Journal of Algebra 352 (2012) 173–179

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Journal of Algebra
www.elsevier.com/locate/jalgebra

Some inequalities for the dimension of the Schur multiplier

of a pair of (nilpotent) Lie algebras
Mohammad Reza Rismanchian a,∗ , Mehdi Araskhan b
a
Department of Mathematics, Shahre-Kord University, Shahre-Kord, Iran
b
Department of Mathematics, Islamic Azad University-Yazd Branch, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The purpose of this paper is to obtain some inequalities for the
Received 13 May 2011 dimension of the Schur multiplier of a pair of finite dimensional Lie
Available online 21 November 2011 algebras and their factor Lie algebras. Moreover, we present some
Communicated by Vera Serganova
inequalities for the Schur multiplier of a pair of finite dimensional
MSC:
nilpotent Lie algebras.
17B30 © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
17B99

Keywords:
Lie algebra
Pair of Lie algebras
Schur multiplier

1. Introduction and preliminary

Throughout this paper we will use the term Lie algebra to mean a Lie algebra over some fixed field k and [,]
denotes the Lie bracket.
Let L be an arbitrary Lie algebra and L n denote the n-th term of the lower central series of L defined
inductively by L 1 = L and L n+1 = [ L n , L ], for n  1. Let Z n ( L ) denote the n-th term of the upper central
series of L defined inductively by Z 0 ( L ) = {0} and Z n+1 ( L )/ Z n ( L ) be the center of L / Z n ( L ) for n  0.
Let N be an ideal of Lie algebra L. Then we define a series of ideals of N as follows:

N = [ N ,0 L ] ⊇ [ N , L ] ⊇ [ N , L , L ] ⊇ · · · ⊇ [ N ,n L ] ⊇ · · · ,

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M.R. Rismanchian), [email protected] (M. Araskhan).

0021-8693/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jalgebra.2011.11.001
174 M.R. Rismanchian, M. Araskhan / Journal of Algebra 352 (2012) 173–179

where [ N ,n L ] = [ N , L , . . . , L ] for all n > 0. We call such a series the lower central series of N in L. We
  
n-times
say that a pair ( L , N ) of Lie algebras is nilpotent if it has a finite lower central series. The shortest
length of such series is called the class of nilpotency of the pair ( L , N ). Similarly we may define the
upper central series of N in L as follows:

0 = Z 0 (N , L) ⊆ Z 1 (N , L) ⊆ · · · ⊆ Zm (N , L) ⊆ · · · ,

where Z m ( N , L ) = {n ∈ N | [n, g 1 , . . . , gm ] = 0, for all g 1 , . . . , gm ∈ L }. It can be easily checked that a

pair ( L , N ) of Lie algebras is nilpotent of class at most c if and only if Z c ( N , L ) = N.
Let ( L , N ) be a pair of Lie algebras, where N is an ideal in L. Then we define the Schur multiplier of
the pair ( L , N ) to be the abelian Lie algebra M ( L , N ) appearing in the following natural exact sequence
of Lie algebras

 
H 3 ( L ) → H 3 ( L / N ) → M ( L , N ) → M ( L ) → M ( L / N ) → L /[ N , L ] → L / L 2 → L / L 2 + N → 0,

where M (−) and H 3 (−) denote the Schur multiplier and the third homology of a Lie algebra, respec-
tively. This is analogous to the definition of the Schur multiplier of a pair of groups given by Ellis in [4].
Now, if the ideal N possesses a complement in L, then M ( L ) ∼ = M ( L , N ) ⊕ M ( L / N ). In this case,
 
M ( L , N ) = ker μ : M (L) → M (L/N ) ,

where μ is the natural homomorphism. So if S is an ideal of F such that N ∼ = S / R, then

M ( L , N ) = ( R ∩ [ S , F ])/[ R , F ] (see [10]). In particular, if N is equal to L then M ( L , N ) will be
M ( L ) = ( R ∩ F 2 )/[ R , F ], which is the usual Schur multiplier of the Lie algebra L (see [1,2,5,8,12,13]
for more information on the Schur multiplier of a finite dimensional Lie algebra).
We first show that there is a close relationship between the Schur multipliers M ( L , N ) and
M ( L / K , N / K ), for complements K and N in L.

