A new characterization of the exceptional Lie algebras

For a simple Lie algebra, over $\mathbb{C}$, we consider the weight which is the sum of all simple roots and denote it $\tilde{\alpha}$. We formally use Kostant's weight multiplicity formula to compute the "dimension" of the zero-weight space. In type $A_r$, $\tilde{\alpha}$ is the highest root, and therefore this dimension is the rank of the Lie algebra. In type $B_r$, this is the defining representation, with dimension equal to 1. In the remaining cases, the weight $\tilde{\alpha}$ is not dominant and is not the highest weight of an irreducible finite-dimensional representation. Kostant's weight multiplicity formula, in these cases, is assigning a value to a virtual representation. The point, however, is that this number is nonzero if and only if the Lie algebra is classical. This gives rise to a new characterization of the exceptional Lie algebras as the only Lie algebras for which this value is zero.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, and 8 table

On (t,r) Broadcast Domination Numbers of Grids

The domination number of a graph $G = (V,E)$ is the minimum cardinality of any subset $S \subset V$ such that every vertex in $V$ is in $S$ or adjacent to an element of $S$. Finding the domination numbers of $m$ by $n$ grids was an open problem for nearly 30 years and was finally solved in 2011 by Goncalves, Pinlou, Rao, and Thomass\'e. Many variants of domination number on graphs have been defined and studied, but exact values have not yet been obtained for grids. We will define a family of domination theories parameterized by pairs of positive integers $(t,r)$ where $1 \leq r \leq t$ which generalize domination and distance domination theories for graphs. We call these domination numbers the $(t,r)$ broadcast domination numbers. We give the exact values of $(t,r)$ broadcast domination numbers for small grids, and we identify upper bounds for the $(t,r)$ broadcast domination numbers for large grids and conjecture that these bounds are tight for sufficiently large grids.Comment: 28 pages, 43 figure

On singularity and normality of regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties

Regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties form an important family of subvarieties of the flag variety, which are often singular and sometimes not normal varieties. Like Schubert varieties, they contain distinguished points called permutation flags. In this paper, we give a combinatorial characterization for a permutation flag of a regular nilpotent Hessenberg variety to be a singular point. We also apply this result to characterize regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties which are normal algebraic varieties.Comment: 36 page

A Formula for the Cohomology and K-Class of a Regular Hessenberg Variety

Hessenberg varieties are subvarieties of the flag variety parametrized by a linear operator X and a nondecreasing function h. The family of Hessenberg varieties for regular X is particularly important: they are used in quantum cohomology, in combinatorial and geometric representation theory, in Schubert calculus and affine Schubert calculus. We show that the classes of a regular Hessenberg variety in the cohomology and K-theory of the flag variety are given by making certain substitutions in the Schubert polynomial (respectively Grothendieck polynomial) for a permutation that depends only on h. Our formula and our methods are different from a recent result of Abe, Fujita, and Zeng that gives the class of a regular Hessenberg variety with more restrictions on h than here