Exercice sheet 9

Introduction to Lie algebras

Nicolas Perrin

This exercise sheet should be hand in during the lecture on Wednesday 16.12.2009 and will be
corrected on Friday 18.12.2009.

Exercice 1 [3 points] Prove that the Lie subalgebra of diagonal matrices in a Cartan subalgebra in
sln .

Exercice 2 [2 points] Give an example of a maximal abelian subalgebra which is not a Cartan sub-
algebra.
Hint: look for example at the non abelian two dimensional Lie algebra.

Exercice 3 [10 points] Let g be a semisimple Lie algebra. A subalgebra h in g is called toral if all its
elements are semisimple.
(ı) Prove that there exists toral subalgebras in semisimple Lie algebras.
(ıı) Prove that a toral subalgebra h is abelian.
Hint: for x ∈ h, it suffices to prove that the only eigenvalue of adhx is 0.
(ııı) Prove that there is a direct sum decomposition g = ⊕gλh where λ ∈ h∨ and

gλh = {x ∈ g / [y, x] = λ(y)x for all y ∈ h}.

(ıv) Prove that cg(h) = g0h and that the restriction of the Killing form on cg(h) is non degenerate.
(v) Prove that cg(h) contains the semisimple and nilpotent parts of its elements.
(vı) Prove that all semisimple elements of cg(h) lie in h.
(vıı) Prove that the restriction of the Killing form κg to h is non degenerate.
(vııı) Prove that cg(h) is nilpotent.
(ıx) Prove that cg(h) is abelian (Hint: use Cartan’s criterion for ad : cg(h) → gl(g))
(x) Deduce that cg(h) = h.
(xı) Prove that ng(h) = h.
(xıı) Conclude that the Cartan subalgebras are the maximal toral subalgebras.

Exercice 4 [3 points] Prove that a Lie algebra g is reductive if and only if z(g) = ng (recall that ng
is the maximal nilpotent ideal).
Hint: if the condition is satisfied, then prove that D(r(g)) ⊂ z(g).

Exercice 5 [2 points] Assume (or prove it if you want) that sln is simple and recall from Exercice 2
in Sheet 8 that this implies that any invariant form on sln is a multiple of the Killing form.
Prove that for any x, y ∈ sln , we have κ(x, y) = 2nTr(xy).