Using GAP4, we determine the number of ad-nilpotent and abelian ideals of a parabolic subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra of exceptional types E, F or G.
In this paper, we study certain ad-nilpotent subalgebras contained in the non-zero graded portion of a simple Z_n-graded Lie algebra. These subalgebras respect the grading on the Lie algebra and are modules for a Borel subalgebra for the grade-zero Lie subalgebra. We show that semisimple elements in such subalgebras lie in the center of the subalgebra, and we provide a classification of these subalgebras whose weight space decompositions have only non-zero weights.
We determine the Lie subalgebra $\mathfrak{g}_{nil}$ of a Borcherds symmetrizable generalized Kac-Moody Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ generated by $ad$-locally nilpotent elements and show that it is `essentially' the same as the Levi subalgebra of $\mathfrak{g}$ with its simple roots precisely the real simple roots of $\mathfrak{g}$.
We extend the results of Cellini-Papi on the characterizations of nilpotent and abelian ideals of a Borel subalgebra to parabolic subalgebras of a simple Lie algebra. These characterizations are given in terms of elements of the affine Weyl group and faces of alcoves. In the case of a parabolic subalgebra of a classical Lie algebra, we give formulas for the number of these ideals.
We provide an explicit bijection between the ad-nilpotent ideals of a Borel subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra g and the orbits of \check{Q}/(h+1)\check{Q} under the Weyl group (\check{Q} being the coroot lattice and h the Coxeter number of g). From this result we deduce in a uniform way a counting formula for the ad-nilpotent ideals.
In this paper, we give upper bounds for the index of the quotient of the Borel subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra or its nilpotent radical by an ad-nilpotent ideal. For the nilpotent radical quotient, our bound is a generalization of the formula for the index given by Panov in the type A case. In general, this bound is not exact. Using results from Panov, we show that the upper bound for the Borel quotient is exact in the type $A$ case, and we conjecture that it is exact in general.
This paper is devoted to a detailed study of certain remarkable posets which form a natural partition of all abelian ideals of a Borel subalgebra. Our main result is a nice uniform formula for the dimension of maximal ideals in these posets. We also obtain results on ad-nilpotent ideals which complete the analysis started in \cite{CP2}, \cite{CP3}.
For a semisimple Lie algebra over the complex numbers, Dynkin (1952) developed an algorithm to classify the regular semisimple subalgebras, up to conjugacy by the inner automorphism group. For a graded semisimple Lie algebra over the complex numbers, Vinberg (1979) showed that a classification of a certain type of regular subalgebras (called carrier algebras) yields a classification of the nilpotent orbits in a homogeneous component of that Lie algebra. Here we consider these problems for (graded) semisimple Lie algebras over the real numbers. First, we describe an algorithm to classify the re…
Let g be a finite dimensional Lie algebra over an algebraically closed field k of characteristic zero. We collect some general results on the Poisson center of S(g), including some simple criteria regarding its polynomiality, and also on certain Poisson commutative subalgebras of S(g). These facts are then used to finish our earlier work on this subject, i.e. to give an explicit description for the Poisson center of all indecomposable, nilpotent Lie algebras of dimension at most seven. Among other things, we also provide a polynomial, maximal Poisson commutative subalgebra of S(g), enjoying ad…
In this short note, we investigate the following question of Panyushev : ``Is the sum of the index of a parabolic subalgebra of a semisimple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ and the index of its nilpotent radical always greater than or equal to the rank of $\mathfrak{g}$?''. Using the formula for the index of parabolic subalgebras conjectured by Tauvel and the author, and proved by Millet-Fauquant and Joseph, we give a positive answer to this question. Moreover, we also obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for this sum to be equal to the rank of $\mathfrak{g}$. This provides new examples of d…
For any simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ and an element $μ\in\mathfrak{g}^*$, the corresponding commutative subalgebra $\mathcal{A}_μ$ of $\mathcal{U}(\mathfrak{g})$ is defined as a homomorphic image of the Feigin-Frenkel centre associated with $\mathfrak{g}$. It is known that when $μ$ is regular this subalgebra solves Vinberg's quantisation problem, as the graded image of $\mathcal{A}_μ$ coincides with the Mishchenko-Fomenko subalgebra $\overline{\mathcal{A}}_μ$ of $\mathcal{S}(\mathfrak{g})$. By a conjecture of Feigin, Frenkel and Toledano Laredo, this property extends to an arbitrary eleme…
A (vector space) basis B of a Lie algebra is said to be very nilpotent if all the iterated brackets of elements of B are nilpotent. In this note, we prove a refinement of Engel's Theorem. We show that a Lie algebra has a very nilpotent basis if and only if it is a nilpotent Lie algebra. When g is a semisimple Lie algebra, this allows us to define an ideal of S((g^n)^*)^G whose associated algebraic set in g^n is the set of n-tuples lying in a same Borel subalgebra.