Lemma 1.1. Let L be a Lie algebra with a free presentation 0 → R → F → L → 0. Let S, T be ideals of the Lie
algebra F such that T ⊆ S, T / R ∼
= K and S / R ∼
= N. Then the following sequence is exact:

R ∩ [T , F ] α K ∩ [N , L]
0→ → M (L, N ) → M (L/ K , N / K ) → → 0.
[R, F ] [K , L]

Proof. By considering the definition which has been mentioned before, we can conclude:

R ∩ [T , F ] R ∩ [S, F ]
M (L, K ) = , M (L, N ) = ,
[R, F ] [R, F ]
T ∩ [S, F ] K ∩ [N , L] ( T ∩ [ S , F ]) + R
M (L/ K , N / K ) = , = .
[T , F ] [K , L] [T , F ] + R

Clearly, the following sequence with obvious natural homomorphisms is exact:

R ∩ [T , F ] R ∩ [S, F ] T ∩ [S, F ] ( T ∩ [ S , F ]) + R
0→ → → → → 0,
[R, F ] [R, F ] [T , F ] [T , F ] + R

which gives the result. 2

 M.R. Rismanchian, M. Araskhan / Journal of Algebra 352 (2012) 173–179 175

We obtain the following corollaries which are of interest in their own account.

Corollary 1.2. Let K and N be complements of a finite dimensional Lie algebra L such that K ⊆ N. Then

(i) dim M ( L , N ) + dim( K ∩ [ N , L ]) = dim M ( L , K ) + dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + dim[ K , L ];

(ii) If M ( L , N ) is trivial, then M ( L / K , N / K ) ∼
= K [∩[K N, L,]L ] ;
 
(iii) dim M ( L , N ) + dim( K ∩ [ N , L ]) = dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + dim [[ TR ,, FF ]] , where F , S, T , R are defined in
Lemma 1.1.
 
In particular, dim M ( L , N ) + dim[ N , L ] = dim [[RS ,,FF ]] .

Proof. We prove only parts (iii). By Lemma 1.1,


R ∩ [T , F ] M (L/ K , N / K ) ∼ K ∩ [N , L]
dim M ( L , N ) = dim( P ) + dim and = ,
[R, F ] P [K , L]

where P = Im α as in Lemma 1.1. So


  R ∩ [T , F ]
dim K ∩ [ N , L ] + dim M ( L , N ) = dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + dim[ K , L ] + dim .
[R, F ]

But

[ T , F ]/[ R , F ] ∼ [T , F ] ∼
= = [ K , L ].
( R ∩ [ T , F ])/[ R , F ] R ∩ [T , F ]

Hence

  [T , F ]
dim M ( L , N ) + dim K ∩ [ N , L ] = dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + dim ,
[R, F ]

which proves this part. 2

2. Some inequalities on dim M ( L , N )

First, we give some inequalities for the dimension of the Schur multiplier of a pair of finite di-
mensional Lie algebras and their factor Lie algebras. Then, we present some inequalities for the Schur
multiplier of a pair of finite dimensional nilpotent Lie algebras.
The following lemma plays a fundamental role in obtaining the required inequalities, which is
similar to the work of Jones [6] for the group case.

Lemma 2.1. Let L be a finite dimensional Lie algebra with an ideal N. Let 0 → R → F → L → 0 be a free
presentation of L and N ∼
= S / R for some ideal S of the free Lie algebra F . Then [ S , F ]/([ R , F ] + [ F , S , F ] + S 2 )
is a homomorphic image of ( L / N )ab ⊗ N ab , where ( L / N )ab = ( L / N )/[ L / N , L / N ] and N ab = N /[ N , N ].

