Jacques Tits motivic measure

In this article we construct a new motivic measure called the Jacques Tits motivic measure. As a first main application, we prove that two Severi-Brauer varieties (or, more generally, two twisted Grassmannian varieties), associated to 2-torsion central simple algebras, have the same class in the Grothendieck ring of varieties if and only if they are isomorphic. In addition, we prove that if two Severi-Brauer varieties, associated to central simple algebras of period $$\{3, 4, 5, 6\}$$ { 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 } , have the same class in the Grothendieck ring of varieties, then they are necessarily birational to each other. As a second main application, we prove that two quadric hypersurfaces (or, more generally, two involution varieties), associated to quadratic forms of dimension 6 or to quadratic forms of arbitrary dimension defined over a base field k with $$I^3(k)=0$$ I 3 ( k ) = 0 , have the same class in the Grothendieck ring of varieties if and only if they are isomorphic. In addition, we prove that the latter main application also holds for products of quadric hypersurfaces.

On the cohomology of certain subspaces of $$\text {Sym}^n(\mathbb {P}^1)$$ and Occam’s razor for Hodge structures

Vakil and Matchett-Wood (Discriminants in the Grothendieck ring of varieties, 2013. arXiv:1208.3166) made several conjectures on the topology of symmetric powers of geometrically irreducible varieties based on their computations on motivic zeta functions. Two of those conjectures are about subspaces of $$\text {Sym}^n(\mathbb {P}^1)$$ Sym n ( P 1 ) . In this note, we disprove one of them and prove a stronger form of the other, thereby obtaining (counter)examples to the principle of Occam’s razor for Hodge structures.

A quantum cluster algebra approach to representations of simply laced quantum affine algebras

We establish a quantum cluster algebra structure on the quantum Grothendieck ring of a certain monoidal subcategory of the category of finite-dimensional representations of a simply-laced quantum affine algebra. Moreover, the (q, t)-characters of certain irreducible representations, among which fundamental representations, are obtained as quantum cluster variables. This approach gives a new algorithm to compute these (q, t)-characters. As an application, we prove that the quantum Grothendieck ring of a larger category of representations of the Borel subalgebra of the quantum affine algebra, defined in a previous work as a quantum cluster algebra, contains indeed the well-known quantum Grothendieck ring of the category of finite-dimensional representations. Finally, we display our algorithm on a concrete example.

Projective objects and the modified trace in factorisable finite tensor categories

For ${\mathcal{C}}$ a factorisable and pivotal finite tensor category over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero we show:(1)${\mathcal{C}}$ always contains a simple projective object;(2)if ${\mathcal{C}}$ is in addition ribbon, the internal characters of projective modules span a submodule for the projective $\text{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$-action;(3)the action of the Grothendieck ring of ${\mathcal{C}}$ on the span of internal characters of projective objects can be diagonalised;(4)the linearised Grothendieck ring of ${\mathcal{C}}$ is semisimple if and only if ${\mathcal{C}}$ is semisimple.Results (1)–(3) remain true in positive characteristic under an extra assumption. Result (1) implies that the tensor ideal of projective objects in ${\mathcal{C}}$ carries a unique-up-to-scalars modified trace function. We express the modified trace of open Hopf links coloured by projectives in terms of $S$-matrix elements. Furthermore, we give a Verlinde-like formula for the decomposition of tensor products of projective objects which uses only the modular $S$-transformation restricted to internal characters of projective objects. We compute the modified trace in the example of symplectic fermion categories, and we illustrate how the Verlinde-like formula for projective objects can be applied there.

Intersections of two Grassmannians in ℙ9

We study the intersection of two copies of {\mathrm{Gr}(2,5)} embedded in {{{\mathbb{P}}}^{9}}, and the intersection of the two projectively dual Grassmannians in the dual projective space. These intersections are deformation equivalent, derived equivalent Calabi–Yau threefolds. We prove that generically they are not birational. As a consequence, we obtain a counterexample to the birational Torelli problem for Calabi–Yau threefolds. We also show that these threefolds give a new pair of varieties whose classes in the Grothendieck ring of varieties are not equal, but whose difference is annihilated by a power of the class of the affine line. Our proof of non-birationality involves a detailed study of the moduli stack of Calabi–Yau threefolds of the above type, which may be of independent interest.

Burnside rings for Real 2-representation theory: The linear theory

This paper is a fundamental study of the Real 2-representation theory of 2-groups. It also contains many new results in the ordinary (non-Real) case. Our framework relies on a 2-equivariant Morita bicategory, where a novel construction of induction is introduced. We identify the Grothendieck ring of Real 2-representations as a Real variant of the Burnside ring of the fundamental group of the 2-group and study the Real categorical character theory. This paper unifies two previous lines of inquiry, the approach to 2-representation theory via Morita theory and Burnside rings, initiated by the first author and Wendland, and the Real 2-representation theory of 2-groups, as studied by the second author.

The Structure of the Grothendieck Rings of Wreath Product Deligne Categories and their Generalisations

Given a tensor category $\mathcal{C}$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, we may form the wreath product category $\mathcal{W}_n(\mathcal{C})$. It was shown in [10] that the Grothendieck rings of these wreath product categories stabilise in some sense as $n \to \infty $. The resulting “limit” ring, $\mathcal{G}_\infty ^{\mathbb{Z}}(\mathcal{C})$, is isomorphic to the Grothendieck ring of the wreath product Deligne category $S_t(\mathcal{C})$ as defined by [9] (although it is also related to $FI_G$-modules). This ring only depends on the Grothendieck ring $\mathcal{G}(\mathcal{C})$. Given a ring $R$ that is free as a $\mathbb{Z}$-module, we construct a ring $\mathcal{G}_\infty ^{\mathbb{Z}}(R)$ that specialises to $\mathcal{G}_\infty ^{\mathbb{Z}}(\mathcal{C})$ when $R = \mathcal{G}(\mathcal{C})$. We give a description of $\mathcal{G}_\infty ^{\mathbb{Z}}(R)$ using generators very similar to the basic hooks of [5]. We also show that $\mathcal{G}_\infty ^{\mathbb{Z}}(R)$ is a $\lambda $-ring wherever $R$ is and that $\mathcal{G}_\infty ^{\mathbb{Z}}(R)$ is (unconditionally) a Hopf algebra. Finally, we show that $\mathcal{G}_\infty ^{\mathbb{Z}}(R)$ is isomorphic to the Hopf algebra of distributions on the formal neighbourhood of the identity in $(W\otimes _{\mathbb{Z}} R)^\times $, where $W$ is the ring of Big Witt Vectors.

Generalized Orbifold Euler Characteristics on the Grothendieck Ring of Varieties with Actions of Finite Groups

The notion of the orbifold Euler characteristic came from physics at the end of the 1980s. Coincidence (up to sign) of the orbifold Euler characteristics is a necessary condition for crepant resolutions of orbifolds to be mirror symmetric. There were defined higher order versions of the orbifold Euler characteristic and generalized (“motivic”) versions of them. In a previous paper, the authors defined a notion of the Grothendieck ring K 0 fGr ( Var C ) of varieties with actions of finite groups on which the orbifold Euler characteristic and its higher order versions are homomorphisms to the ring of integers. Here, we define the generalized orbifold Euler characteristic and higher order versions of it as ring homomorphisms from K 0 fGr ( Var C ) to the Grothendieck ring K 0 ( Var C ) of complex quasi-projective varieties and give some analogues of the classical Macdonald equations for the generating series of the Euler characteristics of the symmetric products of a space.