Two-block Springer fibers of types C and D: a diagrammatic approach to Springer theory (Q2312842)

Let \(G\) be a complex, connected, reductive, algebraic group with Lie algebra \(\mathfrak g\). If \(x \in \mathfrak g\) is a nilpotent element, the associated (algebraic) Springer fiber \(\mathcal B^x_G\) is the variety of all Borel subgroups of \(G\) whose Lie algebra contains \(x\). By classical Springer theory, developed by \textit{T. A. Springer} [Invent. Math. 36, 173--207 (1976; Zbl 0374.20054); Invent. Math. 44, 279--293 (1978; Zbl 0376.17002)], the complex cohomology \(H^*(\mathcal B^x_G)\) is endowed with a grading-preserving action of the Weyl group \(\mathcal W^G\) associated with \(G\), and with a commuting action of the component group \(A^x_G\) associated with \(x\) (that is, the quotient of the centralizer of \(x\) by its identity component). According to the Springer correspondence, the isotypic subspaces of the \(A^x_G\)-module \(H^{\mathrm{top}}(\mathcal B^x_G)\) are irreducible \(\mathcal W_G\)-modules, and all irreducible \(\mathcal W_G\)-modules can be constructed in this way. In the present paper, the authors connect classical Springer theory for types \(C\) and \(D\) for nilpotent endomorphisms with two Jordan blocks with the cup diagram combinatorics of arc algebras of types \(B\) and \(D\). In this way, they reconstruct the Springer representation on the homology of so-called topological Springer fibers only using elementary algebraic topology, and describe the actions both of the Weyl group and of the component group in combinatorial terms. In type \(A\), similar diagrammatic descriptions for two-block Springer fibers were established by \textit{H. M. Russell} [Pac. J. Math. 253, No. 1, 221--255 (2011; Zbl 1241.57021)] and \textit{H. M. Russell} and \textit{J. S. Tymoczko} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 151, No. 1, 59--81 (2011; Zbl 1227.57022)].