Let G be a semisimple group over an algebraically closed field. Steinberg has associated to a Coxeter element G of minimal length G a subvariety G of G isomorphic to an affine space of dimension G which meets the regular unipotent class G in exactly one point. In this paper this is generalized to the case where G is replaced by any elliptic element in the Weyl group of minimal length G in its conjugacy class, G is replaced by a subvariety G of G isomorphic to an affine space of dimension G , and G is replaced by a unipotent class G of codimension G in such a way that the intersection of G and G is finite.

We study a class of perverse sheaves on some spherical varieties which include the strata of the De ConciniProcesi completion of a symmetric variety. This is a generalization of the theory of (parabolic) character sheaves.

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 simple simply connected algebraic group and let $\mathfrak{g}_*$ be a $\mathbf{Z}/m$-grading on its Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$. G. Lusztig and Z. Yun, in a recent series of articles, studied the classification of simple $G_0$-equivariant perverse sheaves on the nilpotent cone of $\mathfrak{g}_i$ for $i\in \mathbf{Z}/m$, where $G_0$ is the exponentiation of the degree zero piece $\mathfrak{g}_0$. They proved a decomposition of the equivariant derived category of $\ell$-adic sheaves on the nilpotent cone of $\mathfrak{g}_i$ into blocks, each generated by a certain cuspidal local system via the procedure of {\itshape spiral inductions}. We prove a conjecture of them, stating that there is a bijection between 1) the set of simple perverse sheaves in a fixed block and 2) the set of simple modules of a block of a (trigonometric) degenerate double affine Hecke algebra (dDAHA). This is a dDAHA analogue of the Deligne--Langlands correspondence for affine Hecke algebras proven by Kazhdan--Lusztig. Our results generalise a previous work of E. Vasserot, where the perverse sheaves in the principal block were considered.

The cocenter of an affine Hecke algebra plays an important role in the study of representations of the affine Hecke algebra and the geometry of affine DeligneLusztig varieties (see for example, He and Nie in Compos Math 150(11):19031927, 2014; He in Ann Math 179:367404, 2014; Ciubotaru and He in Cocenter and representations of affine Hecke algebras, 2014). In this paper, we give a BernsteinLusztig type presentation of the cocenter. We also obtain a comparison theorem between the class polynomials of the affine Hecke algebra and those of its parabolic subalgebras, which is an algebraic analog of the HodgeNewton decomposition theorem for affine DeligneLusztig varieties. As a consequence, we present a new proof of the emptiness pattern of affine DeligneLusztig varieties (Grtz et al. in Compos Math 146(5):13391382, 2010; Grtz et al. in Ann Sci cole Norm Sup, 2012).