Perverse equivalences and Broué's conjecture. (Q2437516)

Let \(A\) and \(B\) be finite-dimensional algebras over a field \(k\). The paper under review is concerned with perverse equivalences \(F\colon D^b(B)\to D^b(A)\) between the corresponding derived module categories. These equivalences depend on a filtration \(\emptyset=\mathcal S_{-1}\subset\mathcal S_0\subset\cdots\subset\mathcal S_r=\mathcal S_A\) of the set \(\mathcal S_A\) of isomorphism classes of simple \(A\)-modules, on a similar filtration \(\emptyset=\mathcal S'_{-1}\subset\mathcal S'_0\subset\cdots\subset\mathcal S'_r=\mathcal S_B\), and on a function \(q\colon\{0,\ldots,r\}\to\mathbb Z\). Such equivalences give rise to bijections \(\mathcal S_B \to\mathcal S_A\) compatible with the two filtrations. The authors provide methods in order to lift stable equivalences to perverse equivalences, and methods to extend perverse equivalences from normal subgroups, in the case where \(A\) and \(B\) are blocks of finite groups \(G\) and \(H\), respectively. Recall that Broué's abelian defect group conjecture predicts a derived equivalence between a block \(A\) of a finite group \(G\) with abelian defect group \(D\) and its Brauer correspondent \(B\) in \(N_G(D)\). The authors prove reduction theorems for various forms of this conjecture, in the special case where \(A\) is the principal block. They then reprove Broué's conjecture for principal \(3\)-blocks of defect \(2\), and for principal \(2\)-blocks, by means of perverse equivalences and a careful case-by-case analysis. In the situation of finite groups of Lie type in non-defining characteristic, the authors expect that the cohomology of Deligne-Lusztig varieties should give rise to perverse equivalences.