No label defined (Q4357654)

The authors describe deformations of the infinite-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebra \[ L_1:=\langle e_i, i\geq 1; [e_i,e_j]= (j-i)e_{i+j}\rangle. \] This is a subalgebra in the Witt algebra or Virasoro algebra. They provide three one-parameter deformations of \(L_1\) and state that any formal one-parameter deformation of \(L_1\) can be reduced by a formal parameter change to one of these three. Moreover, they have found that the base of the miniversal deformation of \(L_1\) is the union of two smooth curves and a cuspidal (singular) curve with the cusp at the 0 point with all three having the same tangent at 0. One of the one-parameter deformations is singular in the sense that the corresponding cocycle from \(C^2(L_1,L_1)\) is trivial. This is probably the first case when such a situation has been found. The authors call such a deformation singular. The results were partly published in two papers of the first author, but here the full proofs are presented. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0870.00037].