During the 2004-2005 academic year the VIGRE algebra research group at the University of Georgia computed the complexities of certain Specht modules S^λfor the symmetric group, using the computer algebra program Magma. The complexity of an indecomposable module does not exceed the p-rank of the defect group of its block. The Georgia group conjectured that, generically, the complexity of a Specht module attains this maximal value; that it is smaller precisely when the Young diagram of $λ$ is built out of $p \times p$ blocks. We prove one direction of this conjecture by showing these Specht modules do indeed have less than maximal complexity. It turns out that this class of partitions, which has not previously appeared in the literature, arises naturally as the solution to a question about the $p$-weight of partitions and branching.
We give a combinatorial description for when the Specht module of an arbitrary diagram admits a (complete) branching rule. This description, given in terms of the maximal rectangles of the diagram, generalizes all previously known branching rules for Specht modules, such as those given by Reiner and Shimozono for northwest diagrams and by the present author for forest diagrams.
For any prime p, we construct, and simultaneously count, all of the complex Specht modules in a given p-block of the symmetric group which remain irreducible when reduced modulo p. We call the Specht modules with this property p-irreducible modules. Recently Fayers has proven a conjecture of James and Mathas that provides a characterization of the partitions that correspond to the p-irreducible modules. In this paper we present a method for decomposing the partitions corresponding to p-irreducible modules, and we use this decomposition to construct and count all of the partitions corresponding…
We prove that the dimension of the Specht module of a forest $G$ is the same as the normalized volume of the matching polytope of $G$. We also associate to $G$ a symmetric function $s_G$ (analogous to the Schur symmetric function $s_λ$ for a partition $λ$) and investigate its combinatorial and representation-theoretic properties in relation to the Specht module and Schur module of $G$. We then use this to define notions of standard and semistandard tableaux for forests.
We show that the transition matrix from the standard basis to the web basis for a Specht module of the Hecke algebra is unitriangular and satisfies a strong positivity property whenever the Specht module is labeled by a partition with at most two parts. This generalizes results of Russell--Tymoczko and Rhoades.
For a Specht module S^λfor the symmetric group Σ_d, the cohomology H^i(Σ_d, S^λ) is known only in degree i=0. We give a combinatorial criterion equivalent to the nonvanishing of the degree i=1 cohomology, valid in odd characteristic. Our condition generalizes James' solution in degree zero. We apply this combinatorial description to give some computations of Specht module cohomology, together with an explicit description of the corresponding modules. Finally we suggest some general conjectures that might be particularly amenable to proof using this description.
Using purely combinatorial methods we calculate the first degree cohomology of Specht modules indexed by two part partitions over fields of characteristic $p\ge 3$. These combinatorial methods also allow us to obtain an explicit description of all of the non-split extensions of the Specht module, $S^λ$, by the trivial module. Applying this work to partitions with more than two parts we are able to give an entirely combinatorial proof of the bound on the dimension of the first degree cohomology given by work of Donkin and Geranios. We also obtain as a corollary a result of Weber giving a far re…
The generators of the classical Specht module satisfy intricate relations. We introduce the Specht matroid, which keeps track of these relations, and the Specht polytope, which also keeps track of convexity relations. We establish basic facts about the Specht polytope, for example, that the symmetric group acts transitively on its vertices and irreducibly on its ambient real vector space. A similar construction builds a matroid and polytope for a tensor product of Specht modules, giving "Kronecker matroids" and "Kronecker polytopes" instead of the usual Kronecker coefficients. We dub this proc…
We construct and investigate Specht modules $\mathcal{S}^λ$ for cyclotomic quiver Hecke algebras in type $C^{(1)}_\ell$ and $C_\infty$, which are labelled by multipartitions $λ$. It is shown that in type $C_\infty$, the Specht module $\mathcal{S}^λ$ has a homogeneous basis indexed by standard tableaux of shape $λ$, which yields a graded character formula and good properties with the exact functors $E_i^Λ$ and $F_i^Λ$. For type $C^{(1)}_\ell$, we propose a conjecture.
Recently Brundan, Kleshchev and Wang introduced a $\Z$-grading on the Specht modules of the degenerate and non-degenerate cyclotomic Hecke algebras of type $G(\ell,1,n)$. In this paper we show that induced Specht modules have an explicit filtration by shifts of graded Specht modules. This proves a conjecture of Brundan, Kleshchev and Wang.
The Murnaghan--Nakayama rule is a combinatorial rule for the character values of symmetric groups. We give a new combinatorial proof by explicitly finding the trace of the representing matrices in the standard basis of Specht modules. This gives an essentially bijective proof of the rule. A key lemma is an extension of a straightening result proved by the second author to skew-tableaux. Our module theoretic methods also give short proofs of Pieri's rule and Young's rule.
