Bicross-product structure of affine quantum groups (Q675841)

The author studies the question of to what extent quantum groups are central extensions of quantum loop groups. He constructs the appropriate quantum cocycle from \(U_q(Lg) \otimes U_q (Lg)\) to \(\mathbb{C} Z\), from which \(U_q (\widehat g)\) is obtained as the corresponding extension. Here \(U_q (Lg)\) is the level zero version of the affine quantum group, and \(\mathbb{C} Z\) is the complex group algebra of the infinite cyclic group. The author had previously shown that Hopf algebra extensions generally have the form of a cocycle bicross-product, but finding the cocycle data can be difficult [Isr. J. Math. 72, 133-148 (1990; Zbl 0725.17015)]. Here he gives a general solution for central extensions. The case \(U_q (\widehat {sl}_2)\) is done in detail. Finally, he gives the result more generally using \(R\)-matrix formalism.