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In mathematics, a Klein geometry is a type of geometry motivated by Felix Klein in his influential Erlangen program. More specifically, it is a homogeneous space X together with a transitive action on X by a Lie group G, which acts as the symmetry group of the geometry.

For background and motivation see the article on the Erlangen program.

Formal definition

A Klein geometry is a pair (G, H) where G is a Lie group and H is a closed Lie subgroup of G such that the (left) coset space G/H is connected. The group G is called the principal group of the geometry and G/H is called the space of the geometry (or, by an abuse of terminology, simply the Klein geometry). The space X = G/H of a Klein geometry is a smooth manifold of dimension

dim X = dim G − dim H.

There is a natural smooth left action of G on X given by

$g\cdot (aH)=(ga)H.$

Clearly, this action is transitive (take a = 1), so that one may then regard X as a homogeneous space for the action of G. The stabilizer of the identity coset H ∈ X is precisely the group H.

Given any connected smooth manifold X and a smooth transitive action by a Lie group G on X, we can construct an associated Klein geometry (G, H) by fixing a basepoint x₀ in X and letting H be the stabilizer subgroup of x₀ in G. The group H is necessarily a closed subgroup of G and X is naturally diffeomorphic to G/H.

Two Klein geometries (G₁, H₁) and (G₂, H₂) are geometrically isomorphic if there is a Lie group isomorphism φ : G₁ → G₂ so that φ(H₁) = H₂. In particular, if φ is conjugation by an element g ∈ G, we see that (G, H) and (G, gHg⁻¹) are isomorphic. The Klein geometry associated to a homogeneous space X is then unique up to isomorphism (i.e. it is independent of the chosen basepoint x₀).

Bundle description

Given a Lie group G and closed subgroup H, there is natural right action of H on G given by right multiplication. This action is both free and proper. The orbits are simply the left cosets of H in G. One concludes that G has the structure of a smooth principal H-bundle over the left coset space G/H:

$H\to G\to G/H.$

Types of Klein geometries

Effective geometries

The action of G on X = G/H need not be effective. The kernel of a Klein geometry is defined to be the kernel of the action of G on X. It is given by

$K=\{k\in G:g^{-1}kg\in H\mathrm{\forall }g\in G\}.$

The kernel K may also be described as the core of H in G (i.e. the largest subgroup of H that is normal in G). It is the group generated by all the normal subgroups of G that lie in H.

A Klein geometry is said to be effective if K = 1 and locally effective if K is discrete. If (G, H) is a Klein geometry with kernel K, then (G/K, H/K) is an effective Klein geometry canonically associated to (G, H).

Geometrically oriented geometries

A Klein geometry (G, H) is geometrically oriented if G is connected. (This does not imply that G/H is an oriented manifold). If H is connected it follows that G is also connected (this is because G/H is assumed to be connected, and G → G/H is a fibration).

Given any Klein geometry (G, H), there is a geometrically oriented geometry canonically associated to (G, H) with the same base space G/H. This is the geometry (G₀, G₀ ∩ H) where G₀ is the identity component of G. Note that G = G₀ H.

Reductive geometries

A Klein geometry (G, H) is said to be reductive and G/H a reductive homogeneous space if the Lie algebra $𝔥$ of H has an H-invariant complement in $𝔤$.

Examples

In the following table, there is a description of the classical geometries, modeled as Klein geometries.

	Underlying space	Transformation group G	Subgroup H	Invariants
Euclidean geometry	Euclidean space $E(n)$	Euclidean group $\mathrm{E}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{c}(n)\simeq \mathrm{O}(n)⋊{ℝ}^n$	Orthogonal group $\mathrm{O}(n)$	Distances of points, angles of vectors
Spherical geometry	Sphere $S^n$	Orthogonal group $\mathrm{O}(n+1)$	Orthogonal group $\mathrm{O}(n)$	Distances of points, angles of vectors
Conformal geometry on the sphere	Sphere $S^n$	Lorentz group of an $n+2$ dimensional space $\mathrm{O}(n+1,1)$	A subgroup $P$ fixing a line in the null cone of the Minkowski metric	Angles of vectors
Projective geometry	Real projective space ${ℝ\mathbb{P}}^n$	Projective group $\mathrm{P}\mathrm{G}\mathrm{L}(n+1)$	A subgroup $P$ fixing a flag $\{0\}\subset V_1\subset V_n$	Projective lines, Cross-ratio
Affine geometry	Affine space $A(n)\simeq {ℝ}^n$	Affine group $\mathrm{A}\mathrm{f}\mathrm{f}(n)\simeq \mathrm{G}\mathrm{L}(n)⋊{ℝ}^n$	General linear group $\mathrm{G}\mathrm{L}(n)$	Lines, Quotient of surface areas of geometric shapes, Center of mass of triangles.
Hyperbolic geometry	Hyperbolic space $H(n)$, modeled e.g. as time-like lines in the Minkowski space ${ℝ}^{1,n}$	Lorentz group $\mathrm{O}(1,n)$	$\mathrm{O}(1)\times \mathrm{O}(n)$	Hyperbolic lines, hyperbolic circles, angles.

References

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