Let $G$ be a simply connected semisimple algebraic group with Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$, let $G_0 \subset G$ be the symmetric subgroup defined by an algebraic involution $σ$ and let $\mathfrak g_1 \subset \mathfrak g$ be the isotropy representation of $G_0$. Given an abelian subalgebra $\mathfrak a$ of $\mathfrak g$ contained in $\mathfrak g_1$ and stable under the action of some Borel subgroup $B_0 \subset G_0$, we classify the $B_0$-orbits in $\mathfrak a$ and we characterize the sphericity of $G_0 \mathfrak a$. Our main tool is the combinatorics of $σ$-minuscule elements in the affine Weyl …
Parabolic subalgebras $\frak{p}$ of semisimple Lie algebras define a $\Bbb{Z}$-grading of the Lie algebra. If there exists a nilpotent element in the first graded part of $\frak{g}$ on which the adjoint group of $\frak{p}$ acts with a dense orbit, the parabolic subalgebra is said to be nice. The corresponding nilpotent element is also called admissible. Nice parabolic subalgebras of simple Lie algebras have been classified. In the case of Borel subalgebras a Richardson element of $\frak{g}_1$ is exactly one that involves all simple root spaces. It is however difficult to write down such nilpot…
We study ad-nilpotent ideals of a parabolic subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra. Any such ideal determines an antichain in a set of positive roots of the simple Lie algebra. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for an antichain to determine an ad-nilpotent ideal of the parabolic. We write down all such antichains for the classical simple Lie algebras and in particular recover the results of D. Peterson. In section 2 of the paper we study the unique ideal in a parabolic which is irreducible as a module for the reductive part and give several equivalent statements that are satisfied by th…
It was shown by Cellini and Papi that an ad-nilpotent ideal determines certain element of the affine Weyl group, and that there is a bijection between the ad-nilpotent ideals and the integral points of a simplex with rational vertices. We give a description of the generators of ad-nilpotent ideals in terms of these elements, and show that an ideal has $k$ generators if and only it lies on the face of this simplex of codimension $k$. We also consider two combinatorial statistics on the set of ad-nilpotent ideals: the number of simple roots in the ideal and the number of generators. Considering …
We construct nonlinear oblique projections along subalgebras of nilpotent Lie algebras in terms of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff multiplication. We prove that these nonlinear projections are real analytic on every Schubert cell of the Grassmann manifold whose points are the subalgebras of the nilpotent Lie algebra under consideration.
We use affine W-algebras to quantize Mishchenko-Fomenko subalgebras for centralizers of nilpotent elements in simple Lie algebras under certain assumptions that are satisfied for all cases in type A and all minimal nilpotent cases outside type $E_8$.
Motivated by questions in modular representation theory, Carlson, Friedlander, and the first author introduced the varieties E(r, g) of r-dimensional abelian p-nilpotent subalgebras of a p-restricted Lie algebra g. In this paper, we identify the varieties E(r, g) for a reductive restricted Lie algebra g and r the maximal dimension of an abelian p-nilpotent subalgebra of g.
