Vogan diagrams of twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras (Q953171)

We cite the author's very readable introduction: The classification of finite dimensional real simple Lie algebras has been a classical problem. In 1914, Élie Cartan classified the simple Lie algebras over the reals for the first time. A number of subsequent simplifications of the proof followed, until in 1996, using the theory of Vogan diagrams, \textit{A. W. Knapp} derived a quick 2-page proof of Élie Cartan's classification in [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 124, 3257--3259 (1996; Zbl 0865.17002)]. The Kac-Moody Lie algebras are an infinite-dimensional generalization of the semisimple Lie algebras via the Cartan matrix and generators. The real forms of complex affine Lie algebras are of two kinds, ``almost split'' and ``almost compact''. \textit{V. Back-Valente} et al. classified the almost split real forms of the affine Kac-Moody Lie algebra in [J. Algebra 171, No. 1, 43--96 (1995; Zbl 0823.17034)] and \textit{H. Ben Messaoud} and \textit{G. Rousseau} gave a classification of the almost compact real forms in [J. Algebra 267, No. 2, 443--513 (2003); erratum ibid. 279, No. 2, 850--851 (2004; Zbl 1030.17025)]. Work towards developing the theory of Vogan diagrams for the real forms of non-twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras was done by \textit{P. Batra} in [J. Algebra 223, No. 1, 208--236 (2000; Zbl 0958.17009), J. Algebra 251, No. 1, 80--97 (2002; Zbl 1026.17027)]. In the present paper the theory of Vogan diagrams for twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras is developed. As introduced in [\textit{A. W. Knapp}, Lie groups beyond an introduction. Progr. Math. 140. Boston: Birkhäuser (1996; Zbl 0862.22006)], a Vogan diagram is a Dynkin diagram of a Lie algebra with a diagram involution, such that the vertices fixed by the involution are either painted or unpainted depending on whether they are noncompact or compact. An important result in the theory of Vogan diagrams for real simple Lie algebras states that any Vogan diagram can be transformed, by changing the ordering of its base, into a diagram which has at most one noncompact imaginary root and that root occurs at most twice in the largest root of that simple Lie algebra. Since in the case of affine Kac-Moody algebras, changing the order does not give a Vogan diagram with at most one shaded root, therefore a notion of equivalence of Vogan diagrams for non-twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras was introduced in [Batra (2000)]. In the present paper we modify the definition of the Vogan diagrams for the twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras. In addition to the structural information already superimposed, a Vogan diagram now contains numerical labels on the vertices of the underlying Dynkin diagram. The classification of the almost compact real forms of affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras as given in [Ben Messaoud and Rousseau (2003)], prompts the definition of suitable equivalence relations among the Vogan diagrams for twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras. With respect to this equivalence relation we prove the following result. Theorem. Let \(\mathfrak g\) be a twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebra. Then 1. Two almost compact real forms of \(\mathfrak g\) having equivalent Vogan diagrams are isomorphic. 2. Every abstract Vogan diagram for \(\mathfrak g\) represents an almost compact real form of \(\mathfrak g\). The analogues of these results for the non-twisted Kac-Moody Lie algebras were proved by P. Batra in [(2000), Theorem 5.2] and [(2002), Theorem 5.2], respectively. Owing to the difference in the structural realizations of the non-twisted and twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras, the methods used by Batra in [loc. cit.] prove insufficient to yield the main theorems for the twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras. This difficulty is resolved by using the notion of ``adapted realization'' of an affine Kac-Moody Lie algebra as introduced in [Ben Messaoud and Rousseau (2003)].