Generalized Poisson brackets and lie algebras of type H in characteristic 0

The Lie algebra of Cartan type H which occurs as a subalgebra of the Lie algebra of derivations of the polynomial algebra was generalized by the first author to a class which included a subalgebra of the derivations of the Laurent polynomials . We show in this paper that these generalizations of Cartan type H algebras are isomorphic to certain generalizations of the classical algebra of Poisson brackets, and that it can be generalized further. In turn, these algebras can be recast in a form that is an adaption of a class of Lie algebras of characteristic p that was defined in 1958 be R. Block. A further generalization of these algebras is the main topic of this paper. We show when these algebras are simple, find their derivations, and determine all possible isomorphisms between two of these algebras. Received December 20, 1996; in final form September 15, 1997     

Tensor factorization and Spin construction for Kac-Moody algebras

In this paper we discuss the “Factorization phenomenon” which occurs when a representation of a Lie algebra is restricted to a subalgebra, and the result factors into a tensor product of smaller representations of the subalgebra. We analyze this phenomenon for symmetrizable Kac-Moody algebras (including finite-dimensional, semi-simple Lie algebras). We present a few factorization results for a general embedding of a symmetrizable Kac-Moody algebra into another and provide an algebraic explanation for such a phenomenon using Spin construction. We also give some application of these results for semi-simple, finite-dimensional Lie algebras.We extend the notion of Spin functor from finite-dimensional to symmetrizable Kac-Moody algebras, which requires a very delicate treatment. We introduce a certain category of orthogonal g-representations for which, surprisingly, the Spin functor gives a g-representation in Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand category O. Also, for an integrable representation, Spin produces an integrable representation. We give the formula for the character of Spin representation for the above category and work out the factorization results for an embedding of a finite-dimensional, semi-simple Lie algebra into its untwisted affine Lie algebra. Finally, we discuss the classification of those representations for which Spin is irreducible.     

Whittaker Modules for Graded Lie Algebras

In this paper, we study Whittaker modules for graded Lie algebras over ℂ. We define Whittaker modules for a class of graded Lie algebras and obtain a bijective correspondence between the set of isomorphism classes of Whittaker modules and the set of ideals of a polynomial ring, parallel to a result from the classical setting and the case of the Virasoro algebra. As a consequence of this, we obtain a classification of simple Whittaker modules for such algebras. Also, we discuss some concrete algebras as examples.     

Differential equations in vertex algebras and simple modules for the Lie algebra of vector fields on a torus

We study irreducible representations for the Lie algebra of vector fields on a 2-dimensional torus constructed using the generalized Verma modules. We show that for a certain choice of parameters these representations remain irreducible when restricted to a loop subalgebra in the Lie algebra of vector fields. We prove this result by studying vertex algebras associated with the Lie algebra of vector fields on a torus and solving non-commutative differential equations that we derive using the vertex algebra technique.     

On simple modules over conformal Galilei algebras

We study irreducible representations of two classes of conformal Galilei algebras in 1-spatial dimension. We construct a functor which transforms simple modules with nonzero central charge over the Heisenberg subalgebra into simple modules over the conformal Galilei algebras. This can be viewed as an analogue of oscillator representations. We use oscillator representations to describe the structure of simple highest weight modules over conformal Galilei algebras. We classify simple weight modules with finite dimensional weight spaces over finite dimensional Heisenberg algebras and use this classification and properties of oscillator representations to classify simple weight modules with finite dimensional weight spaces over conformal Galilei algebras.     

Bases, filtrations and module decompositions of free Lie algebras

We use the technique known as elimination to devise some new bases of the free Lie algebra which (like classical Hall bases) consist of Lie products of left normed basic Lie monomials. Our bases yield direct decompositions of the homogeneous components of the free Lie algebra with direct summands that are particularly easy to describe: they are tensor products of metabelian Lie powers. They also give rise to new filtrations and decompositions of free Lie algebras as modules for groups of graded algebra automorphisms. In particular, we obtain some new decompositions for free Lie algebras and free restricted Lie algebras over fields of positive characteristic.     

