Generalized Kac-Moody algebras (Q1102368): Difference between revisions

The author studies a class of Lie algebras which have a contravariant bilinear form which is almost positive definite. These algebras generalize Kac-Moody algebras with imaginary simple roots. Namely, the algebra is constructed from the following objects: (1) a real vector space H with a symmetric bilinear inner product (, ), (2) a set of elements \(h_ i\) of H indexed by a countable set I, such that \((h_ i,h_ j)\leq 0\) if \(i\neq j\) and \(2(h_ i,h_ j)/(h_ i,h_ i)\) is an integer if \((h_ i,h_ i)\) is positive. Denote \(a_{ij}=(h_ i,h_ j)\), i,j\(\in I\) and the algebra G associated to this is defined to be the Lie algebra generated by H and elements \(e_ i\) and \(f_ i\) for \(i\in I\) with the following relations: (1) the image of H in G is commutative, (2) if \(h\in H\), then \([h,e_ i]=(h,h_ i)e_ i\) and \([h,f_ i]=- (h,h_ i)f_ i,\) (3) \([e_ i,f_ j]=h_ i\) if \(i=j\), \(=0\) if \(i\neq j,\) (4) if \(a_{ii}>0\), then (ad \(e_ i)^{1-2a_{ij}/a_{ii}}e_ j=0\) and (ad \(f_ j)^{1-2a_{ij}/a_{ii}}f_ j=0,\) (5) if \(a_{ij}=0\), then \([e_ i,e_ j]=[f_ i,f_ j]=0.\) Most facts about Kac-Moody algebras generalize to these new algebras, for example, the author proves a version of the Kac-Weyl character formula, which is like the usual one except that it has an extra correction term for the imaginary simple roots. There are several ways in which these new algebras turn up. The fixed point algebra of any Kac- Moody algebra under a diagram automorphism is not usually a Kac-Moody algebra, but is one of these more general algebras. There are also a generalized Kac-Moody algebra associated to any Lorentzian lattice of dimension at most 10 or any even Lorentzian lattice of dimension at most 26, and the author gives a simple formula for the multiplicities of the roots of these algebras.