A universal dimension formula for complex simple Lie algebras (Q2369019)

Let \(\mathfrak{g}\) be a complex simple Lie algebra. Then the symmetric square of \(\mathfrak{g},\) \(S^{2}\mathfrak{g},\) contains at most four Casimir eigenspaces. By including virtual and zero eigenspaces, \textit{P. Vogel} [The universal Lie algebra, preprint] derived a universal decomposition into irreducible modules \(S^{2}\mathfrak{g}=\mathbb C \oplus Y_{2}( \alpha) \oplus Y_{2}( \beta) \oplus Y_{2}( \gamma) ,\) the latter three having Casimir eigenvalues \(4t-2\alpha ,4t-2\beta,\) and \(4t-2\gamma,\) where \(t=\alpha+\beta+\gamma\) is half of the Casimir eigenvalue of the adjoint representation with respect to some invariant quadratic form. Additionally, Vogel found \(Y_{3}( \alpha) ,Y_{3}( \beta) ,Y_{3}( \gamma) ,\) irreducible Casimir eigenspaces of \(S^{3}\mathfrak{g}\) with eigenvalues \(6t-6\alpha,6t-6\beta,\) and \(6t-6\gamma\) respectively. The work under review is an attempt to generalize the above to \(S^{k} \mathfrak{g},\) \(k\geq2\). It is shown that \(S^{k}\mathfrak{g}\) contains three modules (which may be virtual) \(Y_{k}( \alpha) ,Y_{k}( \beta) ,Y_{k}( \gamma) \) with Casimir eigenvalues \(2kt-( k^{2}-k) \alpha,\;2kt-( k^{2}-k) \beta,\;2kt-( k^{2}-k) \gamma\) respectively. Furthermore, a formula for the dimension of each of these modules is given. The values of \(\alpha,\beta,\) and \(\gamma\) are given explicitly, and depend on the ``type'' of Lie algebra.\ For example, any Lie algebra of type \(\mathfrak{sp}_{2n}\) has \(\alpha=-2,\;\beta=1,\) and \(\gamma=n+2.\)