Given a suitable action on a complex projective variety X of a non-reductive affine algebraic group H, this paper considers how to choose a reductive group G containing H and a projective completion of G x_H X which is a reductive envelope in the sense of math.AG/0703131. In particular it studies the family of examples given by moduli spaces of hypersurfaces in the weighted projective plane P(1,1,2) obtained as quotients by linear actions of the (non-reductive) automorphism group of P(1,1,2).
We establish a method for calculating the Poincaré series of moduli spaces constructed as quotients of smooth varieties by suitable non-reductive group actions; examples of such moduli spaces include moduli spaces of unstable vector or Higgs bundles on a smooth projective curve, with a Harder-Narasimhan type of length two. To do so, we first prove a result concerning the smoothness of fixed point sets for suitable non-reductive group actions on smooth varieties. This enables us to prove that quotients of smooth varieties by such non-reductive group actions, which can be constructed using Non-R…
This paper generalizes the classical theory of Newton polygons from the case of general linear groups to the case of split reductive groups. It also gives a root-theoretic formula for dimensions of Newton strata in the adjoint quotients of reductive groups.
We extend the methods of geometric invariant theory to actions of non--reductive groups in the case of homomorphisms between decomposable sheaves whose automorphism groups are non--reductive. Given a linearization of the natural action of the group $\Aut(E)\times\Aut(F)$ on Hom(E,F), a homomorphism is called stable if its orbit with respect to the unipotent radical is contained in the stable locus with respect to the natural reductive subgroup of the automorphism group. We encounter effective numerical conditions for a linearization such that the corresponding open set of semi-stable homomorph…
In this paper we study actions of reductive groups on affine spaces. We prove that there is a fan structure on the space of characters of the group, which parameterizes the possible invariant quotients. In the second half of the paper we study various geometrical properties of the quotients: we compute their Chow ring and the cohomology ring (in case we work over the complex numbers), both with rational coefficients. Actually, the cycle map turns out to be an isomorphism. Further, we construct families of such quotients over reduced base schemes, and compute again the Chow and the cohomology r…
Let X be a locally symmetric variety. Let EBS(X) and TorE(X) denote its excentric Borel-Serre and excentric toroidal compactifications, resp. We determine their least common modification and use it to prove a conjecture of Goresky and Tai concerning canonical extensions of homogeneous vector bundles. In the process, we see that EBS(X) and TorE(X) are homotopy equivalent.
We study linear actions of algebraic groups on smooth projective varieties X. A guiding goal for us is to understand the cohomology of "quotients" under such actions, by generalizing (from reductive to non-reductive group actions) existing methods involving Mumford's geometric invariant theory (GIT). We concentrate on actions of unipotent groups H, and define sets of stable points X^s and semistable points X^{ss}, often explicitly computable via the methods of reductive GIT, which reduce to the standard definitions due to Mumford in the case of reductive actions. We compare these with definiti…
We prove that good quotients of algebraic varieties with 1-rational singularities also have 1-rational singularities. This refines a result of Boutot on rational singularities of good quotients.
The space of n distinct points and a disjoint parameterized hyperplane in projective d-space up to projectivity---equivalently, configurations of n distinct points in affine d-space up to translation and homothety---has a beautiful compactification introduced by Chen-Gibney-Krashen. This variety, constructed inductively using the apparatus of Fulton-MacPherson configuration spaces, is a parameter space of certain pointed rational varieties whose dual intersection complex is a rooted tree. This generalizes $\overline{M}_{0,n}$ and shares many properties with it. In this paper, we prove that the…
The wall-and-chamber structure of the dependence of the reductive GIT quotient on the choice of linearisation is well known. In this article, we first give a brief survey of recent results in non-reductive GIT, which apply when the unipotent radical is 'graded'. We then examine the dependence of these non-reductive quotients on the linearisation and an additional parameter, the choice of one-parameter subgroup grading the unipotent radical, and arrive at a picture similar to the reductive one.
