Center of the Goldman Lie algebra (Q341771)

Let \(F\) be an oriented surface and \(C\) the set of all free homotopy classes of oriented closed curves in \(F\). For \(\alpha ,\beta \in C\) consider two oriented closed curves \(x\) and \(y\) representing \(\alpha \) and \(\beta \), respectively. Performing a homotopy, we can assume that \(x\) and \(y\) intersect transversally in double points. Goldman defined the bracket of \(\alpha \) and \(\beta \): \[ [\alpha ,\beta]=\sum_{p\in x\cap y} \iota (p)\langle x *_p y\rangle . \] Here \(x\cap y\) denotes the set of all intersection points between \(x\) and \(y\), \(\iota (p)\) denotes the sign of the intersection between \(x\) and \(y\) at \(p\), \(x *_p y\) denotes the loop product of \(x\) and \(y\) at \(p\), and \(\langle z\rangle \) denotes the free homotopy class of a curve \(z\). The free module \(\mathbb Z(C)\) (\(\mathbb Z\) are the integers) has a Lie algebra structure denoted by \(L(F)\). The center of a Lie algebra \(L\) is the set of all elements \(x \in L\) such that \([x,y]=0\) for all \(y \in L\). Main Theorem: The center of the Goldman Lie algebra of any closed orientable surface \(F\) is one-dimensional, and is generated by the class of the trivial loop. If \(F\) is an orientable surface of finite type with boundary, then the center of \(L(F)\) is generated by the set of all free homotopy classes of oriented closed curves which are homotopic to either a point, a boundary component, or a puncture.