Upper Triangular Matrices with Superinvolution: Identities and Images of Multilinear Polynomials

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the algebra of upper triangular matrices $$ UT_n(F) $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>U</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>F</mml:mi> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , endowed with a $$\mathbb {Z}_2$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>Z</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> -grading (i.e., a superalgebra) and equipped with a superinvolution. These structures naturally arise in the context of Lie and Jordan superalgebras and play a central role in the theory of polynomial identities with involution, as shown in the framework of Aljadeff et al. (Proc Am Math Soc 145(5):1843–1857, 2017). We provide a complete description of the identities of $$ UT_4(F) $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>U</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>F</mml:mi> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , where the grading is induced by the sequence $$(0,1,0,1)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and the superinvolution is the super-symplectic one. This work extends previous classifications obtained for the cases $$ n = 2 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and $$ n = 3 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , and contributes to the study of an open problem for $$ n \ge 4 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo>≥</mml:mo> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . In the final part of the paper, we investigate the image of multilinear polynomials on the superalgebra $$ UT_n(F) $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>U</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>T</mml:mi> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>F</mml:mi> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> with superinvolution, showing that the image is a vector space if and only if $$ n \le 3 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo>≤</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , thereby contributing to an analogue of the L’vov–Kaplansky conjecture in this context.