Representation theory and projective geometry

We give an elementary introduction to our papers relating the geometry of rational homogeneous varieties to representation theory. We also describe related work and recent progress.Comment: 37 pages with picture

A universal dimension formula for complex simple Lie algebras

We present a universal formula for the dimension of the Cartan powers of the adjoint representation of a complex simple Lie algebra (i.e., a universal formula for the Hilbert functions of homogeneous complex contact manifolds), as well as several other universal formulas. These formulas generalize formulas of Vogel and Deligne and are given in terms of rational functions where both the numerator and denominator decompose into products of linear factors with integer coefficients. We also discuss some consequences of the formulas including a relation with Scorza varieties.Comment: To appear in Advances in Mat

Triality, exceptional Lie algebras and Deligne dimension formulas

We give a computer free proof of the Deligne, Cohen and deMan formulas for the dimensions of the irreducible $g$-modules appearing in the tensor powers of $g$, where $g$ ranges over the exceptional complex simple Lie algebras. We give additional dimension formulas for the exceptional series, as well as uniform dimension formulas for other representations distinguished by Freudenthal along the rows of his magic chart. Our proofs use the triality model of the magic square which we review and present a simplified proof of its validity. We conclude with some general remarks about obtaining "series" of Lie algebras in the spirit of Deligne and Vogel.Comment: 17 page

Series of nilpotent orbits

We organize the nilpotent orbits in the exceptional complex Lie algebras into series using the triality model and show that within each series the dimension of the orbit is a linear function of the natural parameter a=1,2,4,8, respectively for f_4,e_6,e_7,e_8. We also obtain explicit representatives in a uniform manner. We observe similar regularities for the centralizers of nilpotent elements in a series and graded components in the associated grading of the ambient Lie algebra. More strikingly, for a greater than one, the degrees of the unipotent characters of the corresponding Chevalley groups, associated to these series through the Springer correspondance are given by polynomials which have uniform expressions in terms of a.Comment: 20 pages, revised version with more formulas for unipotent character