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J. Matthew Douglass

Publications and source records attributed to J. Matthew Douglass.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

Parabolic Normalizers in Finite Coxeter Groups as Subdirect Products

We revisit the structure of the normalizer $N_W(P)$ of a parabolic subgroup $P$ in a finite Coxeter group $W$, originally described by Howlett. Building on Howlett's Lemma, which provides canonical complements for reflection subgroups, and inspired by a recent construction of Serre for involution centralizers, we refine this understanding by interpreting $N_W(P)$ as a subdirect product via Goursat's Lemma. Central to our approach is a Galois connection on the lattice of parabolic subgroups, which leads to a new decomposition \begin{align*} N_W(P) \cong (P \times Q) \rtimes ((A \times B) \rtimes C)\text, \end{align*} where each subgroup reflects a structural feature of the ambient Coxeter system. This perspective yields a more symmetric description of $N_W(P)$, organized around naturally associated reflection subgroups on mutually orthogonal subspaces of the reflection representation of $W$. Our analysis provides new conceptual clarity and includes a case-by-case classification for all irreducible finite Coxeter groups.

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Invariants and semi-invariants in the cohomology of the complement of a reflection arrangement

Suppose V is a finite dimensional, complex vector space, A is a finite set of codimension one subspaces of V, and G is a finite subgroup of the general linear group GL(V) that permutes the hyperplanes in A. In this paper we study invariants and semi-invariants in the graded QG-module H^*(M(A)), where M(A) denotes the complement in V of the hyperplanes in A and H^*( . ) denotes rational singular cohomology, in the case when A is a reflection arrangement and the pair (A,G) arises from a reflection coset. Our main result is the construction of an explicit, natural (from the point of view of Coxeter groups) basis of the space of invariants, H^*(M(A))^G. In addition to leading to a proof of the description of the space of invariants conjectured by Felder and Veselov for Coxeter groups that does not rely on computer calculations, this construction provides an extension of this description of the space of invariants to arbitrary finite, complex reflection groups. The main result also leads to simplifications of some cohomology computations of Lehrer, Callegaro-Marin, and Marin.

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Restricting invariants of unitary reflection groups

Suppose that G is a finite, unitary reflection group acting on a complex vector space V and X is the fixed point subspace of an element of G. Define N to be the setwise stabilizer of X in G, Z to be the pointwise stabilizer, and C=N/Z. Then restriction defines a homomorphism from the algebra of G-invariant polynomial functions on V to the algebra of C-invariant functions on X. Extending earlier work by Douglass and Roehrle for Coxeter groups, we characterize when the restriction mapping is surjective for arbitrary unitary reflection groups G in terms of the exponents of G and C, and their reflection arrangements. A consequence of our main result is that the variety of G-orbits in the G-saturation of X is smooth if and only if it is normal.

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Modules for Yokonuma-type Hecke algebras

This paper describes the module categories for a family of generic Hecke algebras that specialize to the complex reflection groups G(r,1,n) and to the certain endomorphism rings of permutation characters of finite general linear groups. In particular, complete sets of inequivalent, irreducible modules for semisimple specializations of these algebras are constructed.

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A decomposition of the group algebra of a hyperoctahedral group

The descent algebra of a finite Coxeter group W is a subalgebra of the group algebra defined by Solomon. Descent algebras of symmetric groups have properties that are not shared by other Coxeter groups. For instance, the natural map from the descent algebra of a symmetric group to its character ring is a surjection with kernel equal the Jacobson radical. Thus, the descent algebra implicitly encodes information about the representations of the symmetric group, and a complete set of primitive idempotents in the character ring leads to a decomposition of the group algebra into a sum of right ideals indexed by partitions. Stanley asked whether this decomposition of the regular representation of a symmetric group could be realized as a sum of representations induced from linear characters of centralizers. This question was answered positively by Bergeron, Bergeron, and Garsia, using a connection with the free Lie algebra on n letters, and independently by Douglass, Pfeiffer, and Roehrle, who connected the decomposition with the configuration space of n-tuples of distinct complex numbers. The Mantaci-Reutenauer algebra of a hyperoctahedral group is a subalgebra of the group algebra that contains the descent algebra. Bonnafe and Hohlweg showed that the natural map from the Mantaci-Reutenauer algebra to the character ring is a surjection with kernel equal the Jacobson radical. In 2008, Bonnafe asked whether the analog to Stanley's question about the decomposition of the group algebra into a sum of induced linear characters holds. In this paper, we give a positive answer to Bonnafe's question by explicitly constructing the required linear characters.

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Computations for Coxeter arrangements and Solomon's descent algebra III: Groups of rank seven and eight

In this paper we extend the computations in parts I and II of this series of papers and complete the proof of a conjecture of Lehrer and Solomon expressing the character of a finite Coxeter group W acting on the pth graded component of its Orlik-Solomon algebra as a sum of characters induced from linear characters of centralizers of elements of W for groups of rank seven and eight. For classical Coxeter groups, these characters are given using a formula that is expected to hold in all ranks.