Cartan matrices for restricted Lie algebras

Consider a finite dimensional restricted Lie algebra over a field of prime characteristic. Each linear form on this Lie algebra defines a finite dimensional quotient of its universal enveloping algebra, called a reduced enveloping algebra. This leads to a Cartan matrix recording the multiplicities as composition factors of the simple modules in the projective indecomposable modules for such a reduced enveloping algebra. In this paper we show how to compare such Cartan matrices belonging to distinct linear forms. As an application we rederive and generalise the reciprocity formula first discovered by Humphreys for Lie algebras of reductive groups. For simple Lie algebras of Cartan type we see, for example, that the Cartan matrices for linear forms of non-positive height are submatrices of the Cartan matrix for the zero linear form.     

Whittaker Modules for the Insertion-Elimination Lie Algebra

This paper addresses the representation theory of the insertion-elimination Lie algebra, a Lie algebra that can be naturally realized in terms of tree-inserting and tree-eliminating operations on rooted trees. The insertion-elimination algebra admits a triangular decomposition in the sense of Moody and Pianzola, and thus it is natural to define Whittaker modules corresponding to a given algebra homomorphism. Among other results, we show that the standard Whittaker modules are simple under certain constraints on the corresponding algebra homomorphism.     

Representations of centrally-extended Lie algebras over differential operators and vertex algebras

We construct irreducible modules of centrally-extended classical Lie algebras over left ideals of the algebra of differential operators on the circle, through certain irreducible modules of centrally-extended classical Lie algebras of infinite matrices with finite number of nonzero entries. The structures of vertex algebras associated with the vacuum representations of these algebras are determined. Moreover, we prove that under certain conditions, the highest-weight irreducible modules of centrally-extended classical Lie algebras of infinite matrices with finite number of nonzero entries naturally give rise to the irreducible modules of the simple quotients of these vertex algebras. From vertex algebra and its representation point of view, our results with positive integral central charge are high-order differential operator analogues of the well-known WZW models in conformal field theory associated with affine Kac-Moody algebras. Indeed, when the left ideals are the algebra of differential operators, our Lie algebras do contain affine Kac-Moody algebras as subalgebras and our results restricted on them are exactly the representation contents in WZW models. Similar results with negative central charge are also obtained.     

Simple Virasoro modules which are locally finite over a positive part

We propose a very general construction of simple Virasoro modules generalizing and including both highest weight and Whittaker modules. This construction enables us to classify all simple Virasoro modules that are locally finite over a positive part. To obtain those irreducible Virasoro modules, we use simple modules over a family of finite dimensional solvable Lie algebras. For one of these algebras, all simple modules are classified by R. Block and we extend this classification to the next member of the family. As a result, we recover many known but also construct a lot of new simple Virasoro modules. We also propose a revision of the setup for study of Whittaker modules.     

Invariant Lie Algebras and Lie Algebras with a Small Centroid

A subalgebra of a Lie algebra is said to be invariant if it is invariant under the action of some Cartan subalgebra of that algebra. A known theorem of Melville says that a nilpotent invariant subalgebra of a finite-dimensional semisimple complex Lie algebra has a small centroid. The notion of a Lie algebra with small centroid extends to a class of all finite-dimensional algebras. For finite-dimensional algebras of zero characteristic with semisimple derivations in a sufficiently broad class, their centroid is proved small. As a consequence, it turns out that every invariant subalgebra of a finite-dimensional reductive Lie algebra over an arbitrary definition field of zero characteristic has a small centroid.     

The Gelfand-Kirillov conjecture and Gelfand-Tsetlin modules for finite W-algebras

We address two problems with the structure and representation theory of finite W-algebras associated with general linear Lie algebras. Finite W-algebras can be defined using either Kostant's Whittaker modules or a quantum Hamiltonian reduction. Our first main result is a proof of the Gelfand-Kirillov conjecture for the skew fields of fractions of finite W-algebras. The second main result is a parameterization of finite families of irreducible Gelfand-Tsetlin modules using Gelfand-Tsetlin subalgebra. As a corollary, we obtain a complete classification of generic irreducible Gelfand-Tsetlin modules for finite W-algebras.     

