Alice Fialowski

An Example of Formal Deformations of Lie Algebras

In this work we are going to investigate the formal deformations of an infinite dimensional Lie algebra of vector fields on the line with polynomial coefficients. This Lie algebre L1 consists of the fields which vanish with their first derivative at the origin. For finding the deformations, we have to consider the cohomology with coefficients in the adjoint representation.

GLOBAL DEFORMATIONS OF THE WITT ALGEBRA OF KRICHEVER–NOVIKOV TYPE

By considering non-trivial global deformations of the Witt (and the Virasoro) algebra given by geometric constructions it is shown that, despite their infinitesimal and formal rigidity, they are globally not rigid. This shows the need of a clear indication of the type of deformations considered. The families appearing are constructed as families of algebras of Krichever–Novikov type. They show up in a natural way in the global operator approach to the quantization of two-dimensional conformal field theory. In addition, a proof of the infinitesimal and formal rigidity of the Witt algebra is presented.

DEFORMATION THEORY OF INFINITY ALGEBRAS

Abstract This work explores the deformation theory of algebraic structures in a very general setting. These structures include associative algebras, Lie algebras, and the infinity versions of these structures, the strongly homotopy associative and Lie algebras. In all these cases the algebraic structure is determined by an element of a certain graded Lie algebra which determines a differential on the Lie algebra. We work out the deformation theory in terms of the Lie algebra of coderivations of an appropriate coalgebra structure and construct a universal infinitesimal deformation as well as a miniversal formal deformation. By working at this level of generality, the main ideas involved in deformation theory stand out more clearly.

Global Geometric Deformations of Current Algebras as Krichever-Novikov Type Algebras

We construct algebraic-geometric families of genus one (i.e. elliptic) current and affine Lie algebras of Krichever-Novikov type. These families deform the classical current, respectively affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras. The construction is induced by the geometric process of degenerating the elliptic curve to singular cubics. If the finite-dimensional Lie algebra defining the infinite dimensional current algebra is simple then, even if restricted to local families, the constructed families are non-equivalent to the trivial family. In particular, we show that the current algebra is geometrically not rigid, despite its formal rigidity. This shows that in the infinite dimensional Lie algebra case the relations between geometric deformations, formal deformations and Lie algebra two-cohomology are not that close as in the finite-dimensional case. The constructed families are e.g. of relevance in the global operator approach to the Wess-Zumino-Witten-Novikov models appearing in the quantization of Conformal Field Theory. The algebras are explicitly given by generators and structure equations and yield new examples of infinite dimensional algebras of current and affine Lie algebra type.

Deformations and contractions of Lie algebras

In this contributed presentation, we discuss and compare the mutually opposite procedures of deformations and contractions of Lie algebras. We suggest that with approp- riate combinations of both procedures one may construct new Lie algebras. We first discuss low-dimensional Lie algebras and illustrate thereby that whereas for every contraction there exists a reverse deformation, the converse is not true in general. Also we note that some Lie algebras belonging to parameterized families are singled out by the irreversibility of defor- mations and contractions. After reminding that global deformations of the Witt, Virasoro, and affine Kac-Moody algebras allow one to retrieve Lie algebras of Krichever-Novikov type, we contract the latter to find new infinite dimensional Lie algebras.

Deformations of some infinite‐dimensional Lie algebras

The concept of a versal deformation of a Lie algebra is investigated and obstructions to extending an infinitesimal deformation to a higher‐order one are described. The rigidity of the Witt algebra and the Virasoro algebra is deduced from cohomology computations for certain Lie algebras of vector fields on the real line. The Lie algebra of vector fields on the line that vanish at the origin also turns out to be rigid. All the affine Lie algebras are rigid; this is derived from the cohomology of their maximal nilpotent subalgebra. On the other hand, the maximal nilpotent subalgebras in both the Virasoro and affine cases are not rigid and have interesting nontrivial deformations (in fact, most vector field Lie algebras are not rigid).

DEFORMATIONS OF FOUR-DIMENSIONAL LIE ALGEBRAS

We study the moduli space of four dimensional ordinary Lie algebras, and their versal deformations. Their classification is well known; our focus in this paper is on the deformations, which yield a picture of how the moduli space is assembled. Surprisingly, we get a nice geometric description of this moduli space essentially as an orbifold, with just a few exceptional points.

VERSAL DEFORMATIONS OF THREE DIMENSIONAL LIE ALGEBRAS AS L∞ ALGEBRAS

We consider versal deformations of 0|3-dimensional L∞ algebras, also called strongly homotopy Lie algebras, which correspond precisely to ordinary (non-graded) three-dimensional Lie algebras. The classification of such algebras is well-known, although we shall give a derivation of this classification using an approach of treating them as L∞ algebras. Because the symmetric algebra of a three-dimensional odd vector space contains terms only of exterior degree less than or equal to three, the construction of versal deformations can be carried out completely. We give a characterization of the moduli space of Lie algebras using deformation theory as a guide to understanding the picture.

Formal Deformations, Contractions and Moduli Spaces of Lie Algebras

Abstract Jump deformations and contractions of Lie algebras are inverse concepts, but the approaches to their computations are quite different. In this paper, we contrast the two approaches, showing how to compute the jump deformations from the miniversal deformation of a Lie algebra, and thus arrive at the contractions. We also compute contractions directly. We use the moduli spaces of real 3-dimensional and complex 3 and 4-dimensional Lie algebras as models for explaining a deformation theory approach to computation of contractions.

Leibniz algebra deformations of a Lie algebra

In this note we compute Leibniz algebra deformations of the three-dimensional Heisenberg Lie algebra n3 and compare it to its Lie deformations. It turns out that there are three extra Leibniz deformations. We also describe a versal Leibniz deformation of n3 with the versal base.