Two boundary Hecke Algebras and the combinatorics of type
Arun Ram
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Melbourne
Parkville, VIC 3010 Australia
aram@unimelb.edu.au
Last updated: 27 January 2015
The two-boundary Hecke algebra
In this section we define the two-boundary braid group and Hecke algebras and establish multiple presentations of each. The conversion between presentations is
important for matching the algebraic approach to the representation theory with the Schur-Weyl duality approach which we give in Section 5.
For generators encode relations graphically by
For example, the group of signed permutations,
has a presentation by generators
with relations
The two-boundary braid group
The two-boundary braid group is the group generated by
with relations
Pictorially, the generators of are identified with the braid diagrams
and the multiplication of braid diagrams is given by placing one diagram on top of another.
To make explicit the Schur-Weyl duality approach to representations of appearing in Section
5, it is useful to move the rightmost pole to the left by conjugating by the diagram
Define
and
Define
for
The two-boundary braid group is presented in the following three ways, using the notation defined in
(2.1).
(a)
is presented by generators
and relations
and
(b)
is presented by generators
and relations (a1), (a2), and
(c)
is presented by generators
and relations (a2),
and
Proof.
With as in (2.6) let
so that the original generators are the of
and conjugate the relations in (2.4) by to rewrite them in the form
The conversions between the generators in presentations (a), (b) and (c) are given in (2.7), (2.8), and (2.9). For generators (a) and (b) in terms of generators
(o), the key relations are
Relations (a) from relations (b): Relation (a4) is the conversion from generators (b) to generators (a). The relations in (a3) then follow from
and
Relations (b) from relations (a): Multiplying
on the left by
and on the right by
gives
establishing (b3).
Relations (b) from relations (o): The pictorial computations
show that
for
and
Hence the relations (a1) and (a2) follow from the relations in (o1) and (o2).
Relations (o) from relations (b): The first set of relations in (o1) are the same as the relations in (a2). Let
and
Since commutes with for
then
so that
and
Thus, by conjugation by the relation
becomes
establishing the second relation in (o1). For
Similarly, (b3) gives
giving the relations in (o2).
Relations (c) from relations (o): The first set of relations in (o1) are the same as the relations in (a2). Relations
(c4) are exactly the definitions in the second part of (2.9). The pictorial computations
give relations (c1). Similarly, pictorial computations readily show that
for and
for proving relations (c2) and (c3).
Generators (o) from generators (c): The key formula for the generator is
where
Relations (o) from relations (c): The first set of relations in (o1) are the same as the relations in (a2). The relations
are verified pictorially by
and
or by direct computation using the relations in (a2).
By (2.8) and (2.9),
and, by (c3) and (c2) respectively,
which proves the relations in (o2).
By the relations in (2.11) and the second set of relations in (2.10),
so that
Using these and the equality
we have
Multiplying on the right by
gives
establishing the last relation in (o1).
If
then
and
Following these pictorial computations, the extended affine braid group is the group
generated by and with the additional relations
The element
since the group is a subgroup of the braid group on
strands, and is the generator of the center of the braid group on
strands (see [Gon2011, Theorem 4.2]).
The two-boundary Hecke algebra
In this subsection we define the two-boundary Hecke algebra and relate it to the presentation of the affine Hecke algebra of type C that is found, for example, in
[Lus1989, Proposition 3.6] and [Mac2003, (4.2.4)].
Fix
The extended two-boundary Hecke algebra is the quotient of
by the relations
for
Let
With as in (2.9), define
Then
Fix
and use notations for relations as defined in (2.1). The extended affine Hecke algebra
defined in (h) is presented by generators,
and relations
For
Proof.
The conversion between the different sets of generators of is provided by (2.18).
Equivalence between (c0–c4) and the second and third relations of (h) with the relations (B1–B4) and (H). Since
and differ by a constant, and
and differ by a constant, the relations in (c0–c4) are equivalent to the relations in (B1–B4), respectively.
Since
the relations (H) are equivalent to the second and third relations in (h).
Relations (C1–C2) from relations (c0–c4) and (h): From (2.9) and (2.18),
and by the last relation in (h),
So
which establishes the relations in (C1).
By the first relation in (h),
Since and
which establishes (C2).
The first relation in (h) from the relations (B1–B4), (H) and (C1–C2). By (C2),
giving
which establishes the first relation in (h).
As vector spaces,
where is the subalgebra of
generated by
The algebra is the Iwahori-Hecke algebra of finite type
If
are the generators of as given in (2.3) and
for a reduced expression then
Thus (2.21) means that any element can be written uniquely as
Let
Relations (C1) and (C2) produce an action of on
Namely, for and
for
(see [Ram2003, (1.12)]). With this notation, for
the relations (C1), and (C2) give
and, replacing by
The subalgebra generated by
and
is the affine Hecke algebra of type C considered, for example, in [Lus1989]. The following theorem determines the center of
and shows that, as algebras,
is a tensor product of by the algebra of Laurent polynomials in one variable. It follows that the irreducible
representations of are indexed by
where
is an indexing set for the irreducible representations of
Let be the subalgebra of generated by
and
As algebras,
The center of is
and is a free module of rank
over
Proof.
As observed in (c0), is central in
and therefore
is central in Thus
By the formulas in (2.23), the Laurent polynomial ring
is a of
and
The proof that
is exactly as in [RRa0401322, Thm. 4.12]. The fact that is a free module of rank
over
follows from (2.21) and [Ram2003, Theorem1.17].
Weights of representations and intertwiners
Let be such that
for
All irreducible complex representations of the
algebra
are one-dimensional. Identify the sets
via
(the strange choice of sign is an artifact of equations (5.31) and (5.32) and an effort to make the combinatorics of contents of boxes Section 5 optimally helpful).
The action of from (2.23) induces an action of on
by
Equivalently, on sequences
this action is given by
Extend the algebra to include rational functions in
defining
where is the subalgebra of
generated by
The intertwining operators for are
for
Proposition 2.4 shows that these elements satisfy
and
so that, for and
for a reduced expression
Each can be written as
where for each
is the generalized weight space associated to The intertwiners (2.35) define vector space
homomorphisms
where
for
(Intertwiner presentation) The algebra
is generated by
and
with relations
in the notation of (2.1);
for
Proof.
The proof of the relations in (2.39) is accomplished exactly as in the proof of [Ram2003, Proposition 2.14(e)]; relation (2.43) is [Ram2003, Proposition 2.14(c)].
Let us check the relations in (2.41) and (2.42).
Using (C1),
Similarly, using (C2),
For and
and commute by the second set of relations in (C1). These computations establish the relations in
(2.40) and (2.41).
By the first relation in (H),
so that
Then
establishing (2.42).
Notes and References
This is an excerpt from the paper Two boundary Hecke Algebras and the combinatorics of type
Zajj Daugherty (Department of Mathematics, The City College of New York, NAC 8/133, Convent Ave at 138th Street, New York, NY 10031) and
Arun Ram (Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010, Australia).