Lie ring

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In mathematics a Lie ring is a structure related to Lie algebras that can arise as a generalisation of Lie algebras, or through the study of the Lower central series of groups.

[edit] Formal definition

A Lie ring is defined as a nonassociative ring with multiplication that is anticommutative and satisfies the Jacobi identity. More specifically we can define a Lie ring L to be an Abelian group with an operation [\cdot,\cdot] that has the following properties:

  • Bilinearity:
[x + y, z] = [x, z] + [y, z], \quad  [z, x + y] = [z, x] + [z, y]
for all x, y, zL.
  • The Jacobi identity:
[x,[y,z]] + [y,[z,x]] + [z,[x,y]] = 0 \quad
for all x, y, z in L.
  • For all x in L.
[x,x]=0 \quad

[edit] Examples

  • Any associative ring can be made into a Lie ring by defining a bracket operator [x,y] = xyyx.
  • For an example of a Lie ring arising from the study of groups, let G be a group, and let G = G_0 \supseteq G_1 \supseteq G_2 \supseteq \cdots \supseteq G_n \supseteq \cdots be a central series in G - that is [G_i,G_j] \subseteq G_{i+j} for any i,j. Then
L = \bigoplus G_i/G_{i+1}
is a Lie ring with addition supplied by the group operation (which will be commutative in each homogeneous part), and the bracket operation given by
[xGi,yGj] = [x,y]Gi + j
extended linearly.