Defining amalgams of compact Lie groups

Abstract

For $n \geq 2$ let $Δ$ be a Dynkin diagram of rank $n$ and let $I = {1, >..., n}$ be the set of labels of $Δ$. A group $G$ admits a weak Phan system of type $Δ$ over $\mathbb{C}$ if $G$ is generated by subgroups $U_i$, $i \in I$, which are central quotients of simply connected compact semisimple Lie groups of rank one, and contains subgroups $U_{i,j} = \gen{U_i ,U_j}$, $i \neq j \in I$, which are central quotients of simply connected compact semisimple Lie groups of rank two such that $U_i$ and $U_j$ are rank one subgroups of $U_{i,j}$ corresponding to a choice of a maximal torus and a fundamental system of roots for $U_{i,j}$. It is shown in this article that $G$ then is a central quotient of the simply connected compact semisimple Lie group whose complexification is the simply connected complex semisimple Lie group of type $Δ$.