Highest weight categories and Macdonald polynomials

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to introduce the categorical setup which helps us to relate the theory of Macdonald polynomials and the theory of Weyl modules for current Lie algebras discovered by V.\,Chari and collaborators. We identify Macdonald pairing with the homological pairing on the ring of characters of the Lie algebra of currents $\mathbf{g}\otimes\mathbb{C}[x,\xi]$. We use this description in order to define complexes of modules whose Euler characteristic of characters coincide with Macdonald polynomials. We generalize this result to the case of graded Lie algebras with anti-involution. We show that whenever the BGG reciprocity holds for the corresponding category of modules then these complexes collapse to the modules concentrated in homological degree $0$. The latter modules generalizes the notion of Weyl modules for current Lie algebras and the notion of Verma modules in the BGG category $\mathcal{O}$. We give different criterions of BGG reciprocity and apply them to the Lie algebra of currents $\mathbf{g}\otimes\mathbb{C}[x]$ with $\mathbf{g}$ semisimple.