We define and study an exotic t-structure on the bounded derived category of equivariant coherent sheaves on partial resolutions of the nilpotent cone.
A short note to show that the elements of the (open) cone underlying a nilpotent orbit on a period domain are pairwise congruent under the symmetry group of the period domain.
The $\mathrm{GL}(V)$-orbits in the enhanced nilpotent cone $V\times\mathcal{N}(V)$ are (essentially) in bijection with the orbits of a certain parabolic $P\subseteq\mathrm{GL}(V)$ (the mirabolic subgroup) in the nilpotent cone $\mathcal{N}(V)$. We give a new parameterization of the orbits in the enhanced nilpotent cone, in terms of representations of the underlying quiver. This parameterization generalizes naturally to the enhanced cyclic nilpotent cone. Our parameterizations are different to the previous ones that have appeared in the literature. Explicit translations between the different pa…
In characteristic zero, Bezrukavnikov has shown that the category of perverse coherent sheaves on the nilpotent cone of a simply connected semisimple algebraic group is quasi-hereditary, and that it is derived-equivalent to the category of (ordinary) coherent sheaves. We prove that graded versions of these results also hold in good positive characteristic.
We continue the study of the closures of $GL(V)$-orbits in the enhanced nilpotent cone $V\times\cN$ begun by the first two authors. We prove that each closure is an invariant-theoretic quotient of a suitably-defined enhanced quiver variety. We conjecture, and prove in special cases, that these enhanced quiver varieties are normal complete intersections, implying that the enhanced nilpotent orbit closures are also normal.
Let G = Sp (2n) be the symplectic group over Z. We present a certain kind of deformation of the nilpotent cone of G with G-action. This enables us to make direct links between the Springer correspondence of sp_{2n} over C, that over characteristic two, and our exotic Springer correspondence. As a by-product, we obtain a complete description of our exotic Springer correspondence.
In math.RT/0201073 we constructed an equivalence between the derived category of equivariant coherent sheaves on the cotangent bundle to the flag variety of a simple algebraic group and a (quotient of) the category of constructible sheaves on the affine flag variety of the Langlands dual group. Below we prove certain properties of this equivalence; provide a similar ``Langlands dual'' description for the category of equivariant coherent sheaves on the nilpotent cone; and deduce some conjectures by Lusztig and Ostrik.
We construct affine pavings of Springer-type fibers over the enhanced nilpotent cone. This resolves a question of Achar-Henderson and implies the existence of perverse parity sheaves on the enhanced nilpotent cone.
In math.AG/0005152 a certain $t$-structure on the derived category of equivariant coherent sheaves on the nil-cone of a simple complex algebraic group was introduced (the so-called perverse $t$-structure corresponding to the middle perversity). In the present note we show that the same $t$-structure can be obtained from a natural quasi-exceptional set generating this derived category. As a consequence we obtain a bijection between the sets of dominant weights and pairs consisting of a nilpotent orbit, and an irreducible representation of the centralizer of this element, conjectured by Lusztig …
We describe two approaches to classifying the possible monodromy cones C arising from nilpotent orbits in Hodge theory. The first is based upon the observation that C is contained in the open orbit of any interior point N in C under an associated Levi subgroup determined by the limit mixed Hodge structure. The possible relations between the interior of C its faces are described in terms of signed Young diagrams. The second approach is to understand the Tannakian category of nilpotent orbits via a category D introduced by Deligne in a letter to Cattani and Kaplan. In analogy with Hodge theory, …
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.
In this note, we consider perverse sheaves on the nilpotent cone. We prove orthogonality relations for the equivariant category of sheaves on the nilpotent cone in a method similar to Lusztig's for character sheaves. We also consider cleanness for cuspidal perverse sheaves and the generalized Lusztig--Shoji algorithm.
