Showing the Jacobi identity holds on 2 dimensional vector space with given bilinear operation

abstract-algebralie-algebrasvector-spaces

Suppose $L$ is a vector space with basis $x,y$ and that a binlear operation $[-,-]$ is defined on $L$ such that $[u,u]=0$ for all $u \in L$. Show that the Jacobi identity holds and hence $L$ is a Lie algebra.

Jacobi identity:

[$a[bc]]+[b[ca]]+[c[ab]]=0$

My attempt:

So if we take arbitray elements of $L$, lets say $A,B,C \in L$, we need to show the Jacobi identity holds. Well, $L$ is 2 dimensional with a basis given by $x,y$, and so we can write $$A = a_xx+a_yy$$ $$B = b_xx+b_yy$$ $$C = c_xx+c_yy$$.

I've been trying to show that the Jacobi identity holds here, using the fact that, for example, $[a_xx,b_xx]=a_xb_x[x,x]=0]$.

Is this the right idea? Can somebody help me with the details? Thank you for your time.

Best Answer

You should start with the multiplication in $L.$ If $[x,y]=0$ then $L$ is abelian and we are done. Otherwise we have $[x,y]=\alpha x + \beta y$ with not both coefficients zero. Let's assume $\alpha\neq 0.$ Then $L$ gets a new basis $x'=-\alpha^{-1}y, y'=x+\beta \alpha^{-1}y$ and we get $$ [x',y']=[-\alpha^{-1}y,x+\beta \alpha^{-1}y]=x+\beta \alpha^{-1}y=y' $$ Thus we may assume that $[x,y]=y.$ This should make your calculation a lot easier.

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