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51 votes
7 answers
11k views

How is representation theory used in modular/automorphic forms?

There is certainly an abundance of advanced books on Galois representations and automorphic forms. What I'm wondering is more simple: What is the basic connection between modular forms and ...
David Corwin's user avatar
  • 15.4k
44 votes
10 answers
11k views

The finite subgroups of SL(2,C)

Books can be written about the finite subgroups of $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb C)$ (and their immediate family, like the polyhedral groups...) I am about to start writing notes for a short course about ...
Mariano Suárez-Álvarez's user avatar
35 votes
4 answers
2k views

Why there is a relation among the second-order minors of a symmetric $4\times 4$ matrix?

A $4\times 4$ symmetric matrix $$ \left( \begin{array}{cccc} a_{11} & a_{12} & a_{13} & a_{14} \\ a_{12} & a_{22} & a_{23} & a_{24} \\ a_{13} & a_{23} & a_{33} & ...
Giovanni Moreno's user avatar
35 votes
6 answers
5k views

Character-free proof that Frobenius kernel is a normal subgroup?

The question is in the title, but here is some background/reminders: A subgroup $H\neq\{1\}$ of a finite group $G$ is called a Frobenius complement if $H\cap H^g = \{1\}$ for all $g\in G\backslash H$....
Alex B.'s user avatar
  • 13k
33 votes
2 answers
2k views

What do cluster algebras tell us about Grassmannians?

One of the first examples of a cluster algebra given in Fomin and Zelevinsky's original paper is the homogeneous coordinate ring $\mathbb{C}[G_{2,n}]$ of the Grassmannian of planes in $\mathbb{C}^n$. ...
Matthew Pressland's user avatar
31 votes
1 answer
5k views

Modern proof of Serre's open image theorem?

Let $E$ be an elliptic curve defined over a number field $K$ without complex multiplication. Serre's open image theorem (which appears in his book 'Abelian $l$-Adic Representations and Elliptic Curves'...
Adam Harris's user avatar
  • 1,905
30 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is there an accessible exposition of Gelfand-Tsetlin theory?

I'm hoping to start an undergraduate on a project that involves understanding a bit of Gelfand-Tsetlin theory, and have been tearing my hair out looking for a good reference for them to look at. ...
Ben Webster's user avatar
  • 44.7k
26 votes
3 answers
5k views

Questions about the Bernstein center of a $p$-adic reductive group

Dear all, The "Bernstein center" of a $p$-adic reductive group appears frequently in the literature of automorphic forms, often without a precise definition. For example, in page 233 of Moeglin-...
user4245's user avatar
  • 809
26 votes
1 answer
2k views

Example of non-projective variety with non-semisimple Frobenius action on etale cohomology?

This question was motivated by a more general question raised by Jan Weidner here. In general one starts with a variety $X$ (say smooth) over an algebraic closure of a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ of ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
25 votes
3 answers
6k views

Introductory References for Geometric Representation Theory

Would anyone be able to recommend text books that give an introduction to Geometric Representation Theory and survey papers that give an outline of the work that has been done in the field? I'm ...
Siddharth Venkatesh's user avatar
25 votes
3 answers
1k views

what else is in $\prod_{j=1}^n(1+q^j)$?

From time to time, I run into the finite product $\prod_{j=1}^n(1+q^j)$. And, the more it happens, the more fascinated I've become. So, herein, I wish to get help in collecting such results. To give ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
25 votes
1 answer
4k views

What is a special parahoric subgroup?

Let me take this question again from the top. I would like to know what a special parahoric subgroup is. I think this is a "real" question, though not an especially good one -- it indicates my ...
23 votes
2 answers
859 views

Moments of Plücker coordinates on complex Grassmannian

Consider the Grassmannian $Gr(k,N)\simeq U(N)/(U(k)\times U(N-k))$ which parametrizes $k$-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{C}^N$. Let us put on it the $U(N)$-invariant probability measure. Let $\...
Abdelmalek Abdesselam's user avatar
22 votes
2 answers
2k views

A royal road to Coulomb branches of 3D $\mathcal{N}=4$ gauge theories

So, I've been very interested recently with the developements of the (now mathematically precise) theory of Coulomb branches - in particular because of its recent applications on representation theory ...
jg1896's user avatar
  • 3,318
21 votes
2 answers
2k views

A new combinatorial property for the character table of a finite group?

