Kostant's problem and parabolic subgroups

Johan Kåhrström

Published 2008-06-18Version 1

Let $\frak g$ be a finite dimensional complex semi-simple Lie algebra with Weyl group $W$ and simple reflections $S$. For $I\subseteq S$ let $\frak g_I$ be the corresponding semi-simple subalgebra of $\frak g$. Denote by $W_I$ the Weyl group of $\frak g_I$ and let $w_o$ and $w^I_o$ be the longest elements of $W$ and $W_I$, respectively. In this paper we show that the answer to Kostant's problem, i.e. whether the universal enveloping algebra surjects onto the space of all ad-finite linear transformations of a given module, is the same for the simple highest weight $\frak g_I$-module $L_I(x)$ of highest weight $x\cdot 0$, $x\in W_I$, as the answer for the simple highest weight $\frak g$-module $L(x w^I_o w_o)$ of highest weight $(x w^I_o w_o)\cdot 0$. We also give a new description of the unique quasi-simple quotient of the Verma module $\Delta(e)$ with the same annihilator as $L(y)$, $y\in W$.