Automorphisms of $SO(n,\mathbb R)$

1.8k Views Asked by At

Sorry, I'm not a specialist, I want to ask about automorphisms of the group $SO(n,\mathbb{R})$ ($\mathbb{R}$ - field of reals). It is easy that a function of the form $f_C(A)=CAC^{-1}$ for $A \in SO(n, \mathbb{R})$, where $C\in O(n,\mathbb{R})$, is an automorphism.

But, is it true that each automorphism of $SO(n,\mathbb{R})$ is of the form $f_C$ with $C \in O(n,\mathbb{R})$ or maybe with $C \in SO(n,\mathbb{R})$?

Thanks.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

11
On BEST ANSWER

See Outer automorphism group wiki page, the section on real Lie groups. It says that outer automorphism groups are symmetries of Dynkin diagram.

From this it follows that for $SO(2n-1, \mathbb{R})$, i.e. series $B_n$, all automorphisms are inner. For $SO(2n, \mathbb{R})$ there is order 2 outer automorphism which indeed coincides with conjugation by reflections.

So it follows that the answer to your question is in affirmative, and $C \in SO(n, \mathbb{R})$ for odd $n$, and in $O(n, \mathbb{R})$ for even.