Total positivity and conjugacy classes

Abstract

In this paper, we study the interaction between the totally positive monoid $G_{\ge 0}$ attached to a connected reductive group $G$ with a pinning and the conjugacy classes in $G$. In particular, we study how a conjugacy class meets the various cells of $G_{\ge0}$. We also state a conjectural Jordan decomposition for $G_{\ge0}$ and prove it in some special cases.