For the classical groups, Kraft and Procesi have resolved the question of which nilpotent orbits have closures which are normal and which are not, with the exception of the very even orbits in $D_{2l}$ which have partition of the form $(a^{2k}, b^2)$ for $a, b$ distinct even natural numbers with $a k + b = 2 l$.
In this article, we show that these orbits do have normal closure.
We determine which nilpotent orbits in $E_6$ have normal closure and which do not. We also verify a conjecture about small representations in rings of functions on nilpotent orbit covers for type $E_6$.
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.
In the case of complex symplectic and orthogonal groups, we find $(\mathfrak{g}, K)-$modules with the property that their $K-$structure matches the structure of regular functions on the closures of nilpotent orbits. This establishes a version of the Orbit Method of Kirrilov-Kostant-Souriau as proposed by Vogan. In the process we give another proof of the classification of nilpotent orbits with normal closure in the Lie algebra of a classical group first established by Kraft-Procesi.
In this paper, we compute the character formula of the Brylinski model for all classical nilpotent varieties $\overline{\mathcal{O}}$. As a consequence, one can compute the multiplicities of all $K-$types of the ring of regular functions $R(\overline{\mathcal{O}})$ for all classical nilpotent varieties.
In this note we investigate the normality of closures of orthogonal and symplectic nilpotent orbits in positive characteristic. We prove that the closure of such a nilpotent orbit is normal provided that neither type d nor type e minimal irreducible degeneration occurs in the closure, and conversely if the closure is normal, then any type e minimal irreducible degeneration does not occur in it. Here, the minimal irreducible degenerations of a nilpotent orbit are introduced by W. Hesselink in [6] (or see [11] from which we take Table 1 for the complete list of all minimal irreducible degenerati…
We relate the geometry of Schubert varieties in twisted affine Grassmannian and the nilpotent varieties in symmetric spaces. This extends some results of Achar-Henderson in the twisted setting. We also get some applications to the geometry of the order 2 nilpotent varieties in certain classical symmetric spaces.
We study the regular function ring $R(\mathcal{O})$ for all symplectic nilpotent orbits $\mathcal{O}$ with even column sizes. We begin by recalling the quantization model for all such orbits by Barbasch using unipotent representations. With this model, we express the multiplicities of fundamental representations appearing in $R(\mathcal{O})$ by a parabolically induced module. Finally, we will use this formula to give a criterion on the normality of the Zariski closure $\bar{\mathcal{O}}$ of $\mathcal{O}$.
Let $M$ be a $G$-covering of a nilpotent orbit in $\g$ where $G$ is a complex semisimple Lie group and $\g=\text{Lie}(G)$. We prove that under Poisson bracket the space $R[2]$ of homogeneous functions on $M$ of degree 2 is the unique maximal semisimple Lie subalgebra of $R=R(M)$ containing $\g$. The action of $\g'\simeq R[2]$ exponentiates to an action of the corresponding Lie group $G'$ on a $G'$-cover $M'$ of a nilpotent orbit in $\g'$ such that $M$ is open dense in $M'$. We determine all such pairs $(\g\subset\g')$.
We study closures of conjugacy classes in the symmetric matrices of the orthogonal group and we determine which one are normal varieties. In contrast to the result for the symplectic group where all classes have normal closure, there is only a relatively small portion of classes with normal closure. We perform a combinatorial computation on top of the same methods used by Kraft-Procesi and Ohta.
For a connected, simply-connected complex simple algebraic group $G$, we examine a class of Hessenberg varieties associated with the minimal nilpotent orbit. In particular, we compute the Poincaré polynomials and irreducible components of these varieties in Lie type $A$. Furthermore, we show these Hessenberg varieties to be GKM with respect to the action of a maximal torus $T\subseteq G$. The corresponding GKM graphs are then explicitly determined. Finally, we present the ordinary and $T$-equivariant cohomology rings of our varieties as quotients of those of the flag variety.
