Root generated subalgebras of symmetrizable Kac-Moody algebras

Abstract: The derived algebra of a symmetrizible Kac-Moody algebra $\lie g$ is generated (as a Lie algebra) by its root spaces corresponding to real roots. In this paper, we address the natural reverse question: given any subset of real root vectors, is the Lie subalgebra of $\lie g$ generated by these again the derived algebra of a Kac-Moody algebra? We call such Lie subalgebras root generated, give an affirmative answer to the above question and show that there is a one-to-one correspondence between them, real closed subroot systems and $\pi$-systems contained in the positive system of $\lie g$. Finally, we apply these identifications to all untwised affine types in order to classify symmetric regular subalgebras first introduced by Dynkin in the finite-dimensional setting. We show that any root generated subalgebra associated to a maximal real closed subroot system can be embedded into a unique maximal symmetric regular subalgebra.