The study of the infinite (countable) family of partial differential equations known as the Kadomtzev - Petviashvili (KP) hierarchy has received much interest in the mathematical and theoretical physics community for over forty years. Recently there has been a renewed interest in its application to enumerative combinatorics inspired by Witten's conjecture (now Kontsevich's theorem). In this thesis we provide a detailed development of the KP hierarchy and some of its applications with an emphasis on the combinatorics involved. Up until now, most of the material pertaining to the KP hierarchy has been fragmented throughout the physics literature and any complete accounts have been for purposes much diff erent than ours. We begin by describing a family of related Lie algebras along with a module on which they act. We then construct a realization of this module in terms of polynomials and determine the corresponding Lie algebra actions. By doing this we are able to describe one of the Lie group orbits as a family of polynomials and the equations that de fine them as a family of partial diff erential equations. This then becomes the KP hierarchy and its solutions. We then interpret the KP hierarchy as a pair of operators on the ring of symmetric functions and describe their action combinatorially. We then conclude the thesis with some combinatorial applications.

The study of the infinite (countable) family of partial differential equations known as the Kadomtzev - Petviashvili (KP) hierarchy has received much interest in the mathematical and theoretical physics community for over forty years. Recently there has been a renewed interest in its application to enumerative combinatorics inspired by Witten's conjecture (now Kontsevich's theorem). In this thesis we provide a detailed development of the KP hierarchy and some of its applications with an emphasis on the combinatorics involved. Up until now, most of the material pertaining to the KP hierarchy has been fragmented throughout the physics literature and any complete accounts have been for purposes much diff erent than ours. We begin by describing a family of related Lie algebras along with a module on which they act. We then construct a realization of this module in terms of polynomials and determine the corresponding Lie algebra actions. By doing this we are able to describe one of the Lie group orbits as a family of polynomials and the equations that de fine them as a family of partial diff erential equations. This then becomes the KP hierarchy and its solutions. We then interpret the KP hierarchy as a pair of operators on the ring of symmetric functions and describe their action combinatorially. We then conclude the thesis with some combinatorial applications.

This thesis is an expository account of three central theorems in the representation theory of semisimple Lie groups, namely the theorems of Borel-Weil-Bott, Casselman-Osborne and Kostant. The first of these realizes all the irreducible holomorphic representations of a complex semisimple Lie group G in the cohomology of certain sheaves of equivariant line bundles over the flag variety of G. The latter two theorems describe the Lie algebra cohomology of a maximal nilpotent subalgebra of Lie(G) with coefficients in an irreducible Lie(G)-module. Applications to geometry and representation theory are given. Also included is a brief overview of Schmid's far-reaching generalization of the Borel--Weil--Bott theorem to the setting of unitary representations of real semisimple Lie groups on (possibly infinite-dimensional) Hilbert spaces.

In 1949, Wever observed that the degree d of an invariant Lie polynomial must be a multiple of the number q of generators of the free Lie algebra. He also found that there are no invariant Lie polynomials in the following cases: q = 2, d = 4; q = 3, d = 6; d = q ≥ 3. Wever gave a formula for the number of invariants for q = 2 in the natural representation of sl(2). In 1958, Burrow extended Wevers formula to q > 1 and d = mq where m > 1. In the present thesis, we concentrate on finding invariant Lie polynomials (simply called Lie invariants) in the natural representations of sl(2) and sl(3), and in the adjoint representation of sl(2). We first review the method to construct the Hall basis of the free Lie algebra and the way to transform arbitrary Lie words into linear combinations of Hall words. To find the Lie invariants, we need to find the nullspace of an integer matrix, and for this we use the Hermite normal form. After that, we review the generalized Witt dimension formula which can be used to compute the number of primitive Lie invariants of a given degree. Secondly, we recall the result of Bremner on Lie invariants of degree ≤ 10 in the natural representation of sl(2). We extend these results to compute the Lie invariants of degree 12 and 14. This is the first original contribution in the present thesis. Thirdly, we compute the Lie invariants in the adjoint representation of sl(2) up to degree 8. This is the second original contribution in the present thesis. Fourthly, we consider the natural representation of sl(3). This is a 3-dimensional natural representation of an 8-dimensional Lie algebra. Due to the huge number of Hall words in each degree and the limitation of computer hardware, we compute the Lie invariants only up to degree 12. Finally, we discuss possible directions for extending the results. Because there are infinitely many different simple finite dimensional Lie algebras and each of them has infinitely many distinct irreducible representations, it is an open-ended problem.

We construct a new operation among representations of the symmetric group that interpolates between the classical internal and external products, which are defined in terms of tensor product and induction of representations. Following Malvenuto and Reutenauer, we pass from symmetric functions to non-commutative symmetric functions and from there to the algebra of permutations in order to relate the internal and external products to the composition and convolution of linear endomorphisms of the tensor algebra. The new product we construct corresponds to the Heisenberg product of endomorphisms of the tensor algebra. For symmetric functions, the Heisenberg product is given by a construction which combines induction and restriction of representations. For non-commutative symmetric functions, the structure constants of the Heisenberg product are given by an explicit combinatorial rule which extends a well-known result of Garsia, Remmel, Reutenauer, and Solomon for the descent algebra. We describe the dual operation among quasi-symmetric functions in terms of alphabets.

