The freeness conjecture for Hecke algebras of complex reflection groups, and the case of the Hessian group \(G_{26}\). (Q392494)

The generic Hecke algebra associated to a (finite irreducible) complex reflection group was introduced by Broué, Malle and Rouquier in the 1990s as a generalisation of the well-studied Iwahori-Hecke algebra of a real reflection group (i.e.\ Coxeter group). In the complex case the algebras are more difficult to understand, and this paper addresses in particular the so-called freeness conjecture, which asserts that the Hecke algebra \(H\) of a complex reflection group \(W\) over a ring \(R\) should be a free \(R\)-module of rank \(|W|\). This conjecture remains open for most of the exceptional groups in the Shephard-Todd classification. The main aim of the paper is to prove the freeness conjecture for the group \(G_{26}\), though the author first considers the problem in more generality, following his very frank discussion of the state of the art for exceptional groups, in which (the author asserts) proofs of the freeness conjecture in various cases are not written in sufficient detail, and in some cases are actually wrong. After providing some generalities on the possible freeness of \(H\) in Section 2 of the paper, the author considers in Section 3 the possibility of defining an analogue of the 0-Hecke algebra of a finite Coxeter group. By considering some special cases, he shows that various candidate algebras are not finitely generated, and can even have torsion. This alone shows that the freeness conjecture for complex reflection groups requires stronger conditions on the parameters than in the real case. Finally in Section 4, the author verifies the freeness conjecture for the group \(G_{26}\). This proof proceeds via very detailed calculations which ultimately demonstrate that the generic Hecke algebra of this group is spanned over the ground ring by \(|G_{26}|=1296\) elements. The paper is very well written, although ultimately the aim is to verify the freeness conjecture in a single case, the paper derives great value from the review of the status of the conjecture.