Moufang symmetry I. Generalized Lie and Maurer-Cartan equations

Abstract

The continuous Moufang loops are characterized as the algebraic systems where the associativity law is perturbed minimally. The minimal perturbation of associativity is characterized by the first- order partial differential equations, which in a natural way generalize the Lie and Maurer-Cartan equations from the theory of Lie groups.