On locally complex algebras and low-dimensional Cayley-Dickson algebras (Q536011)

The article under review is concerned with the study of locally complex algebras. A locally complex algebra is defined by the authors to a be real, not necessarily associative algebra with identity element, with the property that every subalgebra generated by a single non-scalar element is isomorphic to the complex numbers. Such an algebra is necessarily quadratic, that is, there exists a linear form \(t\) and a quadratic form \(n\) such that \(x^2=t(x)x+n(x)1\) for all \(x\). In several aspects, locally complex algebras are a natural generalization of quadratic real division algebras. Indeed, a quadratic real division algebra is always locally complex and, as the authors prove, a finite-dimensional alternative algebra is locally complex if and only if it is a division algebra. The article begins with short proofs of the classification theorems for finite-dimensional associative respectively alternative real division algebras. Thereafter, locally complex algebras in dimension 3 and 4 are studied, giving an explicit cross-section for the isomorphism classes in dimension 3. In dimension 4, isomorphism classes are parametrized by orbits of a certain \(O_3(\mathbb{R})\)-action, of which a nice, geometrical interpretation is given. In the last part of the article, the authors study locally complex algebras that are \textit{super-alternative}, that is, the algebra is \(\mathbb{Z}_2\)-graded and the alternative identities \(u^2x=u(ux)\) and \(xu^2=(xu)u\) hold whenever \(u\) is a homogeneous element. It is shown that there exist precisely seven isomorphism classes of locally complex super-alternative algebras. Apart from the four finite-dimensional alternative real division algebras \(\mathbb{R}\), \(\mathbb{C}\), \(\mathbb{H}\) and \(\mathbb{O}\), the list includes the sedenions \(\mathbb{S}\), which are of dimension 16, and two other algebras of dimension 8 and 16, respectively.