We define the notion of character sheaf on a possibly disconnected reductive group. We show that the restriction functor carries a character sheaf to a direct sum of character sheaves.
We continue the study of character sheaves on a not necessarily connected reductive group. We prove orthogonality formulas for certain characteristic functions.
We classify the unipotent character sheaves on a fixed connected component of a reductive algebraic group under a mild hypothesis on the characteristic of the ground field.
We associate a two-sided cell to any (parabolic) character sheaf. We study the interaction of the duality operator for character sheaves and the operation of "twisted induction".
We continue the attempt to develop a theory of character sheaves on a not necessarily connected reductive algebraic group. In this paper we introduce and study the generalized Green functions.
The main theme of this paper is establishing the "generalized Springer correspondence" in complete generality that is, for not necessarily connected reductive algebraic groups.
We define and study convolution of parabolic character sheaves. As an application we attach to any parabolic character sheaf the orbit of a tame local system on the maximal torus under a subgroup of the Weyl group.
We relate a generic character sheaf on a disconnected reductive group with a character of a representation of the rational points of the group over a finite field extending a result known in the connected case.
In this paper we continue the study of character sheaves on a reductive group G. To each subset of the set of simple reflections in the Weyl group we associate an algebra of the same kind as an Iwahori-Hecke algebra with unequal parameters in terms of parabolic character sheaves. We also prove a Mackey type formula for character sheaves. We define a duality operation for character sheaves. We also prove a quasi-rationality property for character sheaves.
Let G be a possibly disconnected reductive group over a finite field with Frobenius map F. The main result of this paper is that the characteristic functions af "admissible complexes" A on G such that F^*A is isomorphic to A form a basis of the space of functions on G^F that are constant on G^{0F}-conjugacy classes.
Francois Rodier proved that it is possible to view smooth representations of certain totally disconnected abelian groups (the underlying additive group of a finite-dimensional p-adic vector space, for example) as sheaves on the Pontryagin dual group. For nonabelian totally disconnected groups, the appropriate dual space necessarily includes representations which are not one-dimensional, and does not carry a group structure. The general definition of the topology on the dual space is technically unwieldy, so we provide three different characterizations of this topology for a large class of tota…
Lusztig conjectured that the almost characters of a finite reductive group are up to a scalar the same as the characteristic functions of the rational character sheaves defined on the corresponding algebraic group. We propose in this paper to verify this conjecture for the uniform almost characters of the Suzuki and the Ree groups and to show that a conjecture of the same type holds for the disconnected case of type B_2. We then state a conjecture on the possible values of the uniform almost characters on unipotent elements in the disconnected case of type F_4.
Let G_0 be a connected unipotent algebraic group over a finite field F_q, and let G be the unipotent group over an algebraic closure F of F_q obtained from G_0 by extension of scalars. If M is a Frobenius-invariant character sheaf on G, we show that M comes from an irreducible perverse sheaf M_0 on G_0, which is pure of weight 0. As M ranges over all Frobenius-invariant character sheaves on G, the functions defined by the corresponding perverse sheaves M_0 form a basis of the space of conjugation-invariant functions on the finite group G_0(F_q), which is orthonormal with respect to the standar…
We introduce graded Hecke algebras H based on a (possibly disconnected) complex reductive group G and a cuspidal local system L on a unipotent orbit of a Levi subgroup M of G. These generalize the graded Hecke algebras defined and investigated by Lusztig for connected G. We develop the representation theory of the algebras H. obtaining complete and canonical parametrizations of the irreducible, the irreducible tempered and the discrete series representations. All the modules are constructed in terms of perverse sheaves and equivariant homology, relying on work of Lusztig. The parameters come d…
In the first section we study a functor of Bezrukavnikov, Finkelberg and Ostrik defined on character sheaves; we compute it in a Grothendieck group taking weights into account. In the second section we enlarge the class of character sheaves to a larger class of simple perverse sheaves which behaves well under tensor product (unlike the character sheaves themselves).
We give a definition of character sheaves on the group compactification which is equivalent to Lusztig's definition in \cite{L3}. We also prove some properties of the character sheaves on the group compactification.
We study a class of perverse sheaves on some spherical varieties which include the strata of the De Concini-Procesi completion of a symmetric variety. This is a generalization of the theory of (parabolic) character sheaves.
The theory of character sheaves on a reductive group is extended to a class of varieties which includes the strata of the De Concini-Procesi completion of an adjoint group.
We study a class of perverse sheaves on the variety of pairs (P,gU_P) where P runs through a conjugacy class of parabolics in a connected reductive group G and gU_P runs through G/U_P. This is a generalization of the theory of character sheaves.
This paper contains an exposition of the theory of character sheaves for reductive groups and some attempts to extend it to other cases: unipotent groups, reductive groups modulo the unipotent radical of a parabolic.