We prove that in characteristic zero the multiplication of sections of dominant line bundles on a complete symmetric variety $X=\bar{G/H}$ is a surjective map. As a consequence the cone defined by a complete linear system over $X$, or over a closed $G$ stable subvariety of $X$ is normal. This gives an affirmative answer to a question raised by Faltings. A crucial point of the proof is a combinatorial property of root systems.
Our goal is to classify all generically transitive actions of commutative unipotent groups on flag varieties up to conjugation. We establish relationship between this problem and classification of multiplications with certain properties on Lie algebra representations. Then we classify multiplications with the desired properties and solve the initial classification problem.
We study the geometry of equicharacteristic partial affine flag varieties associated to tamely ramified groups $G$ in characteristics $p>0$ dividing the order of the fundamental group $π_1(G_{\text{der}})$. We obtain that most Schubert varieties are not normal and provide an explicit criterion for when this happens. Apart from this, we show, on the one hand, that loop groups of semisimple groups satisfying $p \mid \lvert π_1(G_{\text{der}})\rvert$ are not reduced, and on the other hand, that their integral realizations are ind-flat. Our methods allow us to classify all tamely ramified Pappas-Z…
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 give a closed expression for the number of points over finite fields (or the motive) of the Lusztig nilpotent variety associated to any quiver, in terms of Kac's A-polynomials. When the quiver has 1-loops or oriented cycles, there are several possible variants of the Lusztig nilpotent variety, and we provide formulas for the point count of each. This involves nilpotent versions of the Kac A-polynomial, which we introduce and for which we give a closed formula similar to Hua's formula for the usual Kac A-polynomial. Finally we compute the number of points over a finite field of the various s…
We prove that the multiplication of sections of globally generated line bundles on a model wonderful variety M of simply connected type is always surjective. This follows by a general argument which works for every wonderful variety and reduces the study of the surjectivity for every couple of globally generated line bundles to a finite number of cases. As a consequence, the cone defined by a complete linear system over M or over a closed G-stable subvariety of M is normal. We apply these results to the study of the normality of the compactifications of model varieties in simple projective spa…
We prove that special ample line bundles on toric varieties arising from root systems are projectively normal. Here the maximal cones of the fans correspond to the Weyl chambers, and special means that the bundle is torus-equivariant such that the character of the line bundle that corresponds to a maximal Weyl chamber is dominant with respect to that chamber. Moreover, we prove that the associated semigroup rings are quadratic.
Linear degenerate flag varieties are degenerations of flag varieties as quiver Grassmannians. For type A flag varieties, we obtain characterizations of flatness, irreducibility and normality of these degenerations via rank tuples. Some of them are shown to be isomorphic to Schubert varieties and can be realized as highest weight orbits of partially degenerate Lie algebras, generalizing the corresponding results on degenerate flag varieties. To study normality, cell decompositions of quiver Grassmannians are constructed in a wider context of equioriented quivers of type A.
We present two methods for computing the rational singular locus of the closure of a nilpotent orbit in a complex semisimple Lie algebra and give a number of interesting examples.
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…
Let $\N_n$ be the set of nilpotent $n$ by $n$ matrices over an algebraically closed field $k$. For each $r\ge 2$, let $C_r(\N_n)$ be the variety consisting of all pairwise commuting $r$-tuples of nilpotent matrices. It is well-kown that $C_2(\N_n)$ is irreducible for every $n$. We study in this note the reducibility of $C_r(\N_n)$ for various values of $n$ and $r$. In particular it will be shown that the reducibility of $C_r(\mathfrak{gl}_n)$, the variety of commuting $r$-tuples of $n$ by $n$ matrices, implies that of $C_r(\N_n)$ under certain condition. Then we prove that $C_r(\N_n)$ is reduc…
Motivated by questions in modular representation theory, Carlson, Friedlander, and the first author introduced the varieties E(r, g) of r-dimensional abelian p-nilpotent subalgebras of a p-restricted Lie algebra g. In this paper, we identify the varieties E(r, g) for a reductive restricted Lie algebra g and r the maximal dimension of an abelian p-nilpotent subalgebra of g.
