Kazhdan-Lusztig cells of \(\mathbf{a} \)-value 2 in \(\mathbf{a}(2)\)-finite Coxeter systems (Q6101142)

The article under review studies a central problem of Coxeter group theory, namely the description of Kazhdan-Lusztig cells inside a given Coxeter group. Knowledge of these cells is invaluable for further understanding the representation theory and general structure theory of any Coxeter group. While Kazhdan-Lusztig cells have been studied with great interest for almost 50 years now, full descriptions are only known for finite Coxeter groups as well as few families of infinite Coxeter groups. The authors employ the classical methods to study Kazhdan-Lusztig cells in a Coxeter group \((W,S)\) developed by Lusztig, most importantly Lusztig's \(\mathbf{a}\)-function \(\mathbf a : W\rightarrow \mathbb Z_{\geq 0}\) and the star operators. Since the \(\mathbf{a}\)-function is constant on Kazhdan-Lusztig cells, it is natural to study the sets \[ W_n = \{w\in W\mid \mathbf a(w) = n\},\quad n=0,1,2,\dotsc \] and the Kazhdan-Lusztig cells inside them. This was done in the past in the easiest cases of \(W_0\) and \(W_1\), and the present paper examines the set \(W_2\). If the set \(W_2\) is finite, the paper under review gives a full description of all Kazhdan-Lusztig cells inside \(W_2\). Many interesting examples of infinite Coxeter groups satisfy the condition that \(W_2\) is finite, and a full classification of their Coxeter diagrams is given. This includes the affine types \(\tilde A_1, \tilde A_2, \tilde C_n\) and \(\tilde F_4\).