Our main result is that many triangles of Baumslag-Solitar groups collapse to finite groups, generalizing a famous example of Hirsch and other examples due to several authors. A triangle of Baumslag-Solitar groups means a group with three generators, cyclically ordered, with each generator conjugating some power of the previous one to another power. There are six parameters, occurring in pairs, and we show that the triangle fails to be developable whenever one of the parameters divides its partner, except for a few special cases. Furthermore, under fairly general conditions, the group turns out to be finite and solvable of derived length $\leq3$. We obtain a lot of information about finite quotients, even when we cannot determine developability.

Let $\rho \colon G \to \operatorname{GL}(V)$ be a rational finite dimensional complex representation of a reductive linear algebraic group $G$, and let $\sigma_1,\dots,\sigma_n$ be a system of generators of the algebra of invariant polynomials $\mathbb C[V]^G$. We study the problem of lifting mappings $f\colon \mathbb R^q \supseteq U \to \sigma(V) \subseteq \mathbb C^n$ over the mapping of invariants $\sigma=(\sigma_1,\dots,\sigma_n) \colon V \to \sigma(V)$. Note that $\sigma(V)$ can be identified with the categorical quotient $V /\!\!/ G$ and its points correspond bijectively to the closed orbits in $V$. We prove that if $f$ belongs to a quasianalytic subclass $\mathcal C \subseteq C^\infty$ satisfying some mild closedness properties that guarantee resolution of singularities in $\mathcal C$, e.g., the real analytic class, then $f$ admits a lift of the same class $\mathcal C$ after desingularization by local blow-ups and local power substitutions. As a consequence we show that $f$ itself allows for a lift that belongs to $\operatorname{SBV}_{\operatorname{loc}}$, i.e., special functions of bounded variation. If $\rho$ is a real representation of a compact Lie group, we obtain stronger versions.

W. Casselman defined a basis $f_u$ of Iwahori fixed vectors of a spherical representation $(\pi, V)$ of a split semisimple $p$-adic group $G$ over a nonarchimedean local field $F$ by the condition that it be dual to the intertwining operators, indexed by elements $u$ of the Weyl group $W$. On the other hand, there is a natural basis $\psi_u$, and one seeks to find the transition matrices between the two bases. Thus, let $f_u = \sum_v \tilde{m} (u, v) \psi_v$ and $\psi_u = \sum_v m (u, v) f_v$. Using the Iwahori-Hecke algebra we prove that if a combinatorial condition is satisfied, then $m (u, v) = \prod_{\alpha} \frac{1 - q^{- 1} \mathbf{z}^{\alpha}}{1 -\mathbf{z}^{\alpha}}$, where $\mathbf z$ are the Langlands parameters for the representation and $\alpha$ runs through the set $S (u, v)$ of positive coroots $\alpha \in \hat{\Phi}$ (the dual root system of $G$) such that $u \leqslant v r_{\alpha} < v$ with $r_{\alpha}$ the reflection corresponding to $\alpha$. The condition is conjecturally always satisfied if $G$ is simply-laced and the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomial $P_{w_0 v, w_0 u} = 1$ with $w_0$ the long Weyl group element. There is a similar formula for $\tilde{m}$ conjecturally satisfied if $P_{u, v} = 1$. This leads to various combinatorial conjectures.

A diagonal ind-group is a direct limit of classical affine algebraic groups of growing rank under a class of inclusions that contains the inclusion $$ SL(n)\to SL(2n), \quad M\mapsto \begin{pmatrix}M & 0 \\ 0 & M \end{pmatrix} $$ as a typical special case. If $G$ is a diagonal ind-group and $B\subset G$ is a Borel ind-subgroup, we consider the ind-variety $G/B$ and compute the cohomology $H^\ell(G/B,\mathcal{O}_{-\lambda})$ of any $G$-equivariant line bundle $\mathcal{O}_{-\lambda}$ on $G/B$. It has been known that, for a generic $\lambda$, all cohomology groups of $\mathcal{O}_{-\lambda}$ vanish, and that a non-generic equivariant line bundle $\mathcal{O}_{-\lambda}$ has at most one nonzero cohomology group. The new result of this paper is a precise description of when $H^j(G/B,\mathcal{O}_{-\lambda})$ is nonzero and the proof of the fact that, whenever nonzero, $H^j(G/B, \mathcal{O}_{-\lambda})$ is a $G$-module dual to a highest weight module. The main difficulty is in defining an appropriate analog $W_B$ of the Weyl group, so that the action of $W_B$ on weights of $G$ is compatible with the analog of the Demazure ``action" of the Weyl group on the cohomology of line bundles. The highest weight corresponding to $H^j(G/B, \mathcal{O}_{-\lambda})$ is then computed by a procedure similar to that in the classical Bott-Borel-Weil theorem.

