This is a draft of a monograph to appear in the Springer series "Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences", subseries "Invariant Theory and Algebraic Transformation Groups". The subject is homogeneous spaces of algebraic groups and their equivariant embeddings. The style of exposition is intermediate between survey and detailed monograph: some results are supplied with detailed proofs, while the other are cited without proofs but with references to the original papers.
The content is briefly as follows. Starting with basic properties of algebraic homogeneous spaces and related objects, such as induced representations, we focus the attention on homogeneous spaces of reductive groups and introduce two important invariants, called complexity and rank. For the embedding theory it is important that homogeneous spaces of small complexity admit a transparent combinatorial description of their equivariant embeddings. We consider the Luna-Vust theory of equivariant embeddings, paying special attention to the case of complexity not greater than one. A special chapter is devoted to spherical varieties (= embeddings of homogeneous spaces of complexity zero), due to their particular importance and ubiquity. A relation between equivariant embedding theory and equivariant symplectic geometry is also discussed. The book contains several classification results (homogeneous spaces of small complexity, etc).
The text presented here is not in a final form, and the author will be very grateful to any interested reader for his comments and/or remarks, which may be sent to the author by email.
We prove that the only rational homogeneous varieties with Picard number 1 of the exceptional algebraic groups admitting irreducible equivariant Ulrich vector bundles are the Cayley plane $E_6/P_1$ and the $E_7$-adjoint variety $E_7/P_1$. From this result, we see that a general hyperplane section $F_4/P_4$ of the Cayley plane also has an equivariant but non-irreducible Ulrich bundle.
Manin's conjecture predicts an asymptotic formula for the number of rational points of bounded height on a smooth projective variety in terms of its global geometric invariants. The strongest form of the conjecture implies certain inequalities among geometric invariants of the variety and of its subvarieties. We provide a general geometric framework explaining these phenomena, via the notion of balanced line bundles, and prove the required inequalities for a large class of equivariant compactifications of homogeneous spaces.
We characterize embeddability of algebraic varieties into smooth toric varieties and prevarieties. Our embedding results hold also in an equivariant context and thus generalize a well known embedding theorem of Sumihiro on quasiprojective G-varieties. The main idea is to reduce the embedding problem to the affine case. This is done by constructing equivariant affine conoids, a tool which extends the concept of an equivariant affine cone over a projective G-variety to a more general framework.
In the present paper we provide a general algorithm to compute multiplicative cohomological operations on algebraic oriented cohomology of projective homogeneous G-varieties, where G is a split reductive algebraic group over a field of characteristic 0. More precisely, we extend such operations to the respective T-equivariant (T is a maximal split torus of G) oriented theories, and then compute them using equivariant Schubert calculus techniques. This generalizes an approach suggested by Garibaldi-Petrov-Semenov for Steenrod operations. We also show that operations on the theories of additive …
An explicit projective embedding of the moduli space of marked cubic surfaces is given. This embedding is equivariant under the Weyl group of type E6. The image is defined by a system of linear and cubic equations. To express the embedding in a most symmetric way, the target would be 79-dimensional, however the image lies in a 9-dimensional linear subspace.
Heisenberg Equivariant Compactifications of Rational Homogeneous Varieties
Shenzhen University(深圳大学);Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院数学与系统科学研究院);University of Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院大学);Institute for Basic Science(基础科学研究所)
We prove a Chevalley formula for the equivariant quantum multiplication of two Schubert classes in the homogeneous variety X=G/P. As in the case when X is a Grassmannian, studied by the author in a previous paper, this formula implies an effective algorithm to compute the structure constants of the equivariant quantum cohomology algebra of X.
Let K be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, G_m=(K\{0},*) be its multiplicative group, and G_a=(K,+) be its additive group. Consider a commutative linear algebraic group G=G_m^r\times G_a. We study equivariant G-embeddings, i.e. normal G-varieties X containing G as an open orbit. We prove that X is a toric variety and all such actions of G on X correspond to Demazure roots of the fan of X. In these terms, the orbit structure of a G-variety X is described.