In this article we review the question of constructing geometric quotients of actions of linear algebraic groups on irreducible varieties over algebraically closed fields of characteristic zero, in the spirit of Mumford's geometric invariant theory (GIT). The article surveys some recent work on geometric invariant theory and quotients of varieties by linear algebraic group actions, as well as background material on linear algebraic groups, Mumford's GIT and some of the challenges that the non-reductive setting presents. The earlier work of two of the authors in the setting of unipotent group a…
Motivated by constructing moduli spaces of unstable objects, we use new ideas in non-reductive GIT to construct quotients by parabolic group actions. For moduli problems with semistable moduli spaces constructed by reductive GIT, we consider associated instability (or HKKN) stratifications, which are often closed related to Harder-Narasimhan stratifications, and construct quotients of the unstable strata under various stabiliser assumptions by further developing ideas of non-reductive GIT. Our approach is to construct parabolic quotients in stages, in order for the required stabiliser assumpti…
Consider an algebraic action of a connected complex reductive algebraic group on a complex polarized projective variety. In this paper, we first introduce the nilpotent quotient, the quotient of the polarized projective variety by a maximal unipotent subgroup. Then, we introduce and investigate three induced actions: one by the reductive group, one by a Borel subgroup, and one by a maximal torus, respectively. Our main result is that there are natural correspondences among quotients of these three actions. In the end, we mention a possible application to the moduli spaces of parabolic bundles …
We give another proof that a reductive algebraic group is geometrically reductive. We show that a quotient of the semi-stable locus (by a linear action of a reductive algebraic group on a projective scheme) exists, and from this Haboush's Theorem (Mumford's Conjecture) follows.
In this paper we give smoothness criterions for a good quotient Y of a smooth variety X by a reductive group G. Our results partially answer a question raised by J. Fogarty in the case where G is a finite group. They also give a converse to a theorem of M. Brion, telling that invariant horizontal differential forms on X and differential forms on Y are isomorphic under the assumption that Y is smooth. The proof of our criterion rely on a new description of the dualizing sheaf of Y established in this article.
We study the Newton stratification of the adjoint quotient of a connected split reductive group G with simply connected derived group over the field F of formal Laurent series in one variable over the field of complex numbers. Our main result describes the centralizer of a regular semisimple element in G(F) whose image in the adjoint quotient lies in a certain generic subset of a given Newton stratum. Other noteworthy results include analogues of some results of Springer on regular elements of finite reflection groups, as well as a geometric construction of a well known homomorphism from the f…
We show that near closed points with linearly reductive stabilizer, Artin stacks are formally locally quotient stacks by the stabilizer. We conjecture that the statement holds etale locally and we provide some evidence for this conjecture. In particular, we prove that if the stabilizer of a point is linearly reductive, the stabilizer acts algebraically on a miniversal deformation space generalizing results of Pinkham and Rim.
The symplectic implosion construction of Guillemin, Jeffrey and Sjamaar associates to a Hamiltonian action of a compact group K on a symplectic manifold X its 'imploded cross section'. When X is a complex projective variety and K acts linearly on X, this construction is closely related to geometric invariant theory (GIT) for the action on X of a maximal unipotent subgroup U of the complexification G of K. The aim of this paper is to generalise symplectic implosion to give a symplectic construction for GIT-like quotients by unipotent radicals U of arbitrary parabolic subgroups P of the complex …
We define the algebraic fundamental group functor of a reductive group scheme over an arbitrary (non-empty) base scheme and prove that this functor is exact.
This paper applies the decomposition theorem in intersection cohomology to geometric invariant theory quotients, relating the intersection cohomology of the quotient to that of the semistable points for the action. Suppose a connected reductive complex algebraic group $G$ acts linearly on a complex projective variety $X$. We prove that if $1 \to N \to G \to H \to 1$ is a short exact sequence of connected reductive groups, and $X^{ss}$ the set of semistable points for the action of $N$ on $X$, then the $H$-equivariant intersection cohomology of the geometric invariant theory quotient $X^{ss}//N…
For a derived stack obtained as a quotient of a derived affine scheme by a reductive group, we show that shifted symplectic structures can be characterized by the Cartan-de Rham complex. For non-reductive groups, we also show the analogous statement for Getzler's extension of the Cartan-de Rham complex. Dually, we construct a Cartan model for polyvector fields on global quotients by reductive groups, and show that shifted Poisson structures can be characterized by it.
