Long Abelian ideals (Q1877880): Difference between revisions

Let \(\mathfrak{b}\) be a Borel subalgebra of a semi-simple Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\). Then every abelian ideal of \(\mathfrak{b}\) is contained in the nilpotent radical of \(\mathfrak{b}\) and hence is determined by the corresponding set of roots. Furthermore, a classical result says that abelian ideals in \(\mathfrak{b}\) are in bijective correspondence to the so-called {minuscule} elements of the Weyl group. In the paper under review the author addresses the following questions: assume that \(\mathfrak{g}\) has two root lengths, describe (enumerate) the abelian ideals such that the corresponding set of roots consists only of long roots (such ideals are called long abelian ideals) and characterize the corresponding minuscule elements. The author gives a uniform answer to both problems and shows that the theory of long abelian ideals is closely related to the description of commutative subalgebras in the isotropy representation of some symmetric spaces.