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Everything about Lattice Group totally explained

In mathematics, especially in geometry and group theory, a lattice in Rn is a discrete subgroup of Rn which spans the real vector space Rn. Every lattice in Rn can be generated from a basis for the vector space by forming all linear combinations with integral coefficients. A lattice may be viewed as a regular tiling of a space by a primitive cell.
   Lattices have many significant applications in pure mathematics, particularly in connection to Lie algebras, number theory and group theory. They also arise in applied mathematics in connection with coding theory, and are used in various ways in the physical sciences. For instance, in materials science and solid-state physics, a lattice is a synonym for a crystalline structure, a 3-dimensional array of regularly spaced points coinciding with the atom or molecule positions in a crystal. More generally, lattice models are studied in physics, often by the techniques of computational physics.

Symmetry considerations and examples

A lattice is the symmetry group of discrete translational symmetry in n directions. A pattern with this lattice of translational symmetry can't have more, but may have less symmetry than the lattice itself.
   A lattice in the sense of a 3-dimensional array of regularly spaced points coinciding with for example the atom or molecule positions in a crystal, or more generally, the orbit of a group action under translational symmetry, is a translate of the translation lattice: a coset, which need not contain the origin, and therefore need not be a lattice in the previous sense. A simple example of a lattice in Rn is the subgroup Zn. A more complicated example is the Leech lattice, which is a lattice in R24. The period lattice in R2 is central to the study of elliptic functions, developed in nineteenth century mathematics; it generalises to higher dimensions in the theory of abelian functions.

Dividing space according to a lattice

A typical lattice Λ in Rn thus has the form »

Lambda = left - the unit group of elements in R with multiplicative inverses) then the lattices generated by these bases will be isomorphic since T induces an isomorphism between the two lattices.
   Important cases occur in number theory with K a p-adic field and R the p-adic integers.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Lattice Group'.


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