operation on G/H if and only if H is a normal subgroupMathworldPlanetmath of G.

Proof.

Suppose first that of left cosets is well-defined by the given rule, i.e, that given aaH and bbH, we have abH=abH, and let gG and hH. Putting a=1, a=h, and b=b=g-1, our hypothesisMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmath gives hg-1H=eg-1H=g-1H; this implies that hg-1g-1H, hence that hg-1=g-1h for some hH. on the left by g gives ghg-1=hH, and because g and h were chosen arbitrarily, we may conclude that gHg-1H for all gG, from which it follows that HG. Conversely, suppose H is normal in G and let aaH and bbH. There exist h1,h2H such that a=ah1 and b=bh1; now, we have

ab=ah1bh2=a(bb-1)h1bh2=ab(b-1h1b)h2,

and because b-1h1bH by assumptionPlanetmathPlanetmath, we see that ab=abh, where h=(b-1hb)h2H by the closure of H under in G. Thus ababH, and because left cosets are either disjoint or equal, we may conclude that abH=abH, so that multiplicationPlanetmathPlanetmath of left cosets is indeed a well-defined binary operation on G/H. ∎

The set G/H, where H is a normal subgroup of G, is readily seen to form a group under the well-defined binary operation of left coset multiplication (the of each group follows from that of G), and is called a quotient or factor group (more specifically the quotient of G by H). We conclude with several examples of specific quotient groups.

Example.

A standard example of a quotient group is /n, the quotient of the of integers by the cyclic subgroup generated by n+; the order of /n is n, and the distinct left cosets of the group are n,1+n,,(n-1)+n.

Example.

Although the group Q8 is not abelian, each of its subgroups its normal, so any will suffice for the formation of quotient groups; the quotient Q8/-1, where -1={1,-1} is the cyclic subgroup of Q8 generated by -1, is of order 4, with elements -1,i-1={i,-i},k-1={k,-k} , and j-1={j,-j}. Since each non-identity element of Q8/-1 is of order 2, it is isomorphicPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmath to the Klein 4-group V. Because each of i, j, and k has order 4, the quotient of Q8 by any of these subgroups is necessarily cyclic of order 2.

Example.

The center of the dihedral groupMathworldPlanetmath D6 of order 12 (with http://planetmath.org/node/2182presentationMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmath r,sr6=s2=1,r-1s=sr) is r3={1,r3}; the elements of the quotient D6/r3 are r3, rr3={r,r4}, r2r3={r2,r5}, sr3={s,sr3}, srr3={sr,sr4}, and sr2r3={sr2,sr5}; because

sr2r3rr3=sr3r3=sr3srr3=rr3sr2r3,

D6/r3 is non-abelianMathworldPlanetmath, hence must be isomorphic to S3.

Title quotient group
Canonical name QuotientGroup
Date of creation 2013-03-22 12:04:06
Last modified on 2013-03-22 12:04:06
Owner azdbacks4234 (14155)
Last modified by azdbacks4234 (14155)
Numerical id 35
Author azdbacks4234 (14155)
Entry type Definition
Classification msc 20-00
Synonym factor group
Synonym quotient
Related topic Group
Related topic NormalSubgroup
Related topic Subgroup
Related topic EquivalenceRelation
Related topic Coset
Related topic NaturalProjection
Defines left congruence modulo a subgroup
Defines right congruence modulo a subgroup
Defines index