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Choose a base of a root system and its positive roots, so that the triangular decomposition of a Lie algebra is $L={\mathfrak{n}}^{-}\oplus H\oplus {\mathfrak{n}}^{+}$. A primitive element of a Lie algebra representation of weight $\omega \in H^{\ast }$ is a nonzero vector $v$ such thatEquivalently it is a highest-weight vector. Being primitive depends on the chosen positive system; no integrality condition is part of this definition.

Construct the Verma module for an arbitrary $\omega$. The subalgebra $\mathfrak{b}=H\oplus {\mathfrak{n}}^{+}$ has a one-dimensional module ${\mathbb{C}}_{\omega }$ on which $H$ acts by $\omega$ and ${\mathfrak{n}}^{+}$ acts by zero. This is a representation because $[\mathfrak{b},\mathfrak{b}]\subseteq {\mathfrak{n}}^{+}$. Setwhere $U$ denotes the universal enveloping algebra. The Poincare-Birkhoff-Witt theorem, applied with negative-root vectors first, then Cartan vectors and positive-root vectors, givesas vector spaces. In particular $v_{\omega }=1\otimes 1$ is nonzero, generates $M(\omega )$, and is primitive of weight $\omega$.

The same ordered monomials show that $M(\omega )$ is a direct sum of weight spaces, with weights of the formand that its weight-$\omega$ space is exactly $\mathbb{C}{v}_{\omega }$. Each vector has only finitely many weight components. If a submodule contains a vector with nonzero weight-$\omega$ component, choose $h\in H$ that separates $\omega$ from the finitely many other weights of that vector. Polynomial interpolation in the action of $h$ extracts a nonzero multiple of $v_{\omega }$. Such a submodule is all of $M(\omega )$, because $v_{\omega }$ generates it. Consequently every proper submodule has zero component in weight $\omega$.

Let $N$ be the sum of all proper submodules. Every finite sum still has zero weight-$\omega$ component, so $N$ is proper; it contains every proper submodule and is therefore the unique maximal proper submodule. Its quotientis irreducible, and the nonzero image of $v_{\omega }$ is primitive of weight $\omega$. This proves existence for every $\omega \in H^{\ast }$ and gives the irreducible quotient of a Verma module. It also proves uniqueness up to isomorphism among irreducible modules generated by a primitive vector of that weight: the defining relations induce a surjection from $M(\omega )$, whose proper kernel must be $N$.

These modules are not generally finite-dimensional. For example, in an ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2$ root subalgebra, a primitive vector with $hv=\lambda v$ satisfiesIf its irreducible highest-weight module is finite-dimensional, the weight-lowering sequence eventually stops. For the first $m$ with $f^{m+1}v=0$ and $f^{m}v\ne 0$, the identity forces $\lambda =m\in {\mathbb{Z}}_{\ge 0}$. In general a finite-dimensional highest-weight module therefore requires nonnegative integral values on all simple coroots; arbitrary $\omega$ in the request must allow infinite-dimensional representations. This is consistent with the finite-dimensional qualification made in Question 2.

For simple coroots $h_1,\dots ,h_r$ forming a basis of $H$, the fundamental weights are the dual basis ${\omega }_1,\dots ,{\omega }_r\in H^{\ast }$:For the special linear Lie algebra ${\mathfrak{sl}}_3(\mathbb{C})$, take the diagonal trace-zero Cartan subalgebra and positive roots corresponding to upper triangular matrix units. Write ${\epsilon }_i(\mathrm{diag}(t_1,t_2,t_3))=t_i$. The simple roots are ${\alpha }_1={\epsilon }_1-{\epsilon }_2$, ${\alpha }_2={\epsilon }_2-{\epsilon }_3$, and the simple coroots areThe fundamental weights of sl3 are thereforeChecking these on $h_1,h_2$ gives the two coordinate vectors $(1,0)$ and $(0,1)$. In the Euclidean trace-zero plane they can also be writtenThe Fundamental representations of sl3 make these weights concrete: ${\mathbb{C}}^3$ has primitive vector $e_1$ of weight ${\omega }_1$, and ${\Lambda }^2{\mathbb{C}}^3$ has primitive vector $e_1\wedge e_2$ of weight ${\omega }_2$. Every finite-dimensional irreducible highest weight is $a{\omega }_1+b{\omega }_2$ with nonnegative integers $a,b$.