Let $\mathcal{O}$ be a Richardson nilpotent orbit in a simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ over $\mathbb C$, induced from a Levi subalgebra whose simple roots are orthogonal short roots. The main result of the paper is a description of a minimal set of generators of the ideal defining $\overline{ \mathcal{O}}$ in $S \mathfrak{g}^*$. In such cases, the ideal is generated by bases of at most two copies of the representation whose highest weight is the dominant short root, along with some fundamental invariants. This extends Broer's result for the subregular nilpotent orbit. Along the way we give a…
Given a classical semisimple complex algebraic group G and a symmetric pair (G, K) of non-Hermitian type, we study the closures of the spherical nilpotent K-orbits in the isotropy representation of K. For all such orbit closures, we study the normality and we describe the K-module structure of the ring of regular functions of the normalizations.
We prove that the nilpotent commuting variety of a reductive Lie algebra over an algebraically closed field of good characteristic is equidimensional. In characteristic zero, this confirms a conjecture of Vladimir Baranovsky. As a by-product, we obtain tat the punctual (local) Hilbert scheme parametrising the ideals of colength $n$ in $k[[X,Y]]$ is irreducible over any algebraically closed field $k$.
It is known that the set of irreducible components of nilpotent varieties provides a geometric realization of the crystal basis for quantum groups. For each reduced expression of a Weyl group element, Geiß, Leclerc and Schröer has recently given a parametrization of irreducible components of nilpotent varieties in studying cluster algebras. In this paper we show that their parametrization coincides with Lusztig's parametrization of the canonical basis.
We define a binary operation on the set of irreducible components of Lusztig's nilpotent varieties of a quiver. We study commutativity, cancellativity and associativity of this operation. We focus on rigid irreducible components and discuss inductive ways to construct them.
Let R(N,G) be the connected component of the identity of the variety of representations of a finitely generated nilpotent group N into a connected compact Lie group G, and let X(N,G) be the corresponding moduli space. We show that there exists a natural Out(N)-invariant measure on X(N,G) and that whenever Out(N) has at least one hyperbolic element, the action of Out(N) on X(N,G) is mixing with respect to this measure.
We consider a reductive dual pair (G, G') in the stable range with G' the smaller member and of Hermitian symmetric type. We study the theta lifting of nilpotent K'_C-orbits, where K' is a maximal compact subgroup of G' and we describe the precise K_C-module structure of the regular function ring of the closure of the lifted nilpotent orbit of the symmetric pair (G, K). As an application, we prove sphericality and normality of the closure of certain nilpotent K_C-orbits obtained in this way. We also give integral formulas for their degrees.
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 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…
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…
Generalizing Schubert cells in type A and a cell decomposition if Springer fibres in type A found by L. Fresse we prove that varieties of complete flags in nilpotent representations of an oriented cycle admit an affine cell decomposition parametrized by multi-tableaux. We show that they carry a torus operation and describe the T-equivariant cohomology using Goresky-Kottwitz-MacPherson-theory. As an application of the cell decomposition we obtain a vector space basis of certain modules (for quiver Hecke algebras of nilpotent representations of this quiver), similar modules have been studied by …
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 …
For a finite group scheme G over an algebraically closed field k of characteristic p>0 we study G-modules M, which are defined in terms of properties of their pull-backs along p-points of G. We show that the corresponding subcategories strongly depend on the structure of G. The second part of the paper discusses recent work by Carlson-Friedlander-Suslin concerning the subcategory of equal images modules from the vantage point of Auslander-Reiten theory.
We study the anti-commuting variety which consists of pairs of anti-commuting $n\times n$ matrices. We provide an explicit description of its irreducible components and their dimensions. The GIT quotient of the anti-commuting variety with respect to the conjugation action of $GL_n$ is shown to be of pure dimension $n$. We also show the semi-nilpotent anti-commuting variety (in which one matrix is required to be nilpotent) is of pure dimension $n^2$ and describe its irreducible components.
