On folded cluster patterns of affine type (Q2168227)

This paper deals with an important result concerning an operation called folding in cluster algebra theory. The \textit{folding of a matrix} is the operation of constructing a smaller skew-symmetrizable matrix from a given skew-symmetric matrix. For the quiver corresponding to an exchange matrix, this operation corresponds to the operation that identifies multiple vertices of the quiver and treats them as a single vertex, which is ``folding'' as the name implies (the identification of vertices is determined by the orbits of the group \(G\) acting on the vertex set of quiver). The \textit{folding of a seed} can also be defined by taking the \(G\)-orbit projection of clusters associated with exchange matrices. The folding and unfolding, which is the inverse operation of the folding, are techniques introduced to reduce the discussion on skew-symmetrizable matrices to that on skew-symmetric matrices, which is a narrower class of matrices. This paper provides several theorems on the folding when the exchange matrix is of affine type. The first result is the equivalence of \(G\)-invariant and \(G\)-admissible properties for an affine quiver. We say that a quiver \(Q\) is \textit{\(G\)-invariant} if \(Q\) is invariant under the action of \(G\). This condition defines a folded matrix from the exchange matrix corresponding to \(Q\). ``The quiver \(Q\) is \textit{\(G\)-admissible}'' means that the mutation in this folded matrix is compatible with the mutation before folding. This paper proves that these two conditions are equivalent when the quiver is of affine type. This means that the folded exchange matrix always has a ``natural'' mutation that is lifted from a composition of mutations (called a \textit{orbit mutations}) determined from a \(G\)-orbit of the vertex of the quiver before folding. From this fact, it can be seen that a matrix obtained by orbit mutations of a \(G\)-admissible exchange matrix is also always be \(G\)-admissible (this property is called \textit{globally foldable}). The second result is that if the quiver \(Q\) corresponding to the exchange matrix \(B\) in the initial seed \((\mathbf{x},B)\) is acyclic and \(Q\) is globally foldable with respect to \(G\), then the set of \(G\)-admissible seeds of the cluster algebra determined from \((\mathbf{x},B)\) constitute the same cluster pattern as that of the folded cluster algebra. \textit{S. Fomin} et al. [``Introduction to cluster algebras'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1707.07190}] showed that all seeds \(G\)-orbit-mutated repeatedly from a \(G\)-admissible seed construct the same cluster pattern as the one of the folded cluster algebra. In the paper we deal with now, it further shows that there are no \(G\)-admissible seeds that are not included in this connected component. In other words, the set of \(G\)-admissible seed is transitive with respect to \(G\)-orbit mutations. From this theorem in the affine case, it follows that the set of \(G\)-admissible seeds of the cluster algebra given by the unfolded matrix constitute the same pattern as the cluster pattern of the folded cluster algebra.