Differentiating smooth group homomorphisms [fcap-001Q]

The quadratic Clifford construction in the preceding section is algebraic. A different bridge starts from a smooth homomorphism of Lie groups and differentiates it at the identity. This produces the functor from Lie groups to Lie algebras and explains which part of the Spin-representation roadmap is generic differential geometry, before any Lie-group structure on the abstract Spin and special orthogonal groups has been supplied.