On the codimension growth of almost nilpotent Lie algebras (Q1955734)

One of the best ways to measure how many are the polynomial identities of an algebra \(L\) over a field of characteristic 0 is to study the behavior of its codimension sequence \(c_n(L)\), \(n=1,2,\ldots\). As a first approximation one considers the asymptotics of the codimension sequence. In 1998--1999 A. Giambruno and M. Zaicev proved that for associative algebras the exponent of the algebra \(\exp(L)=\lim_{n\to\infty}\root{n}\of{c_n(L)}\) exists and is an integer. Later, in a series of papers together, alone or with coauthors, they have studied the codimension sequences for other classes of algebras and have established that the picture is quite different even for algebras close to associative. The paper under review contains two main results for Lie algebras over a field of characteristic 0. The first one gives that if \(L\) has a nilpotent ideal \(N\) such that the factor algebra \(L/N\) is finite-dimensional and semisimple, then the exponent \(\exp(L)\) of \(L\) exists and is an integer. The authors also determine \(\exp(L)\) in terms of the simple components of \(L/N\). The second main result is that if \(L\) is special (i.e., can be embedded into an associative PI-algebra) and solvable, and \(N\) is a nilpotent ideal of finite codimension, then the exponent of \(L\) also exists and is an integer. The speciality of the algebra is essential because without it there are counterexamples with fractional exponent.