Complete classification of pseudo H-type Lie algebras: I

Abstract

Let \({\mathscr {N}}\) be a 2-step nilpotent Lie algebra endowed with a non-degenerate scalar product \(\langle .\,,.\rangle \), and let \({\mathscr {N}}=V\oplus _{\perp }Z\), where Z is the centre of the Lie algebra and V its orthogonal complement. We study classification of the Lie algebras for which the space V arises as a representation space of the Clifford algebra \({{\mathrm{{\mathrm{Cl}}}}}({\mathbb {R}}^{r,s})\), and the representation map \(J:{{\mathrm{{\mathrm{Cl}}}}}({\mathbb {R}}^{r,s})\rightarrow {{\mathrm{End}}}(V)\) is related to the Lie algebra structure by \(\langle J_zv,w\rangle =\langle z,[v,w]\rangle \) for all \(z\in {\mathbb {R}}^{r,s}\) and \(v,w\in V\). The classification depends on parameters r and s and is completed for the Clifford modules V having minimal possible dimension, that are not necessary irreducible. We find necessary conditions for the existence of a Lie algebra isomorphism according to the range of the integer parameters \(0\le r,s<\infty \). We present a constructive proof for the isomorphism maps for isomorphic Lie algebras and determine the class of non-isomorphic Lie algebras.