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Steven V Sam

Publications and source records attributed to Steven V Sam.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
arXiv2016

Ideals of bounded rank symmetric tensors are generated in bounded degree

Over a field of characteristic zero, we prove that for each r, there exists a constant C(r) so that the prime ideal of the rth secant variety of any Veronese embedding of any projective space is generated by polynomials of degree at most C(r). The main idea is to consider the coordinate ring of all of the ambient spaces of the Veronese embeddings at once by endowing it with the structure of a Hopf ring, and to show that its ideals are finitely generated. We also prove a similar statement for partial flag varieties and, in fact, arbitrary projective schemes, and we also get multi-graded versions of these results.

math.AC↗
arXiv2016

Gröbner methods for representations of combinatorial categories

Given a category C of a combinatorial nature, we study the following fundamental question: how does the combinatorial behavior of C affect the algebraic behavior of representations of C? We prove two general results. The first gives a combinatorial criterion for representations of C to admit a theory of Gröbner bases. From this, we obtain a criterion for noetherianity of representations. The second gives a combinatorial criterion for a general "rationality" result for Hilbert series of representations of C. This criterion connects to the theory of formal languages, and makes essential use of results on the generating functions of languages, such as the transfer-matrix method and the Chomsky-Schützenberger theorem. Our work is motivated by recent work in the literature on representations of various specific categories. Our general criteria recover many of the results on these categories that had been proved by ad hoc means, and often yield cleaner proofs and stronger statements. For example: we give a new, more robust, proof that FI-modules (originally introduced by Church-Ellenberg-Farb), and a family of natural generalizations, are noetherian; we give an easy proof of a generalization of the Lannes-Schwartz artinian conjecture from the study of generic representation theory of finite fields; we significantly improve the theory of $Δ$-modules, introduced by Snowden in connection to syzygies of Segre embeddings; and we establish fundamental properties of twisted commutative algebras in positive characteristic.

math.AC↗
arXiv2015

Noetherianity of some degree two twisted commutative algebras

In recent years, researchers have discovered various large algebraic structures that have surprising finiteness properties, such as FI-modules and Delta-modules. In this paper, we add another example to the growing list: we show that certain degree two twisted commutative algebras are noetherian. This example appears to have some fundamental differences from previous examples, and is therefore especially interesting. Reflective of this, our proof introduces new methods for establishing noetherianity that are likely to be applicable in other situations. The algebras considered in this paper are closely related to the stable representation theory of classical groups, which is one source of motivation for their study.

math.AC↗
arXiv2015

Proof of Stembridge's conjecture on stability of Kronecker coefficients

We prove a conjecture of Stembridge concerning stability of Kronecker coefficients that vastly generalizes Murnaghan's theorem. The main idea is to identify the sequences of Kronecker coefficients in question with Hilbert functions of modules over finitely generated algebras. The proof only uses Schur-Weyl duality and the Borel-Weil theorem and does not rely on any existing work on Kronecker coefficients.

math.CO↗
arXiv2015

Homology of analogues of Heisenberg Lie algebras

We calculate the homology of three families of 2-step nilpotent Lie (super)algebras associated with the symplectic, orthogonal, and general linear groups. The symplectic case was considered by Getzler and the main motivation for this work was to complete the calculations started by him. In all three cases, these algebras can be realized as the nilpotent radical of a parabolic subalgebra of a simple Lie algebra, and our first approach relies on a theorem of Kostant, but is otherwise elementary and involves combinatorics of Weyl groups and partitions which may be of independent interest. Our second approach is an application of (un)stable representation theory of the classical groups in the sense of recent joint work of the author with Snowden, which is shorter and more conceptual.

