Let $G$ be a quasi-simple algebraic group defined over an algebraically closed field $k$ and $B$ a Borel subgroup of $G$ acting on the nilradical $\mathfrak{n}$ of its Lie algebra $\mathfrak{b}$ via the Adjoint representation. It is known that $B$ has only finitely many orbits in only five cases: when $G$ is of type $A_{n}$ for $n \leq 4$, and when $G$ is type $B_{2}$. In this paper, we elaborate on this work in the case when $G =SL_{n +1}(k)$ (type $A_{n})$, for $n \leq 4$, by finding the polynomial defining equations of each orbit. Consequences of these equations include the dimension of the orbits and the closure ordering on the set of orbits, although these facts are already known. The other case, when $G$ is type $B_{2}$, can be approached the same way and is treated in a separate paper, where we believe the determination of the closure order is new.
In this paper, we give upper bounds for the index of the quotient of the Borel subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra or its nilpotent radical by an ad-nilpotent ideal. For the nilpotent radical quotient, our bound is a generalization of the formula for the index given by Panov in the type A case. In general, this bound is not exact. Using results from Panov, we show that the upper bound for the Borel quotient is exact in the type $A$ case, and we conjecture that it is exact in general.
We provide an explicit bijection between the ad-nilpotent ideals of a Borel subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra g and the orbits of \check{Q}/(h+1)\check{Q} under the Weyl group (\check{Q} being the coroot lattice and h the Coxeter number of g). From this result we deduce in a uniform way a counting formula for the ad-nilpotent ideals.
In this paper, we study certain ad-nilpotent subalgebras contained in the non-zero graded portion of a simple Z_n-graded Lie algebra. These subalgebras respect the grading on the Lie algebra and are modules for a Borel subalgebra for the grade-zero Lie subalgebra. We show that semisimple elements in such subalgebras lie in the center of the subalgebra, and we provide a classification of these subalgebras whose weight space decompositions have only non-zero weights.
This paper is devoted to a detailed study of certain remarkable posets which form a natural partition of all abelian ideals of a Borel subalgebra. Our main result is a nice uniform formula for the dimension of maximal ideals in these posets. We also obtain results on ad-nilpotent ideals which complete the analysis started in \cite{CP2}, \cite{CP3}.
A (vector space) basis B of a Lie algebra is said to be very nilpotent if all the iterated brackets of elements of B are nilpotent. In this note, we prove a refinement of Engel's Theorem. We show that a Lie algebra has a very nilpotent basis if and only if it is a nilpotent Lie algebra. When g is a semisimple Lie algebra, this allows us to define an ideal of S((g^n)^*)^G whose associated algebraic set in g^n is the set of n-tuples lying in a same Borel subalgebra.
The flag variety of a complex reductive linear algebraic group G is by definition the quotient G/B by a Borel subgroup. It can be regarded as the set of Borel subalgebras of Lie(G). Given a nilpotent element e in Lie(G), one calls Springer fiber the subvariety formed by the Borel subalgebras which contain e. Springer fibers have in general a complicated structure (not irreducible, singular). Nevertheless, a theorem by C. De Concini, G. Lusztig, and C. Procesi asserts that, when G is classical, a Springer fiber can always be paved by finitely many subvarieties isomorphic to affine spaces. In th…
This paper studies nilpotent orbits in complex simple Lie algebras from the viewpoint of strongly visible actions in the sense of T. Kobayashi. We prove that the action of a maximal compact group consisting of inner automorphisms on a nilpotent orbit is strongly visible if and only if it is spherical, namely, admitting an open orbit of a Borel subgroup. Further, we find a concrete description of a slice in the strongly visible action. As a corollary, we clarify a relationship among different notions of complex nilpotent orbits: actions of Borel subgroups (sphericity); multiplicity-free represe…
It was shown by Cellini and Papi that an ad-nilpotent ideal determines certain element of the affine Weyl group, and that there is a bijection between the ad-nilpotent ideals and the integral points of a simplex with rational vertices. We give a description of the generators of ad-nilpotent ideals in terms of these elements, and show that an ideal has $k$ generators if and only it lies on the face of this simplex of codimension $k$. We also consider two combinatorial statistics on the set of ad-nilpotent ideals: the number of simple roots in the ideal and the number of generators. Considering …
We consider the conjugation-action of an arbitrary upper-block parabolic subgroup of GL_n(C) on the variety of x-nilpotent complex matrices. We obtain a criterion as to whether the action admits a finite number of orbits and specify a system of representatives for the orbits in the finite case of 2-nilpotent matrices. Furthermore, we give a set-theoretic description of their closures and specify the minimal degenerations in detail for the action of the Borel subgroup. Concerning the action on the nilpotent cone, we obtain a generic normal form of the orbits which yields a U-normal form as well…
We consider the conjugation-action of an arbitrary upper-block parabolic subgroup of ${\rm GL}_n(\mathbf{C})$, especially of the Borel subgroup $B$ and of the standard unipotent subgroup $U$ of the latter on the nilpotent cone of complex nilpotent matrices. We obtain generic normal forms of the orbits and describe generating (semi-) invariants for the Borel semi-invariant ring as well as for the $U$-invariant ring. The latter is described in more detail in terms of algebraic quotients by a special toric variety closely related. The study of a GIT-quotient for the Borel-action is initiated.
