The ring of conditions of a semisimple group (Q958072)

The general program of developing intersection theory for noncomplete varieties is motivated by the need to make the algebra of conditions, used by Schubert and Chasles for questions in enumerative geometry, rigorous. For example the variety of nondegenerate conics X is a noncomplete symmetric (see below) variety of dimension 5. A condition on a conic, like being tangent to a line, determines a closed subvariety of X and therefore a cycle class in the intersection ring or ring of conditions of X. For problems in the enumerative theory of conics one wants to compute a codimension 5 cycle class against the class of a conic (a point of \(X\)). It is now known that an intersection ring can be constructed for spherical homogeneous spaces. This includes the symmetric varieties \(G/G^\sigma\), where \(G\) is a semisimple complex algebraic group of adjoint type, \(\sigma\) an involution on \(G\) and \(G^\sigma\) the corresponding fixed point subgroup [see \textit{C. De Concini} and \textit{C. Procesi}, in: Invariant theory, Proc. 1st 1982 Sess. C.I.M.E., Montecatini/Italy, Lect. Notes Math. 996, 1--44 (1983; Zbl 0581.14041); in: Algebraic groups and related topics, Proc. Symp., Kyoto and Nagoya/Jap. 1983, Adv. Stud. Pure Math. 6, 481--513 (1985; Zbl 0596.14041)]. Note that \(G\) itself is a symmetric variety: \(G\cong H/H^\sigma\), \(H\)-equivariantly, where \(H=G\times G\) and \(\sigma\) is the involution of \(H\) that interchanges the factors. In the paper under review the author gives a description of ring of conditions \(R(G)\) of \(G\) over \(\mathbb Q\). This is done using the \(G\times G\)-equivariant ring of conditions \(R_{G\times G}(G)\) of \(G\) over \(\mathbb Q\). The rings \(R(G)\) and \(R_{G\times G}(G)\) can be characterised as direct limits of cohomology and equivariant cohomology rings of the smooth equivariant compactifications of \(G\). From the results of [\textit{E. Bifet, C. De Concini} and \textit{C. Procesi}, Adv. Math. 82, No. 1, 1--34 (1990; Zbl 0743.14018)] the author deduces a description of \(R_{G\times G}(G)\) as a ring of functions on the product of the reflection representation of the Weyl group of \(G\) times a fundamental Weyl chamber. Then \(R(G)\) is described as the quotient of \(R_{G\times G}(G)\) by the ideal generated by a certain regular sequence.