Let $X$ denote an equivariant embedding of a connected reductive group $G$ over an algebraically closed field $k$. Let $B$ denote a Borel subgroup of $G$ and let $Z$ denote a $B \times B$-orbit closure in $X$. When the characteristic of $k$ is positive and $X$ is projective we prove that $Z$ is globally $F$-regular. As a consequence, $Z$ is normal and Cohen-Macaulay for arbitrary $X$ and arbitrary characteristics. Moreover, in characteristic zero it follows that $Z$ has rational singularities. This extends earlier results by the second author and M. Brion.
We describe the equivariant cohomology ring of rationally smooth projective embeddings of reductive groups. These embeddings are the projectivizations of reductive monoids. Our main result describes their equivariant cohomology in terms of roots, idempotents, and underlying monoid data. Also, we characterize those embeddings whose equivariant cohomology ring is obtained via restriction to the associated toric variety. Such characterization is given in terms of the closed orbits.
Let $G$ be a connected affine algebraic group and $X$ a regular $G$-variety (in the sense of Bifet-De Concini-Procesi) with open orbit $G/H$ and boundary divisor $D$. We show the vanishing of the $G$-equivariant Chern classes of the bundle of differential forms on $X$ with logarithmic poles along $D$, in degrees larger than $\dim(X) - \rk(G) + \rk(H)$. Our motivation comes from Gieseker's degeneration method to prove the Newstead-Ramanan conjecture on the vanishing of the top Chern classes of the moduli space of stable vector bundles on a curve.
We study equivariant affine embeddings of homogeneous spaces and their equivariant automorphisms. An example of a quasiaffine, but not affine, homogeneous space with finitely many equivariant automorphisms is presented. We prove the solvability of any connected group of equivariant automorphisms for an affine embedding with a fixed point and finitely many orbits. This is applied to studying the orbital decomposition for algebraic monoids and canonical embeddings of quasiaffine homogeneous spaces, i.e., those affine embeddings associated with the coordinate algebras of homogeneous spaces, provi…
We prove the conjectures of Graham-Kumar and Griffeth-Ram concerning the alternation of signs in the structure constants for torus-equivariant K-theory of generalized flag varieties G/P. These results are immediate consequences of an equivariant homological Kleiman transversality principle for the Borel mixing spaces of homogeneous spaces, and their subvarieties, under a natural group action with finitely many orbits. The computation of the coefficients in the expansion of the equivariant K-class of a subvariety in terms of Schubert classes is reduced to an Euler characteristic using the homol…
We prove a parametric Oka principle for equivariant sections of a holomorphic fibre bundle $E$ with a structure group bundle $\mathscr G$ on a reduced Stein space $X$, such that the fibre of $E$ is a homogeneous space of the fibre of $\mathscr G$, with the complexification $K^\mathbb C$ of a compact real Lie group $K$ acting on $X$, $\mathscr G$, and $E$. Our main result is that the inclusion of the space of $K^\mathbb C$-equivariant holomorphic sections of $E$ over $X$ into the space of $K$-equivariant continuous sections is a weak homotopy equivalence. The result has a wide scope; we describ…
We use representation theory to construct spaces of matrices of constant rank. These spaces are parametrized by the natural representation of the general linear group or the symplectic group. We present variants of this idea, with more complicated representations, and others with the orthogonal group. Our spaces of matrices correspond to vector bundles which are homogeneous but sometimes admit deformations to non-homogeneous vector bundles, showing that these spaces of matrices sometimes admit large families of deformations.
Using a transversality argument, we demonstrate the positivity of certain coefficients in the equivariant cohomology and K-theory of a generalized flag manifold. This strengthens earlier equivariant positivity theorems (of Graham and Anderson-Griffeth-Miller) by further constraining the roots which can appear in these coefficients. As an application, we deduce that structure constants for comultiplication in the equivariant K-theory of an infinite flag manifold exhibit an unusual positivity property, establishing conjectures of Lam-Lee-Shimozono. Along the way, we present alternative formulas …
Let $X$ be a rational homogeneous space and let $QH^*(X)_{loc}^\times$ be the group of invertible elements in the small quantum cohomology ring of $X$ localised in the quantum parameters. We generalise results of arXiv:math/0609796 and realise explicitly the map $π_1({\rm Aut}(X))\to QH^*(X)_{loc}^\times$ described in arXiv:dg-ga/9511011. We even prove that this map is an embedding and realise it in the equivariant quantum cohomology ring $QH^*_T(X)_{loc}^\times$. We give explicit formulas for the product by these elements. The proof relies on a generalisation, to a quotient of the equivariant…
We show that the equivariant Gromov-Witten invariants of a projective homogeneous space G/P exhibit Graham-positivity: when expressed as polynomials in the positive roots, they have nonnegative coefficients.
