High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In mathematics, especially in the areas of abstract algebra and algebraic geometry studying linear algebraic groups, a semisimple algebraic group is a type of matrix group which behaves much like a semisimple Lie algebra or semisimple ring. A linear algebraic group is called semisimple if and only if the (solvable) radical of the identity component is trivial. Equivalently, a semisimple linear algebraic group has no non-trivial connected, normal, abelian subgroups.