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To start, I would like to note that my background on Lie algebras is quite basic, so this question might be trivial when seen from a Lie algebra perspective, which I lack.

We have the concept of a reductive homogeneous space $G/H$, which is one for which the Lie algebra of $G$ splits as $\mathfrak{g} = \mathfrak{h} \oplus \mathfrak{m}$ that is $\operatorname{Ad}(H)$ invariant, $\operatorname{Ad}_h(\mathfrak{m}) \subseteq \mathfrak{m}$. This structure gives a left-invariant connection on $G$ that descends into a left-invariant connection on $G/H$, that is, it is a principal connection on $\pi : G \to G/H$.

Now, there is this other concept of a Lie algebra being reductive if it's a direct sum of a semi-simple Lie algebra and an Abelian Lie algebra. I get the feeling that this concept is somewhat related to the concept above, as for (for example real) matrices, for a connected closed subgroup $G \leq \operatorname{GL}(n)$ closed under the transpose, its algebra is reductive, and I believe that you can consider $H = G \cap \operatorname{Ort}(n)$ so that $G/H$ is a reductive space taking $\mathfrak{m} = \mathfrak{g}\cap\operatorname{Sym}(n)$, and by the polar decomposition $G/H \cong \exp(\mathfrak{m})$.

My questions are:

Is there any other relation between reductive Lie algebras (and Lie groups) and reductive spaces besides this?

Is there a way to, given a reductive Lie algebra, to construct a reductive homogeneous space?

If we take a reductive Lie group $G$ and a maximal compact subgroup $H$ of $G$, is it true that $G/H$ is a reductive homogeneous space?

Any reference that covers ideas related to these would be highly appreciated!

This is a repost from an mathstackexchange question

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    $\begingroup$ Q1 and Q2 are quite vague and open-ended... Q2 sounds like "what are reductive subgroups of a reductive group?". For Q3 it seems to be a trivial yes (since $K$ is reductive)... $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Commented Nov 9, 2020 at 13:31
  • $\begingroup$ It is true that Q1 and Q2 are vague, in particular, Q1 could very well go as it is too vague. About Q2, I was not sure whether, for example, if $\mathfrak{g}$ is finite-dimensional real reductive then the simply connected $G$ given by Lie's third theorem is reductive, so that Q3 can be applied (this might very well be trivial, but I am not very used to work with reductive groups...). As I said, I think this belongs in mathstackexchange, but it got no love there so I reposted it here. In any case, thank you so much :) $\endgroup$
    – Lezkus
    Commented Nov 9, 2020 at 14:04

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