  Symmetries in quantum mechanics are realized by the projective
representations of the Lie group as physical states are defined only up to a
phase. A cornerstone theorem shows that these representations are equivalent to
the unitary representations of the central extension of the group. The
formulation of the inertial states of special relativistic quantum mechanics as
the projective representations of the inhomogeneous Lorentz group, and its
nonrelativistic limit in terms of the Galilei group, are fundamental examples.
Interestingly, neither of these symmetries includes the Weyl-Heisenberg group;
the hermitian representations of its algebra are the Heisenberg commutation
relations that are a foundation of quantum mechanics. The Weyl-Heisenberg group
is a one dimensional central extension of the abelian group and its unitary
representations are therefore a particular projective representation of the
abelian group of translations on phase space. A theorem involving the
automorphism group shows that the maximal symmetry that leaves invariant the
Heisenberg commutation relations are essentially projective representations of
the inhomogeneous symplectic group. In the nonrelativistic domain, we must also
have invariance of Newtonian time. This reduces the symmetry group to the
inhomogeneous Hamilton group that is a local noninertial symmetry of Hamilton's
equations. The projective representations of these groups are calculated using
the Mackey theorems for the general case of a nonabelian normal subgroup.
