Symmetric powers of \(\mathrm{Nat SL}(2,\mathbb{K})\) (Q2629551)

The main objective of the author is to study the symmetric powers of the natural representation of \(\text{SL}_2(\mathbb K)\) thought of as the spaces of homogeneous polynomials in two variables with fixed degree, among \(\mathbb Z[\text{SL}_2(\mathbb K)]\)-modules (\(\mathbb K\) a field). Let \(\text{Sym}^k\text{Nat}\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\) be the \(k\)-th symmetric power of the natural module \(\text{Nat}\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)=\mathbb Z^2\). In the first part of the article, the author investigates the tensor powers of the \(\mathbb Q[\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)]\)-modules \(\mathbb Q\otimes_{\mathbb Z}\text{Sym}^k\text{Nat}\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)=\text{Sym}_{\mathbb Q}^k\text{Nat}\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\). This is the \((k+1)\)-dimensional space spanned by the vectors \(X^k,\;X^{k-1}Y,\;\dots,\;X Y^{k-1},\;Y^k\) over \(\mathbb Q\) and endowed with the usual action of \(\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\leq\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Q)\) on polynomials. Given an \(\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\)-module \(V\), the \textit{(nilpotent) length} of \(V\) is the least integer \(k\) such that if \(u=\begin{pmatrix} 1&1\\0&1\end{pmatrix}\), then \((u-1)^k\cdot V=0\), i.e. \((u-1)^k=0\) in the endomorphism algebra of \(V\), if such \(k\) exists. The first main result states that if \(V\) has length at most \(5\), then V has a composition series each factor of which is a direct sum of copies of \(\text{Sym}_{\mathbb Q}^k\text{Nat}\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\) for \(k=0,\dots,4\). Then the author moves on to \(\text{SL}_2(\mathbb K)\) more generally and replaces \(u\) with \(u_\lambda=\begin{pmatrix} 1&\lambda\\0&1\end{pmatrix}\), for \(0\neq\lambda\in\mathbb K\). Given a field \(\mathbb K\), let \(\mathbb K_1\subseteq\mathbb K\) denote its prime field and \(\overline{\mathbb K}\) its algebraic closure. We say that \(\mathbb K\) is \textit{\(k\)-radically closed} if for any \(a\in\overline{\mathbb K}\) such that \(a^k\in\mathbb K\), then \(a\in\mathbb K\). For a positive integer \(n\), put \(n!!=n(n-2)(n-4)\cdots\big(n-2(\lceil\frac n2\rceil-1)\big)\). The second main theorem asserts that if \(\mathbb K\) has characteristic zero or at least \(2n+1\) and is \(2(n-1)!!\)-radically closed, and if \(V\) is an \(\text{SL}_2(\mathbb K)\)-module which is also a \(\mathbb K_1\)-vector space such that \(V\simeq\bigoplus_I\text{Sym}\text{Nat}\text{SL}_2(\mathbb K_1)\) as \(\mathbb K_1[\text{SL}_2(\mathbb K_1)]\)-modules, then \(V\) bears a compatible \(\mathbb K\)-vector space structure for which one has \(V\simeq\bigoplus_J\text{Sym}^{n-1}\text{Nat}\text{SL}_2(\mathbb K)\) as \(\mathbb K[\text{SL}_2(\mathbb K)]\)-modules. Here, \(I\) and \(J\) are some indexing sets.