Fulton and Kraskiewicz gave a presentation of Specht modules as a quotient of the space of column tabloids by dual Garnir relations. We simplify this presentation by showing that it can be generated by a single relation for each pair of columns of a tableau with ordered columns, thereby significantly reducing the number of generators given in the original construction. Our presentation applies to all Specht modules, and is of a similar nature to a recent result by Friedmann-Hanlon-Stanley-Wachs that applies to staircase partitions. We show that our presentation implies the Friedmann-Hanlon-Sta…
We use the presentation of the Specht modules given by Kleshchev-Mathas-Ram to derive results about Specht modules. In particular, we determine all homomorphisms from an arbitrary Specht module to a fixed Specht module corresponding to any hook partition. Along the way, we give a complete description of the action of the standard KLR generators on the hook Specht module. This work generalizes a result of James.
Schur modules give the irreducible polynomial representations of the general linear group $\mathrm{GL}_t$. Viewing the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_t$ as a subgroup of $\mathrm{GL}_t$, we may restrict Schur modules to $\mathfrak{S}_t$ and decompose the result into a direct sum of Specht modules, the irreducible representations of $\mathfrak{S}_t$. We give an equivariant Möbius inversion formula that we use to invert this expansion in the representation ring for $\mathfrak{S}_t$ for $t$ large. In addition to explicit formulas in terms of plethysms, we show the coefficients that appear alternat…
Let $\H_n$ be a (degenerate or non-degenerate) Hecke algebra of type $G(\ell,1,n)$, defined over a commutative ring $R$ with one, and let $S(\bmu)$ be a Specht module for $\H_n$. This paper shows that the induced Specht module $S(\bmu)\otimes_{\H_n}\H_{n+1}$ has an explicit Specht filtration.
The author and Nakano recently proved that multiplicities in a Specht filtration of a symmetric group module are well-defined precisely when the characteristic is at least five. This result suggested the possibility of a symmetric group theory analogous to that of good filtrations and tilting modules for $GL_n(k)$. This paper is an initial attempt at such a theory. We obtain two sufficient conditions that ensure a module has a Specht filtration, and a formula for the filtration multiplicities. We then study the categories of modules that satisfy the conditions, in the process obtaining a new r…
Let $F$ be a field of characteristic $p$ at least 5. We study the Loewy structures of Specht modules in the principal block of $FΣ_{3p}$. We show that a Specht module in the block has Loewy length at most 4 and composition length at most 14. Furthermore, we classify which Specht modules have Loewy length 1, 2, 3, or 4, produce a Specht module having 14 composition factors, describe the second radical layer and the socle of the reducible Specht modules, and prove that if a Specht module corresponds to a partition that is $p$-regular and $p$-restricted then the head of the Specht module does not…
We present (with proof) a new family of decomposable Specht modules for the symmetric group in characteristic 2. These Specht modules are labelled by partitions of the form $(a,3,1^b)$, and are the first new examples found for thirty years. Our method of proof is to exhibit summands isomorphic to irreducible Specht modules, by constructing explicit homomorphisms between Specht modules.
Recently Donkin defined signed Young modules as a simultaneous generalization of Young and twisted Young modules for the symmetric group. We show that in odd characteristic, if a Specht module $S^λ$ is irreducible, then $S^λ$ is a signed Young module. Thus the set of irreducible Specht modules coincides with the set of irreducible signed Young modules. This provides evidence for our conjecture that the signed Young modules are precisely the class of indecomposable self-dual modules with Specht filtrations. The theorem is false in characteristic two.
The paper presented here focuses on the classification of trivial source Specht modules. We completely classify the trivial source Specht modules labelled by hook partitions. We also classify the trivial source Specht modules labelled by two-part partitions in the odd characteristic case. Moreover, in the even characteristic case, we prove a result for the classification of the trivial source Specht modules labelled by partitions with 2-weight 2, which justifies a conjecture of [16].
We review a class of modules for the wreath product S(m) wr S(n) of two symmetric groups which are analogous to the Specht modules of the symmetric group, and prove a pair of branching rules for this family of modules. These branching rules describe the behaviour of these wreath product Specht modules under restriction to the wreath products S(m-1) wr S(n) and S(m) wr S(n-1). In particular, we see that these restrictions of wreath product Specht modules have Specht module filtrations, and we obtain combinatorial interpretations of the multiplicities in these filtrations.
We concern the VIGRE's conjecture; namely the complexity of a Specht module is the p-weight of the corresponding partition if and only if the partition is not p by p. In abelian defect case, we calculate the cohomological variety of the Specht modules. In particular, we show that the Specht modules have complexities exactly given by the p-weights of the corresponding partitions. For some p-regular partitions not more than p parts with empty p-core, we show that the Specht modules fit into the conjecture. For the partition p^p, we show that the Specht module has complexity p-1 and we study the …
We obtain alternative explicit Specht filtrations for the induced and the restricted Specht modules in the Hecke algebra of the symmetric group (defined over the ring $A=\mathbb Z[q^{1/2},q^{-1/2}]$ where $q$ is an indeterminate) using $C$-bases for these modules. Moreover, we provide a link between a certain $C$-basis for the induced Specht module and the notion of pairs of partitions.
