Cluster algebras and quantum affine algebras (Q993596)

Let \(\mathfrak{g}\) be a simple Lie algebra of type \(A_n\), \(D_n\) or \(E_n\), and let \(U_q(\hat{\mathfrak{g}})\) be the quantum affine algebra, where the non-zero complex number \(q\) is not a root of unity. Let \(\mathcal{C}\) be the monoidal category of finite dimensional \(U_q(\hat{\mathfrak{g}})\)-modules. It was showed by \textit{V. Chari} and \textit{A. Pressley} [Commun. Math. Phys. 142, No. 2, 261--283 (1991; Zbl 0739.17004)] that for \(\mathfrak{g}= \mathfrak{sl}_2\) any simple object of \(\mathcal{C}\) is isomorphic to the tensor product of simple objects of Kirillov-Reshetikhin type; also they described which finite tensor products of simple objects of Kirillov-Reshetikhin type are simple. For other \(\mathfrak{g}\), the tensor structure of \(\mathcal C\) is not known. In the paper under review the authors define a sequence \(\mathcal{C}_0 \subset \mathcal{C}_1\subset \dots\) of full monoidal subcategories of \(\mathcal{C}\), whose objects are characterized in terms of the roots of the Drinfeld polynomials of the composition factors. For each \(\ell \geq 0\), the Grothendieck ring \(R_{\ell}\) of \(\mathcal{C}_{\ell}\) is a polynomial ring in \(n(\ell +1)\) variables, where \(n=\text{rank}\, \mathfrak{g}\). A structure of a cluster algebra is introduced on \(R_{\ell}\) by using an initial seed consisting of a choice of \(n(\ell +1)\) Kirillov-Reshetikhin modules in \(\mathcal{C}_{\ell}\). Then new seeds can be obtained by applying sequences of mutations to the initial seed. The authors conjecture that the new cluster variables produced in this way are classes of simple objects of \(\mathcal{C}_{\ell}\). Most of the paper is devoted to the case \(\ell =1\), where it is conjecture that for any \(\mathfrak{g}\) the category \(\mathcal{C}_1\) behaves as the category \(\mathcal{C}\) for \(\mathfrak{sl}_2\), with respect to the tensor structure of the simple objects. The main aim of the paper is to prove this conjecture for \(\mathfrak{g}\) of types \(A_n\) and \(D_4\).