On Cartan subalgebras (Q5906701)

The authors begin a theory of Cartan subalgebras for Lie algebras of arbitrary dimension. Let \(L\) be a Lie algebra over a field \(K\). A subalgebra \(H\) of \(L\) is called a Cartan subalgebra of \(L\) if the elements of \(H\) act locally ad-nilpotently on \(H\) and \(H\) is its own normalizer in \(L\). Let \(x\in L\) and \(L_ 0 (x)= \{v\in L\mid (\text{ad }x)^ n v=0\) for some \(n\geq 0\}\). Then \(x\) is called regular if \(L_ 0(x)\) is minimal and strongly regular if for all \(y\in L_ 0 (x)\), \(L_ 0(x) \subseteq L_ 0(y)\). It is shown that \(x\) is strongly regular if and only if \(L_ 0 (x)\) is a Cartan subalgebra of \(L\). Strongly regular elements are regular and the converse is shown to hold if \(K\) is infinite and the cardinality of \(K\) is greater than the dimension of \(L\). Under the same assumptions each finite dimensional Cartan subalgebra \(H\) is of the form \(H= L_ 0(x)\) for some \(x\in H\). The necessary topology, an infinite analog of the Zariski topology, is developed. Pertinent examples are shown. Final remarks concern the existence of these subalgebras.