We develop techniques to construct isomorphisms between simple affine W-algebras and affine vertex algebras at admissible levels. We then apply these techniques to obtain many new, and conjecturally all, admissible collapsing levels for affine W-algebras. In short, if a simple affine W-algebra at a given level is equal to its affine vertex subalgebra generated by the centraliser of an ${\mathfrak {sl}}_2$-triple associated with the underlying nilpotent orbit, then that level is said to be collapsing. Collapsing levels are important both in representation theory and in theoretical physics. Our approach relies on two fundamental invariants of vertex algebras. The first one is the associated variety, which, in the context of admissible level simple affine W-algebras, leads to the Poisson varieties known as nilpotent Slodowy slices. We exploit the singularities of these varieties to detect possible collapsing levels. The second invariant is the asymptotic datum. We prove a general result asserting that, under appropriate hypotheses, equality of asymptotic data implies isomorphism at the level of vertex algebras. Then we use this to give a sufficient criterion, of combinatorial nature, for an admissible level to be collapsing. Our methods also allow us to study isomorphisms between quotients of W-algebras and extensions of simple affine vertex algebras at admissible levels. Based on such examples, we are led to formulate a general conjecture: for any finite extension of vertex algebras, the induced morphism between associated Poisson varieties is dominant.

We study the spaces of twisted conformal blocks attached to a $\Gamma$-curve $\Sigma$ with marked $\Gamma$-orbits and an action of $\Gamma$ on a simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak {g}$, where $\Gamma$ is a finite group. We prove that if $\Gamma$ stabilizes a Borel subalgebra of $\mathfrak {g}$, then the propagation theorem and factorization theorem hold. We endow a flat projective connection on the sheaf of twisted conformal blocks attached to a smooth family of pointed $\Gamma$-curves; in particular, it is locally free. We also prove that the sheaf of twisted conformal blocks on the stable compactification of Hurwitz stack is locally free. Let $\mathscr {G}$ be the parahoric Bruhat–Tits group scheme on the quotient curve $\Sigma /\Gamma$ obtained via the $\Gamma$-invariance of Weil restriction associated to $\Sigma$ and the simply connected simple algebraic group $G$ with Lie algebra $\mathfrak {g}$. We prove that the space of twisted conformal blocks can be identified with the space of generalized theta functions on the moduli stack of quasi-parabolic $\mathscr {G}$-torsors on $\Sigma /\Gamma$ when the level $c$ is divisible by $|\Gamma |$ (establishing a conjecture due to Pappas and Rapoport).

We determine the dimensions of $\textrm{Ext}$-groups between simple modules and dual generalized Verma modules in singular blocks of parabolic versions of category $\mathcal{O}$ for complex semisimple Lie algebras and affine Kac-Moody algebras.

For complex simple Lie algebras of types B, C, and D, we provide new explicit formulas for the generators of the commutative subalgebra $\mathfrak z(\hat {\mathfrak g})\subset {{\mathcal {U}}}(t^{-1}\mathfrak g[t^{-1}])$ known as the Feigin–Frenkel centre. These formulas make use of the symmetrisation map as well as of some well-chosen symmetric invariants of $\mathfrak g$. There are some general results on the rôle of the symmetrisation map in the explicit description of the Feigin–Frenkel centre. Our method reduces questions about elements of $\mathfrak z(\hat {\mathfrak g})$ to questions on the structure of the symmetric invariants in a type-free way. As an illustration, we deal with type G$_2$ by hand. One of our technical tools is the map ${\sf m}\!\!: {{\mathcal {S}}}^{k}(\mathfrak g)\to \Lambda ^{2}\mathfrak g \otimes {{\mathcal {S}}}^{k-3}(\mathfrak g)$ introduced here. As the results show, a better understanding of this map will lead to a better understanding of $\mathfrak z(\hat {\mathfrak g})$.

We explicitly determine the defining relations of all quantum symmetric pair coideal subalgebras of quantised enveloping algebras of Kac–Moody type. Our methods are based on star products on noncommutative ${\mathbb N}$-graded algebras. The resulting defining relations are expressed in terms of continuous q-Hermite polynomials and a new family of deformed Chebyshev polynomials.

