Support varieties for modules over symmetric groups (Q1858174)

Let \(k\) be an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(p>0\). For any finite group \(G\), let \(kG\) denote the group algebra of \(G\) and let \(\text{mod }kG\) be the category of finite dimensional \(kG\)-modules. Set \[ H(G,k)=\begin{cases} H^{2\bullet}(G,k)\text{ if char }k\neq 2\\ H^\bullet(G,k)\text{ if char }k=2.\end{cases} \] The algebra \(H(G,k)\) is a commutative subalgebra of the cohomology ring \(H^\bullet(G,k)\) and it is finitely generated. Set \(V_G=\text{Maxspec }H(G,k)\). The set \(V_G\) is an affine homogeneous variety and is often referred to as the variety of the group \(G\). Given \(N,N'\in\text{mod}(kG)\), define the relative support variety \(V_G(N,N')\) as follows: The cup product gives \(\text{Ext}_G^\bullet(N,N')\) the structure of an \(H(G,k)\)-module. Let \(J(N,N')\) be the annihilator ideal in \(H(G,k)\) for this action on \(\text{Ext}_G^\bullet(N,N')\). Set \(V_G(N,N')\) equal to the closed subvariety of \(V_G\) defined by \(J_G(N,N')\). The support variety \(V_G(N)\) is obtained by setting \(V_G(N)=V_G(N,N)\). The support varieties of modules are closed, conical subvarieties of \(V_G\). In the paper under review, the authors introduce methods and techniques for computing support varieties for modules over the symmetric group \(\Sigma_d\) over fields \(k\) of prime characteristic. For an arbitrary \(\Sigma_d\)-module \(M\), they show that \(V_{\Sigma_d}(M)\) is equal to the relative support variety \(V_{\Sigma_d}(N,M)\) where \(N\) can be either the direct sum of all simple modules, or the direct sum of all Specht modules, or the direct sum of all Young modules; and they prove a reduction theorem for the support variety \(V_{\Sigma_d}(M)\) (Theorem 4.3.1). Furthermore, they apply these to find the complexity and support varieties of completely splittable simple modules.