On the adjoint quotient of Chevalley groups over arbitrary base schemes

Abstract

For a split semisimple Chevalley group scheme G with Lie algebra g over an arbitrary base scheme S, we consider the quotient of g by the adjoint action of G. We study in detail the structure of g over S. Given a maximal torus T with Lie algebra t and associated Weyl group W, we show that the Chevalley morphism t/W -> g/G is an isomorphism except for the group Sp_{2n} over a base with 2-torsion. In this case this morphism is only dominant and we compute it explicitly. We compute the adjoint quotient in some other classical cases, yielding examples where the formation of the quotient g -> g/G commutes, or does not commute, with base change on S.