Proof. Define

   
θ : L / L 2 + N × N / N 2 → [ S , F ]/ [ R , F ] + [ F , S , F ] + S 2 ,
      
θ f + F 2 + S , x + S 2 + R → [x, f ] + [ R , F ] + [ F , S , F ] + S 2 ,

where f ∈ F , x ∈ S. Note that L /( L 2 + N ) × N / N 2 ∼

= F /( F 2 + S ) × S /( S 2 + R ). Let f  ≡ f ( mod F 2 + S )
and x ≡ x( mod S 2 + R ). Simple calculations show that [x , f  ] ≡ [x, f ]( mod ([ R , F ] + [ F , S , F ] + S 2 )).
176 M.R. Rismanchian, M. Araskhan / Journal of Algebra 352 (2012) 173–179

Hence θ is well-defined. Therefore, there exists a unique homomorphism θ ∗ : L /( L 2 + N ) ⊗ N / N 2 →

[ S , F ]/([ R , F ] + [ F , S , F ] + S 2 ) such that Im(θ ∗ ) = [ S , F ]/([ R , F ] + [ F , S , F ] + S 2 ) and the lemma is
proved. 2

The following is an immediate consequence of Lemma 2.1.

Corollary 2.2. Let L be a finite dimensional Lie algebra and 0 → R → F → L → 0 be a free presentation
of L. Let K be an ideal of L contained in Z ( L ) with K ∼ = T / R for some ideal T of the free Lie algebra F . Then
[ T , F ]/([ R , F ] + T 2 ) is a homomorphic image of ( L / K )ab ⊗ K ab .

Now, we have the following theorem, which generalizes the corresponding result from [3].

Theorem 2.3. Let N be a complement of a finite dimensional Lie algebra L and K be an ideal of L such that
K ⊆ N ∩ Z ( L ). Then
   
dim M ( L , N ) + dim K ∩ [ N , L ]  dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + dim M ( K ) + dim ( L / K )ab ⊗ K ab .

Proof. Let 0 → R → F → L → 0 be a free presentation of L and T be an ideal of the free Lie algebra
F such that K ∼
= T / R. Then by Corollary 1.2(iii), we have
   
dim M ( L , N ) + dim K ∩ [ N , L ] = dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + dim [ T , F ]/[ R , F ] .

Also, ([ R , F ]+ T 2 )/[ R , F ] ∼ T2 ∼
[ T , F ]/[ R , F ]
= [ R [,TF ,]+
F]
and [ R [,RF ,]+
M(K )
T2 F] = (T 2 ∩[ R , F ])/[ R , T ] . Now by Corollary 2.2, we have

 
  [T , F ] [R, F ] + T 2
dim M ( L , N ) + dim K ∩ [ N , L ] = dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + dim + dim
[R, F ] + T 2 [R, F ]
 
 dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + dim M ( K ) + dim ( L / K )ab ⊗ K ab ,

which completes the proof. 2

Let L = L 1 ⊃ L 2 ⊃ · · · ⊃ L c ⊃ L c +1 = 0 be the lower central series of a nilpotent Lie algebra, L. L is

said to have class c if c is the least integer for which L c +1 = 0. Furthermore, if dim L j / L j +1 = 1 for
j = 2, 3, . . . , c and dim L / L 2 = 2, then L is said to be of maximal class. Additionally, let 0 = Z 0 ( L ) ⊂
Z 1 ( L ) ⊂ Z 2 ( L ) ⊂ · · · ⊂ Z c ( L ) = L be the upper central series of nilpotent L. If L is of maximal class,
then Z i ( L ) = L c −i +1 for 0  i  c.
By the above notation and Theorem 2.3 we have the following corollary.

Corollary 2.4. Let L be an n-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebra of maximal class and N be a complement of L
such that Z ( L ) ⊆ N. Then

dim M ( L , N )  dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + 1.

Proof. Using Theorem 2.3 with K = Z ( L ), we get

 
dim M ( L , N ) + dim Z ( L ) ∩ [ N , L ]
        
 dim M L / Z ( L ), N / Z ( L ) + dim M Z ( L ) + dim L / Z ( L ) ab ⊗ Z ( L ) ab .

