Canonical bases in tensor products and graphical calculus for \(U_ q(sl_ 2)\) (Q1363110)

It was realized quite early that many expressions in the representation theory of \({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2\) admit a natural graphical interpretation. This indicates that it should be possible to formulate the theory over the natural numbers. Moreover, the graphical calculus for \({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2\) can be extended to the representation theory of the \(q\)-analogue of its universal enveloping algebra. In principle, the geometric construction of \textit{A. A. Beilinson}, \textit{G. Lusztig} and \textit{R. MacPherson} [Duke Math. J. 61, No. 2, 655-677 (1990; Zbl 0713.17012)] already provides an approach towards a representation theory of \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_n)\) over the natural numbers. However, any explicit calculations beyond a few simple cases suffer from technical difficulties. On the other hand, the important concept of a canonical basis was extended to tensor products of representations, and \textit{G. Lusztig} gave a geometric interpretation of part of his results via perverse sheaves, which implies their integrality and positivity properties [Introduction to quantum groups (Prog. Math. 110, Birkhäuser, Boston) (1993; Zbl 0788.17010)]. In the paper under review, the authors develop an extension of the Penrose-Kauffman graphical calculus and apply it to obtain explicit expressions for the dual canonical bases in tensor products of finitely many irreducible representations of \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\) together with a description of its action on these bases. In particular, they obtain a diagrammatic realization of the dual canonical basis in the space of \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\)-invariants of these tensor products. In the first part of the paper, the authors begin by providing some preliminaries on \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\) and its finite-dimensional representations for generic \(q\). In particular, they define a non-degenerate symmetric contravariant bilinear form on the \((n+1)\)-dimensional irreducible representation \(V_n\) which enables them to introduce the dual canonical basis of \(V_n\). Then the Temperley-Lieb algebra \(TL_n\) is defined by generators and relations, and it is explained how \(TL_n\) shows up as the centralizer of the \(n\)th tensor power of the fundamental representation \(V_1\) and how every irreducible representation \(V_n\) can be realized as a \(q\)-symmetric power in \(V^{\otimes n}_1\). The corresponding injectors and projectors give rise to the Jones-Wenzl idempotent in \(TL_n\), for which an explicit formula is stated. After briefly recalling Lusztig's tensor product of based modules and translating it to their dual canonical bases, the authors describe the dual canonical basis of \(V^{\otimes n}_1\) and obtain as a consequence a bijection between the dual canonical basis of the \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\)-invariants of \(V^{\otimes(2n)}_1\) and the reduced monomials in the generators of \(TL_n\). The dual canonical bases in tensor products of finitely many irreducible representations are reduced via the projectors to the dual canonical basis of a tensor power of \(V_1\). Furthermore, the integrality and positivity of various structure constants in the decomposition of tensor products of representations of \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\) and for the braid group action are stated. The authors conclude the first part by discussing an operadic formulation of the category of representations of \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\). The second part forms the technical heart of the paper. Here the authors generalize the Penrose-Kauffman graphical calculus for the representation theory of \(U({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\) by introducing oriented arrows in order to describe the matrix coefficients of intertwiners. Then they provide the graphical presentation of the dual canonical basis and apply it to prove the integrality and positivity result for the action of \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\). They also give a diagrammatic realization of the tensor category of finite-dimensional \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\)-modules and its operadic version from the end of the first part. The last part of the paper is devoted to the proofs of the remaining integrality and positivity results stated in the first part by using the graphical calculus from the second part. The authors also obtain an inductive formula for the coefficients of the Jones-Wenzl idempotent (with respect to the dual canonical basis of the \(U_q({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_2)\)-invariants of \(V^{\otimes(2n)}_1\)), which is a refinement of Wenzl's original formula. Finally, they apply the graphical calculus to derive factorizations of Clebsch-Gordan coefficients (\(3j\)-symbols) and Racah-Wigner coefficients (\(6j\)-symbols).