Bracket width of simple Lie algebras

Abstract

The notion of commutator width of a group, defined as the smallest number of commutators needed to represent each element of the derived group as their product, has been extensively studied over the past decades. In particular, in [Math. Ann. 294, No. 2, 235–265 (1992; Zbl 0894.55006)] J. Barge and E. Ghys discovered the first example of a simple group of commutator width greater than one among groups of diffeomorphisms of smooth manifolds.

We consider a parallel notion of bracket width of a Lie algebra and present the first examples of simple Lie algebras of bracket width greater than one. They are found among the algebras of algebraic vector fields on smooth affine varieties.