The characters of the (total) Springer representations are identified with the Green functions by Kazhdan [Israel J. Math. {\bf 28} (1977)], and the latter are identified with Hall-Littlewood's $Q$-functions by Green [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. (1955)]. In this paper, we present a purely algebraic proof that the (total) Springer representations of $\mathop{GL} ( n )$ are $\mathrm{Ext}$-orthogonal to each other, and show that it is compatible with the natural categorification of the ring of symmetric functions.
This is a survey article on the Springer correspondence for symmetric spaces. We discuss various generalization of the theory of the Springer correspondence for reductive groups to symmetric spaces and exotic symmetric spaces associated to classical groups.
We prove that the center of a regular block of parabolic category O for the general linear Lie algebra is isomorphic to the cohomology algebra of a corresponding Springer fiber. This was conjectured by Khovanov. We also find presentations for the centers of singular blocks, which are cohomology algebras of Spaltenstein varieties.
We determine a formula for the dimension of a family of affine Springer fibers associated to a symmetric space arising from the block diagonal embedding $\mathrm{GL}_n\times\mathrm{GL}_n\hookrightarrow\mathrm{GL}_{2n}$ . As an application, we determine the dimension of affine Springer fibers attached to certain unitary symmetric spaces.
In this paper we establish Springer correspondence for the symmetric pair $(\mathrm{SL}(N),\mathrm{SO}(N))$ using Fourier transform, parabolic induction functor, and a nearby cycle sheaves construction due to Grinberg. As applications, we obtain results on cohomology of Hessenberg varieties and geometric constructions of irreducible representations of Hecke algebras of symmetric groups at $q=-1$.
Motivated by questions in the study of relative trace formulae, we construct a generalization of Grothendieck's simultaneous resolution over the regular locus of certain symmetric pairs. We use this space to prove a relative version of results of Donagi and Gaitsgory about the automorphism sheaf of regular stabilizers. We also obtain partial results toward applications in Springer theory for symmetric spaces.
We identify the ring of odd symmetric functions introduced by Ellis and Khovanov as the space of skew polynomials fixed by a natural action of the Hecke algebra at q=-1. This allows us to define graded modules over the Hecke algebra at q=-1 that are `odd' analogs of the cohomology of type A Springer varieties. The graded module associated to the full flag variety corresponds to the quotient of the skew polynomial ring by the left ideal of nonconstant odd symmetric functions. The top degree component of the odd cohomology of Springer varieties is identified with the corresponding Specht module …
Let $G = GL_N$ over an algebraically closed field of odd characteristic, and $θ$ an involutive automorphism on $G$ such that $H = (G^θ)^0$ is isomorphic to $SO_N$. Then $G^{ιθ} = \{ g \in G \mid θ(g) = g^{-1} \}$ is regarded as a symmetric space $G/G^θ$. Let $G^{ιθ}_{uni}$ be the set of unipotent elements in $G^{ιθ}$. $H$ acts on $G^{ιθ}_{uni}$ by the conjugation. As an analogue of the generalized Springer correspondence in the case of reductive groups, we establish in this paper the generalized Springer correspondence between $H$-orbits in $G^{ιθ}_{uni}$ and irreducible representations of var…
This paper is a survey on the topics concerning the Springer correspondence related to the varieties such as the enhanced variety or the exotic symmetric space. We explain in the case of exotic symmetric space of higher level, the complex reflection group $S_n \ltimes (\BZ/r\BZ)^n$ appears naturally in the framework of the Springer correspondence.
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.
We give a common framework for the classification of projective spin irreducible representations of a Weyl group, modeled after the Springer correspondence for ordinary representations.
We give explicit formulas on total Springer representations for classical types. We also describe the characters of restrictions of such representations to a maximal parabolic subgroup isomorphic to a symmetric group. As a result, we give closed formulas for the Euler characteristic of Springer fibers.