We prove finite generation of the algebras of invariants for a class of linear actions of suitable non-reductive groups on projective and affine varieties, and give a geometric construction for their GIT quotients.
Motivated by the study of hyperkahler structures in moduli problems and hyperkahler implosion, we initiate the study of non-reductive hyperkahler and algebraic symplectic quotients with an eye towards those naturally tied to projective geometry, like cotangent bundles of blow-ups of linear arrangements of projective space. In the absence of a Kempf-Ness theorem for non-reductive quotients, we focus on constructing algebraic symplectic analogues of additive quotients of affine spaces, and obtain hyperkahler structures on large open subsets of these analogues by comparison with reductive analogu…
We generalize the classical Chevalley-Shephard-Todd theorem to the case of finite linearly reductive group schemes. As an application, we prove that every scheme X which is etale locally the quotient of a smooth scheme by a finite linearly reductive group scheme is the coarse space of a smooth tame Artin stack (as defined by Abramovich, Olsson, and Vistoli) whose stacky structure is supported on the singular locus of X.
In this work we show that the homogeneous space of an affine algebraic group $G$ by a one-dimensional unipotent subgroup $H$ is affine if and only if the subgroup is not contained in any reductive subgroup of $G$.
Given a reductive group scheme $G$, we give a linear algebraic description of reduced étale $4$-cocycles on its classifying stack $\mathrm B(G)$. These cocycles form a $2$-groupoid, which we interpret as parameters of metaplectic covers of $G$. We use our linear algebraic description to define the Langlands dual of a metaplectic cover.
A linear algebraic group G defined over a field k is called special if every G-torsor over every field extension of k is trivial. In 1958 Grothendieck classified special groups in the case where the base field is algebraically closed. In this paper we describe the derived subgroup and the coradical of a special reductive group over an arbitrary field k. We also classify special semisimple groups, special reductive groups of inner type and special quasisplit reductive groups over an arbitrary field k.
We consider actions of reductive groups on a varieties with finitely generated Cox ring, e.g., the classical case of a diagonal action on a product of projective spaces. Given such an action, we construct via combinatorial data in the Cox ring all maximal open subsets such that the quotient is quasiprojective or embeddable into a toric variety. As applications, we obtain an explicit description of the chamber structure of the linearized ample cone and several Gelfand-MacPherson type correspondences relating quotients of reductive groups to quotients of torus actions. Moreover, our approach pro…
Let $A$ be an Artinian local ring with algebraically closed residue field $k$, and let $\mathbf{G}$ be an affine smooth group scheme over $A$. The Greenberg functor $\mathcal{F}$ associates to $\mathbf{G}$ a linear algebraic group $G:=(\mathcal{F}\mathbf{G})(k)$ over $k$, such that $G\cong\mathbf{G}(A)$. We prove that if $\mathbf{G}$ is a reductive group scheme over $A$, and $\mathbf{T}$ is a maximal torus of $\mathbf{G}$, then $T$ is a Cartan subgroup of $G$, and every Cartan subgroup of $G$ is obtained uniquely in this way. The proof is based on establishing a Nullstellensatz analogue for sm…
Corrigendum: Strong $\mathbb A^1$-invariance of $\mathbb A^1$-connected components of reductive algebraic groups (J. Topol. 16 (2023), no. 2, 634--649.)