We study equivariant embeddings with small boundary of a given homogeneous space $G/H$, where $G$ is a connected, linear algebraic group with trivial Picard group and only trivial characters, and $H \subset G$ is an extension of a connected Grosshans subgroup by a torus. Under certain maximality conditions, like completeness, we obtain finiteness of the number of isomorphism classes of such embeddings, and we provide a combinatorial description the embbeddings and their morphisms. The latter allows a systematic treatment of examples and basic statements on the geometry of the equivariant embed…
Let k be a field of characteristic 0 and let X be a smooth geometrically integral k-variety. In our previous paper we defined the extended Picard complex UPic(X) as a certain complex of Galois modules in degrees 0 and 1. We computed the isomorphism class of UPic(G) in the derived category of Galois modules for a connected linear k-group G. In this paper we assume that X is a homogeneous space of a connected linear k-group G with geometric stabilizer H. We compute the isomorphism class of UPic(X) in the derived category of Galois modules in terms of the character groups of G and H. The proof is…
We prove a positivity result in (T-)equivariant quantum cohomology of the homogeneous space G/P, generalizing Graham's positivity in equivariant cohomology.
This text is an introduction to equivariant cohomology, a classical tool for topological transformation groups, and to equivariant intersection theory, a much more recent topic initiated by D. Edidin and W. Graham. It is based on lectures given at Montréal is Summer 1997. Our main aim is to obtain explicit descriptions of cohomology or Chow rings of certain manifolds with group actions which arise in representation theory, e.g. homogeneous spaces and their compactifications. As another appplication of equivariant intersection theory, we obtain simple versions of criteria for smoothness or rati…
We describe recent work on positive descriptions of the structure constants of the cohomology of homogeneous spaces such as the Grassmannian, by degenerations and related methods. We give various extensions of these rules, some new and conjectural, to K-theory, equivariant cohomology, equivariant K-theory, and quantum cohomology.
We study equivariant projective compactifications of reductive groups obtained by closing the image of a group in the space of operators of a projective representation. We describe the structure and the mutual position of their orbits under the action of the doubled group by left/right multiplications, the local structure in a neighborhood of a closed orbit, and obtain some conditions of normality and smoothness of a compactification. Our methods of research use the theory of equivariant embeddings of spherical homogeneous spaces and of reductive algebraic semigroups.
In a previous paper Affine symmetries of the equivariant quantum cohomology of rational homogeneous spaces, a general formula was given for the multiplication by some special Schubert classes in the quantum cohomology of any homogeneous space. Although this formula is correct in the non equivariant setting, the stated equivariant version was wrong. We provide corrections for the equivariant formula, thus giving a correct argument for the non equivariant formula. We also give new formulas in the equivariant homology of the affine grassmannian that could lead to Pieri type formulas.
We survey recent results on open embeddings of the affine space $\mathbb{C}^n$ into a complete algebraic variety $X$ such that the action of the vector group $\mathbb{G}_a^n$ on $\mathbb{C}^n$ by translations extends to an action of $\mathbb{G}_a^n$ on $X$. We begin with Hassett-Tschinkel correspondence describing equivariant embeddings of $\mathbb{C}^n$ into projective spaces and give its generalization for embeddings into projective hypersurfaces. Further sections deal with embeddings into flag varieties and their degenerations, complete toric varieties, and Fano varieties of certain types.
We define the equivariant Cox ring of a normal variety with algebraic group action. We study algebraic and geometric aspects of this object and show how it is related to the ordinary Cox ring. Then, we specialize to the case of normal rational varieties of complexity one under the action of a connected reductive group G. We show that the G-equivariant Cox ring is then a finitely generated integral normal G-algebra. Under a mild additional condition, we give a presentation by generators and relations of its subalgebra of U-invariants, where U is the unipotent part of a Borel subgroup of G. The …
In this paper we construct an equivariant embedding of the affine space $\mathbb{A}^n$ with the translation group action into a complete non-projective algebraic variety $X$ for all $n \geq 3$. The theory of toric varieties is used as the main tool for this construction. In the case of $n = 3$ we describe the orbit structure on the variety $X$.
