We give a geometric proof that any minimal length element in a (twisted) conjugacy class of a finite Coxeter group W has remarkable properties with respect to conjugation, taking powers in the associated braid monoid and taking the centralizer in W.

Let G be a connected semi-simple algebraic group of adjoint type over an algebraically closed field and let ar G be the wonderful compactification of G. For a fixed pair (B,B  ) of opposite Borel subgroups of G, we look at intersections of Lusztigs G-stable pieces and the B  B-orbits in ar G , as well as intersections of BB-orbits and B  B  -orbits in ar G . We give explicit conditions for such intersections to be nonempty, and in each case, we show that every nonempty intersection is smooth and irreducible, that the closure of the intersection is equal to the intersection of the closures, and that the nonempty intersections form a strongly admissible partition of .

Soit G un groupe réductif défini sur un corps algébriquement clos de caractéristique positive. Nous montrons que le foncteur contraction par Frobenius de la catégorie des G-modules est adjoint à droite de celui de tensorisation deux fois par le module de Steinberg du tordu de Frobenius du G-module de départ. Il s’ensuit en particulier que le foncteur de contraction par Frobenius préserve le caractère injectif et l’existence de bonne filtration mais pas la semi-simplicité. (For a reductive group G defined over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic, we show that the Frobenius contraction functor of $Gs-modules is right adjoint to the Frobenius twist of the modules tensored with the Steinberg module twice. It follows that the Frobenius contraction functor preserves injectivity, good filtrations, but not semi-simplicity.)