Partitions of the wonderful group compactification. (Q2468661)

Let \(G\) be a connected semisimple algebraic group of adjoint type over an algebraically closed field. The authors define and study a family of partitions of the wonderful compactification \(\overline G\) of \(G\). Recall that \(\overline G\) is a smooth irreducible \(G\times G\) variety with finitely many \(G\times G\) orbits. Their partitions generalize both the partition of Lusztig by finitely many \(G_{\text{diag}}\) stable pieces and the partition into finitely many \(B\times B\) orbits studied by Springer. To obtain a partition they first choose a subgroup \(R_{\mathcal A}\) of \(G\times G\) associated to a triple \(\mathcal A=(A_1,A_2,a)\), where \(A_1\), \(A_2\) are isomorphic subgraphs of the Dynkin diagram and \(a\) is roughly an isomorphism between central quotients of Levi subgroups of parabolic subgroups \(P_{A_i}\). Their partition is into finitely many \(R_{\mathcal A}\) stable pieces, indexed by subsets of the Weyl group of \(G\times G\). The pieces are smooth, irreducible, locally closed subsets of \(\overline G\) fibering over flag varieties of Levi subgroups. The closure of a piece is a union of pieces and the combinatorics for the closures involves their intersections with the unique closed \(G\times G\) orbit in \(\overline G\).