Fractional supersymmetry and Fth-roots of representations

A generalization of super-Lie algebras is presented. It is then shown that all known examples of fractional supersymmetry can be understood in this formulation. However, the incorporation of three-dimensional fractional supersymmetry in this framework needs some care. The proposed solutions lead naturally to a formulation of a fractional supersymmetry starting from any representation D of any Lie algebra g. This involves taking the Fth-roots of D in an appropriate sense. A fractional supersymmetry in any space-time dimension is then possible. This formalism finally leads to an infinite dimensional extension of g, reducing to the centerless Virasoro algebra when g=sl(2,R).