Monday, October 2nd, 2006
2:30pm - 3:30pm, in Science 2-064

Donald King

Northeastern University

Spherical Nilpotent Orbits: An Overview

Abstract: This talk will discuss some aspects of spherical nilpotent orbits in complex symmetric space that are related to the representation theory of the associated semisimple Lie group. We focus on the geometry of the closures of such orbits and the decomposition of the coordinate ring of such an orbit under the action of a related compact group. The closure of a "small" orbit is normal and there is good information about the decomposition of its coordinate ring. No prior knowledge of nilpotent orbits is assumed.