No label defined (Q4510754)

The classification of (solvable and) nilpotent finite-dimensional complex Lie algebras is still out of reach, although the research in this direction started back in 1891. The text under review constitutes a good self-contained introduction to this classification problem, ranging from the classical theorems of Lie and Engel (their complete proofs being included) to results belonging to the two major research directions, namely description of special classes of algebras of arbitrarily large dimension, and classification of low-dimensional algebras. After expounding the main classical facts on nilpotent and solvable Lie algebras, one proceeds with descriptions of the main invariants of nilpotent Lie algebras, having by now a well-established efficiency, to mention only the characteristic sequence and the rank. One then turns to the remarkable classes of filiform Lie algebras, Lie algebras with filiform nilradical, two-step nilpotent Lie algebras, characteristically nilpotent Lie algebras, \(k\)-Abelian filiform Lie algebras, left-symmetric filiform Lie algebras (related to left-invariant locally flat connections on Lie groups), and standard Lie algebras (related to compact homogeneous spaces of complex semisimple Lie groups). One finishes by expounding several classification results for low-dimensional Lie algebras: nilpotent Lie algebras of dimension \(\leq 6\), filiform Lie algebras of dimension \(\leq 9\), and rigid solvable Lie algebras of dimension \(\leq 8\). We should finally note that the text under review contains many illuminating comments and a lot of highly interesting questions ranging from the treated topics to certain infinite-dimensional Lie algebras. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0949.00006].