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali（印度科学教育研究所穆哈里分校）；Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune（印度科学教育研究所浦那分校）；Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（塔塔基础研究所）
The aim of this paper is to show that classical geometric invariant theory (GIT) has an effective analogue for linear actions of a non-reductive algebraic group $H$ with graded unipotent radical on a projective scheme $X$. Here the linear action of $H$ is required to extend to a semi-direct product $\hat{H} = H \rtimes \mathbb{G}_m$ with a multiplicative one-parameter group which acts on the Lie algebra of the unipotent radical $U$ of $H$ with all weights strictly positive, and which centralises a Levi subgroup $R \cong H/U$ of $H$. We show that $X$ has an $H$-invariant open subscheme (the 'ha…
For a connected reductive group G and a finite-dimensional G-module V, we study the invariant Hilbert scheme that parameterizes closed G-stable subschemes of V affording a fixed, multiplicity-finite representation of G in their coordinate ring. We construct an action on this invariant Hilbert scheme of a maximal torus T of G, together with an open T-stable subscheme admitting a good quotient. The fibers of the quotient map classify affine G-schemes having a prescribed categorical quotient by a maximal unipotent subgroup of G. We show that V contains only finitely many multiplicity-free G-subva…
We present a generalized version of classical geometric invariant theory à la Mumford where we consider an affine algebraic group $G$ acting on a specific affine algebraic variety $X$. We define the notions of linearly reductive and of unipotent action in terms of the $G$ fixed point functor in the category of $(G,\Bbbk [X])$--modules. In the case that $X=\{\star\}$ we recuperate the concept of lineraly reductive and of unipotent group. We prove in our "relative" context some of the classical results of GIT such as: existence of quotients, finite generation of invariants, Kostant--Rosenlicht's…
We study the geometry of algebraic monoids. We prove that the group of invertible elements of an irreducible algebraic monoid is an algebraic group, open in the monoid. Moreover, if this group is reductive, then the monoid is affine. We then give a combinatorial classification of reductive monoids by means of the theory of spherical varieties.
These are expanded notes on a lecture of the same title at the 2015 AMS summer institute in algebraic geometry. We give an introduction and overview of the "beyond geometric invariant theory" program for analyzing moduli problems in algebraic geometry. We discuss methods for analyzing stability in general moduli problems, focusing on the moduli of coherent sheaves on a smooth projective scheme as a toy example. We describe several applications: a general structure theorem for the derived category of coherent sheaves on an algebraic stack; some results on the topology of moduli stacks; and a "v…
The main result asserts: Let $G$ be a reductive, affine algebraic group and let $(ρ,V)$ be a regular representation of $G$. Let $X$ be an irreducible $\mathbb{C}^{ \times } G$ invariant Zariski closed subset such that $G$ has a closed orbit that has maximal dimension among all orbits (this is equivalent to: generic orbits are closed). Then there exists an open subset, $W$,of $X$ in the metric topology which is dense with complement of measure $0$ such that if $x ,y \in W$ then $\left (\mathbb{C}^{ \times } G\right )_{x}$ is conjugate to $\left (\mathbb{C}^{ \times } G\right )_{y}$. Furthermore…
The $L^2$-cohomology of a locally symmetric variety is known to have the topological interpretation as the intersection homology of its Baily-Borel Satake compactification. In this article, we observe that even without the Hermitian hypothesis, the $L^p$-cohomology of an arithmetic quotient, for $p$ finite and sufficiently large, is isomorphic to the ordinary cohomology of its reductive Borel-Serre compactification. We use this to generalize a theorem of Mumford concerning homogeneous vector bundles, their invariant Chern forms and the canonical extensions of the bundles; here, though, we are …
We combine recently developed intersection theory for non-reductive geometric invariant theoretic quotients with equivariant localisation to prove a formula for Thom polynomials of Morin singularities. These formulas use only toric combinatorics of certain partition polyhedra, and our new approach circumvents the poorly understood Borel geometry of existing models.
This thesis is concerned with the mixed Tate property of reductive algebraic groups $G$, which in particular guarantees a Chow Kunneth property for the classifying space $BG$. Toward this goal, we first refine the construction of the compactly supported motive of a quotient stack. In the first section, we construct the compactly supported motive $M^c(X)$ of an algebraic space $X$ and demonstrate that it satisfies expected properties, following closely Voevodsky's work in the case of schemes. In the second section, we construct a functorial version of Totaro's definition of the compactly suppor…
We investigate Levi subgroups of a connected reductive algebraic group G, over a ground field K. We parametrize their conjugacy classes in terms of sets of simple roots and we prove that two Levi K-subgroups of G are rationally conjugate if and only if they are geometrically conjugate. These results are generalized to arbitrary connected linear algebraic K-groups. In that setting the appropriate analogue of a Levi subgroup is derived from the notion of a pseudo-parabolic subgroup.
