Bounds on weights of nearby cycles and Wakimoto sheaves on affine flag manifolds (Q2505570)

The present paper is a continuation of the authors' previous paper [J. Reine Angew. Math. 609, 161--213 (2007; Zbl 1157.14013); preprint \url{arXiv:math/0402143}, to appear in J.~Reine Angew. Math.]. The goal is to show that a certain multiplicity function associated to a nearby cycle sheaf on an affine flag variety is a polynomial with an explicit bound on degrees, which is expressed in term of group-theoretic data. Let \(G\) be a split connected reductive algebraic group over \(\mathbb F_p\), with an algebraic closure \(k\). Let \({\mathcal Fl}=G(k((t))/{\mathcal B}_k\) denote the affine flag variety of \(G\). This is an ind-scheme defined over \(\mathbb F_p\) and is a disjoint union of strata \({\mathcal Fl}_w\) indexed by the extended affine Weyl group \(\widetilde W\). For \(w\in \widetilde W\), let \(IC_w\) denote the intersection complexes \(j_{w\, !*}\overline{\mathbb Q}_\ell[\ell(w)]\) on the closure \(\overline {\mathcal Fl}_w\), where \(j_{w\, !*}\overline{\mathbb Q}_\ell\) is the intermediate extension of \(\overline{\mathbb Q}_\ell\) for the immersion \(j_w:{\mathcal Fl}_w\hookrightarrow {\mathcal Fl}\). (a) When \(G\) is \(\text{GL}_n\) or \(\text{ GSp}_{2n}\), there are an ind-scheme \(M\) over \(\mathbb Z_p\) which is a deformation of the affine Grassmannian \(\text{Grass}_{{\mathbb Q}_p}\) to the affine flag variety \({\mathcal Fl}\). This is the \(p\)-adic case. (b) In the function field case, there is an ind-scheme \(\text{FL}_X\) over a curve \(X\) and a distinguished point \(x_0\) so that the fiber of \(\text{FL}_X\) is \({\mathcal Fl}\) at \(x=x_0\) and is \(\text{Grass}_k\times G/B\) at other points. In both cases, let \({\mathcal Q}_\mu\subset \text{ Grass}\) denote the stratum indexed by a dominant coweight \(\mu\) of \(G\), and let \(IC_\mu\) denote the intersection complexes \(j_{\mu\, !*}\overline{\mathbb Q}_\ell[\dim {\mathcal Q}_\mu]\). Write \(R\Psi_\mu\) for \(R\Psi^M(IC_\mu)\) in case (a), and for \(R\Psi^{\text{ FL}_X}(IC_\mu\boxtimes \delta)\) in case (b), where \(\delta\) is the skyscraper sheaf supported on the base point of \(G/B\). This is a \({\mathcal B}\)-equivariant perverse sheaf on \({\mathcal Fl}\). It is shown in loc.~cit.~that \(R\Psi_\mu\) is of finite length and any of its irreducible subquotients has the form \(IC_w(i)\). Thus one may define non-negative integers \(m(R\Psi_\mu, w, i)\) via the identity \[ R\Psi_\mu^{ss}\simeq \bigoplus_{w\in \widetilde W}\bigoplus_{i\in \mathbb Z} IC_w(-i)^{m(R\Psi_\mu, w, i)}, \] and form a multiplicity function \[ m( R\Psi_\mu,w):=\sum_{i\in \mathbb Z} m(R\Psi_\mu, w, i)q^i\in {\mathbb Z}[q,q^{-1}]. \] It is also shown in [loc. cit.] that \(m( R\Psi_\mu,w)\neq 0\) if and only if \(w\in \text{Adm}(\mu)\), the finite subset of \(\mu\)-admissible elements in \(\widetilde W\). The main theorem of this paper states that for any \(w\in \text{Adm}(\mu)\), the multiplicity function \(m(R\Psi_\mu,w)\) is a polynomial in \(q\) having degree at most \(\ell (\mu)-\ell(w)\), where \(\ell(w)\) denotes the length of the element \(w\). This was proved in [loc. cit.] when \(G=\text{ GL}_n\) or \(\mu\) is minuscule. The proof uses the alteration due to \textit{A. J. de Jong} [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 83, 51--93 (1996; Zbl 0916.14005)] to reduce to the strictly semi-stable case, and uses the calculation of \textit{M. Rapoport} and \textit{T. Zink} [Invent. Math. 68, 21--101 (1982; Zbl 0498.14010)] to bound the degree of the function. The paper, as well as the previous one, assumes the knowledge on perverse sheaves and intersection complexes. However, it provides an excellent introduction, which explains some related contents of the previous paper, so that the reader still can reach the main points without much difficulty.