We define character sheaves on an ind-variety of the form G((t))/U_P where G((t)) is a loop group and U_P is the prounipotent radical of a parahoric subgroup P of G((t)).
Let G be a reductive connected group over the algebraic closure of a finite field. In this paper we give the classification of character sheaves on G in categorical terms (as a categorical centre). Previously such a classification was known for unipotent character sheaves and also in the case where the ground field is replaced by the complex numbers.
We give a block decomposition of the dg category of character sheaves on a simple and simply-connected complex reductive group $G$, similar to the one in generalized Springer correspondence. As a corollary, we identify the category of character sheaves on $G$ as the category of quasi-coherent sheaves on an explicitly defined derived stack $\widehat{G}$.
These are slides for a talk given by the authors at the conference "Current developments and directions in the Langlands program" held in honor of Robert Langlands at the Northwestern University in May of 2008. The slides can be used as a short introduction to the theory of characters and character sheaves for unipotent groups in positive characteristic, developed by the authors in a series of articles written between 2006 and 2011. We give an overview of the main results of this theory along with a bit of motivation.
Let $\mathtt{k}$ be an algebraic closure of a finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ of characteristic $p$. Let $G$ be a connected unipotent group over $\mathtt{k}$ equipped with an $\mathbb{F}_q$-structure given by a Frobenius map $F:G\to G$. We will denote the corresponding algebraic group defined over $\mathbb{F}_q$ by $G_0$. Character sheaves on $G$ are certain objects in the triangulated braided monoidal category $\mathscr{D}_G(G)$ of bounded conjugation equivariant $\bar{\mathbb{Q}}_l$-complexes (where $l\neq p$ is a prime number) on $G$. Boyarchenko has proved that the "trace of Frobenius" funct…
In this paper, we extend the notion of Shintani descent to general (possibly disconnected) algebraic groups defined over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. For this, it is essential to treat all the pure inner $\mathbb{F}_q$-rational forms of the algebraic group at the same time. We prove that the notion of almost characters (introduced by T. Shoji using Shintani descent) is well defined for any neutrally unipotent algebraic group, i.e. an algebraic group whose neutral connected component is a unipotent group. We also prove that these almost characters coincide with the "trace of Frobenius" functi…
Let $G$ be a semisimple adjoint group over $\bold C$ and $\bar{G}$ be the De Concini-Procesi completion of $G$. In this paper, we define a Lagrangian subvariety $Λ$ of the cotangent bundle of $\bar{G}$ such that the singular support of any character sheaf on $\bar{G}$ is contained in $Λ$.
We prove exactness of parabolic restriction and induction functors for conjugation equivariant sheaves on a reductive group generalizing a well known result of Lusztig who established this property for character sheaves. We propose a conjectural (but known for character sheaves) t-exactness property of the Harish-Chandra transform and provide an evidence for that conjecture. We also present two applications generalizing some results of Gabber and Loeser on perverse sheaves on an algebraic torus to an arbitrary reductive group.
We present various results on disconnected reductive groups, in particular about the characteristic 0 representation theory of such groups over finite fields.
We study three fundamental topics in the representation theory of disconnected algebraic groups whose identity component is reductive: (i) the classification of irreducible representations; (ii) the existence and properties of Weyl and dual Weyl modules; and (iii) the decomposition map relating representations in characteristic $0$ and those in characteristic $p$ (for groups defined over discrete valuation rings). For each of these topics, we obtain natural generalizations of the well-known results for connected reductive groups.
Let $G$ be an algebraic group over an algebraically closed field $\mathtt{k}$ of characteristic $p>0$. In this paper we develop the theory of character sheaves on groups $G$ such that their neutral connected components $G^\circ$ are solvable algebraic groups. For such algebraic groups $G$ (which we call neutrally solvable) we will define the set $\operatorname{CS}(G)$ of character sheaves on $G$ as certain special (isomorphism classes of) objects in the category $\mathscr{D}_G(G)$ of $G$-equivariant $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}_\ell$-complexes (where we fix a prime $\ell\neq p$) on $G$. We will desc…
Let $G$ be a connected reductive group over $F_q$, where $q$ is large enough and the center of $G$ is connected. We are concerned with Lusztig's theory of {\em character sheaves}, a geometric version of the classical character theory of the finite group $G(F_q)$. We show that under a certain technical condition, the restriction of a character sheaf to its {\em unipotent support} (as defined by Lusztig) is either zero or an irreducible local system. As an application, the generalized Gelfand-Graev characters are shown to form a $\Z$-basis of the $\Z$-module of unipotently supported virtual char…
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…
Let G be a reductive connected group over an algebraic closure of a finite field. I define a tensor structure on the category of perverse sheaves on G which are direct sums of unipotent character sheaves in a fixed two-sided cell, in accordance with a conjecture I have made in 2004. I also show that that the resulting monoidal category is equivalent to the centre of a monoidal category which I defined in 1997 (a categorical version of the J-ring attached to the same two-sided cell), thus verifying a conjecture of Bezrukavnikov, Finkelberg, Ostrik. A possible interpretation of unipotent charact…
Let $\mathbf{G}$ be a connected reductive group over an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{F}$ of good characteristic, satisfying some mild conditions. In this paper we relate tilting objects in the heart of Bezrukavnikov's exotic t-structure on the derived category of equivariant coherent sheaves on the Springer resolution of $\mathbf{G}$, and Iwahori-constructible $\mathbb{F}$-parity sheaves on the affine Grassmannian of the Langlands dual group. As applications we deduce in particular the missing piece for the proof of the Mirkovic-Vilonen conjecture in full generality (i.e. for good chara…
We relate the category of sheaves on alcoves that was constructed in "Sheaves on the alcoves and modular representations I" to the representation theory of reductive algebraic groups. In particular, we show that its indecomposable projective objects encode the simple rational characters of a reductive algebraic group in all characteristics above the Coxeter number.