math.RT↗
arXiv2015

GL-equivariant modules over polynomial rings in infinitely many variables

Consider the polynomial ring in countably infinitely many variables over a field of characteristic zero, together with its natural action of the infinite general linear group G. We study the algebraic and homological properties of finitely generated modules over this ring that are equipped with a compatible G-action. We define and prove finiteness properties for analogues of Hilbert series, systems of parameters, depth, local cohomology, Koszul duality, and regularity. We also show that this category is built out of a simpler, more combinatorial, quiver category which we describe explicitly. Our work is motivated by recent papers in the literature which study finiteness properties of infinite polynomial rings equipped with group actions. (For example, the paper by Church, Ellenberg and Farb on the category of FI-modules, which is equivalent to our category.) Along the way, we see several connections with the character polynomials from the representation theory of the symmetric groups. Several examples are given to illustrate that the invariants we introduce are explicit and computable.

math.AC↗
arXiv2015

Positivity theorems for solid-angle polynomials

For a lattice polytope P, define A_P(t) as the sum of the solid angles of all the integer points in the dilate tP. Ehrhart and Macdonald proved that A_P(t) is a polynomial in the positive integer variable t. We study the numerator polynomial of the solid-angle series sum_{t >= 0} A_P(t) z^t. In particular, we examine nonnegativity of its coefficients, monotonicity and unimodality questions, and study extremal behavior of the sum of solid angles at vertices of simplices. Some of our results extend to more general valuations.

math.CO↗
arXiv2015

On Cohen-Macaulayness of S_n-invariant subspace arrangements

Given a partition $λ$ of n, consider the subspace $E_λ$ of $C^n$ where the first $λ_1$ coordinates are equal, the next $λ_2$ coordinates are equal, etc. In this paper, we study subspace arrangements $X_λ$ consisting of the union of translates of $E_λ$ by the symmetric group. In particular, we focus on determining when $X_λ$ is Cohen-Macaulay. This is inspired by previous work of the third author coming from the study of rational Cherednik algebras and which answers the question positively when all parts of $λ$ are equal. We show that $X_λ$ is not Cohen-Macaulay when $λ$ has at least 4 distinct parts, and handle a large number of cases when $λ$ has 2 or 3 distinct parts. Along the way, we also settle a conjecture of Sergeev and Veselov about the Cohen-Macaulayness of algebras generated by deformed Newton sums. Our techniques combine classical techniques from commutative algebra and invariant theory, in many cases we can reduce an infinite family to a finite check which can sometimes be handled by computer algebra.

math.AC↗
arXiv2015

Stability patterns in representation theory

We develop a comprehensive theory of the stable representation categories of several sequences of groups, including the classical and symmetric groups, and their relation to the unstable categories. An important component of this theory is an array of equivalences between the stable representation category and various other categories, each of which has its own flavor (representation theoretic, combinatorial, commutative algebraic, or categorical) and offers a distinct perspective on the stable category. We use this theory to produce a host of specific results, e.g., the construction of injective resolutions of simple objects, duality between the orthogonal and symplectic theories, a canonical derived auto-equivalence of the general linear theory, etc.

math.RT↗
arXiv2015

Equations for the fifth secant variety of Segre products of projective spaces

We describe a computational proof that the fifth secant variety of the Segre product of five copies of the projective line is a codimension 2 complete intersection of equations of degree 6 and 16. Our computations rely on pseudo-randomness, and numerical accuracy, so parts of our proof are only valid "with high probability".

math.AG↗
arXiv2014

Alternating trilinear forms on a 9-dimensional space and degenerations of (3,3)-polarized Abelian surfaces

We give a detailed analysis of the semisimple elements, in the sense of Vinberg, of the third exterior power of a 9-dimensional vector space over an algebraically closed field of characteristic different from 2 and 3. To a general such element, one can naturally associate an Abelian surface X, which is embedded in 8-dimensional projective space. We study the combinatorial structure of this embedding and explicitly recover the genus 2 curve whose Jacobian variety is X. We also classify the types of degenerations of X that can occur. Taking the union over all Abelian surfaces in Heisenberg normal form, we get a 5-dimensional variety which is a birational model for a genus 2 analogue of Shioda's modular surfaces. We find determinantal set-theoretic equations for this variety and present some additional equations which conjecturally generate the radical ideal.

