What does the order of a class mean in a character table?

Asked Oct 18 '20 at 05:34

Active Oct 18 '20 at 05:34

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I am not from a chemistry background. I am trying to see how the symmetry operations affect the stiffness tensor which led me in the path of understanding character tables. I am looking at the character table for C6v group and I cannot understand what the factor 2 for C6(z) means. Is it representative of the fact that I can rotate in clockwise and anticlockwise direction?

Please let me know if you need any further information.

asked Oct 18 '20 at 05:34

prananna

Yes.$\mathstrut$ – Ivan Neretin Oct 18 '20 at 06:39
Shouldn't C2(z) also have a factor of 2 then? – prananna Oct 18 '20 at 06:45
No, because rotating for $180^\circ$ clockwise and anticlockwise is the same thing. – Ivan Neretin Oct 18 '20 at 07:17
This answer might help in general https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/58609/understanding-group-theory-easily-and-quickly/58613#58613 – porphyrin Oct 18 '20 at 08:19
@IvanNeretin That makes sense. Thank you – prananna Oct 18 '20 at 08:31
@porphyrin Thank you. This is very helpful. – prananna Oct 18 '20 at 08:31

What does the order of a class mean in a character table?

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