Serial subalgebras of finitary Lie algebras (Q4510046)

The main results of the paper are the following: Theorem A. Let \(L\) be an irreducible subalgebra of \(\mathfrak {fgl}_{\mathbb K}(V)\), where \(\dim_{\mathbb K}V\) is infinite. (a) Let \(S\) be a serial Lie subalgebra of \(L\). Either \(S\) is nil, or every \(S\)-composition series in \(V\) has finite length, bounded by the smallest rank of a non-nilpotent element in \(S\). (b) Every non-trivial ascendant Lie subalgebra of \(L\) acts irreducibly on \(V\). (c) Every locally nilpotent serial (resp. ascendant) Lie subalgebra of \(L\) is nil (resp. trivial). In particular, the Hirsch-Plotkin radical of \(L\) is trivial. (d) If \(\text{char }{\mathbb K}\neq 2\), then every locally solvable serial (resp. ascendant) Lie subalgebra of \(L\) is nil (resp. trivial). In particular, the locally solvable radical of \(L\) is trivial. Theorem B. Let \(L\) be a subalgebra of \(\mathfrak {fgl}_{\mathbb K}(V)\). If \(\text{char }{\mathbb K}=2\), let \(S\) denote the Hirsch-Plotkin radical in \(L\). Otherwise let \(S\) be the locally solvable radical in \(L\). Then \(S\) is the extension of the largest nil ideal in \(L\) by a subdirect sum of finite-dimensional Lie algebras. Moreover \(S\) is the union of an ascending chain of ideals in \(L\) with abelian factors. Here \(\mathfrak {fgl}_{\mathbb K}(V)\) is an ideal in \(\mathfrak {gl}_{\mathbb K}(V)\) the elements of which are finite rank endomorphisms of \(V\). The rest of the paper is devoted to the proof of the theorem.