We study the cluster algebras arising from cluster tubes with rank bigger than 1. Cluster tubes are 2−Calabi-Yau triangulated categories which contain no cluster tilting objects, but maximal rigid objects. Fix a certain maximal rigid object T in the cluster tube C_n of rank n. For any indecomposable rigid object M in C_n, we define an analogous X_M of Caldero-Chapton's formula (or Palu's cluster character formula) by using the geometric information of M. We show that X_M,X_{M′} satisfy the mutation formula when M,M′ form an exchange pair, and that X_? : M↦X_M gives a bijection from the set of indecomposable rigid objects in C_n to the set of cluster variables of cluster algebra of type C_{n−1}, which induces a bijection between the set of basic maximal rigid objects in C_n and the set of clusters. This strengths a surprising result proved recently by Buan-Marsh-Vatne that the combinatorics of maximal rigid objects in the cluster tube Cn encode the combinatorics of the cluster algebra of type B_{n−1} since the combinatorics of cluster algebras of type B_{n−1} or of type C_{n−1} are the same by a result of Fomin and Zelevinsky. As a consequence, we give a categorification of cluster algebras of type C.

Let W be an extended affine Weyl group. We prove that the minimal length elements W of any conjugacy class W of W satisfy some nice properties, generalizing results of Geck and Pfeiffer [<i>On the irreducible characters of Hecke algebras</i>, Adv. Math. <b>102</b> (1993), 7994] on finite Weyl groups. We also study a special class of conjugacy classes, the straight conjugacy classes. These conjugacy classes are in a natural bijection with the Frobenius-twisted conjugacy classes of some W -adic group and satisfy additional interesting properties. Furthermore, we discuss some applications to the affine Hecke algebra W

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 $U_{q}(\mathfrak {gl}(1\mid1))$ .

Let O_25 be the vertex algebraic braided tensor category of finite-length modules for the Virasoro Lie algebra at central charge 25 whose composition factors are the irreducible quotients of reducible Verma modules. We show that O_25 is rigid and that its simple objects generate a semisimple tensor subcategory that is braided tensor equivalent to an abelian 3-cocycle twist of the category of finite-dimensional sl_2-modules. We also show that this sl_2-type subcategory is braid-reversed tensor equivalent to a similar category for the Virasoro algebra at central charge 1. As an application, we construct a simple conformal vertex algebra which contains the Virasoro vertex operator algebra of central charge 25 as a PSL_2(C)-orbifold. We also use our results to study Arakawa's chiral universal centralizer algebra of SL_2 at level -1, showing that it has a symmetric tensor category of representations equivalent to Rep PSL_2(C). This algebra is an extension of the tensor product of Virasoro vertex operator algebras of central charges 1 and 25, analogous to the modified regular representations of the Virasoro algebra constructed earlier for generic central charges by I. Frenkel-Styrkas and I. Frenkel-M. Zhu.

Inspired by the quantum McKay correspondence, we consider the classical ADE Lie theory as a quantum theory over sl2. We introduce anti-symmetric characters for representations of quantum groups and investigate the Fourier duality to study the spectral theory. In the ADE Lie theory, there is a correspondence between the eigenvalues of the Coxeter element and the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix. We formalize related notions and prove such a correspondence for representations of Verlinde algebras of quantum groups: this includes generalized Dynkin diagrams over any simple Lie algebra g at any level k. This answers a recent comment of Terry Gannon on an old question posed by Victor Kac in 1994.