Higher-order Bernstein algebras given by symmetric bilinear forms (Q676016)

Higher-order Bernstein algebras were proposed by V. M. Abraham in connection with the problem of classifying populations that achieve equilibrium at the \((k+1)\)st generation. A finite-dimensional commutative nonassociative algebra \(A\) over a field \(K\) is called a \(k\)th-order Bernstein algebra if it is endowed with a nontrivial homomorphism \(\omega :A\to K\), named the weight homomorphism, such that \(x^{[k+2]}=\omega(x)^{2^k}x^{[k+1]}\), for any \(x\in A\), where \(x^{[n]}\) is defined by \(x^{[1]}=x\) and \(x^{[n+1]}=x^{[n]}x^{[n]}\), \(n\in {\mathbb{N}}\). From this view point, the classical Bernstein algebras, which have been studied extensively, are first-order Bernstein algebras. Higher-order Bernstein algebras were investigated recently by some authors. The problem of the classification of (first-order) Bernstein algebras in which \(N^2\) has dimension one, where \(N\) is the kernel of the weight homomorphism, has been studied by Costa, Hentzel and Peresi. In this work, the authors consider this problem for \(k\)th-order Bernstein algebras over a field \(K\) of characteristic different from \(2\) with at least \(2^{k+1}\) elements. If \(e\in A\) is an idempotent, we have the well known decomposition \(A=Ke\oplus U\oplus Z\), where \(U\) is the kernel of \(2L_e-I\) and \(Z\) is the kernel of \(L_e^k\). In section two it is proved that any \(k\)th-order Bernstein algebra with dim\(N^2=1\) is of one of two types, I and II, according as \(N^2\subset U\) or \(N^2\not\subset U\), and a characterization of the algebras of type I is given. In section two further conditions are imposed to make progress in the study of type II algebras. Specifically, it is shown that if \(A\) is a power associative (in the usual sense) \(k\)th-higher Bernstein algebra, and \(A\) is not a first-order Bernstein algebra, then it is a second-order Bernstein algebra, \(N^2\subset Z\), \(UZ=0\) and \(Z^2\neq 0\). Moreover, the power associative high-order Bernstein algebras are classified when \(K\) is the real field. Finally, in the last section, second-order Bernstein algebras of type II are examined and a structure theorem is obtained for them.