E Representations in Point Group C8

Note on E representations in
C₈ character table

6 irreducible representations of point group C₈ have complex values. 3 two-dimensional real-valued representations E can be constructed as direct sum of the 3 pairs complex plus conjugate complex irreducible representation.
E₁ = E_1a ⊕ E_1b
E₂ = E_2a ⊕ E_2b
E₃ = E_3a ⊕ E_3b

ε=exp(2πi/8)
C₈		E	C₈	C₄	(C₈)³	C₂	(C₈)⁵	(C₄)³	(C₈)⁷
	A	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
	B	1	-1	1	-1	1	-1	1	-1
E₁	E_1a E_1b	1 1	ε^* ε^*	i -i	-ε^* -ε^*	-1 -1	-ε^* -ε^*	-i i	ε^* ε^*
E₂	E_2a E_2b	1 1	i -i	-1 -1	-i i	1 1	i -i	-1 -1	-i i
E₃	E_3a E_3b	1 1	-ε^* -ε^*	-i i	ε^* ε^*	-1 -1	ε^* ε^*	i -i	-ε^* -ε^*

Obviously the E representations are reducible. Nevertheless the E representations are treated often as irreducible representations and are called real-valued or pseudo irreducible representations. One should keep in mind that general statements for character tables fail for real-valued representations. For example:

The number of irreducible representations is usually equal the number of classes. For point group C₈ this statement is true for the complex irreducible representations. The number of real-valued irreducible representations is less than the number of classes.
The sum of the squared characters of the neutral symmetry element over all irreducible representations is equal to the total number of symmetry elements
h = ∑ Χ_i(E) Χ_i(E)
This statement is true for the complex irreducible representations but not for the real-valued irreducible representations
Reduction formula: The occurence of i-th irreducible representation in an reducible representation is given by the well known formula
c_i = 1/h ∑_R n_R χ_i(R)^irred χ(R)^red
This statement is true for the complex irreducible representations. The norm of the two-dimensional real-valued irreducible representations is 2h (instead of h) meaning that the reduction formula has to be modified:
c_i(E) = 1/(2h) ∑_R n_R χ_i(R)^irred χ(R)^red = (∑_R n_R χ_i(R)^irred χ(R)^red) / (∑_R n_R χ_i(R)^irred χ_i(R)^irred)

Last update November, 13^th 2023 by A. Gelessus, Impressum, Datenschutzerklärung/DataPrivacyStatement

Note on E representations inC8 character table

h = ∑ Χi(E) Χi(E)

ci = 1/h ∑R nR χi(R)irred χ(R)red

ci(E) = 1/(2h) ∑R nR χi(R)irred χ(R)red = (∑R nR χi(R)irred χ(R)red) / (∑R nR χi(R)irred χi(R)irred)

Note on E representations in
C₈ character table

h = ∑ Χ_i(E) Χ_i(E)

c_i = 1/h ∑_R n_R χ_i(R)^irred χ(R)^red

c_i(E) = 1/(2h) ∑_R n_R χ_i(R)^irred χ(R)^red = (∑_R n_R χ_i(R)^irred χ(R)^red) / (∑_R n_R χ_i(R)^irred χ_i(R)^irred)