Long root tori in Chevalley groups. (Q2849087)

This article studies a certain class of \textit{long root type} semisimple elements in Chevalley groups. Specifically, let \(G=G(\Phi,K)\) be a Chevalley group with root system \(\Phi\) over the field \(K\); then for each \(\alpha\in\Phi\) and \(\varepsilon\in K^*\) one can define a semisimple element \(h_\alpha(\varepsilon)\) which commutes with a given maximal torus of \(G\) and acts in a prescribed way on the root subgroups of \(G\). The \textit{long root tori} of this paper are the tori in \(G\) which are \(G\)-conjugate to \(\{h_\alpha(\varepsilon)\mid\varepsilon\in K^*\}\) where \(\alpha\in\Phi\) is a long root.NEWLINENEWLINE Fix a Borel subgroup \(B\) of \(G\) and let its unipotent radical be \(U\). The first two main results (parts of which have appeared previously in various forms) are as follows: 1) Any long root torus of \(G\) is \(U\)-conjugate to a subtorus of a subsystem subgroup \(G(\Delta,K)\), where \(\Delta\) is a subsystem of \(\Phi\) isomorphic to a ``twisted'' subsystem of \(D_4\); 2) Barring finitely many exceptions, all elements of a long root torus lie in the same Bruhat cell (which is explicitly described). The other three main results give more information about the Bruhat decomposition of a typical long root torus element. A lot of detail is given in the exposition, together with a comprehensive list of references, and the paper includes a lengthy account of the historical development of the work contained within it.