Distinguished sets of semi-simple Lie algebras

Abstract

We call a finite, spanning set of a semi-simple real Lie algebra a distinguished set if it satisfies the following property: The Lie bracket of any two elements out of the set is, up to some constant, another element in the set; conversely, for any element in the set, there are two elements out of the set whose Lie bracket is, up to some constant, the given element. We show that every semi-simple real Lie algebra has a distinguished set.