LR-algebras

In the study of NIL-affine actions on nilpotent Lie groups we introduced so called LR-structures on Lie algebras. The aim of this paper is to consider the existence question of LR-structures, and to start a structure theory of LR-algebras. We show that any Lie algebra admitting an LR-structure is 2-step solvable. Conversely we find several classes of 2-step solvable Lie algebras admitting an LR-structure, but also classes not admitting such a structure. We study also ideals in LR-algebras, and classify low-dimensional real LR-algebras.