Maximal Abelian Subalgebras of e(p,q) algebras

Abstract

Maximal abelian subalgebras of one of the classical real inhomogeneous Lie algebras are constructed, namely those of the pseudoeuclidean Lie algebra e(p,q). Use is made of the semidirect sum structure of e(p,q) with the translations T(p+q) as an abelian ideal. We first construct splitting MASAs that are themselves direct sums of abelian subalgebras of o(p,q) and of subalgebras of T(p+q). The splitting subalgebras are used to construct the complementary nonsplitting ones. We present general decomposition theorems and construct indecomposable MASAs for all algebras e(p,q), p \geq q \geq 0. The case of q=0 and 1 were treated earlier in a physical context. The case q=2 is analyzed here in detail as an illustration of the general results.