In this paper we study the vertices of indecomposable Specht modules for symmetric groups. For any given indecomposable non-projective Specht module, the main theorem of the article describes a family of p-subgroups contained in its vertex. The theorem generalizes and improves an earlier result due to Wildon in "Vertices of Specht modules and blocks of the symmetric group", J. Alg 323 (2010) 2243--2256.
We study the decomposability of Specht modules labelled by bihooks, bipartitions with a hook in each component, for the Iwahori--Hecke algebra of type $B$. In all characteristics, we determine a large family of decomposable Specht modules, and conjecture that these provide a complete list of decomposable Specht modules indexed by bihooks. We prove the conjecture for small $n$.
We define a notion of virtual Specht stability which is a relaxation of the Church-Farb notion of representation stability for sequences of symmetric group representations. Using a structural result of Nagpal, we show that $FI$-modules over fields of positive characteristic exhibit virtual Specht stability.
The reducibility of the Specht modules for the Iwahori--Hecke algebras in type $A$ is still open in the case where the defining parameter $q$ equals -1. We prove the reducibility of a large class of Specht modules for these algebras.
The reducible Specht modules for the Hecke algebra $\mathcal{H}_{\mathbb{F},q}(\mathfrak{S}_n)$ have been classified except when $q=-1$. We prove one half of a conjecture which we believe classifies the reducible Specht modules when $q=-1$ and $\mathbb{F}$ has characteristic 0.
In this article, we consider indecomposable Specht modules with abelian vertices. We show that the corresponding partitions are necessarily $p^2$-cores where $p$ is the characteristic of the underlying field. Furthermore, in the case of $p\geq 3$, or $p=2$ and $μ$ is 2-regular, we show that the complexity of the Specht module $S^μ$ is precisely the $p$-weight of the partition $μ$. In the latter case, we classify Specht modules with abelian vertices. For some applications of the above results, we extend a result of M. Wildon and compute the vertices of the Specht module $S^{(p^p)}$ for $p\geq 3…
Brundan, Kleshchev and Wang equip the Specht modules $S_λ$ over the cyclotomic Khovanov--Lauda--Rouquier algebra $\mathscr{H}_n^Λ$ with a homogeneous $\mathbb{Z}$-graded basis. In this paper we begin the study of graded Specht modules labelled by hook bipartitions $((n-m),(1^m))$ in level $2$ of $\mathscr{H}_n^Λ$, which are precisely the Hecke algebras of type B, with quantum characteristic at least three. We give an explicit description of the action of the Khovanov--Lauda--Rouquier algebra generators $ψ_1,\dots,ψ_{n-1}$ on the basis elements of $S_{((n-m),(1^m))}$. Introducing certain Specht…
We give a decomposition as a direct sum of indecomposable modules of several types of Specht modules in characteristic $2$. These include the Specht modules labelled by hooks, whose decomposability was considered by Murphy. Since the main arguments are essentially no more difficult for Hecke algebras at parameter $q=-1$, we proceed in this level of generality.
By a result of Hemmer, every simple Specht module of a finite symmetric group over a field of odd characteristic is a signed Young module. While Specht modules are parametrized by partitions, indecomposable signed Young modules are parametrized by certain pairs of partitions. The main result of this article establishes the signed Young module labels of simple Specht modules. Along the way we prove a number of results concerning indecomposable signed Young modules that are of independent interest. In particular, we determine the label of the indecomposable signed Young module obtained by tensor…
In [14] Hemmer conjectures that the module of fixed points for the symmetric group $Σ_m$ of a Specht module for $Σ_n$ (with $n>m$), over a field of positive characteristic $p$, has a Specht series, when viewed as a $Σ_{n-m}$-module. We provide a counterexample for each prime $p$. The examples have the same form for $p\geq 5$ and we treat the cases $p=3$ and $p=2$ separately.
Let w be the p-weight of a hook partition μand E be an elementary abelian p-subgroup generated by w disjoint p-cycles. We compute the generic Jordan type of the Specht module corresponding to the partition μrestricted to E. In particular, we show that the complexity of the Specht module is precisely the p-weight of the partition μ.
We suggest a simple definition for categorification of modules over rings and illustrate it by categorifying integral Specht modules over the symmetric group and its Hecke algebra via the action of translation functors on some subcategories of category $\mathcal{O}$ for the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{sl}_n(\mathbb{C})$.