Let $G$ be a finite group and $\Lambda = (\lambda_{i,j})$ its character table with $\lambda_{i,1}$ the degree of the ith character. Consider the following combinatorial property of $\Lambda$: for ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
21 votes
2 answers
944 views

Which p-adic algebraic groups are type I?

It was proved by Jacques Dixmier (Sur les représentations unitaires des groupes de Lie algébriques, Annales de l'institut Fourier, 7 (1957), p. 315-328, doi: 10.5802/aif.73, MR 20 #5820, Zbl 0080....
Alain Valette's user avatar
20 votes
7 answers
9k views

Elementary reference for algebraic groups

I'm looking for a reference on algebraic groups which requires only knowledge of basic material on the theory of varieties which you could find in, for example, Basic Algebraic Geometry 1 by ...
David Corwin's user avatar
  • 15.4k
20 votes
3 answers
4k views

Harmonic analysis on semisimple groups - modern treatment

For my finals, I am digging through the book by Varadarajan An introduction to harmonic analysis on semisimple Lie groups. I find it a rather hard read and I feel it's a bit outdated now. Any ...
20 votes
1 answer
786 views

Representation theory of reductive groups in characteristic $p$ as a limit of the theories in characteristic $0$

This question is out of plain curiosity. The first sentence of Deligne's Les corps locaux de caractéristique $p$, limites de corps locaux de caractéristique $0$ (1984) reads (in rough translation) as ...
Chandan Singh Dalawat's user avatar
19 votes
3 answers
1k views

Is there "Schur-Weyl duality" for infinite dimensional unitary group?

To what extent does the relation between the diagonal representation of $SU(n)$ in $(\mathbb{C}^n)^{\otimes k}$ and representations of the symmetric group $S_k$ remain valid when instead of the group $...
Michał Oszmaniec's user avatar
19 votes
2 answers
1k views

Reference request for Plancherel measure

I need a good reference for the basic definitions of the dual of locally compact group (not necessarily abelian), its natural topology, $\sigma$-algebra, and the Plancherel measure on it (when they ...
Joël's user avatar
  • 26k
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

Dual versions of "folding" symmetric ADE Dynkin diagrams?

Start with the Dynkin diagram of an irreducible root system, typically associated with a simple Lie algebra over $\mathbb{C}$ or a simple algebraic group. Most of the simply-laced ADE diagrams ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
18 votes
5 answers
3k views

Moments of the trace of orthogonal matrices

Let $O_n$ be the (real) orthogonal group of $n$ by $n$ matrices. I am interested in the following sequence which showed up in a calculation I was doing $$a_k = \int_{O_n} (\text{Tr } X)^k dX$$ where ...
J. E. Pascoe's user avatar
  • 1,429
18 votes
3 answers
1k views

What happened to the fourth paper in the series "On the classification of primitive ideals for complex classical Lie algebras" by Garfinkle?

In a series of papers in Compositio Math. entitled On the classification of primitive ideals for complex classical Lie algebras I, II and III, Garfinkle describes an algorithm that allows one to ...
Tobias Kildetoft's user avatar
18 votes
4 answers
5k views

The only great book that Bourbaki ever wrote?

OK, the title is opinionated and contentious, but I have a definite question. I know that the title refers to the Bourbaki volume Groupes et Algèbres de Lie (Chapters 4-6), published in 1968, but ...
John Stillwell's user avatar
18 votes
6 answers
2k views

Explicit formula for the trace of an unramified principal series representation of $GL(n,K)$, $K$ $p$-adic.

