Around the Lie correspondence for complete Kac-Moody groups and Gabber-Kac simplicity (Q2333211)

This paper studies Kac-Moody groups associated to arbitrary generalized Cartan matrices \(A\) over general fields \(k\), but especially finite fields. Such groups include the minimal Kac-Moody groups \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\) given by the Tits functor [\textit{J. Tits}, J. Algebra 105, 542--573 (1987; Zbl 0626.22013)], as well as several completions of \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\) due to \textit{B. Rémy} and \textit{M. Ronan} [Comment. Math. Helv. 81, No. 1, 191--219 (2006; Zbl 1163.22009)], \textit{L. Carbone} and \textit{H. Garland} [Commun. Contemp. Math. 5, No. 5, 813--867 (2003; Zbl 1070.17010)], and \textit{O. Mathieu} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 306, No. 5, 227--230 (1988; Zbl 0666.17006)]. These three completions are often, but not always, the same. As an example, the minimal Kac-Moody group associated to the affine Kac-Moody Lie algebra \(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}}_n\) is \(\mathrm{SL}_n(k[t,t^{-1}])\), while the completions are given by \(\mathrm{SL}_n(k((t)))\). This paper focuses mainly on the Mathieu-Rousseau completion \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\) of \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\). The first main result concerns functoriality of the correspondence between the Kac-Moody Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}(A)\) associated to a generalized Cartan matrix \(A\) and the group \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\). The author shows that if the entries of \(A\) are larger in absolute value than the entries of another generalized Cartan matrix \(B\), then there is a surjective homomorphism \(\pi\) between the positive-root subalgebras of \(\mathfrak{g}(A)\) and \(\mathfrak{g}(B)\) that induces a surjective, continuous, and open homomorphism \(\widehat{\pi}: \mathfrak{U}^{ma+}_A(k)\rightarrow\mathfrak{U}^{ma+}_B(k)\) between unipotent radicals of the positive Borel subgroups of \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\) and \(\mathfrak{G}_B^{pma}(k)\). The author gives several applications of this functoriality result: First, for \(k\) a finite field, he produces examples of \(A\) such that the minimal Kac-Moody group \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\) is not dense in the topological group \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\); these \(A\) all have at least one entry larger in absolute value than the order of \(k\). Second, also for \(k\) a finite field, he presents the first examples of \(A\) such that \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\) and the closure \(\overline{\mathfrak{G}_A}(k)\) of \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\) in \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\) are not Gabber-Kac simple, that is, the kernel \(Z_A'\) of the action of \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\) on its associated building intersects the unipotent radical \(\mathfrak{U}_A^{ma+}(k)\) non-trivially. These examples contrast with the situation in characteristic \(0\), where \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\) is Gabber-Kac simple as a consequence of the Gabber-Kac theorem for \(\mathfrak{g}(A)\) over \(k\). These results obstruct the identification of \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\) with the Rémy-Ronan and Carbone-Garland completions of \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\) in positive characteristic, since all three are isomorphic when \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)=\overline{\mathfrak{G}_A}(k)\) and \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)\) is Gabber-Kac simple [\textit{G. Rousseau}, Bull. Soc. Math. Fr. 144, No. 4, 613--692 (2016; Zbl 1401.20055)]. This paper contains several additional results, including two more functorality results detailing conditions under which homomorphisms between (subalgebras of) \(\mathfrak{g}(A)\) and \(\mathfrak{g}(B)\) induce homomorphisms between \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\) and \(\mathfrak{G}_B(k)\). In particular, the author shows that every symmetrizable group \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\) over any field embeds into a simply-laced Kac-Moody group. In another result, the author shows that \(\mathfrak{U}_A^{ma+}(k)\) is linear over a local field, and that also \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)/Z_A'\) is a simple algebraic group over a local field, if and only if \(A\) is affine. Finally, the author shows that in many cases over finite fields, the generalized Cartan matrix \(A\) and the field \(k\) are characterized by the group \(\mathfrak{G}_A^{pma}(k)/Z_A'\), in the sense that an isomorphism of topological groups with \(\mathfrak{G}_B^{pma}(k')\) induces an isomorphism \(k\cong k'\) and a correspondence between \(A\) and \(B\). This contrasts with the situation for minimal Kac-Moody groups \(\mathfrak{G}_A(k)\), which often contain little information about \(A\).