Let U be the unipotent radical of a Borel subgroup of a connected reductive algebraic group G, which is defined over an algebraically closed field k. In this paper, we extend work by Goodwin-Röhrle concerning the commuting variety of Lie(U) for char(k)=0 to fields, whose characteristic is good for G
We give formulas for the number of ad-nilpotent ideals of a Borel subalgebra of a Lie algebra of type B or D containing a fixed number of root spaces attached to simple roots. This result solves positively a conjecture of Panyushev (cf. D. Panyushev, ad-nilpotent ideals: generators and duality, J. of Alg., to appear) and affords a complete knowledge of the above statistics for any simple Lie algebra. We also study the restriction of the above statistics to the abelian ideals of a Borel subalgebra, obtaining uniform results for any simple Lie algebra.
This paper deals with singularities of closures of $2$-nilpotent Borel conjugacy classes in either a $\text{GL}_n$-conjugacy class or in the nilpotent cone of $\text{GL}_n$. In the latter case we construct a resolution of singularities, in the former we show that singularities are rational by applying a result of M. Brion. We reason why this generalizes the result of N. Perrin and E. Smirnov on the rationality of singularities of Springer fiber components in the two-column case. In the case of Borel orbit closures being contained in orbital varieties, we give an alternative version of L. Fress…
Let $\frb$ be a fixed Borel subalgebra of a finite-dimensional complex simple Lie algebra $\frg$. The Shi bijection associates to every ad-nilpotent ideal $\fri$ of $\frb$ a region $V_{\fri}$. In this paper, we show that $\fri$ is abelian if and only if $V_{\fri}\cap 2A$ is empty, if and only if the volume of $V_{\fri}\cap 2A$ equals to that of $A$, where $A$ is the fundamental alcove of the affine Weyl group. For certain flag of abelian ideals, we record an ascending property of their associated regions. We also determine the maximal eigenvalue $m_{r-1}$ of the Casimir operator on $\wedge^{r-…
We consider the conjugation-action of an arbitrary upper-block parabolic subgroup of ${\rm GL}_n(\mathbf{C})$ on the variety of $x$-nilpotent complex matrices and translate it to a representation-theoretic context. We obtain a criterion as to whether the action admits a finite number of orbits and specify a system of representatives for the orbits in the finite case of $2$-nilpotent matrices. Furthermore, we give a set-theoretic description of their closures and specify the minimal degenerations in detail for the action of the Borel subgroup. We show that in all non-finite cases, the correspon…
We prove that for a simply laced group, the closure of the Borel conjugacy class of any nilpotent element of height $2$ in its conjugacy class is normal and admits a rational resolution. We extend this, using Frobenius splitting techniques, to the closure in the whole Lie algebra if either the group has type $A$ or the element has rank $2$.
In two 2006 papers, Kostant and Wallach constructed a complexified Gelfand-Zeitlin integrable system for the Lie algebra $\fgl(n+1,\C)$ and introduced the strongly regular elements, which are the points where the Gelfand-Zeitlin flow is Lagrangian. Later Colarusso studied the nilfibre, which consists of strongly regular elements such that each $i\times i$ submatrix in the upper left corner is nilpotent. In this paper, we prove that every Borel subalgebra contains strongly regular elements and determine the Borel subalgebras containing elements of the nilfibre by using the theory of $K_{i}=GL(i…
Let $\be$ be a Borel subalgebra of a complex simple Lie algebra $\g$. An ideal of $\be$ is called ad-nilpotent, if it is contained in $[\be,\be]$. We give several descriptions of the normalizer of an ad-nilpotent ideal: using the weight of an ideal, or the affine Weyl group, or a relationship with dominant regions of the Shi arrangement. We also give a description of those ideals whose normalizer is equal to $\be$. For sl(n) and sp(2n), explicit enumerative results are obtained, which demonstrate a connection with some famous integer sequences.
