Journal of Lie Theory

A cohomology theory of root systems emerges naturally in the context of Automorphic Lie Algebras, where it helps formulating some structure theory questions. In particular, one can find concrete models for an Automorphic Lie Algebra by integrating cocycles. In this paper we define this cohomology and show its connection with the theory of Automorphic Lie Algebras. Furthermore, we discuss its properties: we define the cup product, we show that it can be restricted to symmetric forms, that it is equivariant with respect to the automorphism group of the root system, and finally we show acyclicity at dimension two of the symmetric part, which is exactly what is needed to find concrete models for Automorphic Lie Algebras.
Furthermore, we show how the cohomology of root systems finds application beyond the theory of Automorphic Lie Algebras by applying it to the theory of contractions and filtrations of Lie algebras. In particular, we show that contractions associated to Cartan Z-filtrations of simple Lie algebras are classified by 2-cocycles, due again to the vanishing of the symmetric part of the second cohomology group.