Derived representation schemes and Nakajima quiver varieties (Q2064046)

The paper develops, following [\textit{Y. Berest} et al., Contemp. Math. 607, 113--162 (2014; Zbl 1333.16014)], the notion of equivariant derived representation schemes \(X = \mathrm{DRep}_V(A)\) for an algebra \(A\) carrying an action of an algebraic torus \(T\); for a group \(G\) acting on the vector space \(V\), the invariants \(X^G = \mathrm{DRep}^G_V(A)\) are also considered. Their classical truncations are the ordinary representation scheme \(\pi_0(X) = \mathrm{Rep}_V(A)\) and its quotient \(\pi_0(X^G) = \mathrm{Rep}_V(A) /\!/ G\) respectively. When \(X\) is affine, the author defines the important \(K\)-theoretic invariant \([X]^{\mathrm{vir}} = \sum_i (-1)^i H_i(\mathcal{O}_{X,\bullet}) \in K_T(\pi_0(X))\), which functions as a virtual class for \(\pi_0(X)\), and similarly for \(X^G\). This theory is then applied to Nakajima quiver varieties as the primary application. These are remarkable algebraic symplectic reductions \(\mathfrak{M}_Q^\chi = \mu^{-1}(0) /\!/_\chi G\) associated to a quiver \(Q\) and stability condition \(\chi\). Here \(\mu\colon M(Q) \to \mathfrak{g}^*\) is the moment map for the \(G\)-action on \(M(Q)\), the ordinary representation scheme for a framed and doubled version of (the path algebra of) \(Q\). A main result here is that \(X = \mathrm{DRep}(Q)\), the derived version of \(\mu^{-1}(0)\), is the affine derived scheme \(\mathrm{Spec}(\mathcal{O}(M(Q)) \otimes \wedge^\bullet \mathfrak{g})\) associated to the Koszul complex of \(\mu\) on \(M(Q)\). This Koszul complex is checked to be exact (except in degree \(0\)) iff \(\mu\) is flat, whence one obtains formulas such as \[ p_*[\mathcal{O}_{\mathfrak{M}^\chi}] = [\mathcal{O}_{\mathfrak{M}^0}] = ([X]^{\mathrm{vir}})^G \in K_T(\mathfrak{M}_Q^0) \] where \(p\colon \mathfrak{M}^\chi_Q \to \mathfrak{M}^0_Q\) is the GIT affinization map. The Weyl integration formula applied to the rhs therefore yields an integral formula for the lhs. With a bit more work, other \(G\)-isotypic components of \([X]^{\mathrm{vir}}\) (aside from the trivial one above) are identified with \(p_*[\mathcal{V}]\) for appropriately-twisted tautological bundles \([\mathcal{V}] \in K_T(\mathfrak{M}^\chi)\), with similar integral formulas. Such \(K\)-theoretic integral formulas are common in the physics literature on supersymmetric gauge theories. Explicit examples are given for the simplest Nakajima quiver varieties: the cotangent bundle of Grassmannians, with a view toward symplectic duality, and the moduli of instantons on \(\mathbb{C}^2\).