Example 1.
We use the command SimpleLieAlgebraData to obtain the Lie algebra data for the Lie algebra . This is the 15-dimensional Lie algebra of trace-free, skew-Hermitian matrices
We suppress the output of this command which is a lengthy list of structure equations.
Initialize this Lie algebra -- the basis elements are given the default labels
We remark that the command StandardRepresentation can be used to explicitly display the matrices defining .
The first 3 matrices define a Cartan subalgebra. We can use the Query command to check this
We use the command RootSpaceDecomposition to find the root space decomposition for with respect to this Cartan subalgebra.
A choice of simple roots for this root space decomposition is:
This set of simple roots can be determined by the command SimpleRoots. The Cartan matrix for this root space decomposition and choice of simple roots is :
We easily identify this as the standard Cartan matrix for
Notice that a permutation of the simple roots gives a permuted Cartan matrix.
Example 2.
For the exceptional Lie algebras , and there are two different conventions for the Cartan matrix. For these are: