Identical relations in Lie algebras (Q2028709)

The book under review is the second edition of the author's book under the same title, see [Zbl 0396.17006] for the review of the first edition in 1985. The author is one of the principal contributors to the area of PI theory, especially in the theory of Lie algebras satisfying polynomial identities. His present book bears the same title as its first edition. But it should be noted that the new book is very different from the latter. (And that is why I call it \textsl{the new book}). At the time of the first edition the book covered the basics of the theory of Lie algebras, then proceeded to varieties of algebras, free algebras, identities in Lie algebras, the principal methods in the study of Lie algebras with identities, the finite basis problem, varieties of Lie algebras that are not ``much'' different from their associative counterparts, identities in restricted Lie algebras, in finite Lie algebras, and finally, relations between Lie algebras with identities and varieties of groups. When the first edition was published, the topics listed above comprised, roughly speaking, the principal research directions in the theory of Lie algebras with identical relations at the time. And the first edition of the book managed to cover most of the results obtained by that time. Nowadays one can consider the first four chapters of it as a ``must-read'' for anybody who wants to do research in associative or Lie algebras satisfying polynomial identities. The remaining chapters of the first edition are still (and will be in the future) quite relevant, hence the author decided to include them in the new book in the form they were written some 35 years ago. It should be noted here that the remaining chapters of the ``old'' book can serve as a base for a couple of good (and hard) courses for advanced students. The new book is at least double the volume of the old one, thanks to the additional chapters from 9 to 14. These chapters (to be discussed below) represent most of the topics that have been (and currently are) object of extensive study during the last two to three decades. The most significant achievements concerning these topics are given. Clearly including the complete proofs would have made the book probably twice as large, so the author chose instead to include instead in most of the cases the complete statements of the theorems, and citations to the corresponding papers. In this way a researcher working in the area could find quickly the sources and have the complete picture. Let me describe below in more detail the new chapters of the book. Chapter 9 is devoted to the asymptotic behaviour of the codimension sequence of a Lie algebra. The codimensions of an associative PI algebra were defined in [\textit{A. Regev}, Isr. J. Math. 11, 131--152 (1972; Zbl 0249.16007)], they turned out to be an extremely important numerical invariant of the ideals of identities of associative and of nonassociative algebras. It is well known that if \(A\) is an associative algebra then its codimension sequence growth is either polynomial or exponential. Moreover, [\textit{A. Giambruno} and \textit{M. Zaicev}, Adv. Math. 140, No. 2, 145--155 (1998; Zbl 0920.16012); Adv. Math. 142, No. 2, 221--243 (1999; Zbl 0920.16013)], proved that for an associative PI algebra over a field of characteristic 0, the PI exponent of \(A\) always exists and is a nonnegative integer. There are several refinements of the important theorem of Giambruno and Zaicev in the associative case. Considering Lie algebras one cannot expect such a good behaviour of the codimensions. There exist examples (mentioned in the book) of Lie algebras satisfying identities but whose codimensions grow faster than any exponential function. On the other hand, if \(L\) is a finite dimensional Lie algebra in characteristic 0 then its PI exponent exists and is an integer, see [\textit{M. V. Zaicev}, Izv. Math. 66, No. 3, 463--487 (2002; Zbl 1057.17003); translation from Izv. Ross. Akad. Nauk, Ser. Mat. 66, No. 3, 23--48 (2002)]. The book includes as well another important theorem of Zaicev from the same paper, that if \(L\) is simple and the field is algebraically closed then the PI exponent of \(L\) coincides with its dimension. The author gives a wealth of other examples showing that in the case of Lie algebras the codimension sequence can have a rather ``bad'' behaviour: non-integral PI exponent, or in-existence of a PI exponent at all. In Chapter 10 the author focuses the readers' attention to the growth of subalgebras of free Lie algebras. A classical theorem due to Shirshov and to Witt states that subalgebras of the free Lie algebras are also free; but the analogues with the Nielsen and Schreier theorem for the free groups end here. Still there exist similarities between the free group and the free Lie algebra; these were described in a series of papers by [\textit{V. M. Petrogradsky}, Arch. Math. 75, No. 1, 16--28 (2000; Zbl 1021.17006); J. Math. Sci., New York 93, No. 6, 939--950 (1999; Zbl 0983.17007); Isr. J. Math. 113, 323--339 (1999; Zbl 1014.17005)]. All these results are expounded in Chapter 10 together with their proofs. Gradings on algebras and the corresponding graded identities have become a standard tool in PI theory. The bulk of the research conducted in this direction was conducted during the last three decades, nowadays it is expanding. Concerning the classification of gradings on Lie algebras, the monograph by [\textit{A. Elduque} and \textit{M. Kochetov}, Gradings on simple Lie algebras. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2013; Zbl 1281.17001)] provides the state-of-art in the field. The latter monograph did not treat in detail graded identities, and Chapter 11 of the book under review completes it to that end. The author collected a wealth of recent theorems concerning graded identities in Lie algebras. He gives (with a detailed proof) the theorem of [\textit{Yu. A. Bahturin} and \textit{M. V. Zaicev}, J. Algebra 205, No. 1, 1--12 (1998; Zbl 0920.16011)] that if \(L\) is a Lie algebra over a field, graded by a finite group \(G\) such that the neutral component in the grading satisfies an identity then so does \(L\). The remainder of the chapter deals with far-reaching generalizations of Theorem 5.3 and its corollary in [\textit{Yu. P. Razmyslov}, Identities of algebras and their representations. