Automorphisms of the Lie algebra of vector fields on affine n-space

Abstract

We show that every Lie algebra automorphisms of the vector fields $Vec(A^n)$ of affine n-space $A^n$, of the vector fields $Vec^c(A^n)$ with constant divergence, and of the vector fields $Vec^0(A^n)$ with divergence zero is induced by an automorphism of $A^n$. This generalizes results of the second author obtained in dimension 2. The case of $Vec(A^n)$ is due to Vladimir Bavula. As an immediate consequence, we get the following result which due to Viktor Kulikov. If every injective endomorphism of the simple Lie algebra $Vec(A^n)$ is an automorphism, then the Jacobian Conjecture holds in dimension $n$.