Moreover, by Proposition 1.2 of [12], we have dim M ( Z ( L )) = 0 and therefore,

 M.R. Rismanchian, M. Araskhan / Journal of Algebra 352 (2012) 173–179 177


dim M ( L , N ) + 1  dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + 0 + n − 1 − (n − 1 − 2) (1)

= dim M ( L / K , N / K ) + 2. 2

Further, we give some inequalities for the Schur multiplier of a pair of finite dimensional nilpotent
Lie algebras, which are similar to those obtained by Jones [7] and Moghaddam and Salemkar [9] for
the group case. For this purpose, we need the following lemma.

Lemma 2.5. Let H and N be ideals of Lie algebra L and N = N 0 ⊇ N 1 ⊇ · · · , a chain of ideals of N such that
[ N i , L ] ⊆ N i +1 for all i = 1, 2, . . . . Then


N i , [ H , j L ] ⊆ N i + j +1 for all i , j .

Proof. We have




N i , [ H , j +1 L ] = N i , [ H , j L ], L

 

⊆ N i , [ H , j L ] , L + [ N i , L ], [ H , j L ]


⊆ [ N i + j +1 , L ] + N i +1 , [ H , j L ]
⊆ N i + j +2 + N i + j +2 = N i + j +2 .

Now, the assertion follows by induction on j. 2

Theorem 2.6. Let ( L , N ) be a pair of finite dimensional nilpotent Lie algebras of class c  2. Let 0 → R →
F → L → 0 be a free presentation of L and N ∼ = S / R for some ideal S of the free Lie algebra F . Then
[[ S ,c −1 F ]+ R , F ]  
(i) [F ,R] is a homomorphic image of Z L( N , L ) ab ⊗ ([ N ,c −1 L ])ab ;
[[ S , F ]+ R , F ]  c −1

(ii) [[ S , i F ]+ R , F ] is a homomorphic image of [ N L, L ] ab ⊗ ([ N ,i L ])ab , for 1  i  c − 1.
i +1 i

Proof. (i) Put Z k ( N , L ) = T k / R for 0  k  c. Now consider the following chain

S = T c ⊇ · · · ⊇ T k ⊇ T k−1 ⊇ · · · ⊇ T 1 ⊇ T 0 = R ⊇ [ R , F ].

Since [ T k , S ] ⊆ T k−1 , then by Lemma 2.5, [ T k , [ S , j F ]] ⊆ T k−( j +1) . Therefore,




T c −1 + F 2 , [ S ,c −1 F ] ⊆ T c −1 , [ S ,c −1 F ] + [ S ,c −1 F ], F 2


⊆ T c −1 , [ S ,c −1 F ] + [ R , F ]



 
⊆ [ T c −1 , F ], [ S ,c −2 F ] + T c −1 , [ S ,c −2 F ] , F + [ R , F ]


⊆ T c −2 , [ S ,c −2 F ] + [ T c −1−(c −2+1) , F ] + [ R , F ]


⊆ T c −2 , [ S ,c −2 F ] + [ R , F ]
..
.
⊆ [ R , F ].

The latter inclusion gives the following epimorphism

178 M.R. Rismanchian, M. Araskhan / Journal of Algebra 352 (2012) 173–179

F [ S ,c −1 F ] + R [[ S ,c −1 F ] + R , F ]
⊗ → ,
T c −1 + F2 [R, F ] [R, F ]
   
f + T c −1 + F 2 ⊗ x + [ R , F ] → [x, f ] + [ R , F ].

(ii) For 1  i  c − 1, we have



[ S ,i +1 F ] + R , F = [ S ,i +1 F ], F + [ R , F ]

 
= [ S ,i F ], F , F + [ R , F ]



= [ S ,i F ], [ S ,i F ] + F , [ S ,i F ] + R , F + [ R , F ].

[[ S , F ]+ R , F ]
Now by Lemma 2.1, we have that the Lie algebra [ S , F ] +[ F ,[ Si , F ]+ R , F ]+[ R , F ] is a homomorphic image
  i i
of [ N L, L ] ab ⊗ ([ N ,i L ])ab and the theorem is proved. 2
i

Corollary 2.7. Under the assumptions and notation of the above theorem, we have
 L
 
(i) dim M ( L , N )+ dim[ N ,c −1 L ]  dim M ( L /[ N ,c −1 L ], N /[ N ,c −1 L ])+ dim Z c −1 ( N , L ) ab
⊗([ N ,c−1 L ])ab ;
c−1  L
 
(ii) dim M ( L , N ) + dim[ N , L ]  dim M ( L /[ N , L ], N /[ N , L ]) + i =1 dim [ N ,i L ] ab ⊗ ([ N ,i L ])ab .

