Classification of strict wonderful varieties (Q978571)

Let \(G\) be a connected complex reductive algebraic group. A smooth complete \(G\)-variety \(X\) is said to be wonderful of rank \(r\) if it has an open \(G\)-orbit whose complement is the union of smooth prime \(G\)-divisors \(D_i\) (\(i=1,\dots,r\)) with normal crossing, \(\bigcap_1^rD_i\neq\emptyset\), and if \(x,x'\) are such that \(\{i : x\in D_i\}=\{i : x'\in D_i\}\) then \(G.x=G.x'\). \textit{D.~Luna} proved that wonderful varieties are spherical and that they play a central role in the study of spherical varieties. In [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 94, 161--226 (2001; Zbl 1085.14039)], he introduced combinatorial invariants, the spherical systems, associated with any wonderful variety, and conjectured that wonderful varieties could be classified by these invariants. Positive results on this conjecture were obtained by D.~Luna, P.~Bravi, G.~Pezzini and I.~Losev. A wonderful variety \(X\) is called strict if each of its points has a selfnormalising stabilizer. It is proved in [\textit{G.~Pezzini}, Math. Z. 255, No. 4, 793--812 (2007; Zbl 1122.14036)] that the strict wonderful varieties are exactly the wonderful varieties which can be embedded in the projectivisation of a simple \(G\)-module. The authors characterize strict wonderful varieties in terms of colors and spherical roots. The main result of the article is the proof of Luna's conjecture in the setting of strict wonderful varieties. In particular, it is proved that primitive strict wonderful varieties are mostly obtained from symmetric spaces, spherical nilpotent orbits and model spaces in the sense of \textit{D.~Luna} [J.~Algebra 313, No. 1, 292--319 (2007; Zbl 1116.22006)]. The combinatorial language of the theory of wonderful varieties is rather involved, but the authors give all necessary definitions and preliminary results and make their presentation very understandable. In order to make the paper as self-contained as possible, they add three appendices on symmetric spaces, spherical nilpotent orbits and model spaces respectively.