Equivariant Hodge-Deligne polynomials of symmetric products of algebraic groups (Q2162758)

Let \(X\) be a complex algebraic variety and \(X^n\) its \(n\)-fold product (also a complex algebraic variety). The symmetric group \(S_n\) acts on \(X^n\) by permuting factors. The first main theorem in this interesting and well-written paper gives and explicit and non-recursive formula for the \(S_n\)-equivariant mixed Hodge polynomial of \(X^n\) whenever the cohomology of \(X\) is an exterior algebra generated in odd degree (examples include all linear algebraic groups and abelian varieties, among others). When \(X\) is quasi-projective the resulting quotient \(\mathrm{Sym}^n(X):=X^n/S_n\) is an algebraic variety by geometric invariant theory. Hence \(\mathrm{Sym}^n(X)\) has a mixed Hodge structure. The second main theorem, using the first and the representation theory of \(S_n\), gives a beautiful formula for the mixed Hodge polynomial of \(\mathrm{Sym}^n(X)\), again when the cohomology of \(X\) is an exterior algebra generated in odd degree. Precisely, the formula is: \[ \mu_{\mathrm{Sym}^n(X)}(t,u,v)=\frac{1}{n!}\sum_{\alpha\in S_n}\prod_{i=1}^m\det\left(I+t^{d_i}u^{p_i}v^{q_i}M_{\alpha}\right)^{r_i}, \] where \(M_{\alpha}\) is a permutation matrix associated to \(\alpha\) and the cohomology of \(X\) is generated by classes \(\omega^i_j\in H^{d_i;p_i,q_i}(X,\mathbb{C})\) for \(1\leq i\leq m\) and \(1\leq j\leq r_i\). As an application, the author determines the mixed Hodge polynomial of \(\mathrm{Sym}^n(G)\) for any complex linear algebraic group \(G\), and then using this case the author discovers interesting and non-trivial formal combinatorial identities.