Zero product determined Lie algebras

A Lie algebra L over a field $$\mathbb {F}$$ is said to be zero product determined (zpd) if every bilinear map with the property that $$f(x,y)=0$$ , whenever x and y commute, is a coboundary. The main goal of the paper is to determine whether or not some important Lie algebras are zpd. We show that the Galilei Lie algebra , where V is a simple $$\mathfrak {sl}_2$$ -module, is zpd if and only if $$\dim V =2$$ or $$\dim V$$ is odd. The class of zpd Lie algebras also includes the quantum torus Lie algebras $$\mathscr {L}_q$$ and $$\mathscr {L}^+_q$$ , the untwisted affine Lie algebras, the Heisenberg Lie algebras, and all Lie algebras of dimension at most 3, while the class of non-zpd Lie algebras includes the (4-dimensional) aging Lie algebra and all Lie algebras of dimension more than 3 in which only linearly dependent elements commute. We also give some evidence of the usefulness of the concept of zpd Lie algebra by using it in the study of commutativity preserving linear maps.