Certain polynomials in $n^2$ variables that serve as generating functions for symmetric group characters are sometimes called ($S_n$) character immanants. We point out a close connection between the identities of Littlewood--Merris--Watkins and Goulden--Jackson, which relate $S_n$ character immanants to the determinant, the permanent and MacMahon's Master Theorem. From these results we obtain a generalization of Muir's identity. Working with the quantum polynomial ring and the Hecke algebra $H_n(q)$, we define quantum immanants that are generating functions for Hecke algebra characters. We then prove quantum analogs of the Littlewood--Merris--Watkins identities and selected Goulden--Jackson identities that relate $H_n(q)$ character immanants to the quantum determinant, quantum permanent, and quantum Master Theorem of Garoufalidis--L\^e--Zeilberger. We also obtain a generalization of Zhang's quantization of Muir's identity.

In this paper we construct an analogue of Iwahori--Hecke algebras of $\operatorname{SL}_2$ over $2$-dimensional local fields. After considering coset decompositions of double cosets of a Iwahori subgroup, we define a convolution product on the space of certain functions on $\operatorname{SL}_2$, and prove that the product is well-defined, obtaining a Hecke algebra. Then we investigate the structure of the Hecke algebra. We determine the center of the Hecke algebra and consider Iwahori--Matsumoto type relations.

The first main result of the paper is a criterion for a partially commutative group $\mathbb G$ to be a domain. It allows us to reduce the study of algebraic sets over $\mathbb G$ to the study of irreducible algebraic sets, and reduce the elementary theory of $\mathbb G$ (of a coordinate group over $\mathbb G$) to the elementary theories of the direct factors of $\mathbb G$ (to the elementary theory of coordinate groups of irreducible algebraic sets). Then we establish normal forms for quantifier-free formulas over a non-abelian directly indecomposable partially commutative group $\mathbb H$. Analogously to the case of free groups, we introduce the notion of a generalised equation and prove that the positive theory of $\mathbb H$ has quantifier elimination and that arbitrary first-order formulas lift from $\mathbb H$ to $\mathbb H\ast F$, where $F$ is a free group of finite rank. As a consequence, the positive theory of an arbitrary partially commutative group is decidable.

We decompose the restriction of ramified principal series representations of the $p$-adic group $\mathrm{GL}(3,\mathrm{k})$ to its maximal compact subgroup $K=\mathrm{GL}(3,R)$. Its decomposition is dependent on the degree of ramification of the inducing characters and can be characterized in terms of filtrations of the Iwahori subgroup in $K$. We establish several irreducibility results and illustrate the decomposition with some examples.

Given a complete CAT(0) space $X$ endowed with a geometric action of a group $\Gamma$, it is known that if $\Gamma$ contains a free abelian group of rank $n$, then $X$ contains a geometric flat of dimension $n$. We prove the converse of this statement in the special case where $X$ is a convex subcomplex of the CAT(0) realization of a Coxeter group $W$, and $\Gamma$ is a subgroup of $W$. In particular a convex cocompact subgroup of a Coxeter group is Gromov-hyperbolic if and only if it does not contain a free abelian group of rank 2. Our result also provides an explicit control on geometric flats in the CAT(0) realization of arbitrary Tits buildings.

Let $G$ be a reductive connected linear algebraic group over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic and let $\g$ be its Lie algebra. First we extend a well-known result about the Picard group of a semi-simple group to reductive groups. Then we prove that if the derived group is simply connected and $\g$ satisfies a mild condition, the algebra $K[G]^\g$ of regular functions on $G$ that are invariant under the action of $\g$ derived from the conjugation action is a unique factorisation domain.

