Abstract

In the finite-dimensional setting, every Hermitian-symmetric space of compact type is a coadjoint orbit of a finite-dimensional Lie group. It is natural to ask whether every infinite-dimensional Hermitian-symmetric space of compact type, which is a particular example of an Hilbert manifold, is transitively acted upon by a Hilbert Lie group of isometries. In this paper we give the classification of infinite-dimensional irreducible Hermitian-symmetric affine coadjoint orbits of connected simple L*-groups of compact type using the notion of simple roots of non-compact type. The key step is, given an infinite-dimensional symmetric pair (, ), where is a simple L*-algebra of compact type and a subalgebra of , to construct an increasing sequence of finite-dimensional subalgebras _n of together with an increasing sequence of finite-dimensional subalgebras _n of such that , , and such that the pairs (_n, _n) are symmetric. Comparing with the classification of Hermitian-symmetric spaces given by W. Kaup, it follows that any Hermitian-symmetric space of compact or non-compact type is an affine-coadjoint orbit of an Hilbert Lie group.