Cohomology and Support Varieties for Lie Superalgebras

Abstract

We study cohomology for classical Lie superalgebras $\mathfrak{g}$ (e.g. gl(m|n)) over the complex numbers. Using results from invariant theory, we show that there exist subsuperalgebras which detect the cohomology of $\mathfrak{g}.$ Furthermore, drawing inspiration from finite groups and restricted Lie algebras, we introduce the notion of support varieties in this context. One can prove these varieties have many of the desirable properties of such a theory. They also appear to provide new interpretations for certain combinatorics associated with Lie superalgebras.