On group actions on free Lie algebras

Johnson, Marianne (2007) On group actions on free Lie algebras. Doctoral thesis, University of Manchester.

[thumbnail of Thesis.pdf] PDF
Thesis.pdf

Download (674kB)

Abstract

We first study the module structure of the free Lie algebra $L(V)$ in characteristic zero under the action of the general linear group. Here we give a new, purely combinatorial, proof of Klyachko's celebrated theorem on Lie representations using the Kra\'{s}kiewicz-Weyman theorem. We then give a new factorisation of the Dynkin-Specht-Wever idempotent and use this to prove that $L_2(L_k(V))$ is a $KG$-module direct summand of $L_{2k}(V)$, for $G$ an arbitrary group, $K$ a field of characteristic $p \nmid k$ and $V$ a $KG$-module. For finite-dimensional modules $V$, this follows immediately from the Decomposition Theorem of Bryant and Schocker. We consider a small example of this theorem, namely the sixth Lie power over a field of characteristic $3$. Here we show explicitly that $L_6(V)$ decomposes into a direct sum of the modules $L_3(L_2(V))$ and $L_2(V) \otimes S_2(V) \otimes S_2(V)$, where $S_2(V)$ denotes the symmetric square of $V$. We give a description, up to isomorphism, of the modules $B_{p^mk}$ occurring in the Decomposition Theorem. Finally, we apply our knowledge of Lie powers to a group theoretic problem. We show that the torsion subgroup $t_c$ of the quotient $\gamma_c R/ [\gamma_c R, F]$ is bounded as follows, for $c=2p^m$ or $c=3p^m$, where $p$ is an arbitrary prime, $m\geq 0$: \begin{eqnarray*} 2t_{2p^m} = 0 \;\;\;\mbox{provided } G=F/R \mbox{ has no 2-torsion and no p-torsion,}\\ 3t_{3p^m} = 0 \;\;\;\mbox{provided } G=F/R \mbox{ has no 3-torsion and no p-torsion.} \end{eqnarray*} Thus, we have that $\gamma_6 R/ [\gamma_6 R, F]$ is torsion-free, provided that $G=F/R$ has no elements of order $2$ or $3$.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects: MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 05 Combinatorics
MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 17 Nonassociative rings and algebras
MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 20 Group theory and generalizations
Depositing User: Dr Marianne Johnson
Date Deposited: 15 Apr 2008
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2017 14:12
URI: https://eprints.maths.manchester.ac.uk/id/eprint/1082

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item