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Equivariant K-theory of generalized Steinberg varieties

We describe the equivariant K-groups of a family of generalized Steinberg varieties that interpolates between the Steinberg variety of a reductive, complex algebraic group and its nilpotent cone in terms of the extended affine Hecke algebra and double cosets in the extended affine Weyl group. As an application, we use this description to define Kazhdan-Lusztig "bar" involutions and Kazhdan-Lusztig bases for these equivariant K-groups.

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Cohomology of Coxeter arrangements and Solomon's descent algebra

We refine a conjecture by Lehrer and Solomon on the structure of the Orlik-Solomon algebra of a finite Coxeter group $W$ and relate it to the descent algebra of $W$. As a result, we claim that both the group algebra of $W$, as well as the Orlik-Solomon algebra of $W$ can be decomposed into a sum of induced one-dimensional representations of element centralizers, one for each conjugacy class of elements of $W$. We give a uniform proof of the claim for symmetric groups. In addition, we prove that a relative version of the conjecture holds for every pair $(W, W_L)$, where $W$ is arbitrary and $W_L$ is a parabolic subgroup of $W$ all of whose irreducible factors are of type $A$.

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Computations for Coxeter arrangements and Solomon's descent algebra II: Groups of rank five and six

In recent papers we have refined a conjecture of Lehrer and Solomon expressing the character of a finite Coxeter group $W$ acting on the $p$th graded component of its Orlik-Solomon algebra as a sum of characters induced from linear characters of centralizers of elements of $W$. Our refined conjecture relates the character above to a component of a decomposition of the regular character of $W$ related to Solomon's descent algebra of $W$. The refined conjecture has been proved for symmetric and dihedral groups, as well as finite Coxeter groups of rank three and four. In this paper, the second in a series of three dealing with groups of rank up to eight (and in particular, all exceptional Coxeter groups), we prove the conjecture for finite Coxeter groups of rank five and six, further developing the algorithmic tools described in the previous article. The techniques developed and implemented in this paper provide previously unknown decompositions of the regular and Orlik-Solomon characters of the groups considered.

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Computations for Coxeter arrangements and Solomon's descent algebra: Groups of rank three and four

In recent papers we have refined a conjecture of Lehrer and Solomon expressing the characters of a finite Coxeter group $W$ afforded by the homogeneous components of its Orlik-Solomon algebra as sums of characters induced from linear characters of centralizers of elements of $W$. Our refined conjecture also relates the Orlik-Solomon characters above to the terms of a decomposition of the regular character of $W$ related to the descent algebra of $W$. A consequence of our conjecture is that both the regular character of $W$ and the character of the Orlik-Solomon algebra have parallel, graded decompositions as sums of characters induced from linear characters of centralizers of elements of $W$, one for each conjugacy class of elements of $W$. The refined conjecture has been proved for symmetric and dihedral groups. In this paper we develop algorithmic tools to prove the conjecture computationally for a given finite Coxeter group. We use these tools to verify the conjecture for all finite Coxeter groups of rank three and four, thus providing previously unknown decompositions of the regular characters and the Orlik-Solomon characters of these groups.

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Invariants of reflection groups, arrangements, and normality of decomposition classes in Lie algebras

Suppose that W is a finite, unitary, reflection group acting on the complex vector space V and X is a subspace of V. Define N to be the setwise stabilizer of X in W, Z to be the pointwise stabilizer, and C=N/Z. Then restriction defines a homomorphism from the algebra of W-invariant polynomial functions on V to the algebra of C-invariant functions on X. In this note we consider the special case when W is a Coxeter group, V is the complexified reflection representation of W, and X is in the lattice of the arrangement of W, and give a simple, combinatorial characterization of when the restriction mapping is surjective in terms of the exponents of W and C. As an application of our result, in the case when W is the Weyl group of a semisimple, complex, Lie algebra, we complete a calculation begun by Richardson in 1987 and obtain a simple combinatorial characterization of regular decomposition classes whose closure is a normal variety.

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On reflection subgroups of finite Coxeter groups

Let $W$ be a finite Coxeter group. We classify the reflection subgroups of $W$ up to conjugacy and give necessary and sufficient conditions for the map that assigns to a reflection subgroup $R$ of $W$ the conjugacy class of its Coxeter elements to be injective, up to conjugacy.

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An Inductive Approach to Coxeter Arrangements and Solomon's Descent Algebra

In a recent paper we claimed that both the group algebra of a finite Coxeter group $W$ as well as the Orlik-Solomon algebra of $W$ can be decomposed into a sum of induced one-dimensional representations of centralizers, one for each conjugacy class of elements of $W$, and gave a uniform proof of this claim for symmetric groups. In this note we outline an inductive approach to our conjecture. As an application of this method, we prove the inductive version of the conjecture for finite Coxeter groups of rank up to 2.

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The Steinberg Variety and Representations of Reductive Groups

We give an overview of some of the main results in geometric representation theory that have been proved by means of the Steinberg variety. Steinberg's insight was to use such a variety of triples in order to prove a conjectured formula by Grothendieck. The Steinberg variety was later used to give an alternative approach to Springer's representations and played a central role in the proof of the Deligne-Langlands conjecture for Hecke algebras by Kazhdan and Lusztig.

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