This thesis is an expository account of three central theorems in the representation theory of semisimple Lie groups, namely the theorems of Borel-Weil-Bott, Casselman-Osborne and Kostant. The first of these realizes all the irreducible holomorphic representations of a complex semisimple Lie group G in the cohomology of certain sheaves of equivariant line bundles over the flag variety of G. The latter two theorems describe the Lie algebra cohomology of a maximal nilpotent subalgebra of Lie(G) with coefficients in an irreducible Lie(G)-module. Applications to geometry and representation theory are given. Also included is a brief overview of Schmid's far-reaching generalization of the Borel--Weil--Bott theorem to the setting of unitary representations of real semisimple Lie groups on (possibly infinite-dimensional) Hilbert spaces.

Techniques from the theory of matrix problems have proven to be helpful for studying problems within representation theory. In particular, matrix problems are well suited to use in problems related to classifying indecomposable representations of quivers and of posets. However, throughout the literature, there are many different types of matrix problems and little clarification of the relationships between them. In this thesis, we choose six types of matrix problems, place them all within a common framework and find correspondences between them. Moreover, we show that their use in the classification of finite-dimensional representations of quivers and posets are, in general, well-founded. Additionally, we investigate a direct relationship between the problem of classifying quiver representations and the problem of classifying poset representations.

Thesis advisor: Mark Reeder / This thesis contributes to the construction of supercuspidal representations in small residual characteristics. Let G be a connected, quasi-split, semisimple reductive algebraic group defined and quasi-split over a non-archimedean local field k and splitting over a tamely, totally ramified extension of k. To each parahoric subgroup of G(k), Moy and Prasad have attached a natural filtration by compact open subgroups, the first of which is called the pro-unipotent radical of the parahoric subgroup. The first main result of this thesis is to characterize shallow characters of a pro-unipotent radical, those being complex characters that vanish on the smallest Moy-Prasad subgroup containing all commutators of linearly-dependent affine k-root groups. Through low-rank examples, we illustrate how this characterization can be used to explicitly construct all shallow characters. Next, we provide a natural sufficient condition under which a shallow character compactly induces as a direct sum of supercuspidal representations of G(k). Through examples, however, we show that this sufficient condition need not be necessary, all while constructing new supercuspidal representations of Sp_4(k) when p = 2 and the split form of G_2 over k when p = 3. This work extends the construction of the simple supercuspidal representations given by Gross and Reeder and the epipelagic supercuspidal representations given by Reeder and Yu. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Mathematics.

Let D be a division algebra over a p-adic field of characteristic 0. We investigate the mod-p supersingular representations of GL(2, D) by computing a basis for the space of invariants of a certain quotient under the pro-p Iwahori subgroup. This generalizes the previous works of Hendel and Schein.

The larger area of my thesis is Algebra; more specifically, my work belongs to the following two major branches of Algebra: \emph{representation theory} and \emph{invariant theory}. In brief, the objective of representation theory is to investigate algebraic objects through their actions on vector spaces; this allows the well-developed toolkit of linear algebra to be brought to bear on complex algebraic problems. The theory has played a crucial role in nearly every subdiscipline of pure mathematics. Outside of pure mathematics, representation theory has been successfully used, for instance, in the study of symmetries of physical systems and in describing molecular structures in physical chemistry. Invariant theory is another classical algebraic theme permeating virtually all areas of pure mathematics and some areas of applied mathematics as well, notably coding theory. The theory studies actions of algebraic objects, traditionally groups and Lie algebras, on algebras, that is, vector spaces that are equipped with a multiplication. \bigskip The representation theory of (associative) algebras provides a useful setting in which to studymany aspects of the two most classical flavors of representation theory under a common umbrella: representations of groups and of Lie algebras. However, it turns out that general algebras fail to capture certain features of group representations and the same can be said for representations of Lie algebras as well. The additional structure that is needed in order to access these features is naturally provided by the important class of \emph{Hopf algebras}. Besides unifying the representation theories of groups and of Lie algebras, Hopf algebras serve a similar purpose in invariant theory, allowing for a simultaneous treatment of group actions (by automorphisms) and Lie algebras (by derivations) on algebras. More importantly, actions of Hopf algebras have the potential of capturing additional aspects of the structure of algebras they act on, uncovering features that cannot be accessed by ordinary groups or Lie algebras. \bigskip Presently, the theory of Hopf algebras is still nowhere near thelevel that has been achieved for groups and for Lie algebras over the course of the past century and earlier. This thesis aims to make a contribution to the representation and invariant theories of Hopf algebras, focusing for the most part on Hopf algebras that are not necessarily finite dimensional. Specifically, the contributions presented here can be grouped under two headings: \smallskip \noindent\qquad(i) \textbf{ Invariant Theory:} Hopf algebra actions and prime spectra, and\smallskip \noindent\qquad(ii)\textbf{ Representation Theory:} the adjoint representation of a Hopf algebra. \smallskip In the work done under the heading (i), we were able to use the action of cocommutative Hopf algebras on other algebras to "stratify" the prime spectrum of the algebra being acted upon, and then express each stratum in terms of the spectrum of a commutative domain. Additionally, we studied the transfer of properties between an ideal in the algebra being acted upon, and the largest sub-ideal of that ideal, stable under the action. We were able to achieve results for various families of acting Hopf algebras, namely \emph{cocommutative} and \emph{connected} Hopf algebras.\\The main results concerning heading (ii) concerned the subalgebra of locally finite elements of a Hopf algebra, often called the finite part of the Hopf algebra. This is a subalgebra containing the center that was used successfully to study the ring theoretic properties of group algebras, Lie algebras, and other classical structures. We prove that the finite is not only a subalgebra, but a coideal subalgebra in general, and in the case of (almost) cocommuative Hopf algebra, it is indeed a Hopf subalgebra. The results in this thesis generalize earlier theorems that were proved for the prototypical special classes of Hopf algebras: group algebras and enveloping algebras of Lie algebras. / Mathematics