Let $G=Sp_{2n}(\mathbb{C})$, and $\mathfrak{N}$ be Kato's exotic nilpotent cone. Following techniques used by Bezrukavnikov in [5] to establish a bijection between $Λ^+$, the dominant weights for a simple algebraic group $H$, and $\textbf{O}$, the set of pairs consisting of a nilpotent orbit and a finite-dimensional irreducible representation of the isotropy group of the orbit, we prove an analogous statement for the exotic nilpotent cone. First we prove that dominant line bundles on the exotic Springer resolution $\widetilde{\mathfrak{N}}$ have vanishing higher cohomology, and compute their g…
We use the G-invariant non-degenerate form on the Steinberg module to Frobenius split the cotangent bundle of a flag variety in good prime characteristics. This was previously only known for the general linear group. Applications are a vanishing theorem for pull back of line bundles to the cotangent bundle (proved for the classical groups and G_2 by Andersen and Jantzen and in characteristic zero by B. Broer (for all groups)), normality and rational singularities for the subregular nilpotent variety and good filtrations of the global sections of pull backs of line bundles to the cotangent bund…
Given the nilpotent cone of a complex reductive Lie algebra, we consider its equivariant constructible derived category of sheaves with coefficients in an arbitrary field. This category and its subcategory of perverse sheaves play an important role in Springer theory and the theory of character sheaves. We show that the composition of the Fourier--Sato transform on the Lie algebra followed by restriction to the nilpotent cone restricts to an autoequivalence of the derived category of the nilpotent cone. In the case of $GL_n$, we show that this autoequivalence can be regarded as a geometric ver…
Recall that the Springer correspondence relates representations of the Weyl group to perverse sheaves on the nilpotent cone. We explain how to extend this to an equivalence between the triangulated category generated by the Springer perverse sheaves and the derived category of differential graded modules over a dg-ring related to the Weyl group.
In this paper we study the derived category of sheaves on the affine Grassmannian of a complex reductive group G, contructible with respect to the stratification by G(C[[x]])-orbits. Following ideas of Ginzburg and Arkhipov-Bezrukavnikov-Ginzburg, we describe this category (and a mixed version) in terms of coherent sheaves on the nilpotent cone of its Langlands dual reductive group. We also show, in the mixed case, that restriction to the nilpotent cone of a Levi subgroup corresponds to hyperbolic localization on affine Grassmannians.
The Springer resolution of the nilpotent cone of a semisimple Lie algebra has played an important role in representation theory. The nilpotent cone is equal to Spec R, where R is the ring of regular functions on the nilpotent cone. This paper constructs and studies an analogue of the Springer resolution for the variety Spec S, where S is the ring of regular functions on the universal cover of the regular nilpotent orbit. The construction makes use of the theory of toric varieties. Using this construction, we provide new proofs of results of Broer and of Graham about Spec S. Finally, we show th…
We compare orbits in the nilpotent cone of type $B_n$, that of type $C_n$, and Kato's exotic nilpotent cone. We prove that the number of $\F_q$-points in each nilpotent orbit of type $B_n$ or $C_n$ equals that in a corresponding union of orbits, called a type-$B$ or type-$C$ piece, in the exotic nilpotent cone. This is a finer version of Lusztig's result that corresponding special pieces in types $B_n$ and $C_n$ have the same number of $\F_q$-points. The proof requires studying the case of characteristic 2, where more direct connections between the three nilpotent cones can be established. We …
In recent work, Graham has constructed a variety with a map to the nilpotent cone which is similar in some ways to the Springer resolution. One aspect in which Graham's map differs is that it is not in general an isomorphism over the principal orbit, but rather the universal covering map. This map gives rise to a certain semisimple perverse sheaf on the nilpotent cone, and we discuss here the problem of describing the summands of this perverse sheaf. For type $A_n$, a key tool is a known combinatorial description of an affine paving of Springer fibers.
We give a semi-direct product decomposition of the point stabilisers for the enhanced and exotic nilpotent cones. In particular, we arrive at formulas for the number of points in each orbit over a finite field. This is in accordance with a recent conjecture of Achar and Henderson.
Kato's exotic nilpotent cone was introduced as a substitute for the ordinary nilpotent cone of type C with cleaner properties. The geometric Robinson-Schensted correspondence is obtained by parametrizing the irreducible components of the Steinberg variety (the conormal variety for the action of a semisimple group on two copies of its flag variety); in type A the bijection coincides with the classical Robinson-Schensted algorithm for the symmetric group. Here we give a combinatorial description of the bijection obtained by using the exotic nilpotent cone instead of ordinary type C nilpotent con…
In the paper [P. Achar, "On the equivariant $K$-theory of the nilpotent cone in the general linear group," Represent. Theory 8 (2004), 180-211], the author gave a combinatorial algorithm for computing the Lusztig-Vogan bijection for $GL(n,\mathbb{C})$. However, that paper failed to mention one easy case that may sometimes arise, making the description of the algorithm incomplete. This note fills in that gap.
In this note, we point out an error in the proof of Theorem 4.7 of [P. Achar and A.~Henderson, `Orbit closures in the enhanced nilpotent cone', Adv. Math. 219 (2008), 27-62], a statement about the existence of affine pavings for fibres of a certain resolution of singularities of an enhanced nilpotent orbit closure. We also give independent proofs of later results that depend on that statement, so all other results of that paper remain valid.
Kato introduced the exotic nilpotent cone to be a substitute for the ordinary nilpotent cone of type C with cleaner properties. Here we describe the irreducible components of exotic Springer fibres (the fibres of the resolution of the exotic nilpotent cone), and prove that they are naturally in bijection with standard bitableaux. As a result, we deduce the existence of an exotic Robinson-Schensted bijection, which is a variant of the type C Robinson-Schensted bijection between pairs of same-shape standard bitableaux and elements of the Weyl group; this bijection is described explicitly in the …
In this paper the authors introduce an analog of the nilpotent cone, ${\mathcal N}$, for a classical Lie superalgebra, ${\mathfrak g}$, that generalizes the definition for the nilpotent cone for semisimple Lie algebras. For a classical simple Lie superalgebra, ${\mathfrak g}={\mathfrak g}_{\bar{0}}\oplus {\mathfrak g}_{\bar{1}}$ with $\text{Lie }G_{\bar{0}}={\mathfrak g}_{\bar{0}}$, it is shown that there are finitely many $G_{\bar{0}}$-orbits on ${\mathcal N}$. Later the authors prove that the Duflo-Serganova commuting variety, ${\mathcal X}$, is contained in ${\mathcal N}$ for any classical …
We study some aspects of modular generalized Springer theory for a complex reductive group $G$ with coefficients in a field $\mathbb k$ under the assumption that the characteristic $\ell$ of $\mathbb k$ is rather good for $G$, i.e., $\ell$ is good and does not divide the order of the component group of the centre of $G$. We prove a comparison theorem relating the characteristic-$\ell$ generalized Springer correspondence to the characteristic-$0$ version. We also consider Mautner's characteristic-$\ell$ `cleanness conjecture'; we prove it in some cases; and we deduce several consequences, inclu…
The Springer resolution of the nilpotent cone is used to give a geometric construction of the irreducible representations of Weyl groups. Borho and MacPherson obtain the Springer correspondence by applying the decomposition theorem to the Springer resolution, establishing an injective map from the set of irreducible Weyl group representations to simple equivariant perverse sheaves on the nilpotent cone. In this manuscript, we consider a generalization of the Springer resolution using a variety defined by the first author. Our main result shows that in the type A case, applying the decompositio…
For the moduli space of Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface of positive genus, critical points of the natural Morse-Bott function lie along the nilpotent cone of the Hitchin fibration and are representations of $\mbox{A}$-type quivers in a twisted category of holomorphic bundles. The critical points that globally minimize the function are representations of $\mbox{A}_1$. For twisted Higgs bundles on the projective line, the quiver describing the bottom of the cone is more complicated. We determine it here. We show that the moduli space is topologically connected whenever the rank and degree are…
We study the orbits of $G=\mathrm{GL}(V)$ in the enhanced nilpotent cone $V\times\mathcal{N}$, where $\mathcal{N}$ is the variety of nilpotent endomorphisms of $V$. These orbits are parametrized by bipartitions of $n=\dim V$, and we prove that the closure ordering corresponds to a natural partial order on bipartitions. Moreover, we prove that the local intersection cohomology of the orbit closures is given by certain bipartition analogues of Kostka polynomials, defined by Shoji. Finally, we make a connection with Kato's exotic nilpotent cone in type C, proving that the closure ordering is the …
We define algebraic group analogues of the Slodowy transversal slices to adjoint orbits in a complex semisimple Lie algebra g. The new slices are transversal to the conjugacy classes in an algebraic group G with Lie algebra g. These slices are associated to (the conjugacy classes of) elements s of the Weyl group W of g. For such slices we prove an analogue of the Kostant cross-section theorem for the action of a unipotent group.
