Standard stratifications of EI categories and Alperin's weight conjecture. (Q2378596)

Let \(k\) be an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(p>0\), and let \(G\) be a finite group. Alperin's Weight Conjecture (AWC) asserts that the number of isomorphism classes of simple modules for the group algebra \(kG\) equals the number of \(kG\)-weights; here a \(kG\)-weight is a pair \((Q,V)\) where \(Q\) is a \(p\)-subgroup of \(G\) and \(V\) is a simple projective \(kN_G(Q)/Q\)-module, taken up to isomorphism. The paper under review connects AWC with the representation theory of standardly-stratified algebras, in the following way. Let \(\mathcal S\) denote the set of \(p\)-subgroups of \(G\), and let \(\mathcal O\) be the orbit category of \(\mathcal S\). Then \(\mathcal S\) is the set of objects of \(\mathcal O\) and, for \(Q,R\in\mathcal S\), a morphism \(Q\to R\) is a coset \(gR\) such that \(g^{-1}Qg\subseteq R\). In particular, \(\text{End}_{\mathcal O}(Q)=N_G(Q)/Q=\Aut_{\mathcal O}(Q)\). Thus \(\mathcal O\) is an example of an EI-category; this means that every endomorphism in \(\mathcal O\) is an isomorphism. Let \(A=k\mathcal O\) denote the category algebra of \(\mathcal O\). Then the morphisms in \(\mathcal O\) form a \(k\)-basis of \(A\), and the product of basis elements in \(A\) is the composition of morphisms in \(\mathcal O\) (or \(0\)). The simple \(A\)-modules are in bijection with pairs \(\lambda=(Q,V)\) where \(Q\) is an object of \(\mathcal S\), i.e. a \(p\)-subgroup of \(G\), and \(V\) is a simple \(kN_G(Q)/Q\)-module, both taken up to isomorphism. There is a natural preorder \(\leq\) on the set \(\Lambda\) of these pairs given by \((Q,V)\leq(R,W)\) if \(g^{-1}Qg\subseteq R\) for some \(g\in G\). The important observation is that \(A=k\mathcal O\) is a standardly-stratified \(k\)-algebra with respect to \((\Lambda,\leq)\), in the sense of \textit{E. Cline, B. Parshall} and \textit{L. Scott} [Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 591 (1996; Zbl 0888.16006)]. In particular, \(A\) has simple modules \(S^A_\lambda\), indecomposable projective modules \(P^A_\lambda\), indecomposable injective modules \(I^A_\lambda\), standard modules \(\Delta^A_\lambda\), proper costandard modules \(\overline\nabla^A_\lambda\) and canonical modules \(T^A_\lambda\) (\(\lambda \in\Lambda\)). Moreover, one can construct a Ringel dual algebra \(B=\text{End}_A(T)\) where \(T=\bigoplus_{\lambda\in\Lambda}T_\lambda\). Then \(B\) is standardly-stratified with respect to \((\Lambda,\geq)\). Thus \(B\) has analogous modules \(S^B_\lambda\), \(P^B_\lambda\), \(I^B_\lambda\), \(\Delta^B_\lambda\), \(\overline\nabla^B_\lambda\), \(T^B_\lambda\) (\(\lambda\in\Lambda\)). The author shows that an element \(\lambda=(Q,V)\in\Lambda\) is a \(kG\)-weight iff \(\Delta^A_\lambda=S^A_\lambda\) iff \(\overline\nabla^A_\lambda=I^A_\lambda\) iff \(\overline\nabla^B_\lambda=T^B_\lambda\). Furthermore, he shows that \(Q=1\) iff \(\Delta^A_\lambda=T^A_\lambda\) iff \(\Delta^A_\lambda=I^A_\lambda\) iff \(\Delta^B_\lambda=P^B_\lambda\). This leads to reformulations of AWC in terms of equalities between numbers of certain modules for the standardly-stratified algebra \(A=k\mathcal O\).