The space of unipotently supported class functions on a finite reductive group. (Q1868747)

Let \(\mathbf G\) be a connected reductive algebraic group over an algebraic closure of the finite field \(\mathbb{F}_q\). Assume \(\mathbf G\) has an \(\mathbb{F}_q\)-structure with associated Frobenius automorphism \(F\) and let \(\ell\) be a prime distinct from the characteristic of \(\mathbb{F}_q\). In earlier works the authors outlined a program for the determination of the irreducible \(\overline\mathbb{Q}_\ell\) characters of the finite group \({\mathbf G}^F\), which showed that the problem may be largely reduced (by induction) to an explicit determination of certain Lusztig restrictions, in particular Lusztig restrictions of generalized Gelfand-Graev characters. Now these Gelfand-Graev characters are examples of class functions on \({\mathbf G}^F\) which vanish outside the unipotent set. The strategy in this work is to determine the Lusztig restriction \(^*R^{\mathbf G}_{\mathbf M}\) explicitly on the subspace of such class functions, for any \(F\) stable Levi subgroup \(\mathbf M\) of \(\mathbf G\). This is then applied to extend earlier explicit results for Lusztig restrictions of Gelfand-Graev characters from the regular unipotent case to the subregular case. Their program also requires the determination of the Poincaré polynomials of certain intersection cohomology complexes. The last section addresses this for the case \({\mathbf G}=\text{SL}_n\).