Pseudocharacters of Classical Groups

Abstract

A $GL_d$-pseudocharacter is a function from a group $\Gamma$ to a ring $k$ satisfying polynomial relations which make it "look like" the character of a representation. When $k$ is an algebraically closed field, Taylor proved that $GL_d$-pseudocharacters of $\Gamma$ are the same as degree-$d$ characters of $\Gamma$ with values in $k$, hence are in bijection with equivalence classes of semisimple representations $\Gamma \rightarrow GL_d(k)$. Recently, V. Lafforgue generalized this result by showing that, for any connected reductive group $H$ over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic 0 and for any group $\Gamma$, there exists an infinite collection of functions and relations which are naturally in bijection with $H^0(k)$-conjugacy classes of semisimple representations $\Gamma \rightarrow H(k)$. In this paper, we reformulate Lafforgue's result in terms of a new algebraic object called an FFG-algebra. We then define generating sets and generating relations for these objects and show that, for all $H$ as above, the corresponding FFG-algebra is finitely presented. Hence we can always define $H$-pseudocharacters consisting of finitely many functions satisfying finitely many relations. Next, we use invariant theory to give explicit finite presentations of the FFG-algebras for (general) orthogonal groups, (general) symplectic groups, and special orthogonal groups. Finally, we use our pseudocharacters to answer questions about conjugacy vs. element-conjugacy of representations, following Larsen.