The center of the affine nilTemperley-Lieb algebra

We give a description of the center of the affine nilTemperley-Lieb algebra based on a certain grading of the algebra and on a faithful representation of it on fermionic particle configurations. We present a normal form for monomials, hence construct a basis of the algebra, and use this basis to show that the affine nilTemperley-Lieb algebra is finitely generated over its center. As an application, we obtain a natural embedding of the affine nilTemperley-Lieb algebra on N generators into the affine nilTemperley-Lieb algebra on N + 1 generators.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, comments welcom

Some Problems in the Representation Theory of Simple Modular Lie Algebras

The finite-dimensional restricted simple Lie algebras of characteristic p > 5 are classical or of Cartan type. The classical algebras are analogues of the simple complex Lie algebras and have a well-advanced representation theory with important connections to Kazhdan-Lusztig theory, quantum groups at roots of unity, and the representation theory of algebraic groups. We survey progress that has been made towards developing a representation theory for the restricted simple Cartan-type Lie algebras, discuss comparable results in the classical case, formulate a couple of conjectures, and pose a dozen open problems for further study.Comment: References updated; a few minor changes made in this versio

The centroid of extended affine and root graded Lie algebras

We develop general results on centroids of Lie algebras and apply them to determine the centroid of extended affine Lie algebras, loop-like and Kac-Moody Lie algebras, and Lie algebras graded by finite root systems.Comment: 35 page