Let $G$ be a connected reductive complex algebraic group. Luna assigned to any spherical homogeneous space $G/H$ a combinatorial object called a homogeneous spherical datum. By a theorem of Losev, this object uniquely determines $G/H$ up to $G$-equivariant isomorphism. In this paper, we determine the homogeneous spherical datum of a $G$-orbit $X_0$ in a spherical embedding $G/H \hookrightarrow X$. As an application, we obtain a description of the colored fan associated to the spherical embedding $X_0 \hookrightarrow \bar{X_0}$.
We classify the pairs $(C,G)$ where $C$ is a seminormal curve over an arbitrary field $k$ and $G$ is a smooth connected algebraic group acting faithfully on $C$ with a dense orbit, and we determine the equivariant Picard group of $C$. We also give a partial classification when $C$ is no longer assumed to be seminormal.
Let X=G/P be a homogeneous space and e_k be the class of a simple coroot in H_2(X). A theorem of Strickland shows that for almost all X, the variety of pointed lines of degree e_k, denoted Z_k(X), is again a homogeneous space. For these X we show that the 3-point, genus 0, equivariant K-theoretic Gromov-Witten invariants of lines of degree e_k are equal to quantities obtained in the (ordinary) equivariant K-theory of Z_k(X). We apply this to compute the structure constants N_{u,v}^{w, e_k} for degree e_k from the multiplication of two Schubert classes in the equivariant quantum K-theory ring o…
We study global primary decompositions in the category of sheaves on a scheme which are equivariant under the action of an algebraic group. We show that equivariant primary decompositions exist if the group is connected. As main application we consider the case of varieties which are quotients of a quasi-affine variety by the action of a diagonalizable group and thus admit a homogeneous coordinate ring, such as toric varieties. Comparing these decompositions with primary decompositions of graded modules over the homogeneous coordinate ring, we show that these are equivalent if the action of th…
We classify generically transitive actions of semidirect products of an additive and a multiplicative group on the projective plane. Motivated by the program to study the distribution of rational points on del Pezzo surfaces (Manin's conjecture), we determine all (possibly singular) del Pezzo surfaces that are equivariant compactifications of homogeneous spaces for such semidirect products.
Let G be a connected reductive group. Recall that a G-variety X is called spherical if X is normal and a Borel subgroup of G has an open orbit on X. To a spherical homogeneous G-space one assigns certain combinatorial invariants: the weight lattice, the valuation cone and the set of B-stable prime divisors. We prove that two spherical homogeneous spaces with the same combinatorial invariants are equivariantly isomorphic. Further, we show how to recover the group of G-equivariant automorphisms from these invariants.
The aim of this paper is to describe how to obtain residue-type formulas for push-forwards in equivariant cohomology, using the Jeffrey-Kirwan nonabelian localization theorem and the related result of Guillemin and Kalkman. This paper relates the description of equivariant push-forwards for homogeneous spaces of classical Lie groups with the action of the maximal torus with symplectic geometry, using the example of projective spaces and classical Grassmannians.
The aim of this paper is to study further the universal toric genus of compact homogeneous spaces and their homogeneous fibrations. We consider the homogeneous spaces with positive Euler characteristic. It is well known that such spaces carry many stable complex structures equivariant under the canonical action of the maximal torus $T^k$. As the torus action in this case has only isolated fixed points it is possible to effectively apply localization formula for the universal toric genus. Using this we prove that the famous topological results related to rigidity and multiplicativity of a Hirze…
Let $\mc G$ be a reductive group over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$. We study homogeneous $\mc G$-spaces that are induced from the $G\times G$-space $G$, $G$ a suitable reductive group, along a parabolic subgroup of $\mc G$. We show that, under certain mild assumptions, any (normal) equivariant embedding of such a homogeneous space is canonically Frobenius split compatible with certain subvarieties and has an equivariant rational resolution by a toroidal embedding. In particular, all these embeddings are Cohen-Macaulay. Examples are the $G\times G$-orbits in normal redu…
We establish a localization theorem of Borel-Atiyah-Segal type for the equivariant operational K-theory of Anderson and Payne. Inspired by the work of Chang-Skjelbred and Goresky-Kottwitz-MacPherson, we establish a general form of GKM theory in this setting, applicable to singular schemes with torus action. Our results are deduced from those in the smooth case via Gillet-Kimura's technique of cohomological descent for equivariant envelopes. As an application, we extend Uma's description of the equivariant K-theory of smooth compactifications of reductive groups to the equivariant operational K…
Let G be a reductive group over an algebraically closed field of characteristic p>0. We study properties of embeddings of spherical homogeneous G-spaces. We look at Frobenius splittings, canonical or by a (p-1)-th power, compatible with certain subvarieties. We also look at cohomology vanishing and show the existence of rational G-equivariant resolutions by toroidal embeddings. We show that the class of homogeneous spaces for which our results hold contains the symmetric homogeneous spaces in characteristic not 2 and is closed under parabolic induction.