The centralizer algebras of lie color algebras

In his 1977 paper, V.G. Kac classified the finite-dimensional simple complex Lie superalgebras. After Kac’s paper, M. Scheunert initiated the study of a generalization of Lie superalgebras - the Lie color algebras. We construct some new families of simple Lie color algebras. Following the work of A. Berele and A. Regev and A.N. Sergeev, who studied the general linear and sq(n)-series superalgebra cases, and the work of G. Benkart, C. Lee Shader, and A. Ram, who studied the orthosymplectic cases, we examine the centralizer algebras of some classical Lie superalgebras and their Lie color algebra counterparts acting on tensor space and derive Schur-Weyl duality results for these algebras and their centralizers.     

Locally finite Lie algebras with root decomposition

Let K be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, $\frak {g}$ be a countably dimensional locally finite Lie algebra over K, and $\frak {h} \subset \frak {g}$ be a (a priori non-abelian) locally nilpotent subalgebra of $\frak {g}$ which coincides with its zero Fitting component. We classify all such pairs $(\frak {g}, \frak {h})$ under the assumptions that the locally solvable radical of $\frak {g}$ equals zero and that $\frak {g}$ admits a root decomposition with respect to $\frak {h}$. More precisely, we prove that $\frak {g}$ is the union of reductive subalgebras $\frak {g}_n$ such that the intersections $\frak {g}_n \cap \frak {h}$ are nested Cartan subalgebras of $\frak {g}_n$ with compatible root decompositions. This implies that $\frak {g}$ is root-reductive and that $\frak {h}$ is abelian. Root-reductive locally finite Lie algebras are classified in [6]. The result of the present note is a more general version of the main classification theorem in [9] and is at the same time a new criterion for a locally finite Lie algebra to be root-reductive. Finally we give an explicit example of an abelian selfnormalizing subalgebra $\frak {h}$ of $\frak {g} = \frak {sl}(\infty)$ with respect to which $\frak {g}$ does not admit a root decomposition.Work Supported in Part by the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics, Bonn     

Whittaker Categories and Whittaker Modules for Lie Superalgebras

Following analogous constructions for Lie algebras, we define Whittaker modules and Whittaker categories for finite-dimensional simple Lie superalgebras. Results include a decomposition of Whittaker categories for a Lie superalgebra according to the action of an appropriate sub-superalgebra; and, for basic classical Lie superalgebras of type I, the construction of Whittaker modules from Whittaker modules for the even part.     

Generalized Serre relations for Lie algebras associated with positive unit forms

Every semisimple Lie algebra defines a root system on the dual space of a Cartan subalgebra and a Cartan matrix, which expresses the dual of the Killing form on a root base. Serre’s Theorem [J.-P. Serre, Complex Semisimple Lie Algebras (G.A. Jones, Trans.), Springer-Verlag, New York, 1987] gives then a representation of the given Lie algebra in generators and relations in terms of the Cartan matrix.In this work, we generalize Serre’s Theorem to give an explicit representation in generators and relations for any simply laced semisimple Lie algebra in terms of a positive quasi-Cartan matrix. Such a quasi-Cartan matrix expresses the dual of the Killing form for a Z-base of roots. Here, by a Z-base of roots, we mean a set of linearly independent roots which generate all roots as linear combinations with integral coefficients.     

A structural characterization of the simple Lie algebras of generalized Cartan type over fields of prime characteristic

Lie algebras of Cartan type over fields of prime characteristic were introduced by [15. and 16.] [15]. More general definitions were later given in [12, 13, 16, 23]. In this paper we give a further generalization of the definition of Lie algebra of Cartan type and a structural characterization of the simple finite dimensional Lie algebras of generalized Cartan type over algebraically closed fields.