The principal element of a Frobenius Lie algebra (Q835678)

A Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{f}\) is called Frobenius if there exists \(F\in \mathfrak{f}^*\) (a Frobenius functional) such that the bilinear form \(F([x,y])\) is non-degenerate. If \(\mathfrak{f}\) is Frobenius and \(F\) is the corresponding Frobenius functional, then there is a unique \(\hat{F}\in \mathfrak{f}\) such that \(F(x)=F([\hat{F},x])\) for all \(x\in\mathfrak{f}\). Such \(\hat{F}\) is called the \textit{principal element} for \(F\). The main results of the present paper are: \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] If a Frobenius Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{f}\) is a subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\) such that \(\mathfrak{f}\) is not an ideal of any larger subalgebra of \(\mathfrak{g}\), the the principal element is semisimple. \item[(2)] If, moreover, \(\mathfrak{g}\) is \(\mathfrak{sl}_n\), then the eigenvalues of \(\mathrm{ad}\hat{F}\) are integers which, together with their multiplicities, are independent of the choice of Frobenius functional. \end{itemize} Frobenius Lie algebras are stable under deformation. In some special cases a simple method for the computation of the principal element is given.