Variations on themes of Kostant (Q1024608)

Let \(\mathfrak{g}\) be a complex semi-simple Lie algebra and \({}^LG\) be the Langlands dual group for \(\mathfrak{g}\). In this paper the author proves that the cohomology algebra (with coefficients in \(\mathbb{C}\)) of an arbitrary spherical Schubert variety in the loop Grassmannian for \({}^LG\) is isomorphic to the quotient of the universal enveloping algebra of \(\mathfrak{g}\) modulo an appropriate ideal. The proof uses geometric Satake equivalence. Furthermore, it is shown that the quotient of the universal enveloping algebra which is mentioned above is isomorphic to a certain quotient of the symmetric algebra of \(\mathfrak{g}\) modulo the centralizer of a principal nilpotent in \(\mathfrak{g}\). At the end, the author gives a topological proof of a result (due to Kostant) describing the structure of the algebra \(\mathbb{C}[\mathfrak{g}]\).