Lie Groups and Algebraic Groups     21–22 July 2011

Organizers

Herbert Abels and Ernest Vinberg

The workshop is part of the conference program of the DFG-funded CRC 701 "Spectral Structures and Topological Methods in Mathematics" at the University of Bielefeld.

List of speakers

Program

The program of the workshop can be found here in pdf-format. (as of July 20th)

Titles and Abstracts

Roman Avdeev (Moscow) Harmonic analysis on spherical homogeneous spaces Let $G$ be a semisimple complex algebraic group and $H$ a closed subgroup of it. An important problem in the theory of algebraic transformation groups is to compute the spectra of the natural representations of $G$ on spaces of regular sections of homogeneous line bundles over the homogeneous space $G/H$. According to a result of Kimelfeld and Vinberg, spherical subgroups $H$ are characterized by the property that all the above-mentioned representations are multiplicity-free. In this case, the whole collection of their spectra is uniquely determined by the so-called extended weight semigroup of $G/H$. In the talk we shall discuss some properties of this semigroup and some approaches to computation of it.
S. Cupit-Foutou (Cologne) Wonderful varieties Wonderful varieties form an important class of compactifications of homogeneous spaces. They include in particular flag varieties and DeConcini-Procesi symmetric varieties. My talk deals with the problem of classifying wonderful varieties by means of combinatorial objects, as proposed by Luna.
A. Felikson, P. Tumarkin (Bremen) Cluster algebras and triangulated orbifolds. Cluster algebras were introduced by Fomin and Zelevinsky in 2000, and since then appear in various contexts. It was shown by Fomin, Shapiro and Thurston that a large class of cluster algebras can be constructed via triangulated borded surfaces with marked points. After reviewing their construction, we extend it to triangulated orbifolds, and show some applications, such as computation of growth of cluster algebras. The work is joint with Michael Shapiro.
S. Gindikin (Rutgers Unuiversity) Geometry of horospheres and the horospherical transform. The Plancherel formula for some symmetric spaces is equivalent to the inversion of the horospherical transform. We will show that this inversion problem is equivalent to its flat analogue.
W. de Graaf (Trento) An algorithm to compute the closure of a nilpotent orbit of a theta-group Theta-groups are reductive algebraic groups that arise from gradings of semisimple Lie algebras. They were introduced and studied by Vinberg in the 70's. They have many interesting properties. One of them is that they have a finite number of nilpotent orbits. The closure of a nilpotent orbit consists of a number of nilpotent orbits. In this talk we will outline an algorithm for deciding whether one nilpotent orbit lies in the closure of another. Also some results obtained with the implementation of the algorithm will be discussed. This is joint work with E. Vinberg and O. Yakimova.
J. Hilgert (Paderborn) Patterson-Sullivan distributions in higher rank For a compact locally symmetric space of non-positive curvature, we consider sequences of normalized joint eigenfunctions which belong to the principal spectrum of the algebra of invariant differential operators. Using an h-pseudodifferential calculus, we define and study lifted quantum limits as weak*-limit points of Wigner distributions. The Helgason boundary values of the eigenfunctions allow us to construct Patterson--Sullivan distributions on the space of Weyl chambers. These distributions are asymptotic to lifted quantum limits and satisfy additional invariance properties, which makes them useful in the context of quantum ergodicity. Our results generalize results for compact hyperbolic surfaces obtained by Anantharaman and Zelditch.
P. Littelmann (Cologne) PBW degeneration: representations, flag varieties, polytopes and combinatorics in type A and C This is a report on joint work of Michael Finkelberg, Evgeny Feigin, Ghislain Fourier, Peter Littelmann.
The PBW filtration on a highest weight representation of a simple Lie algebra $g$ is induced by the standard (degree) filtration on the universal enveloping algebra of lowering operators. The associated graded space carries a structure of a representation of the degenerate Lie algebra and the degenerate Lie group. We will describe these representations for the Lie algebras of type A and C. We will also define the degenerate analogues of the flag varieties. We will give an explicit description of these singular varieties, construct desingularizations and derive a formula for the q-characters of the highest weight g-modules.
E. Vishnyakova (Bonn) Non-split homogeneous supermanifolds It is well known that any smooth supermanifold is split by the Batchelor Theorem. This assertion is false in the complex case. For example almost all classical flag supermanifolds are non-split. Our talk will be devoted to the question:
How to find out, whether a complex homogeneous supermanifold is split or non-split?
O. Yakimova (Erlangen) One-parameter contractions of Lie-Poisson brackets. (Partly based on a joint paper with D. Panyushev)
Contractions provide a way to replace a simple Lie algebra $g$ by a semidirect product of its subalgebra and a complementary subspace, which becomes an Abelian ideal. In some cases the Poisson tensor of $g$ behaves well under a contraction and this allows us to get a description of the symmetric invariants for the resulting Lie algebra. Two contractions will be considered, one is related to a symmetric decomposition $g_0+g_1$ of $g$ and it was studied before by D. Panyushev. The second one was recently introduced by E. Feigin. Here a subalgebra is a Borel and the complementary subspace is the nilpotent radical of an opposite Borel.
V.S. Zhgoon (Moscow) (based on joint work with D.A. Timashev) On complexity of Lagrangian subvarieties in Hamiltonian varieties. Let $G$ be a reductive group over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, and let X be a symplectic $G$-variety equipped with a moment map. We prove that all $G$-invariant Lagrangian subvarieties of $X$ have the same complexity and rank. We also give a calculation of the closure of the image of the moment map that generalizes well-known results on the cotangent bundles of $G$-varieties. We note that this is a generalization of a result of D.I.Panyushev, who proved that for a $G$-invariant subvariety $Y$ of a $G$-variety $X$ the conormal bundle of $Y$ in $X$ has the same complexity as $X$.

Further information

For registration please use our online registration form.

All the talks take place in the "Common Room" (V3-201).

Hotel

A limited number of rooms has been reserved at the Arcadia Hotel at the reduced rate of 70 EUR per night. Please contact Ms. Anyta Cole by July 8th if you wish to make a reservation. First come, first served.


Größere Kartenansicht

Contact information

Please contact the organizers, Mr. Abels or Mr. Vinberg , for further information.