Extremal Bases for the Adjoint Representations of the Simple Lie Algebras

Abstract

We construct n distinct weight bases, which we call extremal bases, for the adjoint representation of each simple Lie algebra 𝔤 of rank n: One construction for each simple root. We explicitly describe actions of the Chevalley generators on the basis elements. We show that these extremal bases are distinguished by their “supporting graphs” in three ways. (In general, the supporting graph of a weight basis for a representation of a semisimple Lie algebra is a directed graph with colored edges that describe the supports of the actions of the Chevalley generators on the elements of the basis.) We show that each extremal basis constructed is essentially the only basis with its supporting graph (i.e., each extremal basis is solitary), and that each supporting graph is a modular lattice. Each extremal basis is shown to be edge-minimizing: Its supporting graph has the minimum number of edges. The extremal bases are shown to be the only edge-minimizing as well as the only modular lattice weight bases (up to scalar multiples) for the adjoint representation of 𝔤. The supporting graph for an extremal basis is shown to be a distributive lattice if and only if the associated simple root corresponds to an end node for a “branchless” simple Lie algebra, i.e., type A, B, C, F, or G. For each extremal basis, basis elements for the Cartan subalgebra are explicitly expressed in terms of the h _i Chevalley generators.

Key Words:

• Adjoint representation actions
• Modular lattice
• Simple Lie algebra
• Weight basis

Mathematics Subject Classification:

• 17B10

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Bob Proctor for many helpful conversations during the preparation of this article. I also thank the referee for many helpful suggestions that improved the article.

Notes

Communicated by K. Misra.