ABSTRACT. We introduce a new class of possibly infinite dimensional Lie algebras and study their structural properties. Examples of this new class of Lie algebras are finite dimensional simple Lie algebras containing a nonzero split torus, affine and extended affine Lie algebras. Our results generalize well-known properties of these examples.
IntroductionIn 1985, Saito [Sa] introduced the notion of an extended affine root system which is a nonempty subset R of a finite dimensional real vector space V, equipped with a positive semidefinite bilinear form (·, ·), satisfying certain axioms. Following [Az2], we call them Saito's extended affine root systems or SEARSs for short. In 1990, Hφegh-Krohn and Torresani [H-KT] introduced a new class of Lie algebras over the field of complex numbers. The basic features of these Lie algebras are the existence of a non-degenerate symmetric invariant bilinear form, a finite dimensional Cartan subalgebra, a discrete root system and the ad-nilpotency of the root spaces attached to non-isotropic roots. In 1997, Allison, Azam, Berman, Gao and Pianzola [AABGP] called these Lie algebras extended affine Lie algebras (or EALAs for short). The subalgebra of an EALA generated by its non-isotropic root spaces, called the core, plays a very important role in the study of EALAs. Namely, up to the choice of a certain derivation and a 2-cocycle, an EALA is determined by its core modulo center, called the centerless core In [AABGP], the authors take the properties of the root system of an EALA as axioms for the new notion of an extended affine root systems or EARS for short. The non-isotropic roots of an EARS form a SEARS, but not all SEARS arise in this way. In fact, there is a one to one correspondence between reduced SEARS and non-isotropic parts of EARSs [Az2].