Modality of representations, and packets for \(\theta\)-groups (Q2417745)

The paper under review is concerned about a fruitful notion in invariant theory, namely the modality. Fix an algebraically closed field \(k\) and let \(G\) be a connected algebraic \(k\)-group. If \(F\) is an algebraic variety with \(G\)-action such that all \(G\)-orbits have the same dimension \(d\), we set \(\mathrm{mod}(G:F) = \dim F - d\); this is also equal to the dimension of the rational quotient of \(F\) by \(G\). For a general \(G\)-variety \(X\), define its modality \(\mathrm{mod}(G:X)\) as \(\max_F \mathrm{mod}(G:F)\) where \(F \subset X\) ranges over the locally closed \(G\)-subvarieties with the aforesaid conditions. For non-connected \(G\), set \(\mathrm{mod}(G:F) = \mathrm{mod}(G^\circ : X)\). The modality describes the maximal number of parameters on which a family of \(G\)-orbits depends; this notion can be traced back to V.\ I.\ Arnold, who considered differentiable actions on function spaces instead. Let \(X\) be an irreducible \(X\)-variety. Let \(X^{\mathrm{reg}} \subset X\) be the open dense subset of points whose \(G\)-orbits have the maximal possible dimension. We say \(X\) is modality-regular if \(\mathrm{mod}(G: X^{\mathrm{reg}}) = \mathrm{mod}(G:X)\). An affine \(G\)-variety \(X\) is called visible if each fiber of the categorical quotient \(X \to X /\!/ G\) consists of finitely many \(G\)-orbits. Theorem 2.10 asserts that visible actions are modality-regular and satisfy \(\mathrm{mod}(G:X) = \dim X /\!/ G\). The next goal of the paper is to classify irreducible representations of small modality. Let \(G\) be semisimple and connected. Theorem 2.14 shows that there are only a finite number of representations of \(G\) with given modality \(m \geq 0\), up to equivalence. Theorem 2.15 then gives the complete classification for simple \(G\) and \(m \in \{0, 1, 2\}\). Note that \(m=0\) means that \(X\) is a finite union of \(G\)-orbits, for which the classification has been known even for connected reductive \(G\). The final Section 3 introduces the notion of packets in a \(\theta\)-group, that is, a cyclically graded semisimple Lie algebra \(\bigoplus_{i \in \mathbb{Z}/r\mathbb{Z}} \mathfrak{g}_i\). This reduces to a relatively familiar notion of Jordan classes when the grading is trivial. The author describes all packets in \(\mathfrak{g}_1\), their dimensions as well as modalities (Corollary 3.14) under the group \(G_0\) corresponding to \(\mathfrak{g}_0\). In particular, the packets form a stratification of \(\mathfrak{g}_1\) into finitely many locally closed subsets. The author also suggests a possible connection of these results with [\textit{D. O. Orlov}, Russ. Math. Surv. 71, No. 3, 594--596 (2016; Zbl 1358.18004)]. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1412.22001].