Every irrep of G L 𝑛 ( ℂ ) is an irrep of U ( 𝑛 ) and S U ( 𝑛 )
Let
[!chec\Spanroof (sketch) A representation of a Lie group is reducible iff its infinitesimal representation is reducible. We can give a basis to the Lie algebra of each group as follows
𝔰 𝔲 ( 𝑛 ) = s p a n { 𝐽 𝑗 } 2 𝑛 − 1 𝑗 = 1 𝔲 ( 𝑛 ) = s p a n { 𝐽 𝑗 } 2 𝑛 − 1 𝑗 = 0 , 𝐽 0 = 𝟙 𝔤 𝔩 𝑛 ( ℂ ) = s p a n { 𝐽 𝑗 , 𝑖 𝐽 𝑗 } 2 𝑛 − 1 𝑗 = 1 hence clearly a block diagonalization of a representation of
yields a block diagonalization of the restrictions to 𝔤 𝔩 𝑛 ( ℂ ) and 𝔰 𝔲 ( 𝑛 ) . 𝔲 ( 𝑛 )