The paper studies the dimensions of irreducible components of commuting varieties of (restricted) nilpotent $r$-tuples in a classical Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ defined over an algebraically closed field $k$. As applications, we obtain some new results on the structure of the (even) cohomology ring of Frobenius kernels $G_r$ for each $r\ge 1$, where $G$ is the simply connected, simple algebraic group such that $\text{Lie}(G)=\mathfrak{g}$. Explicit calculations for rank two groups are also presented.
We prove an explicit formula for the Poincaré polynomials of parabolic character varieties of Riemann surfaces with semisimple local monodromies, which was conjectured by Hausel, Letellier and Rodriguez-Villegas. Using an approach of Mozgovoy and Schiffmann the problem is reduced to counting pairs of a parabolic vector bundles and a nilpotent endomorphism of prescribed generic type. The generating function counting these pairs is shown to be a product of Macdonald polynomials and the function counting pairs without parabolic structure. The modified Macdonald polynomial $\tilde H_λ[X;q,t]$ is i…
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…
It is known that the variety parametrizing pairs of commuting nilpotent matrices is irreducible and that this provides a proof of the irreducibility of the punctual Hilbert scheme in the plane. We extend this link to the nilpotent commuting variety of parabolic subalgebras of $M\_n(\K)$ and to the punctual nested Hilbert scheme. By this method, we obtain a lower bound on the dimension of these moduli spaces. We characterize the numerical conditions under which they are irreducible. In some reducible cases, we describe the irreducible components and their dimension.
We consider two partial orders on standard Young tableaux. The first one is induced from the weak right Bruhat order on symmetric group by Robinson-Schensted algorithm. The second one is induced from the order on Young diagrams by considering a Young tableau as a chain of Young diagrams. We show that these two orders of completely different nature coincide on the subset of Young tableaux with 2 columns or with 2 rows. This fact has very interesting geometric implications for orbital varieties of nilpotent order 2 in sl(n).
Let Q be a Dynkin quiver, and let P(Q) be the corresponding preprojective algebra. Let I be a set of pairwise different indecomposable irreducible components of varieties of P(Q)-modules such that generically there are no extensions between these components. We show that the number of elements in I is at most the number of positive roots of Q. Furthermore, we give a module theoretic interpretation of Leclerc's counterexample to a conjecture of Berenstein and Zelevinsky.
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…
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…
In the first part of the paper we defined and studied a binary operation on the set of irreducible components of Lusztig's nilpotent varieties of a quiver. For type $A$ we conjecture, following Geiss and Schröer, that this operation is compatible with taking the socle of parabolic induction of representations of general linear groups over a local non-archimedean field, at least when one of the irreducible components is rigid. We verify this conjecture in special cases.
Regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties form a family of subvarieties of the flag variety arising in the study of quantum cohomology, geometric representation theory, and numerical analysis. In this paper we construct a paving by affines of regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties for all classical types, generalizing results of de Concini-Lusztig-Procesi and Kostant. This paving is in fact the intersection of a particular Bruhat decomposition with the Hessenberg variety. The nonempty cells of the paving and their dimensions are identified by combinatorial conditions on roots. We use the paving t…
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group with $\mathfrak g=\mathsf{Lie} G$ and $\mathcal O_{\sf min}\subset\mathfrak g$ the minimal nilpotent orbit. For a $\mathbb Z_2$-grading $\mathfrak g=\mathfrak g_0\oplus\mathfrak g_1$, let $G_0$ be a connected subgroup of $G$ with $\mathsf{Lie} G_0=\mathfrak g_0$. We study the $G_0$-equivariant projections $φ:\overline{\mathcal O_{\sf min}}\to \mathfrak g_0$ and $ψ:\overline{\mathcal O_{\sf min}}\to\mathfrak g_1$. It is shown that the properties of $\overline{φ(\mathcal O_{\sf min})}$ and $\overline{ψ(\mathcal O_{\sf min})}$ essentially depend on whether the …