Let $K$ be a non-arch local field (I'm only interested in the char 0 case), let $\mathbb{G}$ be a connected reductive group over $K$ and let $G=\mathbb{G}(K)$. If $V$ is a smooth irreducible complex ...
Kevin Buzzard's user avatar
18 votes
5 answers
2k views

Good source for representation of GL(n) over finite fields?

I'd like to gain some understanding of unitary representations of GL(n) over finite fields. Any good source would be appreciated. ======== edit ========= My original question was ambiguous. ...
user1258240's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
2k views

Virasoro action on the elliptic cohomology

I'm trying to understand better the mathematical notion of elliptic cohomology. Note that I only know the physics definition of the elliptic genus given in Witten's paper. Let $X$ be a Calabi-Yau ...
Yuji Tachikawa's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
458 views

For what topological groups $G$ can we take $EG \rightarrow BG$ to be of the form $S^{\infty} \rightarrow BG$?

Title. For what topological groups $G$ can we take $EG \rightarrow BG$ to be of the form $S^{\infty} \rightarrow BG$? If $G$ is a subgroup of either $S^0,S^1,S^3$ or $S^7$ this induces a free action ...
Noel Lundström's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the archimedean Hecke algebra?

Let $\mathbf G$ be a connected, reductive group over $\mathbb Q$. For each nonarchimedean place $v$, let $K_v$ be a maximal compact subgroup of $\mathbf G(\mathbb Q_v)$. The space $\mathscr H(\mathbf ...
D_S's user avatar
  • 6,180
18 votes
2 answers
1k views

Has anyone seen this construction of the Weil representation of $\mathrm{Sp}_{2k}(\mathbb{F}_p)$?

$\def\FF{\mathbb{F}}\def\CC{\mathbb{C}}\def\QQ{\mathbb{Q}}\def\Sp{\text{Sp}}\def\SL{\text{SL}}\def\GL{\text{GL}}\def\PGL{\text{PGL}}$Let $p$ be an odd prime. The Weil representation is a $p^k$-...
David E Speyer's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
566 views

Subgroup $\mathrm{E}_6$ generated by $\mathrm{Spin_7}$ and $\mathrm{SL}_3$

Let $\mathbb{O}$ be the octonion algebra (say over $\mathbb{R}$) and let $J_{3}(\mathbb{O})$ be the set of $3 \times 3$ hermitian matrices with octonion coefficients, that is: $$ J_3(\mathbb{O}) = \...
Libli's user avatar
  • 7,300
18 votes
1 answer
2k views

Does the Tannaka-Krein theorem come from an equivalence of 2-categories?

Possibly the correct answer to this question is simply a pointer towards some recent literature on Tannaka-Krein-type theorems. The best article I know on the subject is the excellent André Joyal ...
Theo Johnson-Freyd's user avatar
18 votes
0 answers
612 views

Who first noticed the duality for finite groups?

A.A.Kirillov in section 12.3 of his "Elements of the Theory of Representations" writes that the first "symmetric" duality theory for non-commutative groups was the theory for finite groups. In short ...
Sergei Akbarov's user avatar
18 votes
0 answers
469 views

Quasi-classical limit of representation theory

I am looking for a good reference on a general phenomenon of quasi-classical limit in representation theory, which relates "large" representations to measures on (co-adjoint orbits of) the associated ...
Leonid Petrov's user avatar
18 votes
0 answers
895 views

local equivalence of loop group representations

Let $G$ be a compact, simple, connected, simply connected (cscsc) Lie group, and let its smooth loop group $LG:=C^\infty(S^1,G)$. Given an interval $I\subset S^1$, we have the local loop group $$ L_IG ...
André Henriques's user avatar
17 votes
5 answers
3k views

Reference for this theorem in representation theory?

