On the equivariant K-theory of the nilpotent cone

Abstract

Let G be a simple algebraic group over the complex numbers. Let N be the cone of nilpotent elements in the Lie algebra of G. Let K_{G x C^*}(N) denote the Grothendieck group of the category of G x C^*-equivariant coherent sheaves on N. In this note we construct a Kazhdan-Lusztig type canonical basis of K_{G x C^*}(N) over representation ring of C^*. This basis is parametrized by the set of dominant weights for G. On the other hand we conjecture that this basis is close to the basis consisting of irreducible G-equivariant bundles on nilpotent orbits. This would give us a natural construction of Lusztig's bijection between two sets: \{dominant weights for G\} and \{pairs consisting of a nilpotent orbit O and irreducible G-equivariant bundle on O.