In these notes we collect some results about finite-dimensional representations of $U_{q}(\mathfrak {gl}(1\mid1))$ and related invariants of framed tangles, which are well-known to experts but difficult to find in the literature. In particular, we give an explicit description of the ribbon structure on the category of finite-dimensional $U_{q}(\mathfrak {gl}(1\mid1))$ -representations and we use it to construct the corresponding quantum invariant of framed tangles. We explain in detail why this invariant vanishes on closed links and how one can modify the construction to get a non-zero invariant of framed closed links. Finally we show how to obtain the Alexander polynomial by considering the vector representation of $U_{q}(\mathfrak {gl}(1\mid1))$ .

We prove that there exists uncountably many pairwise disjoint open subsets of the Gelfand space of the measure algebra on any locally compact non-discrete abelian group which shows that this space is not separable (in fact, we prove this assertion for the ideal $M_{0}(G)$ consisting of measures with Fourier-Stieltjes transforms vanishing at infinity which is a stronger statement). As a corollary, we obtain that the spectras of elements in the algebra of measures cannot be recovered from the image of one countable subset of the Gelfand space under Gelfand transform, common for all elements in the algebra.

We prove the Mirković–Vilonen conjecture: the integral local intersection cohomology groups of spherical Schubert varieties on the affine Grassmannian have no$p$-torsion, as long as$p$is outside a certain small and explicitly given set of prime numbers. (Juteau has exhibited counterexamples when$p$is a bad prime.) The main idea is to convert this topological question into an algebraic question about perverse-coherent sheaves on the dual nilpotent cone using the Juteau–Mautner–Williamson theory of parity sheaves.

We prove that every finite group$G$can be realized as the group of self-homotopy equivalences of infinitely many elliptic spaces$X$. To construct those spaces we introduce a new technique which leads, for example, to the existence of infinitely many inflexible manifolds. Further applications to representation theory will appear in a separate paper.

We define an analogue of the Casimir element for a graded affine Hecke algebra $$ \mathbb{H} $$ , and then introduce an approximate square-root called the Dirac element. Using it, we define the Dirac cohomology$H$^{$D$}($X$) of an $$ \mathbb{H} $$ -module$X$, and show that$H$^{$D$}($X$) carries a representation of a canonical double cover of the Weyl group $$ \widetilde{W} $$ . Our main result shows that the $$ \widetilde{W} $$ -structure on the Dirac cohomology of an irreducible $$ \mathbb{H} $$ -module$X$determines the central character of$X$in a precise way. This can be interpreted as$p$-adic analogue of a conjecture of Vogan for Harish-Chandra modules. We also apply our results to the study of unitary representations of $$ \mathbb{H} $$ .