Abstract
Normalized lowering and raising operators are constructed for the orthogonal group in the canonical group chain O(n) ⊃ O(n − 1) ⊃ … ⊃ O(2) with the aid of graphs which simplify their construction. By successive application of such lowering operators for O(n), O(n − 1), … on the highest weight states for each step of the chain, an explicit construction is given for the normalized basis vectors. To illustrate the usefulness of the construction, a derivation is given of the Gel'fand‐Zetlin matrix elements of the infinitesimal generators of O(n).