Prime ideals in noncommutative Iwasawa algebras

We study the prime ideal structure of the Iwasawa algebra Λ<inf>G</inf> of an almost simple compact p-adic Lie group G. When the Lie algebra of G contains a copy of the two-dimensional non-abelian Lie algebra, we show that the prime ideal structure of Λ<inf>G</inf> is somewhat restricted. We also provide a potential example of a prime c-ideal of Λ<inf>G</inf> in the case when the Lie algebra of G is s-fraktur sign l-fraktur sign<inf>2</inf>(ℚ<inf>p</inf>). © 2006 Cambridge Philosophical Society.