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Suppose that
is a symmetry group. Then
is one of the subgroups listed in Table
1. We say that
is an untwisted subgroup of
if
is conjugate to a subgroup of the form
where K is contained in the subgroup H given in Table
1. The untwisted symmetry groups are listed in Table
2.
Table:The 22 untwisted symmetry groups
 |
It is not the case that every subgroup
produces a symmetry group. For example, when
,the only symmetry group
corresponding to
is
.(This isindependent of the restriction to untwisted symmetry groups.) To
verify this point, observe that
acts transitively on the cylinder
.Hence if
is the symmetry group of a function
,then f is the constant function.It follows that f is invariant
under
,and that the symmetrysubgroup
.
When
contains
,the function f isconstant on each horizontal cross-section of
and hence automaticallyhas the symmetry
.In these cases, the only possibilities are
and
.Similarly, when
contains
then automatically
and the only possibilities are
and
.
In all other cases, there are no restrictions on K other
than thecondition
.
Next: Twisted Symmetry
Groups Up: Symmetries of
Columns Previous: Classification
of Subgroups of
Marty Golubitsky
2001-01-29
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