Springer varieties are studied because their cohomology carries a natural action of the symmetric group $S_n$ and their top-dimensional cohomology is irreducible. In his work on tangle invariants, Khovanov constructed a family of Springer varieties $X_n$ as subvarieties of the product of spheres $(S^2)^n$. We show that if $X_n$ is embedded antipodally in $(S^2)^n$ then the natural $S_n$-action on $(S^2)^n$ induces an $S_n$-representation on the image of $H_*(X_n)$. This representation is the Springer representation. Our construction admits an elementary (and geometrically natural) combinatoria…
Let V be an 2n-dimensional vector space over an algebraically closed field of odd characteristic. Let G = GL(V), and H = Sp(V) the symplectic group contained in G. For a positive integer r > 1, we conisder the variety X = G/H \times V^{r-1}, on which H acts diagonally. X is called the exotic symmetric space of level r. Let W_{n,r} be the complex reflection group G(r,1,n). In this paper, generalizing the result for the case where r = 2, we show that there exists a natural bijective correspondence (Springer correspondence) between the set of irreducible representations of W_{n,r} and a certain s…
We classify finite dimensional simple spherical representations of rational double affine Hecke algebras, and we study a remarkable family of finite dimensional simple spherical representations of double affine Hecke algebras.
Let G be a simple reductive group over the complex numbers. Let W be the Weyl group of G. We propose a description of the Springer representations of W associated to various unipotent classes of G by a purely algebraic method involving the families of various reflection subgroups of W and which is suitable to computer calculations.
In this paper we introduce a certain class of families of Hessenberg varieties arising from Springer theory for symmetric spaces. We study the geometry of those Hessenberg varieties and investigate their monodromy representations in detail using the geometry of complete intersections of quadrics. We obtain decompositions of these monodromy representations into irreducibles and compute the Fourier transforms of the IC complexes associated to these irreducible representations. The results of the paper refine (part of) the Springer correspondece for the split symmetric pair (SL(N),SO(N)) in [CVX2…
A sequence of $S_n$-representations $\{V_n\}$ is said to be uniformly representation stable if the decomposition of $V_n = \bigoplus_μ c_{μ,n} V(μ)_n$ into irreducible representations is independent of $n$ for each $μ$---that is, the multiplicities $c_{μ,n}$ are eventually independent of $n$ for each $μ$. Church-Ellenberg-Farb proved that the cohomology of flag varieties (the so-called diagonal coinvariant algebra) is uniformly representation stable. We generalize their result from flag varieties to all Springer fibers. More precisely, we show that for any increasing subsequence of Young diagr…
In this note, we collect basic facts about Maulik and Okounkov's stable bases for the Springer resolution, focusing on their relations to representations of Lie algebras over complex numbers and algebraically closed positive characteristic fields, and of the Langlands dual group over non-Archimedean local fields.
This survey paper describes Springer fibers, which are used in one of the earliest examples of a geometric representation. We will compare and contrast them with Schubert varieties, another family of subvarieties of the flag variety that play an important role in representation theory and combinatorics, but whose geometry is in many respects simpler. The end of the paper describes a way that Springer fibers and Schubert varieties are related, as well as open questions.
We give an apriori description of a set of irreducible representations of a Weyl group which parametrize the nilpotent orbits in the Lie algebra of a connected reductive group in arbitrary characteristic. We also answer a question of Serre concerning the conjugacy class of a power of a unipotent element in a connected reductive group.
Let $W$ be the Weyl group of type $BC_n$. We first provide restriction formulas of the total Springer representations for the symplectic Lie algebra in characteristic 2 and the exotic case to the maximal parabolic subgroup of $W$ which is of type $BC_{n-1}$. Then we show that these two restriction formulas are equivalent, and discuss how the results can be used to examine the existence of affine pavings of Springer fibers corresponding to the symplectic Lie algebra in characteristic 2.
Springer varieties appear in both geometric representation theory and knot theory. Motivated by knot theory and categorification Khovanov provides a topological construction of $(n/2, n/2)$ Springer varieties. We extend Khovanov's construction to all two-row Springer varieties. Using the combinatorial and diagrammatic properties of this construction we provide a particularly useful homology basis and construct the Springer representation using this basis. We also provide a skein-theoretic formulation of the representation in this case.