The construction of all irreducible modules of the symmetric groups over an arbitrary field which reduce to Specht modules in the case of fields of characteristic zero is given by G.D.James. Halıcıoğlu and Morris describe a possible extension of James' work for Weyl groups in general, where Young tableaux are interpreted in terms of root systems. In this paper we show how to construct submodules of Specht modules for Weyl groups.
We construct explicit resolutions of Weyl modules by divided powers and of co-Specht modules by permutational modules. We also prove a conjecture of Boltje-Hartmann on resolutions of co-Specht modules.
In [Boltje,Hartmann: Permutation resolutions for Specht modules, J. Algebraic Combin. 34 (2011), 141-162], a chain complex was constructed in a combinatorial way which conjecturally is a resolution of the (dual of the) integral Specht module for the symmetric group in terms of permutation modules. In this paper we extend the definition of the chain complex to the integral Iwahori Hecke algebra and prove the same partial exactness results that were proved in the symmetric group case. A complete proof of the exactness conjecture in the symmetric group case was recently given by Santana and Yudin…
Kleshchev, Mathas and Ram (2012) gave a presentation for graded Specht modules over Khovanov-Lauda-Rouquier algebras of finite and affine type A. We show that this construction can be applied more generally to skew shapes to give a presentation of graded skew Specht modules, which arise as subquotients of restrictions of Specht modules. As an application, we show that cuspidal modules associated to a balanced convex preorder in affine type A are skew Specht modules for certain hook shapes.
We give a family of pairs of Weyl modules for which the corresponding homomorphism space is at least 2-dimensional. Using this result we show that for fixed parameters $e>0$ and $p\geq 0$ there exist arbitrarily large homomorphism spaces between pairs of Weyl modules.
In this paper we generalize a theorem due to Lyle, extending its application to the setting of the Ariki-Koike algebra, and in doing so establish an analogue of the kernel intersection theorem. This in turn provides us with a means towards constructing homomorphisms between Specht modules for the Ariki-Koike algebra.
Recently, the first two authors have defined a Z-grading on group algebras of symmetric groups and more generally on the cyclotomic Hecke algebras of type G(l,1,d). In this paper we explain how to grade Specht modules over these algebras.
This paper proves that the restriction of a Specht module for a (degenerate or non-degenerate) cyclotomic Hecke algebra, or KLR algebra, of type A has a Specht filtration.
Let n geq 1, let lambda be a partition of n, let mu be a partition arising from lambda by a downwards shift of two boxes situated at the bottom of a column. We give a formula for a ZS_n-linear morphism of order m between the corresponding Specht modules over Z/(m), where m is the box shift length (divided by two in certain combinatorially specified cases). Reformulated, this yields an extension of the corresponding Specht modules over Z of order m in Ext^1.
This paper studies the vertices, in the sense defined by J. A. Green, of Specht modules for symmetric groups. The main theorem gives, for each indecomposable non-projective Specht module, a large subgroup contained in one of its vertices. A corollary of this theorem is a new way to determine the defect groups of symmetric groups. We also use it to find the Green correspondents of a particular family of simple Specht modules; as a corollary, we get a new proof of the Brauer correspondence for blocks of the symmetric group. The proof of the main theorem uses the Brauer homomorphism on modules, a…
Let $F$ be a field of characteristic $p$. We show that $\Hom_{FΣ_n}(S^λ, S^μ)$ can have arbitrarily large dimension as $n$ and $p$ grow, where $S^λ$ and $S^μ$ are Specht modules for the symmetric group $Σ_n$. Similar results hold for the Weyl modules of the general linear group. Every previously computed example has been at most one-dimensional, with the exception of Specht modules over a field of characteristic two. The proof uses the work of Chuang and Tan, providing detailed information about the radical series of Weyl modules in Rouquier blocks.
We consider the problem of classifying irreducible Specht modules for the Iwahori-Hecke algebra of type B with parameters Q,q. We solve this problem completely in the case where q is not a root of unity, and in the case q=-1 we reduce the problem to the corresponding problem in type A.
The graded Specht module $S^λ$ for a cyclotomic Hecke algebra comes with a distinguished generating vector $z^λ\in S^λ$, which can be thought of as a "highest weight vector of weight $λ$". This paper describes the {\em defining relations} for the Specht module $S^λ$ as a graded module generated by $z^λ$. The first three relations say precisely what it means for $z^λ$ to be a highest weight vector of weight $λ$. The remaining relations are homogeneous analogues of the classical {\em Garnir relations}. The homogeneous Garnir relations, which are {\em simpler} than the classical ones, are associa…
Regarding the Specht modules associated to the two-row partition $(n,n)$, we provide a combinatorial path model to study the transitioning matrix from the tableau basis to the $A_1$-web basis (i.e. cup diagrams), and prove that the entries in this matrix are positive in the upper-triangular portion with respect to a certain partial order.
