Six-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebras

Abstract

We give a full classification of 6-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebras over an arbitrary field, including fields that are not algebraically closed and fields of characteristic~2. To achieve the classification we use the action of the automorphism group on the second cohomology space, as isomorphism types of nilpotent Lie algebras correspond to orbits of subspaces under this action. In some cases, these orbits are determined using geometric invariants, such as the Gram determinant or the Arf invariant. As a byproduct, we completely determine, for a 4-dimensional vector space $V$, the orbits of $\GL(V)$ on the set of 2-dimensional subspaces of $V\wedge V$.