Primeness of the enveloping algebra of the special Lie superalgebras (Q1383685)

Let \(L=L_++L_-\) be a finite dimensional Lie superalgebra over a field of characteristic 0. For a basis \(\{f_1,\ldots,f_n\}\) of the odd part \(L_-\) of \(L\), form the product matrix \(M=([f_i,f_j])\) considered as a matrix over the symmetric algebra \(S(L_+)\). The Bell criterion [\textit{A. D. Bell}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 69, 111-120 (1990; Zbl 0723.17011)] for the primeness of the universal enveloping algebra \(U(L)\) of \(L\) states that if the determinant of \(M\) is different from 0, then \(U(L)\) is prime. In the paper under review, the authors complete the investigation of the problem of which simple Lie superalgebras satisfy the Bell criterion. It turns out that the criterion works and gives the primeness of the universal enveloping algebra for all simple Lie superalgebras except for \(b(n)\), \(n\geq 3\); \(W(n)\), \(n\) odd and \(\geq 5\); \(S(n)\), \(n\) odd and \(\geq 3\). It is also known that \(U(S(n))\) for odd \(n\) and \(b(n)\) are never semiprime. To the best of our knowledge, it is still an open problem whether the algebra \(U(W(n))\), \(n\geq 5\) and odd, is prime.