Lengths of finite dimensional representations of PBW algebras (Q1765913)

Let \(\Sigma:=\{X_{1},X_{2},\dots,X_{t}\}\) be a set of \(n\times n\) matrices over a field \(\mathbf{k}\), and \(\Sigma^{i}\) (\(i=0,1,\dots\)) be the set of products of all lists of length \(i\) from \(\Sigma\). Define \(L_{i}\) to be the subspace spanned by \(\Sigma^{0}\cup\Sigma^{1}\cup\dots\cup\Sigma^{i}\), and let \(c(\Sigma)\) denote the least integer \(i\) for which \(L_{i}\) equals the algebra generated by \(\Sigma\). \textit{A. Paz} [J. Linear Multilinear Algebra 15, 161--170 (1984; Zbl 0536.15007)] proved that \(c(\Sigma)\leq\left\lceil (n^{2}+2)/3\right\rceil \) and conjectured the linear bound \(c(\Sigma)\leq2n-2\). Although Paz's bound has been improved slightly, the conjecture remains open. In the present paper the authors prove the conjecture for a restricted class defined as follows. The set \(\Sigma\) is said to satisfy the modified Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt (PBW) property if every product \(u\in\Sigma^{m}\) can be written modulo \(L_{m-1}\) in the form \[ \sum_{j_{1}+j_{2}+\dots+j_{t}=m}c(j_{1},j_{2},\dots,j_{t})X_{t}^{j_{t}} X_{t-1}^{j_{t-1}}\dots X_{1}^{j_{1}} \] where the coefficients \(c(j_{1},j_{2},\dots,j_{t})\) equal \(0\) whenever \(X_{t}^{j_{t}}X_{t-1}^{j_{t-1}}\dots X_{1}^{j_{1}}<u\) in the lexiographical ordering. In particular, sets of matrices defining finite dimensional representations of Lie algebras and quantum groups satisfy this property. The authors prove that \(c(\Sigma)\leq2n-2\) whenever \(\Sigma\) satisfies the PBW property, and indeed \(c(\Sigma)\leq2n-3\) if \(\Sigma\) does not generate the full matrix algebra. The proof follows a line suggested by Paz in his original paper.