Laplace operators of infinite-dimensional Lie algebras and theta functions.
Until recently, the generalized Casimir operator constructed by Kac [Kac, V. G. (1974) Funct. Anal. Appl. 8, 68-70] has been the only known element of the center of a completion of the enveloping algebra of a Kac-Moody algebra. It has been conjectured [Deodhar, V. V., Gabber, O. & Kac, V. G. (1982) Adv. Math. 45, 92-116], however, that the image of the Harish-Chandra homomorphism contains all theta functions defined on the interior of the complexified Tits cone and hence separates the orbits of the Weyl group. Developing the ideas of Feigin and Fuchs [Feigin, B. L. & Fuchs, D. B. (1983) Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 269, 1057-1060], I prove this conjecture. Another application of this method is the Chevalley type restriction theorem for simple finite-dimensional Lie superalgebras.
Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.
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