Graded Lie algebra

A graded Lie algebra has a graded Lie bracket preserving total degree, with $[u,v]=-(-1{)}^{|u||v|}[v,u]$ and $[u,[v,w]]=[[u,v],w]+(-1{)}^{|u||v|}[v,[u,w]]$ for homogeneous vectors in the indicated degrees. A Gerstenhaber algebra uses this sign rule after shifting degrees by one.

For a positively graded Lie algebra $L$ over $\mathbb{Q}$, finite-dimensional in each degree, its cochain algebra is free graded commutative on the graded dual of $sL$, with differential dual to the Lie bracket and its Koszul signs. The Jacobi identity gives $d^2=0$. A Lie element of degree $r$ contributes a cochain generator of degree $r+1$. Its cohomology computes ${\mathrm{Ext}}_{U(L)}(\mathbb{Q},\mathbb{Q})$ with total grading; the standard free enveloping-algebra resolution gives this identification. For a free graded Lie algebra, the tensor-algebra augmentation has a length-one free resolution, explaining the square-zero cohomology of a rational wedge sum of spheres.

For a positively graded vector space $V$, the free graded Lie algebra $\mathbb{L}(V)$ receives a linear map from $V$ and extends every graded linear map $V\to L$ uniquely to a Lie homomorphism. Over $\mathbb{Q}$, it is the Lie subalgebra generated by $V$ inside the tensor algebra $T(V)$, using $[u,v]=uv-(-1{)}^{|u||v|}vu$. Its universal enveloping algebra is $T(V)$: both have the same universal property for maps from $V$ into associative algebras. The primitives of the tensor Hopf algebra with primitive generators are exactly $\mathbb{L}(V)$.

The bracket on a graded Lie algebra is a bilinear operation satisfying graded antisymmetry and the graded Jacobi identity. For homogeneous elements of degrees $r,s$, $[u,v]=-(-1{)}^{rs}[v,u]$. A Gerstenhaber bracket uses this convention on the shifted degrees $r=|u|-1$ and $s=|v|-1$.