UCLA

We consider a complex simple Lie algebra $${\mathfrak{g}}$$ , with the action of its adjoint group. Among the three canonical nilpotent orbits under this action, the minimal orbit is the non zero orbit of smallest dimension. We are interested in equivariant deformation quantization: we construct $${\mathfrak{g}}$$ -invariant star-products on the minimal orbit and on its closure, a singular algebraic variety. We shall make use of Hochschild homology and cohomology, of some results about the invariants of the classical groups, and of some interesting representations of simple Lie algebras. To the minimal orbit is associated a unique, completely prime two-sided ideal of the universal enveloping algebra $${{\rm U}(\mathfrak{g})}$$ . This ideal is primitive and is called the Joseph ideal. We give explicit expressions for the generators of the Joseph ideal and compute the infinitesimal characters.