Representations of Finite Unipotent Linear Groups by the Method of Clusters
Ning Yan
备注：
The first version of this paper dates back to 2001, and served as my Ph.D. dissertation. The current version was perpared in 2006. A more updated version is likely to appear some time after the AIM workshop on Supercharacter Theory and Combinatorial Hopf Algebra, to be held in Palo Alto in May, 2010.
The general linear group GL(n, K) over a field K contains a particularly prominent subgroup U(n, K), consisting of all the upper triangular unipotent elements. In this paper we are interested in the case when K is the finite field F_q, and our goal is to better understand the representation theory of U(n, F_q). The complete classification of the complex irreducible representations of this group has long been known to be a difficult task. The orbit method of Kirillov, famous for its success when K has characteristic 0, is a natural source of intuition and conjectures, but in our case the relation between coadjoint orbits and complex representations is still a mystery. Here we introduce a natural variant of the orbit method, in which the central role is played by certain clusters of coadjoint orbits. This "method of clusters" leads to the construction of a subring in the representation ring of U(n, F_q) that is rich in structure but pleasantly comprehensible. The cluster method also has many of the major features one would expect from the philosophy of orbit method.
This paper provides a construction of the unipotent representations for classical complex groups in terms of the Theta correspondence as introduced and studied by R. Howe. The K-type structure of unipotent representations is obtained as a consequence of the character formulas for unipotent representations of D. Vogan and the author. This provides a tight link between unipotent representations and the orbit philosophy. A parametrization of unipotent representations for the Spin groups is obtained.
The purpose of this paper is to define a set of representations of Sp(p,q) and SO*(2n), the unipotent representations of the title, and establish their unitarity. The unipotent representations considered here properly contain the special unipotent representations of Arthur and Barbasch-Vogan; in particular we settle the unitarity of special unipotent representations for these groups.
We define a map from the unipotent representations of a split semisimple group over a finite field to (essentially) the set of pairs of left cells representations of the Weyl group in the same two-sided cell. We use this map to parametrize the unipotent representations.
In this paper we discuss some of Springer's work on unipotent elements in a reductive groups and on representations of Weyl groups. Among the topics considered are Springer's bijection from the unipotent variety to the nilpotent variety, Springer's example of nonrationality of certain representations of the Hecke algebras associated to a Weyl group and the Springer representation of the Weyl group associated to a unipotent element.
Inspired by the Gan-Gross-Prasad conjecture and the descent problem for classical groups, in this paper we study the descents of unipotent representations of unitary groups over finite fields. We give the first descents of unipotent representations explicitly, which are unipotent as well. Our results include both the Bessel case and Fourier-Jacobi case, which are related via theta correspondence.
We show that various invariants of a unipotent conjugacy class in a connected semisimple group can be recovered purely in terms of data involving the Weyl group.
In this paper, we construct and classify the special unipotent representations of a real reductive group attached to the principal nilpotent orbit. We give formulas for the $\mathbf{K}$-types, associated varieties, and Langlands parameters of all such representations.
Even with the introduction of supercharacter theories, the representation theory of many unipotent groups remains mysterious. This paper constructs a family of supercharacter theories for normal pattern groups in a way that exhibit many of the combinatorial properties of the set partition combinatorics of the full uni-triangular groups, including combinatorial indexing sets, dimensions, and computable character formulas. Associated with these supercharacter theories is also a family of polytopes whose integer lattice points give the theories geometric underpinnings.
We show that irreducible unipotent representations of split Levi subgroups of finite groups of Lie type extend to their stabilizers inside the normalizer of the given Levi subgroup. For this purpose, we extend the multiplicity-freeness theorem from regular embeddings to arbitrary isotypies.
For the groups SO(2n+1,F), where F is a p-adic field, we consider the tempered irr{é}ducible representations of unipotent reduction. Lusztig has contructed and parametrized these representations. We prove that they satisfy the expected endoscopic identities which determine the parametrization.
We develop a theory of microlocalization for Harish-Chandra modules, adapting a construction of Losev (\cite{Losev2011}). We explore the applications of this theory to unipotent representations of real reductive groups. For complex groups, we deduce a formula for the $K$-multiplicities of unipotent representations attached to a nilpotent orbit $\OO$, proving an old conjecture of Vogan (\cite{Vogan1991}) in a large family of cases.
