Bigrassmannian permutations and Verma modules (Q2037138)

It is well-known that irreducible complex semisimple Lie algebras are classified by Dynkin diagrams. In particular, the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{sl}_n\) of complex \(n\times n\)-matrices with trace \(0\) correspond to the \(A_{n-1}\) Dynkin diagram, and its Weyl group is the symmetric group \(S_n\). In the representation theory of these Lie algebras, Verma modules are quite important. They form a family a modules \((\Delta_x)_{x\in S_n}\) indexed by the Weyl group, such that there is a natural inclusion \(\Delta_x \hookrightarrow \Delta_y\) when \(x\) is above \(y\) in the Bruhat order. Moreover \(\Delta_x\) has a unique simple quotient \(L_x\), and \((L_x)_{x\in S_n}\) is the family of simple objects in an appropriate category of modules. (More generally, Verma modules are defined for arbitrary weights, but this is not relevant here.) This work is motivated by computations of some \(\operatorname{Ext}^1\) spaces in the category \(\mathcal{O}\) (that contains, in particular, the Verma modules and their simple quotients), as stated in Corollary 2. The result relies on Theorem 1, which gives a precise description of the socle of the quotients \(\Delta_e / \Delta_w\) for \(w\in S_n\) (where \(e\) is the neutral element). This theorem gives a nice interplay between two kind of combinatorial objects: the set of bigrassmannian permutations, and the penultimate Kazhdan-Lusztig two-sided cell (see below). Bigrassmanian permutations are those \(w\in S_n\) having only one left descent and one right descent. Alternatively, they have a poset theoretic definition in terms of the Bruhat order, following [\textit{A. Lascoux} and \textit{M.-P. Schützenberger}, Electron. J. Comb. 3, No. 2, Research paper R27, 35 p. (1996; Zbl 0885.05111)]. On the other side, the penultimate Kazhdan-Lusztig cell can be described explicitly as the set of permutations \(w\in S_n\) of Coxeter length \(\ell(w_0)-1=\binom{n+1}{2}-1\) where \(w_0\) is the longest element. The proofs involve representation theoretic results in the category \(\mathcal{O}\) such as Koszul duality of a related algebra, as well as computations in the Hecke algebra.