We explain an elementary topological construction of the Springer representation on the homology of (topological) Springer fibers of types C and D in the case of nilpotent endomorphisms with two Jordan blocks. The Weyl group and component group actions admit a diagrammatic description in terms of cup diagrams which appear in the definition of arc algebras of types B and D. We determine the decomposition of the representations into irreducibles and relate our construction to classical Springer theory. As an application we obtain presentations of the cohomology rings of all two-block Springer fi…
For a simply-connected simple algebraic group $G$ over $\C$, we exhibit a subvariety of its affine Grassmannian that is closely related to the nilpotent cone of $G$, generalizing a well-known fact about $GL_n$. Using this variety, we construct a sheaf-theoretic functor that, when combined with the geometric Satake equivalence and the Springer correspondence, leads to a geometric explanation for a number of known facts (mostly due to Broer and Reeder) about small representations of the dual group.
We give a self-contained account of a construction due to Rossmann which lifts Springer's action of a Weyl group on the cohomology of a Springer fiber to an action on its homotopy type. We use this construction to produce a generalization of an "induction theorem" of Alvis and Lusztig, which relates the Springer representations attached to a reductive group to those attached to a Levi subgroup. Our generalization applies to more general centralizers and to representations of Weyl groups on mod p cohomology.
For a Weyl group W, we give a simple closed formula (valid on elliptic conjugacy classes) for the character of the representation of W in each A-isotypic component of the full homology of a Springer fiber. We also give a formula (valid again on elliptic conjugacy classes) of the W-character of an irreducible discrete series representation with real central character of a graded affine Hecke algebra with arbitrary parameters. In both cases, the Pin double cover of W and the Dirac operator for graded affine Hecke algebras play key roles.
In \cite{FMX19}, it is proved that the convolution algebra of top Borel-Moore homology on Steinberg variety of type $B/C$ realizes $U(sl_n^θ)$, where $sl_{n}^θ$ is the fixed point subalgebra of involution on $sl_n$. So top Borel-Moore homology of the partial Springer's fibers gives the representations of $U(sl_n^θ)$. In this paper, we study these representations using the Schur-Weyl duality and Springer theory.
Let $H^*(\calB_e)$ be the cohomology of the Springer fibre for the nilpotent element $e$ in a simple Lie algebra $\g$, on which the Weyl group $W$ acts by the Springer representation. Let $Λ^i V$ denote the $i$th exterior power of the reflection representation of $W$. We determine the degrees in which $Λ^i V$ occurs in the graded representation $H^*(\calB_e)$, under the assumption that $e$ is regular in a Levi subalgebra and satisfies a certain extra condition which holds automatically if $\g$ is of type A, B, or C. This partially verifies a conjecture of Lehrer--Shoji, and extends the results…
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…
Garsia and Procesi, in their study of Springer's representation, proved that the cohomology ring of a Springer fiber is isomorphic to the associated graded ring of the coordinate ring of the $S_n$ orbit of a single point in $\mathbb{C}^n$. This construction was an essential tool in their analysis of the Springer representation, and variations of it have reappeared recently in several other combinatorial and geometric contexts under the name orbit harmonics. In this article, we analyze the orbit harmonics of a union of two $S_n$ orbits. We prove that when the coordinate sums of the two orbits a…
We show that two Weyl group actions on the Springer sheaf with arbitrary coefficients, one defined by Fourier transform and one by restriction, agree up to a twist by the sign character. This generalizes a familiar result from the setting of l-adic cohomology, making it applicable to modular representation theory. We use the Weyl group actions to define a Springer correspondence in this generality, and identify the zero weight spaces of small representations in terms of this Springer correspondence.
