Algebraic zip data (Q532787)

An algebraic zip datum is a tuple \(\mathcal{Z} = (G,P,Q,\varphi)\) consisting of: a reductive linear algebraic group \(G\); parabolic subgroups \(P\) and \(Q\) of \(G\); an isogeny \(\varphi:P/R_u(P) \to Q/R_u(Q)\). In this paper, the authors describe how these zip data generalize several constructions and ideas already in the literature; for example, the \(G\)-stable pieces of \textit{G. Lusztig} [Mosc. Math. J. 4, No. 1, 153--179 (2004; Zbl 1102.20030)], and the studies of Shimura varieties found in [\textit{B. Moonen}, Basel: Birkhäuser. Prog. Math. 195, 255--298 (2001; Zbl 1084.14523)] and \textit{A. Vasiu} [Math. Nachr. 283, No. 8, 1068--1113 (2010; Zbl 1264.11053)]. The main results of the paper describe a decomposition of \(G\) into the union of locally closed smooth subvarieties \(G^w\), indexed by a certain subset of the Weyl group depending on the type of the parabolic subgroup \(P\), and also how the closure of such a piece \(G^w\) splits up as the union of pieces \(G^{w'}\) . The authors also consider the case where the zip datum \(\mathcal{Z}\) is ``orbitally finite''; that is, when the number of orbits of \(E_{\mathcal{Z}} : = \{(p,q) \in P\times Q \mid \varphi(\pi_P(p)) = \pi_Q(q)\) on \(G\) is finite. Here \(E_{\mathcal{Z}}\) act on \(G\) via \(((p,q),g) \mapsto pgq^{-1}\). In this case the pieces \(G^w\) are the \(E_{\mathcal{Z}}\)-orbits in \(G\).