Toda lattice, cohomology of compact Lie groups and finite Chevalley groups (Q2502044)

Let \(\mathfrak g\) be a real split semisimple Lie algebra of rank \(l\), \(h\) its split Cartan subalgebra, \((\alpha_i)\) a set of simple roots, \((C_{ij})\) the corresponding Cartan matrix. The authors consider the related generalized Toda lattice equation [\textit{Y. Kodama} and \textit{J. Ye}, Physica D 91, No. 4, 321--339 (1996; Zbl 0890.58025)]. Their aim is to establish a relation between this equation and objects associated to the real flag manifold which corresponds to the Langlands dual \(\widehat{\mathfrak g}\) of \(\mathfrak g\) (the real split semisimple Lie algebra with the transposed Cartan matrix). Let \(G(\mathbb C)\) denote a connected complex algebraic group corresponding to the complexification of \(\mathfrak g\), \(G\) and \(H\) its connected Lie subgroups corresponding to \(\mathfrak g\) and \(\mathfrak h\), and let \(B\supset H\) be a Borel subgroup and \(K\) a maximal compact subgroup of \(G\). The corresponding Lie groups related to \(\mathfrak g\) are denoted by the same characters with \(\widehat{\;}\). One defines an action of the Weyl group \(W\) on the set \(\{\pm 1\}^l\), such that \((s_i\varepsilon)_j = \varepsilon_j\varepsilon_i^{C_{ji}}\) for \(\varepsilon = (\varepsilon_1,\ldots,\varepsilon_l) \in\{\pm 1\}^l\) and a simple reflection \(s_i = s_{\alpha_i}\), and denotes by \(\eta(w,\varepsilon)\) the number of \(k = 1,\ldots,r\), such that \((s_{j_{k-1}}\ldots s_{j_1}\varepsilon)_{j_k} = -1\), where \(w = s_{j_1}\ldots s_{j_r}\in W\) (a reduced expression) and \(\varepsilon\in \{\pm 1\}^l\). A fundamental role in the paper is played by the following polynomials and graphs, associated to \(\varepsilon\in\{\pm 1\}^l\). One defines \(p_{\varepsilon}(t) = (-1)^{l(w_*)} \sum_{w\in W}(-1)^{l(w)} t^{\eta(w,\varepsilon)}\), where \(l(w)\) is the length of \(w\) and \(w_*\) the element of maximal length in \(W\). These polynomials are closely related to the Toda lattice equation; their terms correspond to the singularities of the trajectories of the Toda flow in the flag manifold \(G/B\) which appear in the compactification of the real isospectral manifolds constructed by the authors [Pac. J. Math. 207, No. 1, 77--124 (2002; Zbl 1059.22015)]. The polynomial \(p_{\varepsilon} = 0\) unless \(\varepsilon = (-1,\ldots,-1)\) and is denoted by \(p\) in this remaining case. One also defines the oriented graph \(\mathcal G_{\varepsilon}\), whose vertices are the elements of \(W\) and whose edges are determined by the rule: \(w_1\Rightarrow w_2\) iff \(w_1\leq w_2\) (Bruhat order); \(l(w_2) = l(w_1)+1\); \(\eta(w_1,\varepsilon) = \eta(w_2,\varepsilon)\); \(w_1^{-1}\varepsilon = w_2^{-1}\varepsilon\). One writes \(\mathcal G = \mathcal G_{\varepsilon}\) for \(\varepsilon = (-1,\ldots,-1)\). The main results of the paper may be summarized as follows. The graph \(\mathcal G\) coincides with the graph of incidence numbers for the integral cohomology of \(\widehat G/\widehat B\) in terms of the Bruhat cells, while other \(\mathcal G_{\varepsilon}\) play a similar role for the cohomology of this flag manifold with values in certain local coefficient systems. We have \(H^*(G/B,\mathbb Q)\simeq H^*(K,\mathbb Q)\). For the finite field \(\mathbb F_q\) of order \(q\), the order of the Chevalley group \(\widehat K(\mathbb F_q)\) is given by \(| \widehat K(\mathbb F_q)| = q^r p(q)\), where \(r = \dim\widehat K - \deg p\).