Proof. (i) Taking K = [ N ,c −1 L ] in Corollary 1.2(iii), we get


  [[ S ,c −1 F ] + R , F ]
dim M ( L , N ) + dim[ N ,c −1 L ] = dim M L /[ N ,c −1 L ], N /[ N ,c −1 L ] + dim .
[R, F ]

Now the result follows by Theorem 2.6(i).

(ii) In Corollary 1.2(ii), taking K = [ N , L ], we obtain
   
dim M ( L , N ) + dim[ N , L ] = dim M L /[ N , L ], N /[ N , L ] + dim[ N ,2 L ] + dim M L , [ N , L ] .

Moreover,
 
  [S, F , F ] + R ( R ∩ [ S , F , F ]) + [ R , F ]
dim M L , [ N , L ] + dim[ N ,2 L ] = dim + dim
R [R, F ]

[S, F , F ] + [R, F ]
= dim
[R, F ]

[[ S , F ] + R , F ]
= dim
[R, F ]
 c −1 
[[ S ,c F ] + R , F ] [[ S ,i F ] + R , F ]
= dim + dim .
[R, F ] [[ S ,i +1 F ] + R , F ]
i =1

By the assumption, we have 1 = [ N ,c L ] = [ S ,c FR]+ R . Hence [ S ,c F ] + R ⊆ R and [ F , [ S ,c F ] + R ] = [ R , F ].

Now the assertion follows by Theorem 2.6(ii). 2

As a final result in this section, we show that under certain conditions there is a close rela-
tionship between the dimension of the Schur multiplier of a pair of Lie algebras and dimension of
the Schur multiplier of a pair of its factor Lie algebras. We first recall the concept of ideal Z ∗ ( L )
from [11].
 M.R. Rismanchian, M. Araskhan / Journal of Algebra 352 (2012) 173–179 179

Let E be an arbitrary Lie algebra and ψ : E → L be an epimorphism such that ker ψ ⊆ Z ( E ). We

denote by Z ∗ ( L ) the intersection of all subalgebras of the form ψ( Z ( E )). Clearly, Z ∗ ( L ) is an ideal of
L which is contained in Z ( L ).

Theorem 2.8. Let N be a complement of a finite dimensional Lie algebra L and K be an ideal of L contained in
N ∩ Z ∗ ( L ). Then
 
dim M ( L , N ) + dim K ∩ [ N , L ] = dim M ( L / K , N / K ).

Proof. By Theorem 4.4 of [11], the natural homomorphism M ( L ) → M ( L / K ) will be a monomor-

phism. Now the following commutative diagram

⊆
M (L, N ) M (L)

⊆
M (L/ K , N / K ) M (L/ K )

implies that the natural homomorphism M ( L , N ) → M ( L / K , N / K ) is also a monomorphism. Thus,

Lemma 1.1 implies that M ( L , K ) is trivial, and hence Corollary 1.2(i) gives the equality dim M ( L , N ) +
dim( K ∩ [ N , L ]) = dim M ( L / K , N / K ), which completes the proof. 2

Corollary 2.9. Let N be a complement of a finite dimensional Lie algebra L and K be an ideal of Lie algebra L
such that K ⊆ N ∩ Z ∗ ( L ). Let L be isoclinic to L / K ( L ∼ L / K ), then dim M ( L , N ) = dim M ( L / K , N / K ).

Proof. Since L ∼ L / K , Lemma 1.2(ii) of [11] implies that K ∩ [ N , L ] is trivial. Hence Theorem 2.8 gives
dim M ( L , N ) = dim M ( L / K , N / K ). 2

Acknowledgment

This work has been partially supported by the Shahre-Kord University. The first author would like
to thank this support.

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