math.AG↗
arXiv2014

Jacobi-Trudi determinants and characters of minimal affinizations

In their study of characters of minimal affinizations of representations of orthogonal and symplectic Lie algebras, Chari and Greenstein conjectured that certain Jacobi-Trudi determinants satisfy an alternating sum formula. In this note, we prove their conjecture and slightly more. The proof relies on some symmetries of the ring of symmetric functions discovered by Koike and Terada. Using results of Hernandez, Mukhin-Young, and Naoi, this implies that the characters of minimal affinizations in types B, C, and D are given by a Jacobi-Trudi determinant.

math.CO↗
arXiv2014

Littlewood complexes and analogues of determinantal varieties

One interesting combinatorial feature of classical determinantal varieties is that the character of their coordinate rings give a natural truncation of the Cauchy identity in the theory of symmetric functions. Natural generalizations of these varieties exist and have been studied for the other classical groups. In this paper we develop the relevant properties from scratch. By studying the isotypic decomposition of their minimal free resolutions one can recover classical identities due to Littlewood for expressing an irreducible character of a classical group in terms of Schur functions. We propose generalizations for the exceptional groups. In type G_2, we completely analyze the variety and its minimal free resolution and get an analogue of Littlewood's identities. We have partial results for the other cases. In particular, these varieties are always normal with rational singularities.

math.RT↗
arXiv2014

Jack polynomials as fractional quantum Hall states and the Betti numbers of the (k+1)-equals ideal

We show that for Jack parameter α= -(k+1)/(r-1), certain Jack polynomials studied by Feigin-Jimbo-Miwa-Mukhin vanish to order r when k+1 of the coordinates coincide. This result was conjectured by Bernevig and Haldane, who proposed that these Jack polynomials are model wavefunctions for fractional quantum Hall states. Special cases of these Jack polynomials include the wavefunctions of Laughlin and Read-Rezayi. In fact, along these lines we prove several vanishing theorems known as clustering properties for Jack polynomials in the mathematical physics literature, special cases of which had previously been conjectured by Bernevig and Haldane. Motivated by the method of proof, which in case r = 2 identifies the span of the relevant Jack polynomials with the S_n-invariant part of a unitary representation of the rational Cherednik algebra, we conjecture that unitary representations of the type A Cherednik algebra have graded minimal free resolutions of Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand type; we prove this for the ideal of the (k+1)-equals arrangement in the case when the number of coordinates n is at most 2k+1. In general, our conjecture predicts the graded S_n-equivariant Betti numbers of the ideal of the (k+1)-equals arrangement with no restriction on the number of ambient dimensions.

math-ph↗
arXiv2013

Tropicalization of classical moduli spaces

The image of the complement of a hyperplane arrangement under a monomial map can be tropicalized combinatorially using matroid theory. We apply this to classical moduli spaces that are associated with complex reflection arrangements. Starting from modular curves, we visit the Segre cubic, the Igusa quartic, and moduli of marked del Pezzo surfaces of degrees 2 and 3. Our primary example is the Burkhardt quartic, whose tropicalization is a 3-dimensional fan in 39-dimensional space. This effectuates a synthesis of concrete and abstract approaches to tropical moduli of genus 2 curves.

math.AG↗
arXiv2013

Representations of rational Cherednik algebras of G(m,r,n) in positive characteristic

We study lowest-weight irreducible representations of rational Cherednik algebras attached to the complex reflection groups G(m,r,n) in characteristic p. Our approach is mostly from the perspective of commutative algebra. By studying the kernel of the contravariant bilinear form on Verma modules, we obtain formulas for Hilbert series of irreducible representations in a number of cases, and present conjectures in other cases. We observe that the form of the Hilbert series of the irreducible representations and the generators of the kernel tend to be determined by the value of n modulo p, and are related to special classes of subspace arrangements. Perhaps the most novel (conjectural) discovery from the commutative algebra perspective is that the generators of the kernel can be given the structure of a "matrix regular sequence" in some instances, which we prove in some small cases.

math.RT↗