We present a structure theorem for a broad class of homeomorphisms of finite order on countable zero dimensional spaces. As applications we show the following. \begin{compactenum}[\rm(a)] \item Every countable nondiscrete topological group not containing an open Boolean subgroup can be partitioned into infinitely many dense subsets. \item If $G$ is a countably infinite Abelian group with finitely many elements of order $2$ and $\beta G$ is the Stone--\v Cech compactification of $G$ as a discrete semigroup, then for every idempotent $p\in\beta G\setminus\{0\}$, the subset $\{p,-p\}\subset\beta G$ generates algebraically the free product of one-element semigroups $\{p\}$ and~$\{-p\}$. \end{compactenum}

Suppose that $P=MN$ is a maximal parabolic subgroup of a quasisplit, connected, reductive classical group $G$ defined over a non-Archimedean field and $A$ is the standard intertwining operator attached to a tempered representation of $G$ induced from $M$. In this paper we determine all the cases in which $\Lie(N)$ is prehomogeneous under $\Ad(m)$ when $N$ is non-abelian, and give necessary and sufficient conditions for $A$ to have a pole at $0$.

Our main result is that a finitely generated nilpotent group has no isometric action on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space with dense orbits. In contrast, we construct such an action with a finitely generated metabelian group.

Let $X$ be a locally finite, connected graph without vertices of degree $1$. Non-backtracking random walk moves at each step with equal probability to one of the ``forward'' neighbours of the actual state, \emph{i.e.,} it does not go back along the preceding edge to the preceding state. This is not a Markov chain, but can be turned into a Markov chain whose state space is the set of oriented edges of $X$. Thus we obtain for infinite $X$ that the $n$-step non-backtracking transition probabilities tend to zero, and we can also compute their limit when $X$ is finite. This provides a short proof of old results concerning cogrowth of groups, and makes the extension of that result to arbitrary regular graphs rigorous. Even when $X$ is non-regular, but \emph{small cycles are dense in} $X$, we show that the graph $X$ is non-amenable if and only if the non-backtracking $n$-step transition probabilities decay exponentially fast. This is a partial generalization of the cogrowth criterion for regular graphs which comprises the original cogrowth criterion for finitely generated groups of Grigorchuk and Cohen.

Let $\pi$ be a square integrable representation of $G'=\SL_n(D)$, with $D$ a central division algebra of finite dimension over a local field $F$ \emph{of non-zero characteristic}. We prove that, on the elliptic set, the character of $\pi$ equals the complex conjugate of the orbital integral of one of the pseudocoefficients of~$\pi$. We prove also the orthogonality relations for characters of square integrable representations of $G'$. We prove the stable transfer of orbital integrals between $\SL_n(F)$ and its inner forms.

Call a non-Moufang Bol loop \emph{minimally non-Moufang} if every proper subloop is Moufang and \emph{minimally nonassociative} if every proper subloop is associative. We prove that these concepts are the same for Bol loops which are nilpotent of class two and in which certain associators square to $1$. In the process, we derive many commutator and associator identities which hold in such loops.

It is known that the Brandt--Lickorish--Millett--Ho polynomial $Q$ contains Casson's knot invariant. Whether there are (essentially) other Vassiliev knot invariants obtainable from $Q$ is an open problem. We show that this is not so up to degree $9$. We also give the (apparently) first examples of knots not distinguished by 2-cable HOMFLY polynomials which are not mutants. Our calculations provide evidence of a negative answer to the question whether Vassiliev knot invariants of degree $d \le 10$ are determined by the HOMFLY and Kauffman polynomials and their 2-cables, and for the existence of algebras of such Vassiliev invariants not isomorphic to the algebras of their weight systems.

For monotone complete $C^*$-algebras $A\subset B$ with $A$ contained in $B$ as a monotone closed $C^*$-subalgebra, the relation $X = AsA$ gives a bijection between the set of all monotone closed linear subspaces $X$ of $B$ such that $AX + XA \subset X$ and $XX^* + X^*X \subset A$ and a set of certain partial isometries $s$ in the ``normalizer" of $A$ in $B$, and similarly for the map $s \mapsto \Ad s$ between the latter set and a set of certain ``partial $*$-automorphisms" of $A$. We introduce natural inverse semigroup structures in the set of such $X$'s and the set of partial $*$-automorphisms of $A$, modulo a certain relation, so that the composition of these maps induces an inverse semigroup homomorphism between them. For a large enough $B$ the homomorphism becomes surjective and all the partial $*$-automorphisms of $A$ are realized via partial isometries in $B$. In particular, the inverse semigroup associated with a type ${\rm II}_1$ von Neumann factor, modulo the outer automorphism group, can be viewed as the fundamental group of the factor. We also consider the $C^*$-algebra version of these results.