We study open equivariant projective embeddings of homogeneous spaces such that the complement of the open orbit does not contain divisors. Criterions of existence of such an embedding are considered and finiteness of isomorphism classes of embeddings for a given homogeneous space is proved. Any embedding with small boundary is realized as a GIT-quotient associated with a linearization of the trivial line bundle on the space of the canonical embedding. The generalized Cox's construction and the theory of bunched rings allow us to describe basic geometric properties of embeddings with small bou…
Let k_0 be a field of characteristic 0, and let k be a fixed algebraic closure of k_0. Let G be an algebraic k-group, and let Y be a G-variety over k. Let G_0 be a k_0 -model (k_0 -form) of G. We ask whether Y admits a G_0 -equivariant k_0 -model Y_0 of Y. We assume that Y admits a G_q -equivariant k_0 -model Y_q, where G_q is an inner form of G_0. We give a Galois-cohomological criterion for the existence of a G_0 -equivariant k_0 -model Y_0 of Y. We apply this criterion to spherical homogeneous varieties Y=G/H.
Smooth Schubert varieties in rational homogeneous manifolds of Picard number 1 are horospherical varieties. We characterize standard embeddings of smooth Schubert varieties in rational homogeneous manifolds of Picard number 1 by means of varieties of minimal rational tangents. In particular, we mainly consider nonhomogeneous smooth Schubert varieties in symplectic Grassmannians and in the 20-dimensional $F_4$-homogeneous manifold associated to a short simple root.
Let $G$ be a connected reductive group. We find a necessary and sufficient condition for a quasiaffine homogeneous space of $G$ to be embeddable into an irreducible $G$-module. In addition, for an affine homogeneous space we find a criterium for a closed embedding to exist
Let G be a reductive algebraic group and H a closed subgroup of G. An affine embedding of the homogeneous space G/H is an affine G-variety with an open G-orbit isomorphic to G/H. We start with some basic properties of affine embeddings and consider the cases, where the theory is well-developed: toric varieties, normal SL(2)-embeddings, S-varieties, and algebraic monoids. We discuss connections between the theory of affine embeddings and Hilbert's 14th Problem via a theorem of Grosshans. We characterize affine homogeneous spaces G/H such that any affine embedding of G/H contains a finite number…
We survey recent work, published since 2015, on equivariant Oka theory. The main results described in the survey are as follows. Homotopy principles for equivariant isomorphisms of Stein manifolds on which a reductive complex Lie group $G$ acts. Applications to the linearisation problem. A parametric Oka principle for sections of a bundle $E$ of homogeneous spaces for a group bundle $\mathscr G$, all over a reduced Stein space $X$ with compatible actions of a reductive complex group on $E$, $\mathscr G$, and $X$. Application to the classification of generalised principal bundles with a group a…
Let G --> G' be an embedding of semisimple complex Lie groups, let B and B' be a pair of nested Borel subgroups, and let f:G/B --> G'/B' be the associated equivariant embedding of flag manifolds. We study the pullbacks of cohomologies of invertible sheaves on G'/B' along the embedding f. Let O' be a G'-equivariant invertible sheaf on G'/B', and let O be its restriction to G/B. Consider the G-equivariant pullback on cohomology p : H(G'/B',O') --> H(G/B,O). The Borel-Weil-Bott theorem implies that the two cohomology spaces above are irreducible modules of G' and G respectively. By Schur's lemma,…