Representations of quivers of type \(A\) and the multisegment duality (Q1909936)

The aim of the paper is to study a certain involution \(\zeta\colon\mathbb{Z}_+^S\to\mathbb{Z}_+^S\) which is called the multisegment duality. Here \(\mathbb{Z}_+^S\) is the free abelian semigroup whose generators are indexed by the set \(S=S_r\) of pairs of integers \((i,j)\), \(1\leq i\leq j\leq r\). The elements of \(\mathbb{Z}_+^S\) serve as labels for the irreducible representations of the spherical principal series of the group \(\text{SL}_n\) over a \(p\)-adic field and the involution \(\zeta\) describes the duality interchanging the identity and the Steinberg representation. The elements of \(\mathbb{Z}_+^S\) also serve as labels for the canonical basis vectors for the \(q\)-deformation \(U_+\) of the universal enveloping algebra of the Lie algebra of nilpotent upper triangular matrices. In this case, \(\zeta\) describes the action of a natural automorphism of \(U_+\) on the canonical basis. The involution \(\zeta\) can be defined in an elementary manner using only linear algebra. Then the elements of \(\mathbb{Z}_+^S\) are interpreted as the isomorphism classes of the representations of the quiver of type \(A_r\). The main result of the paper is to give an unexpectedly explicit closed formula for \(\zeta\). This formula is proved by elementary means, using only linear algebra and combinatorics. The main ingredients of the proof are the theorem from the theory of flows in networks, connecting maximal flow and minimal cut, and the result describing the maximal possible rank for a given power of a matrix with a given pattern of zeros.