Character sheaves on unipotent groups in characteristic p>0

TL;DR

This paper introduces the theory of character sheaves on unipotent groups over fields of positive characteristic, providing an overview of key results and motivation behind this mathematical framework.

Contribution

It offers a concise introduction and overview of the authors' developed theory of character sheaves for unipotent groups in characteristic p>0.

Findings

Development of the theory of character sheaves for unipotent groups

Main results and their implications in representation theory

Motivational context for the theory's applications

Abstract

These are slides for a talk given by the authors at the conference "Current developments and directions in the Langlands program" held in honor of Robert Langlands at the Northwestern University in May of 2008. The slides can be used as a short introduction to the theory of characters and character sheaves for unipotent groups in positive characteristic, developed by the authors in a series of articles written between 2006 and 2011. We give an overview of the main results of this theory along with a bit of motivation.