Chains of roots and weights #
Given roots α
and β
of a Lie algebra, together with elements x
in the α
-root space and
y
in the β
-root space, it follows from the Leibniz identity that ⁅x, y⁆
is either zero or
belongs to the α + β
-root space. Iterating this operation leads to the study of families of
roots of the form k • α + β
. Such a family is known as the α
-chain through β
(or sometimes,
the α
-string through β
) and the study of the sum of the corresponding root spaces is an
important technique.
More generally if α
is a root and χ
is a weight of a representation, it is useful to study the
α
-chain through χ
.
We provide basic definitions and results to support α
-chain techniques in this file.
Main definitions / results #
LieModule.exists₂_weightSpace_smul_add_eq_bot
: given weightsχ₁
,χ₂
ifχ₁ ≠ 0
, we can findp < 0
andq > 0
such that the weight spacesp • χ₁ + χ₂
andq • χ₁ + χ₂
are both trivial.LieModule.weightSpaceChain
: given weightsχ₁
,χ₂
together with integersp
andq
, this is the sum of the weight spacesk • χ₁ + χ₂
forp < k < q
.LieModule.trace_toEnd_weightSpaceChain_eq_zero
: given a rootα
relative to a Cartan subalgebraH
, there is a natural idealcorootSpace α
inH
. This lemma states that this ideal acts by trace-zero endomorphisms on the sum of root spaces of anyα
-chain, provided the weight spaces at the endpoints are both trivial.LieModule.exists_forall_mem_corootSpace_smul_add_eq_zero
: given a (potential) rootα
relative to a Cartan subalgebraH
, if we restrict to the idealcorootSpace α
ofH
, we may find an integral linear combination betweenα
and any weightχ
of a representation.
Given two (potential) weights χ₁
and χ₂
together with integers p
and q
, it is often
useful to study the sum of weight spaces associated to the family of weights k • χ₁ + χ₂
for
p < k < q
.
Equations
- LieModule.weightSpaceChain M χ₁ χ₂ p q = ⨆ k ∈ Set.Ioo p q, LieModule.weightSpace M (k • χ₁ + χ₂)
Instances For
Given a (potential) root α
relative to a Cartan subalgebra H
, if we restrict to the ideal
I = corootSpace α
of H
(informally, I = ⁅H(α), H(-α)⁆
), we may find an
integral linear combination between α
and any weight χ
of a representation.
This is Proposition 4.4 from [carter2005] and is a key step in the proof that the roots of a
semisimple Lie algebra form a root system. It shows that the restriction of α
to I
vanishes iff
the restriction of every root to I
vanishes (which cannot happen in a semisimple Lie algebra).
This is the largest n : ℕ
such that i • α + β
is a weight for all 0 ≤ i ≤ n
.
Equations
- LieModule.chainTopCoeff α β = if hα : α = 0 then 0 else (Nat.find ⋯).pred
Instances For
This is the largest n : ℕ
such that -i • α + β
is a weight for all 0 ≤ i ≤ n
.
Equations
- LieModule.chainBotCoeff α β = LieModule.chainTopCoeff (-α) β
Instances For
The last weight in an α
-chain through β
.
Equations
- LieModule.chainTop α β = { toFun := LieModule.chainTopCoeff α β • α + ⇑β, weightSpace_ne_bot' := ⋯ }
Instances For
The first weight in an α
-chain through β
.
Equations
- LieModule.chainBot α β = { toFun := -↑(LieModule.chainBotCoeff α β) • α + ⇑β, weightSpace_ne_bot' := ⋯ }