Minimal faithful representations of reductive Lie algebras (Q2480685)

Finding the minimal dimension, \(\mu(L)\), of a faithful linear representation of a finite dimensional Lie algebra is, in general, a difficult problem. For complex simple \(L\), the results are known and listed in a book of \textit{R. Carter} [Lie algebras of finite and affine type, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2005; Zbl 1110.17001)]. The present paper finds \(\mu(L)\) when \(L\) is a complex reductive Lie algebra. The authors show that \(\mu(L)\) is the sum of the \(\mu(H)\)'s where \(H\) runs over the simple ideals of \(L\) and the center of \(L\). Since \(\mu(A)\) is known when \(A\) is abelian, the complex reductive case is completely shown. The abelian case was shown by the first author [Arch. Math. 70, 118--127 (1998; Zbl 0904.17006)].