Let X be an exotic symmetric space G/H \times V, where G= GL(V) and H = Sp(V) for a symplectic vector space V over an algebraically closed field of odd characteristic. In our previous papers, character sheaves on X were constructed based on the explicit data. In this paper, we give a conceptual definition of character sheaves on X based on the idea of Ginzburg in the case of symmetric spaces, which we call Ginzburg type character sheaves. We prove that Ginzburg type character sheaves on X actually coincide with those defined in our papers. This gives a classification of Ginzburg type character…
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group defined over a finite field of good characteristic, with associated Frobenius endomorphism $F$. In this article we extend an observation of Lusztig, (which gives a numerical relationship between an ordinary character of $G^F$ and its unipotent support), to the case where $Z(G)$ is disconnected. We then use this observation in some applications to the ordinary character theory of $G^F$.
With a view to determining character values of finite reductive groups at unipotent elements, we prove a number of results concerning inner products of generalised Gelfand-Graev characters with characteristic functions of character sheaves, here called Lusztig functions. These are used to determine projections of generalised Gelfand-Graev characters to the space of unipo- tent characters, and to the space of characters with a given wave front set. Such projections are expressed largely in terms of Weyl group data. We show how the values of characters at their unipotent support or wave front se…
In this paper we prove that the category of parity complexes on the flag variety of a complex connected reductive group is a "graded version" of the category of tilting perverse sheaves on the flag variety of the dual group, for any field of coefficients whose characteristic is good. We derive some consequences on Soergel's modular category O, and on multiplicities and decomposition numbers in the category of perverse sheaves.
We study the extension groups between (modular) Wakimoto sheaves in type $\tilde{A_1}$. Firstly we determine them completely over characteristic zero fields. Secondly we describe a dg model which allows us to compute these groups in the antispherical category for arbitrary coefficients.
We introduce a class of perverse sheaves on a partial flag manifold of a connected reductive group G defined over a finite field which are equivariant under the action of the group of rational points of G. The definition of this class is similar to the definition of parabolic character sheaves.
Let $G$ be a unipotent group over a field of characteristic $p > 0$. The theory of character sheaves on $G$ was initiated by V. Drinfeld and developed jointly with D. Boyarchenko. They also introduced the notion of $\mathbb{L}$-packets of character sheaves. Each $\mathbb{L}$-packet can be described in terms of a modular category. Now suppose that the nilpotence class of $G$ is less than $p$. Then the $\mathbb{L}$-packets are in bijection with the set $\mathfrak{g}^*/G$ of coadjoint orbits, where $\mathfrak{g}$ is the Lie ring scheme obtained from $G$ using the Lazard correspondence and $\mathf…
Let $G$ be a connected reductive group over $\kk$, an algebraic closure of a finite field. For an integer $r\ge 1$ let $G_r=G(\kk[\e]/(\e^r))$ viewed as an algebraic group of dimension $r\dim G$ over $\kk$. We show that the character of the generic principal series representation of $G_r(F_q)$ can be realized by a simple perverse sheaf on $G_r$ provided that $r=2$ or $r=4$ and we give a strategy to prove the same statement for any even $r$. (The case where $r=1$ is already known.)
In this paper, we carry out several computations involving graded (or $\mathbb{G}_{\mathrm{m}}$-equivariant) perverse-coherent sheaves on the nilpotent cone of a reductive group in good characteristic. In the first part of the paper, we compute the weight of the $\mathbb{G}_{\mathrm{m}}$-action on certain normalized (or "canonical") simple objects, confirming an old prediction of Ostrik. In the second part of the paper, we explicitly describe all simple perverse coherent sheaves for $G = PGL_3$, in every characteristic other than 2 or 3. Applications include an explicit description of the coho…