Semidirect product from a splitting exact sequence
A split extension yields a semidirect product decomposition
Semidirect product from a splitting exact sequence
Proposition (Semidirect product from splitting). Let
be an exact sequence of groups . Suppose the sequence splits, meaning there exists a homomorphism (a section) such that ; equivalently, is a split extension of by .
Then:
- is a normal subgroup of and we may identify with .
- Let be the homomorphism defined by Then is isomorphic to the semidirect product .
- Under this isomorphism, every can be written uniquely as with and .
Context. This proposition is the standard bridge between abstract extensions and concrete constructions: split exact sequences are exactly semidirect products. The “internal” version is phrased via the internal semidirect product inside .