Classical Lie Algebras At Infinity

Originating from graduate topics courses given by the first author, this book functions as a unique text-monograph hybrid that bridges a traditional graduate course to research level representation theory. The exposition includes an introduction to the subject, some highlights of the theory and recent results in the field, and is therefore appropriate for advanced graduate students entering the field as well as research mathematicians wishing to expand their knowledge. The mathematical background required varies from chapter to chapter, but a standard course on Lie algebras and their representations, along with some knowledge of homological algebra, is necessary. Basic algebraic geometry and sheaf cohomology are needed for Chapter 10. Exercises of various levels of difficulty are interlaced throughout the text to add depth to topical comprehension. The unifying theme of this book is the structure and representation theory of infinite-dimensional locally reductive Lie algebras and superalgebras. Chapters 1-6 are foundational; each of the last 4 chapters presents a self-contained study of a specialized topic within the larger field. Lie superalgebras and flag supermanifolds are discussed in Chapters 3, 7, and 10, and may be skipped by the reader.

During the last century, mathematicians and physicists alike have studied extensively the finite dimensional irreducible representations of complex classical Lie algebras. These studies have led to numerous formulas for computing the dimensions, weights, weight multiplicities, and tensor products of the representations. The dependence of these quantities on the rank of the Lie algebra has been revealed in recent investigations using Schur functions and characters.

The Yangians and twisted Yangians are remarkable associative algebras taking their origins from the work of St. Petersburg's school of mathematical physics in the 1980s. This book is an introduction to the theory of Yangians and twisted Yangians, with a particular emphasis on the relationship with the classical matrix Lie algebras.

This book gives a systematic account of the structure and representation theory of finite-dimensional complex Lie superalgebras of classical type and serves as a good introduction to representation theory of Lie superalgebras. Several folklore results are rigorously proved (and occasionally corrected in detail), sometimes with new proofs. Three important dualities are presented in the book, with the unifying theme of determining irreducible characters of Lie superalgebras. In order of increasing sophistication, they are Schur duality, Howe duality, and super duality. The combinatorics of symmetric functions is developed as needed in connections to Harish-Chandra homomorphism as well as irreducible characters for Lie superalgebras. Schur-Sergeev duality for the queer Lie superalgebra is presented from scratch with complete detail. Howe duality for Lie superalgebras is presented in book form for the first time. Super duality is a new approach developed in the past few years toward understanding the Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand category of modules for classical Lie superalgebras. Super duality relates the representation theory of classical Lie superalgebras directly to the representation theory of classical Lie algebras and thus gives a solution to the irreducible character problem of Lie superalgebras via the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials of classical Lie algebras.

How to see physics in its full picture? This book offers a new approach: start from math, in its simple and elegant tools: discrete math, geometry, and algebra, avoiding heavy analysis that might obscure the true picture. This will get you ready to master a few fundamental topics in physics: from Newtonian mechanics, through relativity, towards quantum mechanics.Thanks to simple math, both classical and modern physics follow and make a complete vivid picture of physics. This is an original and unified point of view to highlighting physics from a fresh pedagogical angle.Each chapter ends with a lot of relevant exercises. The exercises are an integral part of the chapter: they teach new material and are followed by complete solutions. This is a new pedagogical style: the reader takes an active part in discovering the new material, step by step, exercise by exercise.The book could be used as a textbook in undergraduate courses such as Introduction to Newtonian mechanics and special relativity, Introduction to Hamiltonian mechanics and stability, Introduction to quantum physics and chemistry, and Introduction to Lie algebras with applications in physics.

Lie superalgebras are a natural generalization of Lie algebras, having applications in geometry, number theory, gauge field theory, and string theory. This book develops the theory of Lie superalgebras, their enveloping algebras, and their representations. The book begins with five chapters on the basic properties of Lie superalgebras, including explicit constructions for all the classical simple Lie superalgebras. Borel subalgebras, which are more subtle in this setting, are studied and described. Contragredient Lie superalgebras are introduced, allowing a unified approach to several results, in particular to the existence of an invariant bilinear form on $\mathfrak{g}$. The enveloping algebra of a finite dimensional Lie superalgebra is studied as an extension of the enveloping algebra of the even part of the superalgebra. By developing general methods for studying such extensions, important information on the algebraic structure is obtained, particularly with regard to primitive ideals. Fundamental results, such as the Poincare-Birkhoff-Witt Theorem, are established. Representations of Lie superalgebras provide valuable tools for understanding the algebras themselves, as well as being of primary interest in applications to other fields. Two important classes of representations are the Verma modules and the finite dimensional representations. The fundamental results here include the Jantzen filtration, the Harish-Chandra homomorphism, the Sapovalov determinant, supersymmetric polynomials, and Schur-Weyl duality. Using these tools, the center can be explicitly described in the general linear and orthosymplectic cases. In an effort to make the presentation as self-contained as possible, some background material is included on Lie theory, ring theory, Hopf algebras, and combinatorics.

The volume is the outcome of the conference "Lie superalgebras," which was held at the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica, in 2012. The conference gathered many specialists in the subject, and the talks held provided comprehensive insights into the newest trends in research on Lie superalgebras (and related topics like vertex algebras, representation theory and supergeometry). The book contains contributions of many leading esperts in the field and provides a complete account of the newest trends in research on Lie Superalgebras.