Soit $F$ un corps local non archim\'edien, et $G$ le groupe des $F$-points d'un groupe r\'eductif connexe quasi-d\'eploy\'e d\'efini sur $F$. Dans cet article, on s'int\'eresse aux distributions sur $G$ invariantes par conjugaison, et \`a l'espace de leurs restrictions \`a l'alg\`ebre de Hecke $\mathcal{H}$ des fonctions sur $G$ \`a support compact biinvariantes par un sous-groupe d'Iwahori $I$ donn\'e. On montre tout d'abord que les valeurs d'une telle distribution sur $\mathcal{H}$ sont enti\`erement d\'etermin\'ees par sa restriction au sous-espace de dimension finie des \'el\'ements de $\mathcal{H}$ \`a support dans la r\'eunion des sous-groupes parahoriques de $G$ contenant $I$. On utilise ensuite cette propri\'et\'e pour montrer, moyennant certaines conditions sur $G$, que cet espace est engendr\'e d'une part par certaines int\'egrales orbitales semi-simples, d'autre part par les int\'egrales orbitales unipotentes, en montrant tout d'abord des r\'esultats analogues sur les groupes finis.

Let $G$ be a finite group and $\chi$ be an irreducible character of $G$. An efficient and simple method to construct representations of finite groups is applicable whenever $G$ has a subgroup $H$ such that $\chi_H$ has a linear constituent with multiplicity $1$. In this paper we show (with a few exceptions) that if $G$ is a simple group or a covering group of a simple group and $\chi$ is an irreducible character of $G$ of degree less than 32, then there exists a subgroup $H$ (often a Sylow subgroup) of $G$ such that $\chi_H$ has a linear constituent with multiplicity $1$.

Let $\ell$ be a length function on a group $G$, and let $M_{\ell}$ denote the operator of pointwise multiplication by $\ell$ on $\bell^2(G)$. Following Connes, $M_{\ell}$ can be used as a ``Dirac'' operator for $C_r^*(G)$. It defines a Lipschitz seminorm on $C_r^*(G)$, which defines a metric on the state space of $C_r^*(G)$. We show that if $G$ is a hyperbolic group and if $\ell$ is a word-length function on $G$, then the topology from this metric coincides with the weak-$*$ topology (our definition of a ``compact quantum metric space''). We show that a convenient framework is that of filtered $C^*$-algebras which satisfy a suitable ``Haagerup-type'' condition. We also use this framework to prove an analogous fact for certain reduced free products of $C^*$-algebras.

We explicitly describe the decomposition into irreducibles of the restriction of the principal series representations of $SL(2,k)$, for $k$ a $p$-adic field, to each of its two maximal compact subgroups (up to conjugacy). We identify these irreducible subrepresentations in the Kirillov-type classification of Shalika. We go on to explicitly describe the decomposition of the reducible principal series of $SL(2,k)$ in terms of the restrictions of its irreducible constituents to a maximal compact subgroup.

We investigate the problem of whether every immersed flat plane in a nonpositively curved square complex is the limit of periodic flat planes. Using a branched cover, we reduce the problem to the case of $\V$-complexes. We solve the problem for malnormal and cyclonormal $\V$-complexes. We also solve the problem for complete square complexes using a different approach. We give an application towards deciding whether the elements of fundamental groups of the spaces we study have commuting powers. We note a connection between the flat approximation problem and subgroup separability.

Let $\sigma$, $\theta$ be commuting involutions of the connected semisimple algebraic group $G$ where $\sigma$, $\theta$ and $G$ are defined over an algebraically closed field $\k$, $\Char \k=0$. Let $H:=G^\sigma$ and $K:=G^\theta$ be the fixed point groups. We have an action $(H\times K)\times G\to G$, where $((h,k),g)\mapsto hgk\inv$, $h\in H$, $k\in K$, $g\in G$. Let $\quot G{(H\times K)}$ denote the categorical quotient $\Spec \O(G)^{H\times K}$. We determine when this quotient is smooth. Our results are a generalization of those of Steinberg \cite{Steinberg75}, Pittie \cite{Pittie72} and Richardson \cite{Rich82b} in the symmetric case where $\sigma=\theta$ and $H=K$.

A coplactic class in the symmetric group $\Sym_n$ consists of all permutations in $\Sym_n$ with a given Schensted $Q$-symbol, and may be described in terms of local relations introduced by Knuth. Any Lie element in the group algebra of $\Sym_n$ which is constant on coplactic classes is already constant on descent classes. As a consequence, the intersection of the Lie convolution algebra introduced by Patras and Reutenauer and the coplactic algebra introduced by Poirier and Reutenauer is the direct sum of all Solomon descent algebras.