Centralizers of distinguished nilpotent pairs and related problems (Q1849097)

The paper deals with the nilpotent pairs in semisimple Lie algebras. Denote by \(\mathfrak g\) the semisimple Lie algebra over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero and let \(G\) be its adjoint group. Denote by \(\mathbf{e}=(e_{1},e_{2})\) a pair of commuting nilpotent elements, such that for \(\mathbf{e}\) there exists a pair of commuting semisimple elements \(\mathbf{h}=(h_{1},h_{2})\) having rational eigenvalues in the adjoint action and \([h_{i},e_{j}]=\delta_{i,j}e_{j}\). The pair \(\mathbf{e}\) with the above property is called a nilpotent pair and \(\mathbf{h}\) is called an associative semisimple pair. The pair \(\mathbf{e}\) is called a distinguished nilpotent pair if its centralizer in \(\mathfrak g\) \( Z(\mathbf{e})=Z_{\mathfrak g}(e_{1})\bigcap Z_{\mathfrak g}(e_{2})\) contains no semisimple elements and the centralizer \( Z(\mathbf{h})=Z_{\mathfrak g}(h_{1})\bigcap Z_{\mathfrak g}(h_{2})\) is a Cartan subalgebra of \(\mathfrak g\). Note that \( Z(\mathbf{e})\) is \(\mathbb{Q}^{2}\)-graded and let \( Z_{+}(\mathbf{e})_{int}=\bigoplus_{p,q\in\mathbb{Z},p,q\geq 0}Z_{p,q}(\mathbf{e})\), where \(Z_{p,q}(\mathbf{e})\) is the \((h_{1},h_{2})\)-eigenspace of the eigenvalue \((p,q)\). The pair \(\mathbf{e}=(e_{1},e_{2})\) is called wonderful if \(\dim Z_{+}(\mathbf{e})_{\text{int}}= \operatorname {rk}\mathfrak g \). In the first part of the paper the author, using the technique of skew diagrams, gives a complete description of the centralizer of a distinguished nilpotent pair in the case of a classical simple Lie algebra \(\mathfrak g\). Then Panyushev's conjecture is considered. Namely, it is proved that the distinguished nilpotent pairs are wonderful in types A,B and C, but they are not always wonderful in type D. The case of almost principal nilpotent pairs is also considered.