A class of exceptional bernstein algebras associated to graphs¹ (Q4351122)

This paper is about a class of exceptional Bernstein algebras. A Bernstein algebra \(A\) is called exceptional if, for some idempotent \(c\), the Peirce spaces \(U:=\{x\in A: cx=\frac12x\}\) and \(V:=\{x\in A:cx=0\}\) satisfy the relations \(U^2=0\), \(UV\subseteq U\), and \(V^2\subseteq U\). (There are some other relations that follow from this and the defining identity.) The authors state in the introduction that exceptional Bernstein algebras are poorly understood, but in the reviewer's opinion this is not quite the case, because at least their construction is straightforward: Start with a field \(F\) (of characteristic \(\neq 2\)), and vector spaces \(U\) and \(V\), and let \(p:U\times V\to U\) be a bilinear map, and \(q:V\times V\to U\) a symmetric bilinear map. Then define a commutative product on the direct sum \(F\oplus U\oplus V\) of vector spaces by \[ (\xi,u,v)^2:= (\xi^2,\xi u+q(v,v)+ 2p(u,v),0). \] This defines an exceptional Bernstein algebra, and it follows from the Peirce decomposition that every exceptional Bernstein algebra can be obtained from this construction. (The difficulty lies in identifying isomorphic algebras!) From this point of view, the construction discussed in this paper is a special case: For each simple graph \(G\), let \(U\) be a vector space with a basis in 1-1-correspondence with the points of \(G\), and \(V\) a vector space with a basis in 1-1-correspondence with the edges of \(G\). Then a product is defined using properties of the graph (among other relations, one has \(U^2= V^2= 0\)). For this multiplication, the authors prove a number of structural results relating properties of the graph to properties of the algebra.