We study the cohomology with trivial coefficients of Lie algebras L_k of the polynomial vector fields on the line with zero $k$-jet, (k>=1), and the cohomology of the similar subalgebras {L}_k of the polynomial loops algebra $\widetilde{sl}_2$. In both cases we construct the special bases (filtering bases) in the external complexes of these algebras. A spectral sequence based on this construction allows to completely find the cohomology of L_k and {L}_k. We also apply the filtering bases to find the spectral resolution of the Laplace operators for algebras L_1 and L_0, and obtain explicit form…
According to Kirillov's theory, the construction of a unitary irreducible representation of a nilpotent Lie group requires a precise computation of some polarizing subalgebra subordinated to a linear functional in the linear dual of the corresponding Lie algebra. This important step is generally challenging from a computational viewpoint. In this paper, we provide an algorithmic approach to the construction of the well-known Vergne polarizing subalgebras \cite{Corwin}. The algorithms presented in this paper are specifically designed so that they can be implemented in Computer Algebra Systems. …
Let g be a complex simple Lie algebra and e a nilpotent element in g. To a certain nilpotent subalgebra m attached to e, called an admissible subalgebra of g, we associate an endomorphism algebra H. When m is constructed from a good grading for e, we recover the finite W-algebra associated to e and it is well-known that gr(H) is isomorphic to \C[S] as a graded Poisson algebra where S is the Slodowy slice of e and gr(H) is the graded algebra associated to the Kazhdan filtration. In this paper, we consider the case where g =\sl_{pn}(\C) and e consists of p Jordan blocks all of the same size n. H…
The flag variety of a complex reductive linear algebraic group G is by definition the quotient G/B by a Borel subgroup. It can be regarded as the set of Borel subalgebras of Lie(G). Given a nilpotent element e in Lie(G), one calls Springer fiber the subvariety formed by the Borel subalgebras which contain e. Springer fibers have in general a complicated structure (not irreducible, singular). Nevertheless, a theorem by C. De Concini, G. Lusztig, and C. Procesi asserts that, when G is classical, a Springer fiber can always be paved by finitely many subvarieties isomorphic to affine spaces. In th…
It is known that the variety parametrizing pairs of commuting nilpotent matrices is irreducible and that this provides a proof of the irreducibility of the punctual Hilbert scheme in the plane. We extend this link to the nilpotent commuting variety of parabolic subalgebras of $M\_n(\K)$ and to the punctual nested Hilbert scheme. By this method, we obtain a lower bound on the dimension of these moduli spaces. We characterize the numerical conditions under which they are irreducible. In some reducible cases, we describe the irreducible components and their dimension.
Consider the maximal nilpotent subalgebra $n_+(A_1^{(1)})$ of the simplest affine algebra $A_1^{(1)}$ which is one of the $\mathbb{N}$-graded Lie algebras with minimal number of generators. We show truncated versions of this algebra in positive characteristic admit the structure of a family of restricted Lie algebras. We compute the ordinary and restricted 1- and 2-cohomology spaces with trivial coefficients by giving bases. With these we explicitly describe the restricted 1-dimensional central extensions.
A finite-dimensional Lie algebra $L$ over a field $F$ is called an $A$-algebra if all of its nilpotent subalgebras are abelian. This is analogous to the concept of an $A$-group: a finite group with the property that all of its Sylow subgroups are abelian. These groups were first studied in the 1940s by Philip Hall, and are still studied today. Rather less is known about $A$-algebras, though they have been studied and used by a number of authors. The purpose of this paper is to obtain more detailed results on the structure of solvable Lie $A$-algebras. It is shown that they split over each term…
In this paper, we study the index for several natural classes of non-reductive subalgebras of semisimple Lie algebras. Namely, we look at parabolic subalgebras, centralisers of nilpotent elements, and the normalisers of the centralisers. We discuss a conjecture of Elashvili to the effect that the index of any centraliser is equal to the rank of the semisimple algebra in question. It is shown that Elashvili's conjecture is true for `small' and `large' orbits. Some properties of the index for the normaliser of the centraliser are proved. In particular, we prove that, for a regular nilpotent elem…
We give formulas for the number of ad-nilpotent ideals of a Borel subalgebra of a Lie algebra of type B or D containing a fixed number of root spaces attached to simple roots. This result solves positively a conjecture of Panyushev (cf. D. Panyushev, ad-nilpotent ideals: generators and duality, J. of Alg., to appear) and affords a complete knowledge of the above statistics for any simple Lie algebra. We also study the restriction of the above statistics to the abelian ideals of a Borel subalgebra, obtaining uniform results for any simple Lie algebra.
