Positivity conjectures for Kazhdan-Lusztig theory on twisted involutions: the finite case

TL;DR

This paper investigates positivity conjectures related to twisted Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials in finite Coxeter groups, providing computational evidence supporting these conjectures in specific non-crystallographic cases.

Contribution

It verifies four positivity conjectures for twisted Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials in finite Coxeter groups, including types H3 and H4, through explicit calculations.

Findings

Four positivity conjectures are supported in finite cases.

Computations include non-crystallographic types H3 and H4.

Results suggest broader validity of positivity properties in twisted settings.

Abstract

Let $(W,S)$ be any Coxeter system and let $w \mapsto w^*$ be an involution of $W$ which preserves the set of simple generators $S$. Lusztig and Vogan have shown that the corresponding set of twisted involutions (i.e., elements $w \in W$ with $w^{-1} = w^*$) naturally generates a module of the Hecke algebra of $(W,S)$ with two distinguished bases. The transition matrix between these bases defines a family of polynomials $P^\sigma_{y,w}$ which one can view as a "twisted" analogue of the much-studied family of Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials of $(W,S)$. The polynomials $P^\sigma_{y,w}$ can have negative coefficients, but display several conjectural positivity properties of interest, which parallel positivity properties of the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials. This paper reports on some calculations which verify four such positivity conjectures in several finite cases of interest, in particular for the non-crystallographic Coxeter systems of types $H_3$ and $H_4$.