In this note, I describe the space of vacua $\mathcal{V}$ of four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM on $\mathbb{R}^4$ with gauge group a compact simple Lie Group $G$ as a stratified space. On each stratum, the low energy effective field theory is different. This language allows one to make precise the idea of moving in the space of vacua $\mathcal{V}$. A particular subset of the strata of $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM can be efficiently described using the theory of sheets in a Lie algebra. For these strata, I study the conjectural action of S-duality. I also indicate some benefits of using such a languag…
We define a set of "enhanced" nilpotent quiver representations that generalizes the enhanced nilpotent cone. This set admits an action by an associated algebraic group $K$ with finitely many orbits. We define a combinatorial set that parametrizes the set of orbits under this action and we derive a purely combinatorial formula for the dimension of an orbit.
Exotic sheaves are certain complexes of coherent sheaves on the cotangent bundle of the flag variety of a reductive group. They are closely related to perverse-coherent sheaves on the nilpotent cone. This expository article includes the definitions of these two categories, applications, and some structure theory, as well as detailed calculations for SL(2).
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group and $\ggg=\Lie(G)$ over $k=\bar\bbf_q$ where $q$ is a power of the prime characteristic of $k$, and $F$ a Frobenius morphism on $G$ which can be defined naturally on $\ggg$. In this paper, we investigate the relation between $F$-stable restricted modules of $\ggg$ and closed conical subvarieties defined over $\bbf_q$ in the null cone $\cn(\ggg)$ of $\ggg$. Furthermore, we clearly investigate the $\bbf_q$-rational structure for all nilpotent orbits in $\ggg$ under the adjoint action of $G$ when the characteristic of $k$ is good for $G$ and bigger than 3. The …
We study the exotic t-structure on the derived category of coherent sheaves on two-block Springer fibre (i.e. for a nilpotent matrix of type (m+n,n) in type A). The exotic t-structure has been defined by Bezrukavnikov and Mirkovic for Springer theoretic varieties in order to study representations of Lie algebras in positive characteristic. Using work of Cautis and Kamnitzer, we construct functors indexed by affine tangles, between categories of coherent sheaves on different two-block Springer fibres (i.e. for different values of n). After checking some exactness properties of these functors, w…
We study the category of representations of $\mathfrak{sl}_{m+2n}$ in positive characteristic, whose p-character is a nilpotent whose Jordan type is the two-row partition (m+n,n). In a previous paper with Anno, we used Bezrukavnikov-Mirkovic-Rumynin's theory of positive characteristic localization and exotic t-structures to give a geometric parametrization of the simples using annular crossingless matchings. Building on this, here we give combinatorial dimension formulae for the simple objects, and compute the Jordan-Holder multiplicities of the simples inside the baby Vermas (in special case …
We consider generalizations of the Springer resolution of the nilpotent cone of a simple Lie algebra by replacing the cotangent bundle with certain other vector bundles over the flag variety. We show that the analogue of the Springer sheaf has as direct summands only intersection cohomology sheaves that arise in the Springer correspondence. The fibers of these general maps are nilpotent Hessenberg varieties, and we build on techniques established by De Concini, Lusztig, and Procesi to study their geometry. For example, we show that these fibers have vanishing cohomology in odd degrees. This le…
We prove a derived equivalence between each block of the derived category of sheaves on the nilpotent cone and the category of differential graded modules over a degeneration of Lusztig's graded Hecke algebra. Along the way, we construct and study a mixed version of the geometric category. This work can be viewed as giving a derived version of the generalized Springer correspondence.
Let $G$ be a connected complex reductive algebraic group with Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$. The Lusztig--Vogan bijection relates two bases for the bounded derived category of $G$-equivariant coherent sheaves on the nilpotent cone $\mathcal{N}$ of $\mathfrak{g}$. One basis is indexed by $Λ^+$, the set of dominant weights of $G$, and the other by $Ω$, the set of pairs $(\mathcal{O}, \mathcal{E})$ consisting of a nilpotent orbit $\mathcal{O} \subset \mathcal{N}$ and an irreducible $G$-equivariant vector bundle $\mathcal{E} \rightarrow \mathcal{O}$. The existence of the Lusztig--Vogan bijection $γ\c…
Let G be a reductive algebraic group, with nilpotent cone N and flag variety G/B. We construct an exact functor from perverse sheaves on N to locally constant sheaves on G/B, and we use it to study Ext-groups of simple perverse sheaves on N in terms of the cohomology of G/B. As an application, we give new proofs of some known results on stalks of perverse sheaves on N.