Suppose $G$ is a real reductive group. The determination of the irreducible unitary representations of $G$ is one of the major unsolved problem in representation theory. There is evidence to suggest that every irreducible unitary representation of $G$ can be constructed through a sequence of well-understood operations from a finite set of building blocks, called the unipotent representations. These representations are `attached' (in a certain mysterious sense) to the nilpotent orbits of $G$ on the dual space of its Lie algebra. Inside this finite set is a still smaller set, consisting of the u…
Inspired by the Gan-Gross-Prasad conjecture and the descent problem for classical groups, in this paper we study the descents of unipotent cuspidal representations of orthogonal and symplectic groups over finite fields.
We introduce a notion of elliptic fake degrees for unipotent elliptic representations of a semisimple p-adic group. We conjecture, and verify in some cases, that the relation between the formal degrees of unipotent discrete series representations of a semisimple p-adic group and the elliptic fake degrees is given by the exotic Fourier transform matrix introduced by Lusztig in the study of representations of finite groups of Lie type.
In a recent paper I defined a new basis for the Grothendieck group of unipotent representations of an almost simple Chevalley group over a finite field. The definition for classical types was different from that for exceptional types. In this paper we reconcile the two definitions.
Let G(F_q) be the group of rational points of a simple algebraic group defined and split over a finite field F_q. In this paper we define a new basis for the Grothendieck group of unipotent representations of G(F_q).
In this paper, we construct certain unipotent representations for the real orthogonal group and the metaplectic group in the sense of Vogan. Our construction is based on quantum induction which involves the compositions of even number of theta correspondences. In particular, our results imply that there are irreducible unitary representations attached to each special nilpotent orbit.
We investigate cluster tilting objects (and subcategories) in triangulated 2-Calabi-Yau categories and related categories. In particular we construct a new class of such categories related to preprojective algebras of non Dynkin quivers associated with elements in the Coxeter group. This class of 2-Calabi-Yau categories contains the cluster categories and the stable categories of preprojective algebras of Dynkin graphs as special cases. For these 2-Calabi-Yau categories we construct cluster tilting objects associated with each reduced expression. The associated quiver is described in terms of …
Let G be a semisimple almost simple algebraic group defined and split over a nonarchimedean local field K and let V be a unipotent representation of G(K) (for example, an Iwahori-spherical representation). We calculate the character of V at compact very regular elements of G(K) at compact very regular elements of G(K).
We study the Howe correspondence for unipotent representations of irreducible dual pairs $(G',G)=(\text{U}_m(\mathbb{F}_q),\text{U}_n(\mathbb{F}_q))$ and $(G',G)=(\text{Sp}_{2m}(\mathbb{F}_q),\text{O}^ε_{2n}(\mathbb{F}_q))$, where $\mathbb{F}_q$ denotes the finite field with $q$ elements ($q$ odd) and $ε=\pm 1$. We show how to extract extremal (i.e. minimal and maximal) irreducible subrepresentations from the image of $π$ under the correpondence of a unipotent representation $π$ of $G$.
Let G be a group SO(2n+1) defined over a p-adic field. We compute the wave front set of the anti-tempered irreducible representations of G(F) which are of unipotent reduction. It is the orthogonal orbit dual to the symplectic orbit appearing in the Arthur's parametrization of the representation.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the supercharacter theory of the finite group of unipotent upper-triangular matrices has a rich combinatorial structure built on set-partitions that is analogous to the partition combinatorics of the classical representation theory of the symmetric group. This paper begins by exploring a connection to the ring of symmetric functions in non-commuting variables that mirrors the symmetric group's relationship with the ring of symmetric functions. It then also investigates some of the representation theoretic structure constants arising from the restriction, …
Let G be a connected reductive group defined over a finite field F_q. We give a parametrization of the irreducible representations of G(F_q) in terms of (twisted) categorical centres of various monoidal categories associated to G. (Results of this type were known earlier for unipotent representations. Analogous results for the parametrization of character sheaves on G were also known earlier.)
We study a coarse moduli space of irreducible representations of the group of unipotent matrices of order $\mathbb{4}$ over the ring of integers which have finite weight. All such representations are known to be monomial. To describe a coarse moduli space of such representations, we need to study pairs of subgroups and their characters, which induce non-isomorphic irreducible representations. We obtain a full classification of such pairs and, respectively, a coarse moduli space.