Let g be a simple Lie algebra, with fixed Borel subalgebra b and with Weyl group W. Expanding on previous work of Fan and Stembridge in the simply laced case, this note aims to study the fully commutative elements of W, and their connections with the spherical nilpotent orbits in g. If g is not of type G_2, it is shown that an element w in W is fully commutative if and only if the subalgebra of b determined by the inversions of w lies in the closure of a spherical nilpotent orbit. A similar characterization is also given for the ad-nilpotent ideals of b, which are parametrized by suitable elem…
Let $\frb$ be a fixed Borel subalgebra of a finite-dimensional complex simple Lie algebra $\frg$. The Shi bijection associates to every ad-nilpotent ideal $\fri$ of $\frb$ a region $V_{\fri}$. In this paper, we show that $\fri$ is abelian if and only if $V_{\fri}\cap 2A$ is empty, if and only if the volume of $V_{\fri}\cap 2A$ equals to that of $A$, where $A$ is the fundamental alcove of the affine Weyl group. For certain flag of abelian ideals, we record an ascending property of their associated regions. We also determine the maximal eigenvalue $m_{r-1}$ of the Casimir operator on $\wedge^{r-…
We study the maximal abelian ad-nilpotent (mad) subalgebras of the domains D Morita equivalent to the first Weyl algebra. We give a complete description both of the individual mad subalgebras and of the space of all such. A surprising consequence is that this last space is independent of D. Our results generalize some classic theorems of Dixmier about the Weyl algebra.
Algorithms for embedding certain types of nilpotent subalgebras in maximal subalgebras of the same type are developed, using methods of real algebraic groups. These algorithms are applied to determine non-conjugate subalgebras of the symmetry algebra of the wave equation, which in turn are used to determine a large class of invariant solutions of the wave equation. The algorithms are also illustrated for the symmetry algebra of a classical system of differential equations considered by Cartan in the context of contact geometry.
The notion of defining relations is well-defined for any nilpotent Lie algebra. Therefore a conventional way to present a simple Lie algebra G is by splitting it into the direct sum of a commutative Cartan subalgebra and two maximal nilpotent subalgebras (positive and negative) and together the generators of both these nilpotent subalgebras together generate G. Though there are many relations between these generators, they are neat (Serre relations). It is possible to determine the relations for generators of different type, e.g, with the principal embeddings of sl(2) into G one can associate …
Let L be a Lie pseudoalgebra, a in L. We show that, if a generates a (finite) solvable subalgebra S=<a>, then one may find a lifting a' in S of [a] in S/S' such that <a'> is nilpotent. We then apply this result towards vertex algebras: we show that every finite vertex algebra V admits a decomposition into a semi-direct product V = U + N, where U is a subalgebra of V whose underlying Lie conformal algebra U^lie is a nilpotent self-normalizing subalgebra of V^lie, and N is a canonically determined ideal contained in the nilradical Nil V.
Let $\be$ be a Borel subalgebra of a complex simple Lie algebra $\g$. An ideal of $\be$ is called ad-nilpotent, if it is contained in $[\be,\be]$. We give several descriptions of the normalizer of an ad-nilpotent ideal: using the weight of an ideal, or the affine Weyl group, or a relationship with dominant regions of the Shi arrangement. We also give a description of those ideals whose normalizer is equal to $\be$. For sl(n) and sp(2n), explicit enumerative results are obtained, which demonstrate a connection with some famous integer sequences.
Let g = Lie(G) be the Lie algebra of a simple algebraic group G over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. Let e be a nilpotent element of g and let g_e = Lie(G_e) where G_e stands for the stabiliser of e in G. For g classical, we give an explicit combinatorial formula for the codimension of [g_e, g_e] in g_e and use it to determine those e in g for which the largest commutative quotient U(g,e)^{ab} of the finite W-algebra U(g,e) is isomorphic to a polynomial algebra. It turns out that this happens if and only if e lies in a unique sheet of g. The nilpotent elements with this prop…
In this paper, the main objective is to compare the abelian subalgebras and ideals of maximal dimension for finite-dimensional supersolvable Lie algebras. We characterise the maximal abelian subalgebras of solvable Lie algebras and study solvable Lie algebras containing an abelian subalgebra of codimension 2. Finally, we prove that nilpotent Lie algebras with an abelian subalgebra of codimension 3 contain an abelian ideal with the same dimension, provided that the characteristic of the underlying field is not two. Throughout the paper, we also give several examples to clarify some results.
