Questions tagged [algebraic-groups]

Algebraic varieties with group operations given by morphisms, or group objects in the category of algebraic varieties, the category of algebraic schemes, or closely related categories.

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Homology of $\mathrm{PGL}_2(F)$

Update: As mentioned below, the answer to the original question is a strong No. However, the case of $\pi_4$ remains, and actually I think that this one would follow from Suslin's conjecture on ...
Peter Scholze's user avatar
30 votes
0 answers
989 views

Follow-up to Steinberg's problem (12) in his 1966 ICM talk?

Steinberg's lecture at the 1966 ICM in Moscow here surveyed his work on regular elements of semisimple algebraic groups, while also formulating a number of then-open questions as "problems" (...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
25 votes
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959 views

Is every $p$-group the $\mathbb{F}_p$-points of a unipotent group

Let $\Gamma$ be a finite group of order $p^n$. Is there necessarily a unipotent algebraic group $G$ of dimension $n$, defined over $\mathbb{F}_p$, with $\Gamma \cong G(\mathbb{F}_p)$? I have no real ...
David E Speyer's user avatar
21 votes
0 answers
566 views

p-groups as rational points of unipotent groups

Is it true that every finite p-group can be realized as the group of rational points over $\mathbb{F_p}$ of some connected unipotent algebraic group defined over $\mathbb{F_p}$? For abelian p-groups, ...
Georges's user avatar
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20 votes
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Should the Dynkin diagrams of types $A_1$ and $B_2$ be labelled $C_1$ and $C_2$?

The labels $A$--$G$ attached to connected Dynkin diagrams are of course arbitrary, the result of historical accidents. In order to avoid repetitions, the four infinite families $A_\ell, B_\ell, C_\...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
17 votes
0 answers
580 views

Actions on ℍⁿ generated by torsion elements

Let $n$ be a large integer. I am looking for a cocompact properly discontinuous isometric action on $n$-dimensional Lobachevky space which is generated by elements of finite order. Or equivalently, ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
412 views

Complete resource of Ngô's course notes on Algebraic Groups and Group Schemes

I'm looking for Ngô's M2 course notes on "Groupes algébriques et schémas en groupes". The Wayback Machine has an incomplete capture here. However, it apparently lacks chapter 1, 3, and 5. I ...
Modern_Hunter's user avatar
15 votes
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880 views

How much has been written down about Deligne's geometric approach to the order formula for a finite group of Lie type?

This is a follow-up to a recent mathoverflow question 34387 about computing the orders of finite unitary groups and the comments made there. Between 1955 (Chevalley's Tohoku paper) and 1968 (...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
14 votes
0 answers
808 views

What goes wrong with this alternate proof of Dirichlet's Theorem?

I had an idea for an alternate proof of Dirichlet's theorem, but something goes wrong. Dirichlet's theorem on primes in arithmetic progression says that for $ m,a \in \mathbb{N} $ which are ...
schemer's user avatar
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14 votes
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Analog of Peter-Weyl theorem for $G[[t]]$

Let $G$ be a reductive group over ${\mathbb C}$ and let $G[[t]]$ denote the corresponding group over the formal power series ring ${\mathbb C}[[t]]$. This is a group scheme, so one can speak about its ...
Alexander Braverman's user avatar
13 votes
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Is there a simple proof that representations of GL(n,k) are determined by their restriction to diagonal matrices?

Let $k$ be a field of characteristic zero. The general linear group $\mathrm{GL}(n,k)$ has a subgroup $\mathrm{D}(n,k)$ consisting of invertible diagonal matrices. These are linear algebraic groups ...
John Baez's user avatar
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13 votes
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Uniform proof of Hasse principle for algebraic groups?

Let $G$ be a simply connected semi-simple linear algebraic group over a global field $k$. The Hasse principle for algebraic groups states that the map $$H^1(k,G)\rightarrow\prod_vH^1(k_v,G)$$ is ...
dhy's user avatar
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13 votes
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548 views

Higher-dimensional algebraic subgroups of the proalgebraic Nottingham group?

