Lie algebras and representations of continuous groups

Abstract

It is shown that every finitely generated continuous group has a subgroup generated by its infinitesimal transformations. This subgroup has a group algebra which is the Lie algebra of the group. By obtaining complete systems in the Lie algebra and complete rectangular arrays, it is shown that these can yield matrix representations of the continuous group. Illustrative examples are given for the rotation groups and for the full linear groups. It would seem that all the finite motion representations can be obtained by these methods, including spin representations of rotation groups. But the completeness of the method is not here demonstrated.