A new realisation of the \(\imath\)-quantum group \(\mathbf{U}^{\jmath}(N)\) (Q1979321)

In the study of canonical bases for quantum symmetric pairs, \textit{H. Bao} et al. [Transform. Groups 23, No. 2, 329--389 (2018; Zbl 1440.17009)] introduced the concept of \(\imath\)-quantum groups and proved that these \(\imath\)-quantum groups pair with the Hecke algebras of type \(B\) in a Schur-Weyl duality, where two types of Hecke endomorphism algebras or \(q\)-Schur algebras play the bridging role. These \(q\)-Schur algebras arise naturally from finite orthogonal groups of odd degree or finite symplectic groups. The aim of the paper under review is to extend some known results to \(\imath\)-quantum groups. The authors firstly define an algebra homomorphism \(\phi^\jmath\) from the \(\imath\)-quantum groups \(U^\jmath(n)\) into the direct product of the corresponding \(q\)-Schur algebras \(\mathcal{S}^\jmath(n, r)\) of type \(B\) and then mainly focus on the determination of the homomorphic image of such homomorphism in terms of a BLM type basis. Then applying such algebra homomorphism, they establish an algebra epimorphism from the Lusztig type forms \(U^\jmath_{\mathbb Z}(n)\) to the integral \(q\)-Schur algebras \(\mathcal{S}_{\mathbb Z}^\jmath(n, r)\) of type \(B\) and prove that the homomorphism \(\phi^\jmath\) is injective. This gives a new realisation of the \(\imath\)-quantum group \(U^\jmath(n)\).and generalises part of Dipper-James' type \(A\) theory to the type \(B\) case.