Poisson enveloping algebras and the Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem

Abstract

Poisson algebras are, just like Lie algebras, particular cases of Lie-Rinehart algebras. The latter were introduced by Rinehart in his seminal 1963 paper, where he also introduces the notion of an enveloping algebra and proves --- under some mild conditions --- that the enveloping algebra of a Lie-Rinehart algebra satisfies a Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem (PBW theorem). In the case of a Poisson algebra $({\mathcal A},\cdot,\{\cdot,\cdot\})$ over a commutative ring $R$ (with unit), Rinehart's result boils down to the statement that if $\mathcal A$ is \emph{smooth} (as an algebra), then gr$(U({\mathcal A}))$ and $\mathrm{Sym}_{\mathcal A}(Ω({\mathcal A}))$ are isomorphic as graded algebras; in this formula, $U({\mathcal A})$ stands for the Poisson enveloping algebra of ${\mathcal A}$ and $Ω({\mathcal A})$ is the ${\mathcal A}$-module of Kähler differentials of ${\mathcal A}$ (viewing ${\mathcal A}$ as an $R$-algebra). In this paper, we give several new constructions of the Poisson enveloping algebra in some general and in some particular contexts. Moreover, we show that for an important class of \emph{singular} Poisson algebras, the PBW theorem still holds. In geometrical terms, these Poisson algebras correspond to (singular) Poisson hypersurfaces of arbitrary smooth affine Poisson varieties.