Universal rings arising in geometry and group theory

Let $G_k$ be a connected reductive group over an algebraically closed field $k$ of char $\neq 2$. Let $\theta_k$ be an algebraic group involution of $G_k$ and denote the fixed point subgroup by $K_k$. We construct an integral model for the symmetric space $K_k \backslash G_k$ with a natural action of the Chevalley group scheme over integers. We show the coordinate ring $k[K_k \backslash G_k]$ admits a canonical basis, as well as a good filtration as a $G_k$-module. We also co...

We shall describe a simple generalization of commutative rings. The category GR of such "rings", contains the ordinary commutative rings (fully faithfully), but also the "integers" and "residue field" at a real or complex place of a field ; the "field with one element" (the initial object of GR ); the "arithmetical surface" ( the sum in the category GR of the integers with them self: Z(x)Z ) . We shall show that this geometry "see" the real and complex places of a number fiel...

The ring of symmetric functions $\Lambda$, with natural basis given by the Schur functions, arise in many different areas of mathematics. For example, as the cohomology ring of the grassmanian, and as the representation ring of the symmetric group. One may define a coproduct on $\Lambda$ by the plethystic addition on alphabets. In this way the ring of symmetric functions becomes a Hopf algebra. The Littlewood--Richardson numbers may be viewed as the structure constants for th...

This paper is based on a talk given by the author in October, 1997 at a conference at Columbia University in celebration of Hyman Bass's 65th birthday. The paper details some of the history of Gorenstein rings and their uses.

We compute the mod-2 cohomology of the collection of all symmetric groups as a Hopf ring, where the second product is the transfer product of Strickland and Turner. We first give examples of related Hopf rings from invariant theory and representation theory. In addition to a Hopf ring presentation, we give geometric cocycle representatives and explicitly determine the structure as an algebra over the Steenrod algebra. All calculations are explicit, with an additive basis whic...

When a finite group acts linearly on a complex vector space, the natural semi-direct product of the group and the polynomial ring over the space forms a skew group algebra. This algebra plays the role of the coordinate ring of the resulting orbifold and serves as a substitute for the ring of invariant polynomials from the viewpoint of geometry and physics. Its Hochschild cohomology predicts various Hecke algebras and deformations of the orbifold. In this article, we investiga...

This article serves as an introduction to several recent developments in the study of quasisymmetric functions. The focus of this survey is on connections between quasisymmetric functions and the combinatorial Hopf algebra of noncommutative symmetric functions, appearances of quasisymmetric functions within the theory of Macdonald polynomials, and analogues of symmetric functions. Topics include the significance of quasisymmetric functions in representation theory (such as re...

The classical theory of symmetric functions has a central position in algebraic combinatorics, bridging aspects of representation theory, combinatorics, and enumerative geometry. More recently, this theory has been fruitfully extended to the larger ring of quasisymmetric functions, with corresponding applications. Here, we survey recent work extending this theory further to general asymmetric polynomials.

We give a general construction of rings graded by the conjugacy classes of a finite group. Some examples of our construction are the Hochschild cohomology ring of a finite group algebra, the Grothendieck ring of the Drinfel'd double of a group, and the orbifold cohomology ring for a global quotient. We generalize the first two examples by deriving product formulas for the Hochschild cohomology ring of a group crossed product and for the Grothendieck ring of an abelian extensi...

In this paper, we investigate certain graded-commutative rings which are related to the reciprocal plane compactification of the coordinate ring of a complement of a hyperplane arrangement. We give a presentation of these rings by generators and defining relations. This presentation was used by Holler and I. Kriz to calculate the $\mathbb{Z}$-graded coefficients of localizations of ordinary $RO((\mathbb{Z}/p)^n)$-graded equivariant cohomology at a given set of representation ...