We study algebraicity and smoothness of fixed point stacks for flat group schemes which have a finite composition series whose factors are either reductive or proper, flat, finitely presented, acting on algebraic stacks with affine, finitely presented diagonal. For this, we extend some theorems of [SGA3.2] on functors of homomorphisms Hom(G, H) and functors of reductive subgroups Sub(H) for an affine, possibly non-flat group scheme H.
Recent results in geometric invariant theory (GIT) for non-reductive linear algebraic group actions allow us to stratify quotient stacks of the form [X/H], where X is a projective scheme and H is a linear algebraic group with internally graded unipotent radical acting linearly on X, in such a way that each stratum [S/H] has a geometric quotient S/H. This leads to stratifications of moduli stacks (for example, sheaves over a projective scheme) such that each stratum has a coarse moduli space.
We calculate explicitly an adelic quotient group for an excellent Noetherian normal integral two-dimensional separated scheme. An application to an irreducible normal projective algebraic surface over a field is given.
The paper proves that if a reductive group scheme acts properly on a scheme then the geometric quotient exists as an algebraic space. As a consequence we obtain the existence of the moduli spcace of canonically polarized varieties over Spec Z.
Let $k$ be a field of characteristic $0$. We consider principal bundles over a $k$-scheme with reductive structure group (not necessarily of finite type). It is showm in particular that for $k$ algebraically closed there exists on any complete connected $k$-scheme a universal such bundle. As a consequence, an explicit description of principal bundles with reductive structure group over curves of genus $0$ or $1$ is obtained.
In this paper we generalize standard results about non-commutative resolutions of quotient singularities for finite groups to arbitrary reductive groups. We show in particular that quotient singularities for reductive groups always have non-commutative resolutions in an appropriate sense. Moreover we exhibit a large class of such singularities which have (twisted) non-commutative crepant resolutions. We discuss a number of examples, both new and old, that can be treated using our methods. Notably we prove that twisted non-commutative crepant resolutions exist in previously unknown cases for de…
We generalize results of P. Schneider and U. Stuhler for GL_l+1 to a reductive algebraic group G defined and split over a non-archimedean local field K. Following their lines, we prove that the generalized Steinberg representations of G with coefficients in any abelian group are cyclic. When G is semi-simple of adjoint type, we give an expression of these representations, whenever it is possible and in particular for those that are of maximal degree, in terms of the parahoric subgroups of G.
For a complex variety $\hat X$ with an action of a reductive group $\hat G$ and a geometric quotient $π: \hat X \to X$ by a closed normal subgroup $H \subset \hat G$, we show that open sets of $X$ admitting good quotients by $G=\hat G / H$ correspond bijectively to open sets in $\hat X$ with good $\hat G$-quotients. We use this to compute GIT-chambers and their associated quotients for the diagonal action of $\text{PGL}_2$ on $(\mathbb{P}^1)^n$ in certain subcones of the $\text{PGL}_2$-effective cone via a torus action on affine space. This allows us to represent these quotients as toric varie…
Let G be a connected reductive complex algebraic group acting on a smooth complete complex algebraic variety X. We assume that X under the action of G is a regular embedding, a condition satisfied in particular by smooth toric varieties and flag varieties. For any set D of G-stable prime divisors, we study the action on X of the connected automorphism group of X stabilizing D. We determine a Levi subgroup A of this automorphism group, and we compute relevant invariants of X as a spherical A-variety. As a byproduct, we obtain a description of the open A-orbit on X and the inclusion relation bet…
Given a variety defined over a field of characteristic zero and an algebraically integrable foliation of corank less than or equal to two, we show the existence of a categorical quotient, defined on the non-empty open set of stable points, through which every invariant morphism factors uniquely.
