On Derivations of Lie Algebras

Abstract

A well known result in the theory of Lie algebras, due to H. Zassenhaus, states that if is a finite dimensional Lie algebra over the field K such that the killing form of is non-degenerate, then the derivations of are all inner, [3, p. 74]. In particular, this applies to the finite dimensional split simple Lie algebras over fields of characteristic zero. In this paper we extend this result to a class of Lie algebras which generalize the split simple Lie algebras, and which are defined by Cartan matrices (for a definition see § 1). Because of the fact that the algebras we consider are usually infinite dimensional, the method we employ in our investigation is quite different from the standard one used in the finite dimensional case, and makes no reference to any associative bilinear form on the algebras.