Paper detail

Dixmier Groups and Borel Subgroups

Let G be the group of symplectic (unimodular) automorphisms of the free associative algebra on two generators. A theorem of G.Wilson and the first author asserts that G acts transitively the Calogero-Moser spaces C_n for all n. We generalize this theorem in two ways: first, we prove that the action of G on C_n is doubly transitive, meaning that G acts transitively on the configuration space of (ordered) pairs of points in C_n; second, we prove that the diagonal action of G on the product of (any number of) copies of C_n is transitive provided the corresponding n's are pairwise distinct. In the second part of the paper, we study the isotropy subgroups G_n of G in C_n. We equip each G_n with the structure of an ind-algebraic group and classify the Borel subgroups of these ind-algebraic groups for all n. Our classification shows that every Borel subgroup of G (= G_0) is conjugate to the subgroup B of triangular (elementary) automorphisms; on the other hand, for n > 0, the conjugacy classes of Borel subgroups of G_n are parametrized by certain orbits of B in C_n. Our main result is that the conjugacy classes of non-abelian Borel subgroups of G_n correspond precisely to the B-orbits of the C^*-fixed points in C_n and thus, are in bijection with the partitions of n. We also prove an infinite-dimensional analogue of the classical theorem of R.Steinberg, characterizing the (non-abelian) Borel subgroups of G_n in purely group-theoretic terms. Together with our classification this last theorem implies that the G_n are pairwise non-isomorphic as abstract groups. Our study of the groups G_n is motivated by the fact that these are the automorphism groups of non-isomorphic simple algebras Morita equivalent to the Weyl algebra A_1(C). From this perspective, our results generalize well-known theorems of J.Dixmier and L.Makar-Limanov about the automorphism group of A_1(C).