On the calculation of group characters

Abstract

It is known that characters of irreducible representations of finite Lie algebras can be obtained using the Weyl character formula including Weyl group summations which make actual calculations almost impossible except for a few Lie algebras of lower rank. By starting from the Weyl character formula, we show that these characters can be re-expressed without referring to Weyl group summations. Some useful technical points are given in detail for the instructive example of G(2) Lie algebra. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.