Let <i>H</i> denote a spherical subgroup within a semisimple algebraic group <i>G</i>. In this paper we study the closures of the finitely many <i>H</i>-orbits in the flag variety of <i>G</i>. Using the language of Frobenius splitting we provide a criterion for these closures to have nice geometric and cohomological properties. We then show how the criterion applies to the spherical subgroups of minimal rank studied by N. Ressayre. Finally, we also provide applications of the criterion to orbit closures which are not multiplicity-free in the sense defined by M. Brion.

We give a geometric realization, the tagged rotation, of the AR-translation on the generalized cluster category associated to a surface S with marked points and non-empty boundary, which generalizes Brüstle–Zhang’s result for the puncture free case. As an application, we show that the intersection of the shifts in the 3-Calabi–Yau derived category D(Γ_S) associated to the surface and the corresponding Seidel–Thomas braid group of D(Γ_S) is empty, unless S is a polygon with at most one puncture (i.e. of type A or D).

Let G ⊆ \tilde{G} be two quasisplit connected reductive groups over a local field of characteristic zero and having the same derived group. Although the existence of L-packets is still conjectural in general, it is believed that the L-packets of G should be the restriction of those of \tilde{G}. Motivated by this, we hope to construct the L-packets of \tilde{G} from those of G. The primary example in our mind is when G = Sp(2n), whose L-packets have been determined by Arthur [The endoscopic classification of representations: orthogonal and symplectic groups, Colloquium Publications, vol. 61 (American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2013)], and \tilde{G} = GSp(2n). As a first step, we need to consider some well-known conjectural properties of L-packets. In this paper, we show how they can be deduced from the conjectural endoscopy theory. As an application, we obtain some structural information about L-packets of \tilde{G} from those of G.

We study the nonnegative part \overline {G_ {&gt; 0}} of the De Concini-Procesi compactification of a semisimple algebraic group \overline {G_ {&gt; 0}} , as defined by Lusztig. Using positivity properties of the canonical basis and parametrization of flag varieties, we will give an explicit description of \overline {G_ {&gt; 0}} . This answers the question of Lusztig in Total positivity and canonical bases, Algebraic groups and Lie groups (ed. GI Lehrer), Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997, pp. 281-295. We will also prove that \overline {G_ {&gt; 0}} has a cell decomposition which was conjectured by Lusztig.

We develop a general procedure to study the combinatorial structure of Arthur packets for p-adic quasisplit Sp(N) and O(N) following the works of Mœglin. This allows us to answer many delicate questions concerning the Arthur packets of these groups, for example the size of the packets.