Example. Dihedral symmetry refines the four-cycle sectors [fdip-004X]

Take the cycle with \(n=4\), \(w=m=1\). Let \(D_4=\langle r,s:r^4=s^2=1,\ srs=r^{-1}\rangle \), of order 8, act on vertices by \(r(v)=v+1\), \(s(v)=-v\). On the oriented edges \(e_v:v\to v+1\), rotation sends \(e_v\) to \(e_{v+1}\) with positive sign, while reflection sends \(e_v\) to \(e_{-v-1}\) with negative sign. The latter edge runs from \(-v-1\) to \(-v\), the reverse of the transported endpoints. The 4 rotations restore each edge; two reflections restore its label and give positive sign. Reflecting, rotating, then reflecting sends \(e_v\) to \(e_{v-1}\) with two negative signs, hence agrees with the inverse rotation. The vertex maps obey the same relations, so these maps define a signed endpoint action. This uses the dihedral presentation in [serre1977linear, Section 5.3, p. 36]; the edge signs and precision calculation are explicit here.

The dashed diagonal is the reflection axis: \(s\) fixes vertices \(0,2\), exchanges \(1,3\), and sends \(e_0\) to \(e_3\) with reversed orientation. All 4 weights and the mass are one.

An orthonormal basis, grouped by real irreducible type, is \[\begin {aligned} u&=(1,1,1,1)/2,&a&=(1,-1,1,-1)/2,\\ c&=(1,0,-1,0)/\sqrt 2,&b&=(0,1,0,-1)/\sqrt 2. \end {aligned}\] The line \(\mathbb Ru\) is trivial. On \(\mathbb Ra\), rotation acts by \(-1\) and reflection by \(+1\); call this the alternating line. On \(K=\operatorname {span}(c,b)\), \[\rho (r)|_K=\begin {pmatrix}0&-1\\1&0\end {pmatrix},\qquad \rho (s)|_K=\begin {pmatrix}1&0\\0&-1\end {pmatrix}.\] There is no real rotation-invariant line, so \(K\) is irreducible. A real matrix commuting with the rotation is \(xI+y\rho (r)\); commuting also with the reflection forces \(y=0\). Thus its commuting algebra is \(\mathbb R I\), the real-type case. The two distinct lines and \(K\) are pairwise nonisomorphic, each occurring once.

Direct substitution in the cycle precision gives \[Qu=u,\qquad Qa=5a,\qquad Qc=3c,\qquad Qb=3b.\] The three orthogonal projectors are \(uu^T\), \(aa^T\), and \(cc^T+bb^T=I-uu^T-aa^T\); their ranges have dimensions \(1,1,2\) and precision eigenvalues \(1,5,3\), respectively. For the subgroup generated by \(r^2\), the positive sector is \(\operatorname {span}(u,a)\) and the negative sector is \(K\). The half-turn calculation therefore has two \(2\times 2\) blocks, whereas the full dihedral action separates its positive block into two lines. Changing the acting group changes the isotypic decomposition without changing this precision.