The orbital varieties are the irreducible components of the intersection between a nilpotent orbit and a Borel subalgebra of the Lie algebra of a reductive group. There is a geometric correspondence between orbital varieties and irreducible components of Springer fibers. In type A, a construction due to Richardson implies that every nilpotent orbit contains at least one smooth orbital variety and every Springer fiber contains at least one smooth component. In this paper, we show that this property is also true for the other classical cases. Our proof uses the interpretation of Springer fibers …
Let $G$ be a simply connected semisimple algebraic group with Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$, let $G_0 \subset G$ be the symmetric subgroup defined by an algebraic involution $σ$ and let $\mathfrak g_1 \subset \mathfrak g$ be the isotropy representation of $G_0$. Given an abelian subalgebra $\mathfrak a$ of $\mathfrak g$ contained in $\mathfrak g_1$ and stable under the action of some Borel subgroup $B_0 \subset G_0$, we classify the $B_0$-orbits in $\mathfrak a$ and we characterize the sphericity of $G_0 \mathfrak a$. Our main tool is the combinatorics of $σ$-minuscule elements in the affine Weyl …
We consider the conjugation-action of the Borel subgroup of the symplectic or the orthogonal group on the variety of nilpotent complex elements of nilpotency degree $2$ in its Lie algebra. We translate the setup to a representation-theoretic context in the language of a symmetric quiver algebra. This makes it possible to provide a parametrization of the orbits via a combinatorial tool that we call symplectic/orthogonal oriented link patterns. We deduce information about numerology. We then generalize these classifications to standard parabolic subgroups for all classical groups. Finally, our r…
Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be the $p$-dimensional Witt algebra over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p>3$. Let $\mathscr{N}={x\in\ggg\mid x^{[p]}=0}$ be the nilpotent variety of $\mathfrak{g}$, and $\mathscr{C}(\mathscr{N}):=\{(x,y)\in \mathscr{N}\times\mathscr{N}\mid [x,y]=0\}$ the nilpotent commuting variety of $\mathfrak{g}$. As an analogue of Premet's result in the case of classical Lie algebras [A. Premet, Nilpotent commuting varieties of reductive Lie algebras. Invent. Math., 154, 653-683, 2003.], we show that the variety $\mathscr{C}(\mathscr{N})$ is reducible and equidimens…
We consider ad-nilpotent ideals of a Borel subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra. The goal of this paper is two-fold. First, we study the ad-nilpotent ideals lying inside the Heisenberg ideal. The Heisenberg ideal is the nilpotent radical of the centralizer of the highest root vector. Second, we study the ideals having the property that the corresponding domain of the Shi arrangement consists of a single alcove. Such ideals (and the corresponding elements of the affine Weyl group) are called minimax.
Let g be a simple Lie algebra, with fixed Borel subalgebra b and with Weyl group W. Expanding on previous work of Fan and Stembridge in the simply laced case, this note aims to study the fully commutative elements of W, and their connections with the spherical nilpotent orbits in g. If g is not of type G_2, it is shown that an element w in W is fully commutative if and only if the subalgebra of b determined by the inversions of w lies in the closure of a spherical nilpotent orbit. A similar characterization is also given for the ad-nilpotent ideals of b, which are parametrized by suitable elem…
Let $G$ be a complex simply-connected semisimple Lie group and let $\frak{g}= Lie G$. Let $\frak{g} = \frak{n}_- +\frak{h} + \frak{n}$ be a triangular decomposition of $\frak{g}$. One readily has that $Cent\,U({\frak n})$ is isomorphic to the ring $S({\frak n})^{\frak\n}$ of symmetric invariants. Using the cascade ${\cal B}$ of strongly orthogonal roots, some time ago we proved that $S({\frak n})^{{\frak n}$ is a polynomial ring $\Bbb C [ξ_1,...,ξ_m]$ where $m$ is the cardinality of ${\cal B}$. Using this result we establish that the maximal coadjoint of $N = exp \frak {n}$ has codimension $m$…
