Cohomological Hall algebras of one-dimensional sheaves on surfaces and Yangians

TL;DR

This paper establishes a deep algebraic connection between cohomological Hall algebras of sheaves on surfaces and affine Yangians, providing explicit isomorphisms and tools for understanding their structure and actions.

Contribution

It provides the first algebraic characterization of cohomological Hall algebras of sheaves on surfaces and relates them explicitly to affine Yangians, including new tools like a continuity theorem and multi-parameter Yangians.

Findings

Isomorphism between cohomological Hall algebra and affine Yangian's positive half

Explicit expressions of generators in terms of Yangian generators

Development of a continuity theorem for cohomological Hall algebras

Abstract

This paper provides the first algebraic characterization of an algebra of cohomological Hecke operators associated with modifications of coherent sheaves on a smooth surface $X$ along a fixed proper curve $Z \subset X$ (possibly singular and reducible), establishing a direct connection with Yangians. It is based on the theory of equivariant nilpotent cohomological Hall algebras $\mathbf{HA}^T_{X,Z}$, developed by the same authors. More precisely, let $X$ be a resolution of a Kleinian singularity (for example, $X = T^\ast\mathbb{P}^1$) and let $Z$ be the exceptional divisor. One of the main results of this paper is an explicit isomorphism $\mathbf{HA}^T_{X,Z} \simeq \mathbb{Y}^+_\infty$, where $\mathbb{Y}^+_\infty$ is a completed, nonstandard, positive half of the affine Yangian $\mathbb{Y}(\mathfrak{g})$ of the corresponding affine ADE Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$. Furthermore, the generators of $\mathbf{HA}^T_{X,Z}$--given by fundamental classes of substacks of zero-dimensional sheaves and of pushforwards of line bundles on $Z$--are expressed explicitly in terms of Yangian generators. Our main tools, which may be of independent interest, are: (i) a `continuity' theorem describing the behavior of cohomological Hall algebras of objects in the heart of $t$-structures $\tau_n$ when the sequence $(\tau_n)_n$ converges, in an appropriate sense, to a fixed $t$-structure $\tau_\infty$; (ii) the definition of a multi-parameter Yangian $\mathbb{Y}_Q$ for an arbitrary quiver $Q$, given by generators and relations; (iii) a theorem relating the algebraic action of the braid group $B_Q$ on the Yangian $\mathbb{Y}_Q$ to the action of $B_Q$ on the equivariant 2-dimensional cohomological Hall algebra $\mathbf{HA}^T_Q$ of $Q$, where the latter can be described in terms of derived reflection functors of the bounded derived category of modules over the preprojective algebra of $Q$.