Heisenberg group of the Heisenberg group is fairly simple – later generalized by Mackey theory – and was the motivation for its introduction in quantum physics, as discussed below. For each nonzero real number formula_27, we can define an irreducible unitary representation formula_48 of formula_31 acting on the Hilbert space formula_50 by the formula: This representation is known as the Schrödinger representation. The motivation for the this representation is the action of the exponentiated position and momentum operators in quantum mechanics. The parameter formula_52 describes translations in position space, the parameter formula_53 describes translations in momentum space, and the parameter formula_54 gives
Heisenberg group "n"-dimensional systems, and most generally, to any symplectic vector space. In the three-dimensional case, the product of two Heisenberg matrices is given by: Since the multiplication is not commutative, the group is non-abelian. The neutral element of the Heisenberg group is the identity matrix, and inverses are given by The group is a subgroup of the 2-dimensional affine group Aff(2): formula_2 acting on formula_6 corresponds to the affine transform formula_7. There are several prominent examples of the three-dimensional case. If , are real numbers (in the ring R) then one has the continuous Heisenberg group H(R). It is a nilpotent