Generalized Serre relations for Lie algebras associated with positive unit forms

Abstract

Every semisimple Lie algebra defines a root system on the dual space of a Cartan subalgebra and a Cartan matrix, which expresses the dual of the Killing form on a root base. Serre's Theorem [J.-P. Serre, Complex Sernisimple Lie Algebras (G.A. Jones, Trans.), Springer-Verlag, New York, 1987] gives then a representation of the given Lie algebra in generators and relations in terms of the Cartan matrix. In this work, we generalize Serre's Theorem to give an explicit representation in generators and relations for any simply laced semisimple Lie algebra in terms of a positive quasi-Cartan matrix. Such a quasi-Cartan matrix expresses the dual of the Killing form for a Z-base of roots. Here, by a Z-base of roots, we mean a set of linearly independent roots which generate all roots as linear combinations with integral coefficients. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.