In [2], Beilinson–Lusztig–MacPherson (BLM) gave a beautiful realization for quantum $\mathfrak {gl}_n$ via a geometric setting of quantum Schur algebras. We introduce the notion of affine Schur superalgebras and use them as a bridge to link the structure and representations of the universal enveloping superalgebra ${\mathcal U}_{\mathbb Q}(\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n})$ of the loop algebra $\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n}$ of ${\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n}$ with those of affine symmetric groups ${\widehat {{\mathfrak S}}_{r}}$ . Then, we give a BLM type realization of ${\mathcal U}_{\mathbb Q}(\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n})$ via affine Schur superalgebras.

The first application of the realization of ${\mathcal U}_{\mathbb Q}(\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n})$ is to determine the action of ${\mathcal U}_{\mathbb Q}(\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n})$ on tensor spaces of the natural representation of $\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n}$ . These results in epimorphisms from $\;{\mathcal U}_{\mathbb Q}(\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n})$ to affine Schur superalgebras so that the bridging relation between representations of ${\mathcal U}_{\mathbb Q}(\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n})$ and ${\widehat {{\mathfrak S}}_{r}}$ is established. As a second application, we construct a Kostant type $\mathbb Z$ -form for ${\mathcal U}_{\mathbb Q}(\widehat {\mathfrak {gl}}_{m|n})$ whose images under the epimorphisms above are exactly the integral affine Schur superalgebras. In this way, we obtain essentially the super affine Schur–Weyl duality in arbitrary characteristics.

We compute the spaces of sections of powers of the determinant line bundle on the spherical Schubert subvarieties of the Beilinson–Drinfeld affine Grassmannians. The answer is given in terms of global Demazure modules over the current Lie algebra.

We prove the longstanding physics conjecture that there exists a unique two-parameter ${\mathcal {W}}_{\infty }$-algebra which is freely generated of type ${\mathcal {W}}(2,3,\ldots )$, and generated by the weights $2$ and $3$ fields. Subject to some mild constraints, all vertex algebras of type ${\mathcal {W}}(2,3,\ldots , N)$ for some $N$ can be obtained as quotients of this universal algebra. As an application, we show that for $n\geq 3$, the structure constants for the principal ${\mathcal {W}}$-algebras ${\mathcal {W}}^k({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_n, f_{\text {prin}})$ are rational functions of $k$ and $n$, and we classify all coincidences among the simple quotients ${\mathcal {W}}_k({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_n, f_{\text {prin}})$ for $n\geq 2$. We also obtain many new coincidences between ${\mathcal {W}}_k({\mathfrak s}{\mathfrak l}_n, f_{\text {prin}})$ and other vertex algebras of type ${\mathcal {W}}(2,3,\ldots , N)$ which arise as cosets of affine vertex algebras or nonprincipal ${\mathcal {W}}$-algebras.

Let A be a symmetrisable generalised Cartan matrix, and let $\mathfrak {g}(A)$ be the corresponding Kac–Moody algebra. In this paper, we address the following fundamental question on the structure of $\mathfrak {g}(A)$ : given two homogeneous elements $x,y\in \mathfrak {g}(A)$ , when is their bracket $[x,y]$ a nonzero element? As an application of our results, we give a description of the solvable and nilpotent graded subalgebras of $\mathfrak {g}(A)$ .

We prove duality isomorphisms of certain representations of ${\mathcal{W}}$-algebras which play an essential role in the quantum geometric Langlands program and some related results.

We prove a conjecture of Rouquier relating the decomposition numbers in category ${\mathcal{O}}$ for a cyclotomic rational Cherednik algebra to Uglov’s canonical basis of a higher level Fock space. Independent proofs of this conjecture have also recently been given by Rouquier, Shan, Varagnolo and Vasserot and by Losev, using different methods. Our approach is to develop two diagrammatic models for this category ${\mathcal{O}}$; while inspired by geometry, these are purely diagrammatic algebras, which we believe are of some intrinsic interest. In particular, we can quite explicitly describe the representations of the Hecke algebra that are hit by projectives under the $\mathsf{KZ}$-functor from the Cherednik category ${\mathcal{O}}$ in this case, with an explicit basis. This algebra has a number of beautiful structures including categorifications of many aspects of Fock space. It can be understood quite explicitly using a homogeneous cellular basis which generalizes such a basis given by Hu and Mathas for cyclotomic KLR algebras. Thus, we can transfer results proven in this diagrammatic formalism to category ${\mathcal{O}}$ for a cyclotomic rational Cherednik algebra, including the connection of decomposition numbers to canonical bases mentioned above, and an action of the affine braid group by derived equivalences between different blocks.

