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04.8 Homomorphisms and Isomorphisms

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111 views2 pages

04.8 Homomorphisms and Isomorphisms

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joysinna
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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4.

8 Homomorphisms and isomorphisms

Let G, ∗ and H, △ be groups. A function f : G → H doesn’t necessarily tell us anything


about the relationship between G and H as groups unless we insist that it interacts in some
specific way with the group operations ∗ and △ . We define a group homomorphism G → H

to be a function which respects the group structure on G and H in the following sense:

Definition 4.14 Let G, ∗ and H, △ be groups.

A group homomorphism f : G → H is a function such that for all x, y ∈ G we have

f (x ∗ y) = f (x)△f (y).

A group isomorphism is a group homomorphism which is a bijection.

We usually just say homomorphism and isomorphism instead of group homomorphism and
group isomorphism.

Example 4.10

The identity map G → G is an isomorphism.


Let G, ∗ and H, △ be any groups. The map f : G → H given by f (g) = eH for all
g ∈ G is a group homomorphism.
The map f : Z → Zn given by f (z) = [z]n is a group homomorphism. To see this, we
have to check that f (z + w) = f (z) + f (w) . This is true because f (z + w) = [z + w]n

and by definition, [z]n + [w]n = [z + w]n .


Let H = {1, −1} so that H, × is a cyclic group of order 2. Then our results on the sign of
a permutation show that sign : Sn → H is a group homomorphism.
The map det : GL(n, R) → R
×
is a group homomorphism.
There is an isomorphism between S3 and the dihedral group of order 6.

Lemma 4.12 Let f : G → H be a group homomorphism. Then

f (eG ) = eH , and
for any g ∈ G we have f (g
−1
) = f (g)
−1
.
Proof.

We have

f (eG ) = f (eG ∗ eG ) as eG ∗ eG = eG

= f (eG )△f (eG ) as f is a homomorphism.

Now multiply both sides on the left by the inverse of f (eG ) , to get

eH = f (eG ).

By the previous part, eH = f (g ∗ g


−1
) = f (g)△f (g
−1
) . Multiply on the left by f (g)
−1
to
get

−1 −1
f (g) = f (g )

Definition 4.15 Let f : G → H be a group homomorphism. ▢

ker f , the kernel of f, is defined to be {g ∈ G : f (g) = eH } .


im f , the image of f, is defined to be {f (g) : g ∈ G} .

The latter isn’t a new definition — it’s just the image of the function f as we already defined it.

Proposition 4.8 Let f : G → H be a group homomorphism. Then ker f is a subgroup of G


and im f is a subgroup of H.
Proof. The kernel contains eG because f (eG ) = eH by the previous Lemma. If g ∈ ker f then

−1 −1
f (g ) = f (g) by the lemma

−1
= e as g ∈ ker f
H

= eH

so g
−1
∈ ker f which is therefore closed under inverses, and if g, h ∈ ker f then

f (g ∗ h) = f (g)△f (h) as f is a homomorphism

= eH △eH as g, h ∈ ker f

= eH

so g ∗ h ∈ ker f . It follows ker f is a subgroup.

Now the image. The previous lemma shows eh ∈ im f , and that im f is closed under
inverses. If f (g), f (h) ∈ im f then f (g)△f (h) = f (gh) ∈ im f as f is a homomorphism, so
im f is a subgroup. ▢

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