Let $G = GL(V)$ for an N-dimensional vector space $V$ over an algebraically closed field k, and $G^θ$ the fixed point subgroup of $G$ under an involution $θ$ on $G$. In the case where $G^θ = O(V)$, the generalized Springer correspondence for the unipotent variety of the symmetric space $G/G^θ$ was studied by last two authors, under the assumption that ch k is odd. The definition of $θ$, and of the associated symmetric space given there make sense even if ch k = 2. In this paper, we discuss the Springer correspondence for those symmetric spaces of even characteristic. We show that if N is even,…
For a split reductive group scheme $G$ over a commutative ring $k$ with Weyl group $W$, there is an important functor $Rep(G,k) \to Rep(W,k)$ defined by taking the zero weight space. We prove that the restriction of this functor to the subcategory of small representations has an alternative geometric description, in terms of the affine Grassmannian and the nilpotent cone of the Langlands dual group to $G$. The translation from representation theory to geometry is via the Satake equivalence and the Springer correspondence. This generalizes the result for the $k=\mathbb{C}$ case proved by the fi…
We propose a generalization of Springer representations to the context of groups over a global function field. The global counterpart of the Grothendieck simultaneous resolution is the parabolic Hitchin fibration. We construct an action of the affine Weyl group on the direct image complex of the parabolic Hitchin fibration. In particular, we get representations of the affine Weyl group on the cohomology of parabolic Hitchin fibers, providing the first step towards a global Springer theory.
In \cite{CVX3}, we have established a Springer theory for the symmetric pair $(\operatorname{SL}(N),\operatorname{SO}(N))$. In this setting we obtain representations of (the Tits extension) of the braid group rather than just Weyl group representations. These representations arise from cohomology of families of certain (Hessenberg) varieties. In this paper we determine the Springer correspondence explicitly for IC sheaves supported on order 2 nilpotent orbits. In this process we encounter universal families of hyperelliptic curves. As an application we calculate the cohomolgy of Fano varieties…
Let g be a complex semisimple Lie algebra, and f : g --> g/G the adjoint quotient map. Springer theory of Weyl group representations can be seen as the study of the singularities of f. We give a generalization of Springer theory to visible, polar representations. It is a class of rational representations of complex reductive groups, for which the invariant theory works by analogy with the adjoint representations. Let G|V be such a representation, f : V --> V/G the quotient map, and P the sheaf of nearby cycles of f. We show that the Fourier transform of P is an intersection homology sheaf on V…
Springer resolution of the set of nilpotent elements in a semisimple Lie algebra plays a central role in geometric representation theory. A new structure on this variety has arisen in several representation theoretic constructions, such as the (local) geometric Langlands duality and modular representation theory. It is also related to some algebro-geometric problems, such as the derived equivalence conjecture and description of T. Bridgeland's space of stability conditions. The structure can be described as a noncommutative counterpart of the resolution, or as a $t$-structure on the derived ca…
The generalised Springer correspondence for $G = \mathrm{SO}(N,\mathbb{C})$ attaches to a pair $(C,\mathcal{E})$, where $C$ is a unipotent class of $G$ and $\mathcal{E}$ is an irreducible $G$-equivariant local system on $C$, an irreducible representation $ρ(C,\mathcal{E})$ of a relative Weyl group of $G$. We call $C$ the Springer support of $ρ(C,\mathcal{E})$. For each such $(C,\mathcal{E})$, $ρ(C,\mathcal{E})$ appears with multiplicity 1 in the top cohomology of some variety. Let $\barρ(C,\mathcal{E})$ be the representation obtained by summing over all cohomology groups of this variety. It is…
We give a proof of a conjecture of Lehrer and Shoji regarding the occurrences of the exterior powers of the reflection representation in the cohomology of Springer fibers. The actual theorem proved is a slight extension of the original conjecture to all nilpotent orbits and also takes into account the action of the component group. The method is to use Shoji's approach to the orthogonality formulas for Green functions to relate the symmetric algebra to a sum over Green functions. In the second part of the paper we give an explanation of the appearance of the Orlik-Solomon exponents using a res…
We define filtered ADHM data and connect a notion of filtered quiver representations to Grothendieck--Springer resolutions. We also provide current developments and give a list of research problems to further study filtered ADHM equation.
