Let $k$ be a field. We consider triples $(V,U,T)$, where $V$ is a finite dimensional $k$-space, $U$ a subspace of $V$ and $T \:V \to V$ a linear operator with $T^n = 0$ for some $n$, and such that $T(U) \subseteq U$. Thus, $T$ is a nilpotent operator on $V$, and $U$ is an invariant subspace with respect to $T$.
We will discuss the question whether it is possible to classify these triples. These triples $(V,U,T)$ are the objects of a category with the Krull-Remak-Schmidt property, thus it will be sufficient to deal with indecomposable triples. Obviously, the classification problem depends on $n$, and it will turn out that the decisive case is $n=6.$ For $n < 6$, there are only finitely many isomorphism classes of indecomposables triples, whereas for $n > 6$ we deal with what is called ``wild'' representation type, so no complete classification can be expected.
For $n=6$, we will exhibit a complete description of all the indecomposable triples.
Let $G$ be a semisimple algebraic group with Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$. For a nilpotent $G$-orbit $\mathcal O\subset\mathfrak g$, let $d_\mathcal O$ denote the maximal dimension of a subspace $V\subset \mathfrak g$ that is contained in the closure of $\mathcal O$. In this note, we prove that $d_\mathcal O \le \frac{1}{2}\dim\mathcal O$ and this upper bound is attained if and only if $\mathcal O$ is a Richardson orbit. Furthermore, if $V$ is $B$-stable and $\dim V= \frac{1}{2}\dim\mathcal O$, then $V$ is the nilradical of a polarisation of $\mathcal O$. Every nilpotent orbit closure has a disti…
The main aim of the paper is to present a~combinatorial algorithm that, applying Littlewood-Richardson tableaux with entries equal to $1$, computes generic extensions of semisimple invariant subspaces of nilpotent linear operators. Moreover, we discuss geometric properties of generic extensions and their connections with combinatorics.
We consider two types of nilpotent invariants associated to smooth representations, namely generalized Whittaker models, and associated characters (in the case of a real reductive group). We survey some recent results on the behavior of these nilpotent invariants under local theta correspondence, and highlight the special role of a certain double fiberation of moment maps.
The paper considers subspaces of the strictly upper triangular matrices, which are stable under Lie bracket with any upper triangular matrix. These subspaces are called ad-nilpotent ideals and there are Catalan number of such subspaces. Each ad-nilpotent ideal meets a unique largest nilpotent orbit in the Lie algebra of all matrices. The main result of the paper is that under an equivalence relation on ad-nilpotent ideals studied by Mizuno and others, the equivalence classes are the ad-nilpotent ideals with the same largest nilpotent orbit. We include two applications of the result, one to the…
Premet has conjectured that the nilpotent variety of any finite-dimensional restricted Lie algebra is an irreducible variety. In this paper, we prove this conjecture in the case of Hamiltonian Lie algebra. and show that its nilpotent variety is normal and a complete intersection. In addition, we generalize the Chevalley Restriction theorem to Hamiltonian Lie algebra. Accordingly, we give the generators of the invariant polynomial ring.
We study geometric properties of varieties associated with invariant subspaces of nilpotent operators. There are reductive algebraic groups acting on these varieties. We give dimensions of orbits of these actions. Moreover, a combinatorial characterization of the partial order given by degenerations is described.
We study invariant distributions on the tangent space to a symmetric space. We prove that an invariant distribution with the property that both its support and the support of its Fourier transform are contained in the set of non-distinguished nilpotent orbits, must vanish. We deduce, using recent developments in the theory of invariant distributions on symmetric spaces that the symmetric pair (GL(2n,R),Sp(2n,R)) is a Gelfand pair. More precisely, we show that for any irreducible smooth admissible Frechet representation $(π,E)$ of GL(2n,R) the space of continuous functionals $Hom_{Sp_{2n}(R)}(E…
Let $\be$ be a Borel subalgebra of a complex simple Lie algebra $\g$. An ideal of $\be$ is called ad-nilpotent, if it is contained in $[\be,\be]$. The generators of an ad-nilpotent ideal give rise to an antichain in the poset of positive roots, and the whole theory can be expressed in a combinatorial fashion, in terms of antichains. The aim of this paper is to present a refinement of the enumerative theory of ad-nilpotent ideals for the case in which $\g$ has roots of different length. An antichain is called short, if it consists of short roots. We obtain, for short antichains, analogues of al…
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…
We construct an explicit set of algebraically independent generators for the center of the universal enveloping algebra of the centralizer of a nilpotent matrix in the Lie algebra gl_N(C). In particular, this gives a new proof of the freeness of the center, a result first proved by Panyushev, Premet and Yakimova (math.RT/0610049).
