THE STRUCTURE OF THIN LIE ALGEBRAS WITH CHARACTERISTIC TWO

Abstract

Thin Lie algebras are graded Lie algebras [Formula: see text] with dim Li ≤ 2 for all i, and satisfying a more stringent but natural narrowness condition modeled on an analogous condition for pro-p-groups. The two-dimensional homogeneous components of L, which include L1, are named diamonds. Infinite-dimensional thin Lie algebras with various diamond patterns have been produced, over fields of positive characteristic, as loop algebras of suitable finite-dimensional simple Lie algebras, of classical or of Cartan type depending on the location of the second diamond. The goal of this paper is a description of the initial structure of a thin Lie algebra, up to the second diamond. Specifically, if Lk is the second diamond of L, then the quotient L/Lk is a graded Lie algebras of maximal class. In odd characteristic p, the quotient L/Lk is known to be metabelian, and hence uniquely determined up to isomorphism by its dimension k, which ranges in an explicitly known set of possible values: 3, 5, a power of p, or one less than twice a power of p. However, the quotient L/Lk need not be metabelian in characteristic two. We describe here all the possibilities for L/Lk up to isomorphism. In particular, we prove that k + 1 equals a power of two.