The wavefront set is a fundamental invariant of an admissible representation arising from the Harish-Chandra-Howe local character expansion. In this paper, we give a precise formula for the wavefront set of an irreducible representation of real infinitesimal character in Lusztig's category of unipotent representations in terms of the Deligne-Langlands-Lusztig correspondence. Our formula generalizes the main result of arXiv:2112.14354, where this formula was obtained in the Iwahori-spherical case. We deduce that for any irreducible unipotent representation with real infinitesimal character, the…
In the monograph arXiv:2108.03453, we define the notion of a unipotent representation of a complex reductive group. The representations we define include, as a proper subset, all special unipotent representations in the sense of Barbasch-Vogan and form the (conjectural) building blocks of the unitary dual. In arXiv:2108.03453 we provide combinatorial formulas for the infinitesimal characters of all unipotent representations of linear classical groups. In this paper, we establish analogous formulas for spin and exceptional groups, thus completing the determination of the infinitesimal character…
Let G(K) be the group of K-rational points of a connected adjoint simple algebraic group defined over a non-archimedean local field K. In this paper we classify the unipotent representations of G(K) in terms of the geometry of the Langlands dual group. (This was known earlier in the special case where G(K) is an inner form of a split group.) We also determine which representations are tempered or square integrable.
Using Harish-Chandra induction and restriction, we construct a categorical action of a Kac-Moody algebra on the category of unipotent representations of finite unitary groups in non-defining characteristic. We show that the decategorified representation is naturally isomorphic to a direct sum of level 2 Fock spaces. From our construction we deduce that the Harish-Chandra branching graph coincide with the crystal graph of these Fock spaces, solving a recent conjecture of Gerber-Hiss-Jacon. We also obtain derived equivalences between blocks, yielding Broué's abelian defect groups conjecture for …
We review the categorical representation of a Kac-Moody algebra on unipotent representations of finite unitary groups in non-defining characteristic given by the authors. Then, we extend this construction to finite reductive groups of types B or C, in non-defining characteristic. We show that the decategorified representation is isomorphic to a direct sum of level 2 Fock spaces. We deduce that the Harish-Chandra branching graph coincides with the crystal graph of these Fock spaces. We also obtain derived equivalences between blocks, yielding Broue's abelian defect group conjecture for unipoten…
Let G be a reductive p-adic group which splits over an unramified extension of the ground field. Hiraga, Ichino and Ikeda conjectured that the formal degree of a square-integrable G-representation $π$ can be expressed in terms of the adjoint $γ$-factor of the enhanced L-parameter of $π$. A similar conjecture was posed for the Plancherel densities of tempered irreducible G-representations. We prove these conjectures for unipotent G-representations. We also derive explicit formulas for the involved adjoint $γ$-factors.
We consider a group SO(2n+1) over a p-adic field, and tempered irreducible representations of this group, of unipotent reduction. We use the construction due to Lusztig of these representations. In an old paper with Moeglin, we have defined an involution in the complex vector space generated by those representations which are elliptic. It is strongly related to another involution defined by Lusztig for finite groups. We give a new definition of our involution and we prove it commutes, in some sense, with Jacquet functor.
It is generally believed (and for the most part is probably true) that Lie theory, in contrast to the characteristic zero case, is insufficient to tackle the representation theory of algebraic groups over prime characteristic fields. However, in this paper we show that, for a large and important class of unipotent algebraic groups (namely the unipotent upper triangular groups $U_n$), and under a certain hypothesis relating the characteristic $p$ to both $n$ and the dimension $d$ of a representation (specifically, $p \geq \text{max}(n,2d)$), Lie theory is completely sufficient to determine the …
Let G be a connected reductive group over a finite field F_q. A map from irreducible representations of G(F_q) to semisimple classes in the dual group was defined by a cohomological method by Deligne and the author in 1976. Here we show that when q is large enough this map has an alternative (non-cohomological) definition.
We show that for any irreducible representation of $Sp_{4n}(F_{q})$, the subspace of all its $Sp_{2n}(F_{q^{2}})$-invariants is at most one-dimensional. In terms of Lusztig symbols, we give a complete list of irreducible unipotent representations of $Sp_{4n}(F_{q})$ which have a nonzero $Sp_{2n}(F_{q^{2}})$-invariant and, in particular, we prove that every irreducible unipotent cuspidal representation has a one-dimensional subspace of $Sp_{2n}(F_{q^{2}})$-invariants. As an application, we give an elementary proof of the fact that the unipotent cuspidal representation is defined over $Q$, which…
We construct an explicit realization of a minimal representation of G, where G is the conformal group of a real Jordan algebra N. We characterize spherical vectors for these representation and prove that they are closely related to the Bessel K-function $K_τ(z)$. The resulting construction can be used to study tensor powers of the minimal representation and establish an extension of the Howe duality correspondence to some exceptional groups.