We show a surprising link between singularity theory and the invariant subspace problem of nilpotent operators as recently studied by C. M. Ringel and M. Schmidmeier, a problem with a longstanding history going back to G. Birkhoff. The link is established via weighted projective lines and (stable) categories of vector bundles on those. The setup yields a new approach to attack the subspace problem. In particular, we deduce the main results of Ringel and Schmidmeier for nilpotency degree p from properties of the category of vector bundles on the weighted projective line of weight type (2,3,p), …
The algebra of GL_n-invariants of d-tuple of n x n nilpotent matrices with respect to the action by simultaneous conjugation is generated by the traces of products of nilpotent generic matrices in the case of an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. We described a minimal separating set for this algebra in case n=d=3.
We determine the groups of automorphisms and their orbits for nilpotent Lie algebras of class 2 and small dimension, over arbitrary fields (including the characteristic 2 case).
We define and study the subspace of cuspidal functions for $G$-bundles on a class of nilpotent extensions $C$ of curves over a finite field. We show that this subspace is preserved by the action of a certain noncommutative Hecke algebra $\mathcal{H}_{G,C}$. In the case $G=\rm{GL}_2$, we construct a commutative subalgebra in $\mathcal{H}_{G,C}$ of Hecke operators associated with simple divisors. In the case of length 2 extensions and of $G=\rm{GL}_2$, we prove that the space of cuspidal functions (for bundles with a fixed determinant) is finite-dimensional and provide bounds on its dimension. I…
We derive a formula for the trace of the antipode on endomorphism algebras of simple self-dual modules of nilpotent liftings of quantum planes. We show that the trace is equal to the quantum dimension of the module up to a nonzero scalar depending on the simple module.
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.
Using the symplectic geometry of certain manifolds which appear naturally in Lie theory, we define an invariant which assigns a graded abelian group to an oriented link. The relevant manifolds are transverse slices to certain nilpotent orbits inside sl_{2m}, and intersections of those with regular semisimple orbits. The invariant is conjectured to be equal to Khovanov's combinatorially defined homology theory (with the bigrading of that theory collapsed in a certain way).
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…
This paper is a continuation of [8], in the direction of proving the conjecture that the spherical transform on a nilpotent Gelfand pair (N,K) establishes an isomorphism between the space of K-invariant Schwartz functions on N and the space of Schwartz functions restricted to the Gelfand spectrum properly embedded in a Euclidean space. We prove a result, of independent interest for the representation theoretical problems that are involved, which can be viewed as a generalised Hadamard lemma for K-invariant functions on N. The context is that of nilpotent Gelfand pairs satisfying Vinberg's cond…
It has been shown that for several nilpotent Gelfand pairs (N,K) (i.e., with N a nilpotent Lie group, K a compact group of automorphisms of N and the algebra L^1(N)^K commutative) the spherical transform establishes a 1-to-1 correspondence between the space S(N)^K of K-invariant Schwartz functions on N and the space S(Σ) of functions on the Gelfand spectrum Σ of L^1(N)^K which extend to Schwartz functions on Rd, once Σ is suitably embedded in Rd. We call this property (S). We present here a general bootstrapping method which allows to establish property (S) to new nilpotent pairs (N,K), once t…
Let (N,K) be a nilpotent Gelfand pair, i.e., N is a nilpotent Lie group, K a compact group of automorphisms of N, and the algebra D(N)^K of left-invariant and K-invariant differential operators on N is commutative. In these hypotheses, N is necessarily of step at most two. We say that (N,K) satisfies Vinberg's condition if K acts irreducibly on $n/[n,n]$, where n= Lie(N). Fixing a system D of d formally self-adjoint generators of D(N)^K, the Gelfand spectrum of the commutative convolution algebra L^1(N)^K can be canonically identified with a closed subset S_D of R^d. We prove that, on a nilpot…
Let $g_e$ be the centraliser of a nilpotent element $e$ in a finite dimensional simple Lie algebra $g$ of rank $l$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. We investigate the algebra $S(g_e)^{g_e}$ of symmetric invariants of $g_e$ and prove that if $g$ is of type $A$ or $C$, then $S(g_e)^{g_e}$ is always a graded polynomial algebra in $l$ variables. We show that this continues to hold for some nilpotent elements in the Lie algebras of other types. In type $A$ we prove that $S(g_e)^{g_e}$ is freely generated by a regular sequence in $S(g_e)$ and describe the tangent cone at $e$ t…
In math.DG/0312243 we developed a general classification scheme for metric Lie algebras, i.e. for finite-dimensional Lie algebras equipped with a non-degenerate invariant inner product. Here we determine all nilpotent Lie algebras l with dim l'=2 which are used in this scheme. Furthermore, we classify all nilpotent metric Lie algebras of dimension at most 10.
We give an elementary proof of an efficient version of the Wagner's theorem on almost invariant subspaces and deduce some consequences in the context of Galois extensions.
In his 1951 book "Infinite Abelian Groups", Kaplansky gives a combinatorial characterization of the isomorphism types of embeddings of a cyclic subgroup in a finite abelian group. In this paper we first use partial maps on Littlewood-Richardson tableaux to generalize this result to finite direct sums of such embeddings. We then focus on an application to invariant subspaces of nilpotent linear operators. We develop a criterion to decide if two irreducible components in the representation space are in the boundary partial order.