Let $G$ be a finite group and $\chi$ be an irreducible character of $G$ (characteristic zero algebraically closed base field). If $H$ is the kernel of $\chi$ then the irreducible representations of $G/...
Sebastian Burciu's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
1k views

References for Langlands classification

I kindly ask about some references concerning the representation theory of the Langlands dual of a compact Lie group, and how it relates to things related to the original compact Lie group. My ...
Malkoun's user avatar
  • 5,215
17 votes
1 answer
502 views

For which finite groups $G$ is every character a virtual permutation character?

Let $G$ be a finite group. A (complex) character $\chi$ of $G$ is said to be a virtual permutation character if it can be expressed as a $\mathbb{Z}$-linear combination of characters induced from the ...
Henri Johnston's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
742 views

Equivariant Möbius inversion

I'll first explain what Möbius inversion says, and then state what I am fairly sure the equivariant version is. I can write out a proof, but I also can't believe this hasn't been done already; this is ...
David E Speyer's user avatar
16 votes
4 answers
3k views

Decompose tensor product of type $G_2$ Lie algebras.

Let $G$ be a semisimple Lie algebra over $\mathbb{C}$. Let $V(\lambda)$ be the irreducible highest weight module for $G$ with highest weight $\lambda$. If $G$ is of type A, we can decompose $V(\lambda)...
Jianrong Li's user avatar
  • 6,201
16 votes
2 answers
818 views

Decomposing $(\mathbb C^n)^{\otimes m}$ as a representation of $S_n\times S_m$

$V=\mathbb C^n$ is a $\mathbb CS_n$-module, where $S_n$ is the symmetric group of degree $n$, via the representation sending a permutation to the corresponding permutation matrix. The tensor power $V^...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
1k views

Reference for representation theory of SL_2(Z/n)

There are many references for the representation theory (say over $\mathbf C$) of $\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbf{F}_q)$ and $\operatorname{GL}_2(\mathbf{F}_q)$, for instance lecture 5 in Fulton--Harris &...
Dan Petersen's user avatar
  • 40.2k
16 votes
3 answers
1k views

Conjectures in the representation theory of the symmetric group

Question: What are current open conjectures about the representation theory of the symmetric group? I am interested mostly in the characteristic 0 case, but conjectures for the modular case can also ...
Mare's user avatar
  • 26.5k
16 votes
2 answers
992 views

Maximal number of maximal subgroups

Let $G$ be a finite group. I want to find an upper bound on the number of the maximal subgroups. My questions is does it possible to prove that the number of maximal subgroups of any finite group $G$ ...
Klim Efremenko's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
408 views

Is there a relationship between Broué's abelian defect group conjecture and Alperin's weight conjecture?

Let $G$ be a finite group, let $k$ be a large enough field of characteristic $p>0$. Let $p\mid |G|$. Broué's abelian defect group conjecture states the following: Let $B$ be a block of $kG$ with ...
Bernhard Boehmler's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
669 views

Subquotients in the Verma filtration on Verma modules

Let $\lambda$ be a dominant integral weight of $\mathfrak g$, a finite-dimensional reductive Lie algebra over $\mathbb C$. Let $M(w\cdot \lambda)$ denote the Verma module with high weight $w\cdot \...
Allen Knutson's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
188 views

Representation theory of Pin groups

I am (still) thinking about branching rules from $\mathfrak{so}(n+m)$ to $\mathfrak{so}(n) \oplus \mathfrak{so}(m)$, using Proctor's paper as the starting point. Proctor describes this rule for $m = 2$...
Ilia Smilga's user avatar
  • 1,574
15 votes
2 answers
2k views

Isomorphism between Spin(3,2) and Sp(4, R)

I've been using the fact that Spin(3,2) is isomorphic to Sp(4, R) for a while, but I've never seen a proof. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good reference?
MRD1729's user avatar
  • 393
15 votes
4 answers
869 views

What is known about ordinary character values at involutions?

Let $G$ be a finite group and let $\chi$ be the character of an irreducible complex representation $\rho$ of $G$ on $V$. Let $x$ be an involution in $G$. I'd like to ask the following Question 1: ...
Bernhard Boehmler's user avatar

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