Let $G$ be a complex simply-connected semisimple Lie group and let $\frak{g}= Lie G$. Let $\frak{g} = \frak{n}_- +\frak{h} + \frak{n}$ be a triangular decomposition of $\frak{g}$. One readily has that $Cent\,U({\frak n})$ is isomorphic to the ring $S({\frak n})^{\frak\n}$ of symmetric invariants. Using the cascade ${\cal B}$ of strongly orthogonal roots, some time ago we proved that $S({\frak n})^{{\frak n}$ is a polynomial ring $\Bbb C [ξ_1,...,ξ_m]$ where $m$ is the cardinality of ${\cal B}$. Using this result we establish that the maximal coadjoint of $N = exp \frak {n}$ has codimension $m$…
Let $\be$ be a Borel subalgebra of a complex simple Lie algebra $\g$. An ideal of $\be$ is called ad-nilpotent, if it is contained in $[\be,\be]$. The generators of an ad-nilpotent ideal give rise to an antichain in the poset of positive roots, and the whole theory can be expressed in a combinatorial fashion, in terms of antichains. The aim of this paper is to present a refinement of the enumerative theory of ad-nilpotent ideals for the case in which $\g$ has roots of different length. An antichain is called short, if it consists of short roots. We obtain, for short antichains, analogues of al…
We study the center of $U(\mathfrak{n})$, where $\mathfrak{n}$ is the locally nilpotent radical of a splitting Borel subalgebra of a simple complex Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{sl}_{\infty}(\mathbb{C})$, $\mathfrak{so}_{\infty}(\mathbb{C})$, $\mathfrak{sp}_{\infty}(\mathbb{C})$. There are infinitely many isomorphism classes of Lie algebras $\mathfrak{n}$, and we provide explicit generators of the center of $U(\mathfrak{n})$ in all cases. We then fix $\mathfrak{n}$ with "largest possible" center of $U(\mathfrak{n})$ and characterize the centrally generated primitive ideals of $U(\mathfra…
We study the centrally generated primitive ideals of $U(\mathfrak{n})$, where $\mathfrak{n}$ is the (locally) nilpotent radical of a (splitting) Borel subalgebra of a simple complex Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{o}_{2n+1}(\mathbb{C})$, $\mathfrak{o}_{2n}(\mathbb{C})$, $\mathfrak{o}_{\infty}(\mathbb{C})$. In the infinite-dimensional setting, there are infinitely many isomorphism classes of Lie algebras $\mathfrak{n}$, and we fix $\mathfrak{n}$ with "largest possible" center of $U(\mathfrak{n})$. We characterize the centrally generated primitive ideals of $U(\mathfrak{n})$ in terms of the …
We consider a symmetric quiver with relations. Its (symmetric) representations of a fixed symmetric dimension vector are encoded in the (symmetric) representation varieties. The orbits by a (symmetric) base change group action are the isomorphism classes of (symmetric) representations. The symmetric orbits are induced by simply restricting the nonsymmetric orbits. However, when it comes to orbit closure relations, it is so far an open question under which assumptions they are induced. In connection with Borel orbits of 2-nilpotent matrices of classical Lie algebras, we describe an explicit exa…
Let $\mathfrak a$ be an algebraic Lie subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$ with index $\mathfrak a \leq \rank \mathfrak g$. Let $Y(\mathfrak a)$ denote the algebra of $\mathfrak a$ invariant polynomial functions on $\mathfrak a^*$. An algebraic slice for $\mathfrak a$ is an affine subspace $η+V$ with $η\in \mathfrak a^*$ and $V \subset \mathfrak a^*$ a subspace of dimension index $\mathfrak a$ such that restriction of function induces an isomorphism of $Y(\mathfrak a)$ onto the algebra $R[η+V]$ of regular functions on $η+V$. Slices have been obtained in a number of cases through th…
Let $G$ be a connected reductive algebraic group over an algebraically closed field $k$, and assume that the characteristic of $k$ is zero or a pretty good prime for $G$. Let $P$ be a parabolic subgroup of $G$ and let $\mathfrak p$ be the Lie algebra of $P$. We consider the commuting variety $\mathcal C(\mathfrak p) = \{(X,Y) \in \mathfrak p \times \mathfrak p \mid [X,Y] = 0\}$. Our main theorem gives a necessary and sufficient condition for irreducibility of $\mathcal C(\mathfrak p)$ in terms of the modality of the adjoint action of $P$ on the nilpotent variety of $\mathfrak p$. As a conseque…
