Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2003/iii/paper-1/2/i/solution

Here the Cartan subalgebra of a finite-dimensional complex semisimple Lie algebra is a maximal toral subalgebra: it is abelian, its adjoint operators are simultaneously diagonalizable, and its centralizer is itself. These standard properties give the root-space decomposition
The roots of a root system are the nonzero linear functionals in for which ; is their finite set. Each root space is one-dimensional. The zero weight space is the centralizer of , hence exactly . Thus the displayed sum is a direct sum of simultaneous eigenspaces of the Adjoint representation. It is the Cartan root-space decomposition meant here.
The bracket respects weight addition: , where and a missing weight means the zero space. This follows by applying the Jacobi identity with to the bracket of two root vectors. It explains how the vector-space decomposition encodes the Lie algebra structure.

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