Under the local Langlands correspondence, the conductor of an irreducible representation of $\text{G}{{\text{l}}_{n}}\left( F \right)$ is greater than the Swan conductor of the corresponding Galois representation. In this paper, we establish the geometric analogue of this statement by showing that the conductor of a categorical representation of the loop group is greater than the irregularity of the corresponding meromorphic connection.

We consider a lifting of Joseph ideals for the minimal nilpotent orbit closure to the setting of affine Kac–Moody algebras and find new examples of affine vertex algebras whose associated varieties are minimal nilpotent orbit closures. As an application we obtain a new family of lisse ($C_{2}$-cofinite) $W$-algebras that are not coming from admissible representations of affine Kac–Moody algebras.

Let $k$ be a field of characteristic 0. Let $G$ be a reductive group over the ring of Laurent polynomials $R\,=\,k\left[ x_{1}^{\pm 1},\ldots ,x_{n}^{\pm 1} \right]$ . Assume that $G$ contains a maximal $R$ -torus, and that every semisimple normal subgroup of $G$ contains a two-dimensional split torus $\mathbf{G}_{m}^{2}$ . We show that the natural map of non-stable ${{K}_{1}}$ -functors, also called Whitehead groups, $K_{1}^{G}\left( R \right)\,\to \,K_{1}^{G}\left( k\left( \left( {{x}_{1}} \right) \right)\cdots \left( \left( {{x}_{n}} \right) \right) \right)$ is injective, and an isomorphism if $G$ is semisimple. As an application, we provide a way to compute the difference between the full automorphism group of a Lie torus (in the sense of Yoshii–Neher) and the subgroup generated by exponential automorphisms.

In Bennett et al. [BGG reciprocity for current algebras, Adv. Math. 231 (2012), 276–305] it was conjectured that a BGG-type reciprocity holds for the category of graded representations with finite-dimensional graded components for the current algebra associated to a simple Lie algebra. We associate a current algebra to any indecomposable affine Lie algebra and show that, in this generality, the BGG reciprocity is true for the corresponding category of representations.

Let G be an arbitrary non-zero additive subgroup of the complex number field ℂ, and let Vir[G] be the corresponding generalized Virasoro algebra over ℂ. In this paper we determine all irreducible weight modules with finite-dimensional weight spaces over Vir[G]. The classification strongly depends on the index group G. If G does not have a direct summand isomorphic to ℤ (the integers), then such irreducible modules over Vir[G] are only modules of intermediate series whose weight spaces are all one dimensional. Otherwise, there is one further class of modules that are constructed by using intermediate series modules over a generalized Virasoro subalgebra Vir[G0] of Vir[G] for a direct summand G0 of G with G = G0 ⊕ ℤb, where b ∈ G \ G0. This class of irreducible weight modules do not have corresponding weight modules for the classical Virasoro algebra.

Let $\mathfrak{n}$ be a maximal nilpotent subalgebra of a complex symmetric Kac–Moody Lie algebra. Lusztig has introduced a basis of $U(\mathfrak{n})$ called the semicanonical basis, whose elements can be seen as certain constructible functions on varieties of nilpotent modules over a preprojective algebra of the same type as $\mathfrak{n}$. We prove a formula for the product of two elements of the dual of this semicanonical basis, and more generally for the product of two evaluation forms associated to arbitrary modules over the preprojective algebra. This formula plays an important rôle in our work on the relationship between semicanonical bases, representation theory of preprojective algebras, and Fomin and Zelevinsky's theory of cluster algebras. It was inspired by recent results of Caldero and Keller.

We obtain several determinant evaluations, related to affine root systems, which provide elliptic extensions of Weyl denominator formulas. Some of these are new, also in the polynomial special case, while others yield new proofs of the Macdonald identities for the seven infinite families of irreducible reduced affine root systems.

We give a geometric construction of the Verma modules of a symmetric Kac-Moody Lie algebra g in terms of constructible functions on the varieties of nilpotent finite-dimensional modules of the corresponding preprojective algebra Λ.

We consider a class of reductive linear groups defined in terms of weighted oriented graphs of a special sort that we call signed quivers. Each of these yields a symmetric quiver, that is, a quiver endowed with an involutive anti-automorphism together with signs for the vertices and arrows fixed by the involution. The orbits of the groups can be described in terms of the indecomposable symmetric representations of symmetric quivers. We provide a general description of the indecomposable symmetric representations and prove that their dimensions in the finite and tame cases constitute root systems corresponding to certain symmetrizable generalized Cartan matrices.