On the generalized Lie structure of associative algebras

We study the structure of Lie algebras in the category ^H MA ofH-comodules for a cotriangular bialgebra (H, 〈|〉) and in particular theH-Lie structure of an algebraA in ^H MA. We show that ifA is a sum of twoH-commutative subrings, then theH-commutator ideal ofA is nilpotent; thus ifA is also semiprime,A isH-commutative. We show an analogous result for arbitraryH-Lie algebras whenH is cocommutative. We next discuss theH-Lie ideal structure ofA. We show that ifA isH-simple andH is cocommutative, then any non-commutativeH-Lie idealU ofA must contain A, A]. IfU is commutative andH is a group algebra, we show thatU is in the graded center ifA is a graded domain. Dedicated to the memory of S. A. Amitsur Supported by a Fulbright grant. Supported by NSF grant DMS-9203375.