Let $R$ be a commutative ring, and, for $n\ge0$, ${\mathcal{A}}_n={\mathcal{A}}_n(R)$ the group of series $u(x)=\sum_0^\infty a_jx^{j+1}\in R[[x]]$ for which $a_0\in R^\times$ and $u(x)\equiv x\pmod{x^...
Lubin's user avatar
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12 votes
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550 views

Representation theory of finite groups with additional structures

Let $H$ be a finite group, representation theory of $H$ over $\Bbb C$ essentially determines $\operatorname{Hom}(H,GL_n(\Bbb C))$ up to conjugation action of $GL_n(\Bbb C)$ for each $n$. If we replace ...
sawdada's user avatar
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12 votes
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341 views

Is the quotient of two linear group schemes linear?

Let $S$ be an affine scheme. Call a group scheme $G\to S$ linear if there exists an $S$-group morphism $G\to \mathrm{GL}_{n,S}$ with trivial kernel. Assuming this, suppose $H\to S$ is a central closed ...
Uriya First's user avatar
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Has Kac's conjecture (*), from "Infinite root systems, representations of graphs and invariant theory", been proved?

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, $V$ a finite dimensional $k$ vector space, $V^{\ast}$ the dual space, and $G$ an algebraic subgroup of $GL(V)$. Let $V_0$ be the points ...
David E Speyer's user avatar
12 votes
0 answers
208 views

Failure of surjectivity in Hotta-Springer specialization: examples for special unipotents?

Last weekend's workshop on Springer theory and its generalizations at UMass demonstrated how far the subject has expanded over four decades, but the original set-up for the Springer correspondence ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
12 votes
0 answers
899 views

What is miraculous about the mirabolic subgroup?

I recently asked this question about Euler subgroups and generalizing the automorphic theory of $\mathrm{GL}_n$ to a more general setting. My question here is more specific. As mentioned there, the ...
Spencer Leslie's user avatar
12 votes
0 answers
612 views

Earliest use of the term "linearly reductive"?

Recently a number of MO questions have referred to a "linearly reductive group", usually in a way that is out of focus. It's unclear to me why this terminology is so popular, since over a field of ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
11 votes
0 answers
473 views

Sheaf-theoretic Grothendieck groups

Let $S$ be a scheme, $M\to S$ a commutative monoid object in algebraic $S$-spaces, ie. an algebraic $S$-space such that, functorially on $S$-schemes $T$, $M(T)$ is a commutative monoid with neutral ...
user avatar
11 votes
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662 views

Is there a reasonable way to define "reductive Lie algebra" in prime characteristic?

Among the finite dimensional Lie algebras over a field of characteristic 0, there is a sensible definition of "reductive Lie algebra" going back at least to the 1960 first chapter of N. Bourbaki's ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
11 votes
0 answers
314 views

Mysterious "raison d'être" of filtrations of congruence subgroups

I wonder for long why congruence subgroups seem to arise so naturally in certain filtrations. Everything below is on a local field $F_p$. Filtration for $GL_n$. Casselman and later Jacquet, Piatetski-...
Desiderius Severus's user avatar
11 votes
0 answers
485 views

Can an abelian variety/Q have no non-trivial points over Q_sol?

Let $A/\mathbb{Q}$ be an abelian variety. Must there be a finite solvable extension $K/\mathbb{Q}$ such that $A(K)$ is nontrivial? This follows from the conjecture that the maximal (pro-)solvable ...
Pablo's user avatar
  • 11.2k
10 votes
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276 views

Quotients by algebraic group actions at the level of the Grothendieck ring

$\DeclareMathOperator\SGro{SGro}\DeclareMathOperator\Gro{Gro}\DeclareMathOperator\GL{GL}$For an algebraically closed field $K$, the Grothendieck semiring of $K$ consists of, say, quasi-projective $K$-...
YCor's user avatar
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10 votes
0 answers
522 views

What is the mirror of an algebraic group?

