A seminormal form for partition algebras

Using a new presentation for partition algebras (J. Algebraic Combin. 37(3):401-454, 2013), we derive explicit combinatorial formulae for the seminormal representations of the partition algebras. These results generalise to the partition algebras the classical formulae given by Young for the symmetric group.Comment: Published version. 51 pages, includes figures and table

Seminormal forms and Gram determinants for cellular algebras

This paper develops an abstract framework for constructing ``seminormal forms'' for cellular algebras. That is, given a cellular R-algebra A which is equipped with a family of JM-elements we give a general technique for constructing orthogonal bases for A, and for all of its irreducible representations, when the JM-elements separate A. The seminormal forms for A are defined over the field of fractions of R. Significantly, we show that the Gram determinant of each irreducible A-module is equal to a product of certain structure constants coming from the seminormal basis of A. In the non-separated case we use our seminormal forms to give an explicit basis for a block decomposition of A. The appendix, by Marcos Soriano, gives a general construction of a complete set of orthogonal idempotents for an algera starting from a set of elements which act on the algebra in an upper triangular fashion. The appendix shows that constructions with "Jucys-Murphy elements"depend, ultimately, on the Cayley-Hamilton theorem.Comment: Final version. To appear J. Reine Angew. Math. Appendix by Marcos Sorian

Degenerate two-boundary centralizer algebras

Diagram algebras (e.g. graded braid groups, Hecke algebras, Brauer algebras) arise as tensor power centralizer algebras, algebras of commuting operators for a Lie algebra action on a tensor space. This work explores centralizers of the action of a complex reductive Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ on tensor space of the form $M \otimes N \otimes V^{\otimes k}$. We define the degenerate two-boundary braid algebra $\mathcal{G}_k$ and show that centralizer algebras contain quotients of this algebra in a general setting. As an example, we study in detail the combinatorics of special cases corresponding to Lie algebras $\mathfrak{gl}_n$ and $\mathfrak{sl}_n$ and modules $M$ and $N$ indexed by rectangular partitions. For this setting, we define the degenerate extended two-boundary Hecke algebra $\mathcal{H}_k^{\mathrm{ext}}$ as a quotient of $\mathcal{G}_k$, and show that a quotient of $\mathcal{H}_k^{\mathrm{ext}}$ is isomorphic to a large subalgebra of the centralizer. We further study the representation theory of $\mathcal{H}_k^{\mathrm{ext}}$ to find that the seminormal representations are indexed by a known family of partitions. The bases for the resulting modules are given by paths in a lattice of partitions, and the action of $\mathcal{H}_k^{\mathrm{ext}}$ is given by combinatorial formulas.Comment: 45 pages, to appear in Pacific Journal of Mathematic