Orbit Closures in the Witt Algebra and its Dual Space

Abstract: Working over an algebraically closed field of characteristic p > 3, we calculate the orbit closures in the Witt algebra W under the action of its automorphism group G. We also outline how the same techniques can be used to determine closures of orbits of all heights except p-1 (in which case we only obtain a conditional statement) in the dual space W^* under the induced action of G. As a corollary we prove that the algebra of invariants k[W^*]^G is trivial.