Background: Kontsevich's homological mirror symmetry conjecture posits the existence of pairs $(X,\check X)$ with an equivalence of dg/$A_\infty$-categories $$\mathcal F(X)=\mathcal D^b(\check X)$$ ...
John Pardon's user avatar
  • 18.3k
10 votes
0 answers
337 views

What are the analogs of a Levi/Parabolic/Borel/Bruhat over the field with 1 element?

This is inevitably an imprecise question, but there are already several questions like this on the site so I thought i'd try anyway. If I understand correctly, for any reductive algebraic group $G$ ...
Saal Hardali's user avatar
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391 views

Lazard's theorem and Hopf structures on the polynomial algebra

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $0$. A well-known result of Lazard's states that an algebraic group which is isomorphic as a variety to an affine space is unipotent (M. ...
Paul Gilmartin's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
417 views

Polynomial function from $S^3$ to $S^3$ and quaternions

I am searching the polynomial functions from $S^3$ to $S^3$. ($S^3$ is the set of vectors $x$ in $\mathbb{R}^4$ such that $\|x\|=1$) We say $g$ is a polynomial function from $S^3$ to $S^3$, if there ...
user12806's user avatar
  • 663
10 votes
0 answers
863 views

Invariance of Euler characteristic under base change for sheaf cohomology of flag varieties

BACKGROUND: Over an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic, most of the basic structure theory of affine (= linear) algebraic groups can be developed concretely without quoting ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
463 views

A uniform bound for a "true" non-congruence subgroup

Before stating my question, let me recall the Congruence Subgroup Property/Problem: Given simply connected absolutely and almost simple algebraic group $G$ with fixed realization as a matrix group one ...
Menny's user avatar
  • 638
9 votes
0 answers
411 views

Full measure properties for Zariski open subsets in $p$-adic situation

Let $F$ be a $p$-adic field and let $X$ be a smooth integral variety over $F$ (I am chiefly interested in the case when $X$ is a connected reductive group over $F$). Let $U$ be a non-empty open subset ...
Alex Youcis's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
159 views

Can semisimple orbits be written $\exp(\mathfrak{g})\cdot x$?

Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a complex semisimple Lie algebra and let $G$ be its adjoint group. If $x\in\mathfrak{g}^{rs}$ is a regular semisimple element, is its orbit $$G\cdot x=\{\mathrm{Ad}_gx:g\in G\}$$ ...
Simon Parker's user avatar
  • 1,363
9 votes
0 answers
243 views

Decomposition of linear groups into free products

I recently learnt about Nagao's theorem which states $SL_2(k[t])\cong SL_2(k)\ast_{B(k)}B(k[t])$ for a field $k$. I read in "A.W. Mason, Serre's generalization of Nagao's theorem" that a theorem of ...
user127776's user avatar
  • 5,821
9 votes
0 answers
487 views

Naive question about classification of unipotent character sheaves

Let $G$ be a connected reductive algebraic group over (say) $\mathbb{C}$. The set $\hat{G}_u$ of isomorphism classes of unipotent irreducible character sheaves has some complicated classification in ...
Sasha's user avatar
  • 5,492
9 votes
0 answers
285 views

Why the hyperoctahedral group is a ``reductive'' group?

Sorry for the misleading title, I actually mean the following: The $n$-th hyperoctahedral group, also known as the Weyl group of $\mathrm{Sp}_{2n}$ and of $\mathrm{SO}_{2n+1}$, is isomorphic to the ...
user148212's user avatar
  • 1,534
9 votes
0 answers
182 views

Demazure’s principle for tower of reductive groups and analogy with Teichmuller tower

Grothendieck in his Esquisse states (page 6/7 of the English translation) that the “principle” that the Teichmuller tower, i.e., the system of profinite fundamental groupoids $\hat{T}_{g,\nu}$ of ...
user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
243 views

Rationality of a certain real algebraic variety

Let $A_n$ denote the vector space of $n\times n$ antisymmetric matrices over ${\mathbb{Q}}$, where $n$ is even. Let $A_n^*\subset A_n$ denote the affine ${\mathbb{Q}}$-subvariety of invertible ...
Mikhail Borovoi's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
383 views

Twisted Springer fibers

In the study of certain moduli spaces of $p$-divisible groups I came across the following twisted version of a Springer fiber, and I was wondering whether some expert on algebraic groups/algebraic ...
Torsten Wedhorn's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
662 views

Role of nontrivial component groups in Springer Correspondence?

