Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2002
We study a three parameter deformation $\mathcal{U}_{abc}$ of $\mathcal{U}(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ introduced by Le Bruyn in 1995. Working over an arbitrary algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, we determine the centres, the finite-dimensional irreducible representations, and, when the parameter $a$ is not a non-trivial root of unity, the prime ideals of those $\mathcal{U}_{abc}$, with $ac\neq0$, which are conformal as ambiskew polynomial rings.
AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 16W35; 17B37. Secondary 16S36; 16S80