A new method for calculating Hilbert series (Q1335057)

Let \(G\) be a reductive Lie group and let \(\text{Cov}_ G (V_ 1, V_ 2)\) denote the vector space of polynomial morphisms from a \(G\)-module \(V_ 1\) to another \(G\)-module \(V_ 2\) that commute with the action of \(G\). If \(V_ 2\) is the trivial \(G\)-module \(\mathbb{C}\), then \(\text{Cov}_ G (V_ 1, \mathbb{C})\) is just the algebra, \(A^ G\), of \(G\)-invariant polynomials on \(V_ 1\). By a well-known theorem of Hilbert, \(\text{Cov}_ G (V_ 1, V_ 2)\) is a finitely generated \(A^ G\)-module, and \(A^ G\) itself is a finitely generated algebra. The Hilbert series of \(\text{Cov}_ G (V_ 1, V_ 2)\) is \({\mathcal H} (t) = \sum^ \infty_{i=0} d_ it^ t\) where \(d_ i = \dim \text{Cov} (V_ 1, V_ 2)\) and is in fact the Taylor series of a rational function. Weyl gave a transcendental method for computing \({\mathcal H} (t)\) that involves integration over a maximal compact subgroup of \(G\), but otherwise few explicit formulas exist in the literature. In this article the author establishes a procedure for obtaining a solvable set of inhomogeneous linear equations between the Hilbert series of various modules of covariants with rational functions of \(t\) as coefficients. The Hilbert series is then computed by solving the linear equations. A number of examples are given including some new explicit results concerning the representation in several copies of the adjoint representation for various low dimensional groups.