We extend the Shi bijection from the Borel subalgebra case to parabolic subalgebras. In the process, the $I$-deleted Shi arrangement $\texttt{Shi}(I)$ naturally emerges. This arrangement interpolates between the Coxeter arrangement $\texttt{Cox}$ and the Shi arrangement $\texttt{Shi}$, and breaks the symmetry of $\texttt{Shi}$ in a certain symmetrical way. Among other things, we determine the characteristic polynomial $χ(\texttt{Shi}(I), t)$ of $\texttt{Shi}(I)$ explicitly for $A_{n-1}$ and $C_n$. More generally, let $\texttt{Shi}(G)$ be an arbitrary arrangement between $\texttt{Cox}$ and $\te…
Let $\mathfrak g$ be a simple Lie algebra over an algebraically closed field $\bf k$ of characteristic zero and $\bf G$ its adjoint group. Let $\mathfrak q$ be a biparabolic subalgebra of $\mathfrak g$. The algebra $Sy(\mathfrak q)$ of semi-invariants on $\mathfrak q^*$ is polynomial in most cases, in particular when $\mathfrak g$ is simple of type $A$ or $C$. On the other hand $\mathfrak q$ admits a canonical truncation $\mathfrak q_Λ$ such that $Sy(\mathfrak q)=Sy(\mathfrak q_Λ)=Y(\mathfrak q_Λ)$ where $Y(\mathfrak q_Λ)$ denotes the algebra of invariant functions on $\mathfrak q_Λ^*$. An ada…
For a non-abelian Lie algebra $L$ of dimension $n$ with the derived subalgebra of dimension $m$ , the first author earlier proved that the dimension of its Schur multiplier is bounded by $\frac{1}{2}(n+m-2)(n-m-1)+1$. In the current work, we give some new inequalities on the exterior square and the Schur multiplier of Lie algebras and then we obtain the class of all nilpotent Lie algebras which attains the above bound. Moreover, we also improve this bound as much as possible.
We consider ad-nilpotent ideals of a Borel subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra. The goal of this paper is two-fold. First, we study the ad-nilpotent ideals lying inside the Heisenberg ideal. The Heisenberg ideal is the nilpotent radical of the centralizer of the highest root vector. Second, we study the ideals having the property that the corresponding domain of the Shi arrangement consists of a single alcove. Such ideals (and the corresponding elements of the affine Weyl group) are called minimax.
A parabolic subalgebra $\mathfrak{p}$ of a complex semisimple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ is called a parabolic subalgebra of abelian type if its nilpotent radical is abelian. In this paper, we provide a complete characterization of the parameters for scalar generalized Verma modules attached to parabolic subalgebras of abelian type such that the modules are reducible. The proofs use Jantzen's simplicity criterion, as well as the Enright-Howe-Wallach classification of unitary highest weight modules.
Let $\mathcal{O}$ be a Richardson nilpotent orbit in a simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ over $\mathbb C$, induced from a Levi subalgebra whose simple roots are orthogonal short roots. The main result of the paper is a description of a minimal set of generators of the ideal defining $\overline{ \mathcal{O}}$ in $S \mathfrak{g}^*$. In such cases, the ideal is generated by bases of at most two copies of the representation whose highest weight is the dominant short root, along with some fundamental invariants. This extends Broer's result for the subregular nilpotent orbit. Along the way we give a…
Let $g$ be a finite dimensional complex reductive Lie algebra and <.,.> an invariant non degenerated bilinear form on $g\times g$ which extends the Killing form of $[g,g]$. We define a subcomplex $E\_{\bullet}(g)$ of the canonical complex $C\_{\bullet}(g)$ of $g$. There exists a well defined sub-module $B\_{g}$ of the module of polynomial maps from $g\times g$ to $g$ which is free of rank equal to the dimension b of the borel subalgebras of $g$. Moreover, $B\_{g}$ is contained in the space of cycles of the canonical complex of $g$. The complex $E\_{\bullet}(g)$ is the ideal of $C\_{\bullet}(g)…