Modular intersection cohomology complexes on flag varieties

DOI10.1007/S00209-011-0955-YMaRDI QIDQ1925746zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 19 December 2012

Published in Mathematische Zeitschrift (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0709.0207

Other algebro-geometric (co)homologies (e.g., intersection, equivariant, Lawson, Deligne (co)homologies) (14F43) Grassmannians, Schubert varieties, flag manifolds (14M15) Homogeneous spaces and generalizations (14M17) Representations of Lie algebras and Lie superalgebras, algebraic theory (weights) (17B10) Hecke algebras and their representations (20C08)

Abstract: We present a combinatorial procedure (based on the W-graph of the Coxeter group) which shows that the characters of many intersection cohomology complexes on low rank complex flag varieties with coefficients in an arbitrary field are given by Kazhdan-Lusztig basis elements. Our procedure exploits the existence and uniqueness of parity sheaves. In particular we are able to show that the characters of all intersection cohomology complexes with coefficients in a field on the flag variety of type A_n for n < 7 are given by Kazhdan-Lusztig basis elements. By results of Soergel, this implies a part of Lusztig's conjecture for SL(n) with n le 7. We also give examples where our techniques fail. In the appendix by Tom Braden examples are given of intersection cohomology complexes on the flag varities for SL(8) and SO(8) which have torsion in their stalks or costalks.

Review text

The authors study the intersection cohomology of Schubert varieties. Let \(\mathsf{k}\) be a field of characteristic \(p\). Let \(G\) be a connected reductive algebraic group over \(\mathbb{C}\), let \(B\subset G\) be a Borel subgroup of \(G\) and let \((W, S)\) be the corresponding Weyl group and its simple reflections. Let \(G/B\) be the flag variety with its classical topology and consider the intersection cohomology sheaves \(\mathbf{IC}(w)\) which belong to the bounded derived category of sheaves of \(\mathsf{k}\)-vector spaces on \(G/B\) constructible along \(B\)-orbits. Let \(\mathcal{H}\) be the Hecke algebra of \((W, S)\) over \(\mathbb{Z}[v, v^{-1}]\) and let \(\{H_w | w\in W\}\) be the Kazhdan-Lusztig basis of \(\mathcal{H}\). If \(\mathsf{k}\) is of characteristic zero, a theorem of Kazhdan and Lusztig says that \(\mathrm{ch}(\mathbf{IC}(w)) = H_w\), where \(\mathrm{ch}(\mathbf{IC}(w))\) is the character sheaf of \(\mathbf{IC}(w)\). Thus the Poincaré polynomials of the stalks of the intersection cohomology sheaves are given by Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials. It then follows that the same is true in almost all characteristics, however for any given characteristic almost nothing is known. It has been known since the original papers of Kazhdan and Lusztig that in non-simply laced cases the intersection cohomology complexes may have a different character in characteristic 2. In 2002 Braden discovered examples of Schubert varieties in simply laced types \(A_7\) and \(D_4\) where the character of the intersection cohomology sheaf in characteristic 2 is different to all other characteristics. The authors define a new basis \(\{B_w | w\in W\}\) using the information encoded in the \( W\)-graph and say that \(x\in W\) is separated if \(H_x=B_x\). The first main result states that \(ch(\mathbf{IC}(w)) = H_w\) for any field \(\mathsf{k}\) if \(w\) is separated. The determination of the characters of \(\mathbf{IC}(w)\) is closely related to the decomposition theorem. Given a simple reflection \(s\in S\) let \(P_s\) be the corresponding standard minimal parabolic subgroup and consider the associated quotient map \(\pi_s\) over \(G/P_s\). If \(\mathsf{k}\) is of characteristic zero, the decomposition theorem implies that \(\pi_{s*}(\mathbf{IC}(w))\) is a direct sum of shifts of intersection cohomology sheaves. The second main result states some conditions, using the previous definition of separateness, so that the same holds in positive characteristic. Unfortunately, the calculation of the sets \(\sigma(W)\) of separated elements can be very complicated. The authors use Fokko du Cloux's program Coxeter to prove that \(\sigma(W)=W\) if \(G\) is of type \(A_n\) for \(n<7\). By results of Soergel, this implies a part of Lusztig's conjecture for \(SL(n)\) with \(n<8\). The authors say also that their techniques are not as affective for the other groups. Finally, in the appendix Braden shows that, both in type \(D_4\) and \(A_7\), \(ch(\mathbf{IC}(w)) \neq H_w\) if \(w\) is a minimal element in \(W \;\sigma(W)\) and \(\mathsf{k}\) has characteristic 2. The main theoretical tool in the demonstration of the main results is the existence and uniqueness of parity sheaves.

Recommendations

Cites work

Cited in

(26)

Describes a project that uses

Uses Software

Coxeter

This page was built for publication: Modular intersection cohomology complexes on flag varieties

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q1925746)