We determine the unitary dual of the geometric graded Hecke algebras with {unequal} parameters which appear in Lusztig's classification of unipotent representations for {exceptional} $p$-adic groups. The largest such algebra is of type $F_4.$ Via the Barbasch-Moy correspondence of unitarity applied to this setting, this is equivalent to the identification of the corresponding unitary unipotent representations with real central character of the $p$-adic groups. In order for this correspondence to be applicable here, we show (following Lusztig's geometric classification, and Barbasch and Moy's o…
Let G(F_q) be the group of rational points of a split connected reductive group G defined over the finite field F_q. In this paper we show that the category of representations of G(F_q) which are finite direct sums of unipotent representations in a fixed two-sided cell is equivalent to the centre of a certain monoidal category of sheaves on the product of two copies of the flag manifold of G. We also consider a version of this for nonsplit groups.
We define an involution on the space of elliptic unipotent Langlands parameters of a reductive $p$-adic group $G$ and verify that when $G$ is split adjoint exceptional, the composition of this involution with the hyperspecial parahoric restriction map agrees with Lusztig's nonabelian Fourier transform for unipotent representations of the finite reductive quotient. This is inspired by recent works of Lusztig on the almost unipotent characters of $p$-adic groups and of Moeglin and Waldspurger on the elliptic Fourier transform of odd orthogonal groups.
In this paper, we consider the relation between two nonabelian Fourier transforms. The first one is defined in terms of the Langlands-Kazhdan-Lusztig parameters for unipotent elliptic representations of a split p-adic group and the second is defined in terms of the pseudocoefficients of these representations and Lusztig's nonabelian Fourier transform for characters of finite groups of Lie type. We exemplify this relation in the case of the p-adic group of type G_2.
We prove a long-standing conjecture of Geck which predicts that cuspidal unipotent characters remain irreducible after $\ell$-reduction. To this end, we construct a progenerator for the category of representations of a finite reductive group coming from generalised Gelfand--Graev representations. This is achieved by showing that cuspidal representations appear in the head of generalised Gelfand--Graev representations attached to cuspidal unipotent classes, as defined and studied in \cite{GM96}.
Let K be a non-archimedean local field and let G be a connected reductive K-group which splits over an unramified extension of K. We investigate supercuspidal unipotent representations of the group G(K). We establish a bijection between the set of irreducible G(K)-representations of this kind and the set of cuspidal enhanced L-parameters for G(K), which are trivial on the inertia subgroup of the Weil group of K. The bijection is characterized by a few simple equivariance properties and a comparison of formal degrees of representations with adjoint $γ$-factors of L-parameters. This can be regar…
The formal degree of a unipotent discrete series character of a simple linear algebraic group over a non-archimedean local field (in the sense of Lusztig), is a rational function of the cardinality q of the residue field. The irreducible factors of this rational function are $q$ and cyclotomic polynomials. We prove that the formal degree of a supercuspidal unipotent representation determines its Lusztig-Langlands parameter, up to twisting by weakly unramified characters. For split exceptional groups this result follows from the work of Mark Reeder, and for the remaining exceptional cases this …
Introduced by Kawanaka in order to find the unipotent representations of finite groups of Lie type, generalized Gelfand--Graev characters have remained somewhat mysterious. Even in the case of the finite general linear groups, the combinatorics of their decompositions has not been worked out. This paper re-interprets Kawanaka's definition in type $A$ in a way that gives far more flexibility in computations. We use these alternate constructions to show how to obtain generalized Gelfand--Graev representations directly from the maximal unipotent subgroups. We also explicitly decompose the corresp…
The set of special unipotent representations of a semisimple Lie group was defined by Barbasch and Vogan. According to predictions of Arthur (established by Adams, Barbasch, and Vogan), this set is an overlapping union of Arthur packets. Each packet gives rise to a canonical virtual representation whose character is stable in the sense of Langlands and Shelstad. But these stable characters seldom span the space of all stable characters of virtual special unipotent representations. Under natural hypotheses, we give a canonical basis of this latter space in terms of rational forms of special pie…
We compute special unipotent Arthur packets for real reductive groups in many cases. We list the cases that lead to incomplete answers, and in those cases, provide a suitable set of representations that could lead to a complete description of the special Arthur packet. In the process of achieving this goal we classify theta forms of a given even complex nilpotent orbit, and find methods to compute the associated varieties of irreducible group representations.