Set-up for classical Springer Correspondence: $G$ = reductive group (usually assumed to be semisimple of adjoint type) over $\mathbb{C}$, with Borel subgroup and maximal torus $B \supset T$, Weyl ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
251 views

Looking for counterexamples: Are maximal tori in the automorphism groups of smooth complex quasiprojective varieties conjugate?

Let $X$ be a smooth quasiprojective variety over $\mathbb{C}$. It has a group of (algebraic) automorphisms $ \DeclareMathOperator{\Aut}{Aut} \Aut(X)$. Define a torus in $\Aut(X)$ to be a faithful ...
Carlos Esparza's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
279 views

Does Borel fixed-point theorem hold for Deligne-Mumford stacks?

Let $X$ be a proper Deligne-Mumford stack over $\mathbb{C}$ with an action by a complex torus $T$. Let $X^T$ denote the fixed locus. Question: Is the following statement true? ...
Chi Hong Chow's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
257 views

Degree of parametrization of $\textrm{SO}_n$?

Let $G=\mathrm{SO}_{2 n}$ (or $G=\mathrm{SO}_{2n+1}$, $G=\mathrm{Sp}_{2 n}$ …) defined over some field $K$. Consider $G$ as an affine subvariety of the space of matrices. (Warm-up question) What are ...
H A Helfgott's user avatar
  • 19.3k
8 votes
0 answers
264 views

Generalization of a standard algebraic group theory result for a tensor problem

$\DeclareMathOperator\GL{GL}$Let $X$, $Y$, $Z$ be $\mathbb{C}$-vector spaces, and let $A\subseteq X$ and $B\subseteq Y$ and $C\subseteq Z$ be linear subspaces. Let $V=X \otimes Y \otimes Z$, acted on ...
Ben's user avatar
  • 1,010
8 votes
0 answers
208 views

Non-algebraic representations of $\text{SL}_n(\mathbb{R})$

My question is easily stated: are all continuous finite-dimensional real representations of $\text{SL}_n(\mathbb{R})$ algebraic representations? This is false if you drop the word "continuous" (e.g. ...
Tina's user avatar
  • 373
8 votes
0 answers
276 views

Are the braid groups good in the sense of Toën?

In this question it is asked whether the mapping class groups are 'good' in relation to pro-finite completion. Helpfully, one of the answers gives a link to a proof that the braid groups are good ...
Patrick Elliott's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
164 views

Why is the set of lifts of a p-divisible group canonically the same as the set of lines that span $M(G)/FM(G)$?

Let $M$ be the Dieudonne module of a p-divisible group $G_0$ over $k$, and let a lift of $G_0$ to $A$ be a p-divisible group $G$ over $A$ such that $G \otimes_A k \simeq G_0$. Let $\omega_G$ be the ...
Catherine Ray's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
368 views

Significance of half sum of non-simple positive roots

In representation theory, there are plenty of places that a $\rho$-shift makes an appearance, where $\rho$ is the half sum of positive roots. See, for instance, this post for some discussions of the ...
Dr. Evil's user avatar
  • 2,641
8 votes
0 answers
144 views

Semisimple Lie groups admitting a free algebra of invariants

Assume we work over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. I know that for a connected semisimple algebraic group there is an upper bound for the number of isomorphism classes of ...
svelaz's user avatar
  • 189
8 votes
0 answers
746 views

When is GIT quotient of a projective variety smooth?

It might be very basic, but my google search could not find an answer for this, nor the search in previous related questions. Let $X$ be a smooth projective variety, and let $G$ be a reductive group ...
S. carmeli's user avatar
  • 4,064
8 votes
1 answer
779 views

Representations of groups with the same derived group, how much control do we have over the central character?

Let $G_1 \subset G$ be the rational points of $p$-adic reductive groups sharing the same derived group. There are some well known results relating representations of $G_1$ to representations of $G$, ...
D_S's user avatar
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