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (1994; Zbl 0827.17001)]. These generalizations are based on the papers [\textit{Yu. Bahturin} and \textit{F. Yasumura}, Linear Algebra Appl. 562, 1--14 (2019; Zbl 1435.17006); São Paulo J. Math. Sci. 13, No. 1, 39--72 (2019; Zbl 1435.17007)]. One rather particular case of the theorem of Bahturin and Yasumura states that over an algebraically closed field, two finite dimensional graded algebras (by a semigroup \(G\)), satisfying the same graded identities, are graded-isomorphic. Pay attention that the algebras need not be associative, or Lie. In Chapter 12 the author considers another type of algebras with an additional structure, namely algebras acted on by a Hopf algebra. In fact a variety of additional structures on Lie algebras can be translated into the language of actions of Hopf algebras, including group gradings, actions by automorphisms and/or anti-automorphisms, actions by derivations, and this justifies the interest in such actions. Chapter 13 studies Engel Lie algebras (that is Lie algebras where every element is ad-nilpotent). In analogy with the famous Burnside problems in Group Theory one can state similar problems for Lie algebras: \begin{enumerate} \item If a Lie algebra is Engel of bounded index is it nilpotent? \item If a Lie algebra is finitely generated Engel, is it nilpotent? \item Does there exist a positive integer \(g(n,r)\) such that for every \(n\) and \(r\), every \(n\)-Engel Lie algebra which is \(r\)-generated, is nilpotent of index \(g(n,r)\)? \end{enumerate} A well known example due to P. Cohn shows that the first problem has a negative answer if the base field is of positive characteristic. On the other hand, Higgings' theorem solves in the affirmative the first problem for soluble Lie algebras. A negative solution to the second problem comes from the famous construction due to Golod. A famous theorem of E. Zelmanov answers in the affirmative the first problem when the base field is of characteristic 0. The theorem of This chapter includes a survey of results by [\textit{V. M. Petrogradsky}, J. Algebra 302, No. 2, 881--886 (2006; Zbl 1109.17008); \textit{V. M. Petrogradsky} and \textit{I. P. Shestakov}, J. Lie Theory 19, No. 4, 697--724 (2009; Zbl 1253.17011); \textit{V. M. Petrogradsky} and \textit{I. P. Shestakov}, J. Lie Theory 23, No. 2, 407--431 (2013; Zbl 1280.17019)] concerning the so-called Fibonacci restricted Lie algebras and their extremal properties. Recall that they provide interesting counter-examples to the second problem above. Note that they have a nil \(p\)-map, but do not satisfy any identity. The results of [\textit{S. P. Mishchenko}, Mat. Sb., Nov. Ser. 121(163), No. 3(7), 423--430 (1983; Zbl 0525.17005); Mat. Sb., Nov. Ser. 124(166), No. 1(5), 56--67 (1984; Zbl 0546.17004); Math. USSR, Sb. 52, 53--62 (1985; Zbl 0572.17012)] concerning Engel varieties of exponential growth, are detailed. The last chapter of the book is called Miscellaneous Topics. It contains a survey of theorems and results that do not fit in any of the earlier chapters, together with a wealth of open problems and conjectures. All these are supplied with the necessary definitions and results, and the due references. The book will be appreciated by graduate students who want to study Combinatorial Ring Theory in general. Especially useful for such an audience will be the first several chapters; on the other hand the new chapters (from 9 to 14) will help young researchers not get lost and provide them with a rather complete account on the development of the theory during the last 3 decades. This edition will be even more useful for researchers (young and experienced) who can find easily newly obtained theorems with carefully written proofs, often not even the original ones but shorter and/or more elegant ones. It should be stressed that people working with PI algebras strictly in the associative case will also benefit from this book. The same applies to researchers in Nonassociative rings as well. In the last 20 or so years there appeared several monographs that treat Identical relations in Lie algebras, among other topics. We can cite here [\textit{V. Drensky}, Free algebras and PI-algebras. Graduate course in algebra. Singapore: Springer (2000; Zbl 0936.16001); \textit{A. Giambruno} and \textit{M. Zaicev}, Polynomial identities and asymptotic methods. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2005; Zbl 1105.16001); \textit{A. Kanel-Belov} et al., Computational aspects of polynomial identities. Volume l: Kemer's theorems. 2nd edition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press (2016; Zbl 1322.16013); \textit{E. Aljadeff} et al., Rings with polynomial identities and finite dimensional representations of algebras. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2020; Zbl 1471.16001)]. But these monographs focus on the PI theory of associative algebras. While most of them do contain a lot of information concerning Lie algebras with identities, their goals are somewhat different from the ones of the book under review. Thus the publication of this book fills in a significant gap and provides all of us with a reliable and rather complete source of information on the topic. The author is among the leading specialists in the area, and a great deal of the advances in the theory of Lie algebras with identities is tied to his name (and to his former students' names as well). The book is a pleasure to read: it is well written, the author gives clearly the main notions needed to follow the exposition. In fact the book describes the current state-of-art in the area of Lie algebras with identities, including the principal theorems and research problems for the last decades. The references comprise 387 titles, and one can infer that every significant achievement in this area is cited with the due credits and comments. It is the reviewer's opinion that this book will become a must for the categories of people mentioned above.