We prove most of Lusztig's conjectures from the paper "Bases in equivariant K-theory II", including the existence of a canonical basis in the Grothendieck group of a Springer fiber. The conjectures also predict that this basis controls numerics of representations of the Lie algebra of a semi-simple algebraic group over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic. We check this for almost all characteristics. To this end we construct a non-commutative resolution of the nilpotent cone which is derived equivalent to the Springer resolution. On the one hand, this noncommutative resolu…
Let G be a simple algebraic group over C with the Weyl group W. For a unipotent element u of G, let B_u be the variety of Borel subgroups of G containing u. Let L be a Levi subgroup of a parabolic subgroup of G with the Weyl subgroup W_L. Assume that u is in L and let B_u^L be the corresponding variety for L. The induction theorem of Springer representations describes the W-module structure of H*(B_u) in terms of the W_L-module structure of H*(B_u^L). In this paper, we prove a certain refinement of the induction theorem by considering the action of a cyclic group of order e on H^*(B_u). As a c…
Let G be a reductive algebraic group over the algebraic closure of a finite field F_q of good characteristic. In this paper, we demonstrate a remarkable compatibility between the Springer correspondence for G and the parametrization of unipotent characters of G(F_q). In particular, we show that in a suitable sense, "large" portions of these two assignments in fact coincide. This extends earlier work of Lusztig on Springer representations within special pieces of the unipotent variety.
In this paper, we translate the Springer theory of Weyl group representations into the language of symplectic topology. Given a semisimple complex group G, we describe a Lagrangian brane in the cotangent bundle of the adjoint quotient g/G that produces the perverse sheaves of Springer theory. The main technical tool is an analysis of the Fourier transform for constructible sheaves from the perspective of the Fukaya category. Our results can be viewed as a toy model of the quantization of Hitchin fibers in the Geometric Langlands program.
Let V be a 2n dimensional vector space over an algebraically closed field of odd characteristic. Let G = GL(V) and H = Sp_{2n} be the symplectic group contained in G. We call X = G/H \times V the exotic symmetric space, since its "unipotent" part is isomorphic to Kato's exotic nilcone. Let W be the Weyl group of type C_n. Kato established the Springer correspondence between irreducible characters of W and H-orbits in the exotic nilcone, based on the Ginzburg theory of affine Hecke algebras. In this paper, we develpoe a theory of character sheaves on X, and give an alternate proof for the Sprin…
Let $G$ be a simply connected semisimple algebraic group over $\mathbb{C}$ and let $ρ:G\rightarrow GL(V_λ)$ be an irreducible representation of highest weight $λ$. Suppose that $ρ$ has finite kernel. Springer defined adjoint-invariant regular map with Zariski dense image from the group to its Lie algebra, $θ_λ:G\rightarrow\mathfrak{g}$, which depends on $λ$ [Kumar]. By a lemma in Kumar's recent paper, $θ_λ$ takes the maximal torus to its Lie algebra $\mathfrak{t}$. Thus, for a given simple group $G$ and an irreducible representation $V_λ$, one may write $θ_λ(t)=\sum\limits_{i=1}^n c_i(t)\check…
Recent work by a number of people has shown that complex reflection groups give rise to many representation-theoretic structures (e.g., generic degrees and families of characters), as though they were Weyl groups of algebraic groups. Conjecturally, these structures are actually describing the representation theory of as-yet undescribed objects called ''spetses'', of which reductive algebraic groups ought to be a special case. In this paper, we carry out the Lusztig--Shoji algorithm for calculating Green functions for the dihedral groups. With a suitable set-up, the output of this algorithm tur…
We establish equivalences of derived categories of the following 3 categories: (1) Principal block of representations of the quantum at a root of 1; (2) G-equivariant coherent sheaves on the Springer resolution; (3) Perverse sheaves on the loop Grassmannian for the Langlands dual group. The equivalence (1)-(2) is an `enhancement' of the known expression for quantum group cohomology in terms of nilpotent variety, due to Ginzburg-Kumar. The equivalence (2)-(3) is a step towards resolving an old mystery surrounding the existense of two completely different realizations of the affine Hecke algebra…
