Construct irreducible representations of quantum groups \(U_q (f_m (K))\) (Q2519353)

The goal of the paper is to construct certain families of irreducible representations for the quantum groups \(U:=U_q(f_m(K))\) in the case that \(q\) is not a root of unity. These quantum groups are a special case of a class of quantum groups introduced by \textit{Q. Ji}, \textit{D. Wang}, and \textit{X. Zhou} [East-West J. Math. 2, No. 2, 201--213 (2000; Zbl 1001.17017)] parametrized by the Laurent polynomial \(f_m(K):=\frac{K^m-K^{-m}}{q-q^{-1}}\) in the group-like generator \(K\) so that by specializing to \(m=1\) one obtains the Drinfeld-Jimbo quantum group \(U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\). As for \(U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\) it was proved by \textit{Ji} et al.\ in the paper mentioned before that every finite-dimensional \(U\)-module is completely reducible and that its irreducible constituents are highest weight modules. In the paper under review the author first realizes \(U\) as a hyperbolic algebra in the sense of \textit{A. L. Rosenberg} [Noncommutative algebraic geometry and representations of quantized algebras. Mathematics and its Applications. 330. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers (1995; Zbl 0839.16002)] (or as a generalized Weyl algebra in the sense of \textit{V. V. Bavula} [St. Petersbg. Math. J. 4, No. 1, 71--92 (1993); translation from Algebra Anal.\ 4, No. 1, 75--97 (1992; Zbl 0807.16027)]) and then applies Rosenberg's spectral theory to describe explicitly the irreducible highest and lowest weight representations of \(U\) and thereby generalizing the known results for \(U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\). In particular, \(U:=U_q(f_m(K))\) has \(2m\) non-isomorphic irreducible representations in every dimension \(n\geq 1\). In addition, general theory also implies that the Gelfand-Kirillov dimension of \(U\) is \(3\) (which will be needed in the second part in order to show that annihilators of Whittaker modules are centrally generated). In the second part the author describes the center \(Z\) of \(U\) as a polynomial algebra in the Casimir element and then generalizes the results on Whittaker modules of non-singular type for \(U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\) obtained previously by \textit{M. Ondrus} [J. Algebra 289, No. 1, 192--213 (2005; Zbl 1101.17009)] to \(U\). These are (1) an explicit formula for the annihilator of a cyclic Whittaker vector (Theorem 3.2), (2) an explicit bijection between the set of all isomorphism classes of Whittaker modules for \(U\) and the set of all ideals of \(Z\) (Theorem 3.3), (3) an explicit construction of Whittaker modules as induced modules (Theorem 3.4), (4) a characterization of any Whittaker vector as a product of a given cyclic Whittaker vector and some central element of \(U\) (Theorem 3.5), which yields (5) an explicit description of the endomorphism ring of a Whittaker module as a quotient of \(Z\) (Theorem 3.6), (6) an irreducibility criterion for Whittaker modules (Theorem 3.8), (7) an explicit bijection between the set of all submodules of a non-faithful Whittaker module \(V\) for \(U\) and the set of all ideals of \(Z\) that contain the annihilator of \(V\) in \(Z\) (Theorem 3.11), and finally, (8) that annihilators of Whittaker modules are centrally generated (i.e., the annihilator of \(V\) in \(U\) is generated as an ideal in \(U\) by the annihilator of \(V\) in \(Z\)) (Theorem 3.12). Most of the proofs follow very closely those for the case of \(U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)\).