The nullcone of the Lie algebra of \(G_2\) (Q2422270)

Let \(G\) be a reductive algebraic group with corresponding Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\) over an arbitrary algebraically closed field \(K\), possibly of finite characteristic. The group \(G\) acts on the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\) via the adjoint action, and hence also on the closed subset \(Nilp(G)\) of the nilpotent elements in \(\mathfrak{g}\), which is equal to the nullcone of the action as introduced in Section \(2\). The paper under review studies the question whether it is possible to classify the orbits in \(Nilp(G)\) using only the local structure of the variety \(Nilp(G)\). In his previous work [\textit{W. Hesselink}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 222, 1--32 (1976; Zbl 0332.14017)], a positive answer was given when \(G = GL(n)\) or \(G = SP(n)\) and with the characteristic of \(K\) different from \(2\). The current paper extends these results to the simple algebraic group of type \(G_2\), for which different constructions are given in Section \(3\). In order to do so, the author first determines the orbits in \(Nilp(G)\). This is done in Section \(4\) by first finding the stratification of \(Nilp(G)\) and then splitting each stratum into different orbits. Note that the latter only happens in characteristic \(3\), for all other cases the strata and the orbits coincide. In Section \(5\), the author then relates the singularities of \(Nilp(G)\) to the orbits for fields of characteristic different from \(2\) and \(3\), leading to the final results.