3D4 (original) (raw)

In mathematics, the Steinberg triality groups of type 3D4 form a family of Steinberg or twisted Chevalley groups. They are quasi-split forms of D4, depending on a cubic Galois extension of fields K ⊂ L, and using the triality automorphism of the Dynkin diagram D4. Unfortunately the notation for the group is not standardized, as some authors write it as 3D4(K) (thinking of 3D4 as an algebraic group taking values in K) and some as 3D4(L) (thinking of the group as a subgroup of D4(L) fixed by an outer automorphism of order 3). The group 3D4 is very similar to an orthogonal or spin group in dimension 8.