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

Geometry of Pipe Dream Complexes

In this dissertation we study the geometry of pipe dream complexes with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of Schubert polynomials. Given a pipe dream complex PD(w) for w a permutation in the symmetric group, we show its boundary is Whitney stratified by the set of all pipe dream complexes PD(v) where v \u3e w in the strong Bruhat order. For permutations w in the symmetric group on n elements, we introduce the pipe dream complex poset P(n). The dual of this graded poset naturally corresponds to the poset of strata associated to the Whitney stratification of the boundary of the pipe dream complex of the identity element. We examine pipe dream complexes in the case a permutation is a product of commuting adjacent transpositions. Finally, we consider pattern avoidance results. For 132-avoiding permutations, the Rothe diagram forms a Young diagram. In the case a permutation w has exactly one 132-pattern, the associated pipe dream complex is an m-dimensional simplex, where m = n choose 2 − l(w) − 1 and l(w) is the length of w. In the case of exactly two 132 patterns, there are three possible configurations. We include generalizations of these cases

Compact Kac algebras and commuting squares

We consider commuting squares of finite dimensional von Neumann algebras having the algebra of complex numbers in the lower left corner. Examples include the vertex models, the spin models (in the sense of subfactor theory) and the commuting squares associated to finite dimensional Kac algebras. To any such commuting square we associate a compact Kac algebra and we compute the corresponding subfactor and its standard invariant in terms of it.Comment: 14 pages, some minor change

Fundamental groupoids of k-graphs

k-graphs are higher-rank analogues of directed graphs which were first developed to provide combinatorial models for operator algebras of Cuntz-Krieger type. Here we develop a theory of the fundamental groupoid of a k-graph, and relate it to the fundamental groupoid of an associated graph called the 1-skeleton. We also explore the failure, in general, of k-graphs to faithfully embed into their fundamental groupoids.Comment: 12 page

Symmetric pairs and associated commuting varieties

We obtain a series of new results on the problem of irreducibility of commuting varieties associated with symmetric pairs or, in other words, $Z_2$-graded simple Lie algebras. In particular, we present many examples of reducible commuting varieties and show that the number of irreducible components can be arbitrarily large.Comment: 18 page

Invariant subspaces of H2(T2)\mathcal{H}^2(\mathbb{T}^2) and L2(T2)L^2(\mathbb{T}^2) preserving compatibility

Operators of multiplication by independent variables on the space of square summable functions over the torus and its Hardy subspace are considered. Invariant subspaces where the operators are compatible are described.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Almost Commuting Orthogonal Matrices

We show that almost commuting real orthogonal matrices are uniformly close to exactly commuting real orthogonal matrices. We prove the same for symplectic unitary matrices. This is in contrast to the general complex case, where not all pairs of almost commuting unitaries are close to commuting pairs. Our techniques also yield results about almost normal matrices over the reals and the quaternions.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure