Power operations and central maps in representation theory

Abstract

The theme of this thesis is the novel application of techniques of algebraic topology (specifically, Steenrod's operations and Smith's localization theory) to representation theory (especially in the context of the geometric Satake equivalence). In Chapter 2, we use Steenrod's construction to prove that the quantum Coulomb branch is a Frobenius-constant quantization. We also demonstrate the corresponding result for the K-theoretic version of the quantum Coulomb branch. In Chapter 3, we develop the theory of parity sheaves with coefficients in the Tate spectrum, and use it to give a geometric construction of the Frobenius-contraction functor. In Chapter 4, we discuss some related results, including a geometric construction of the Frobenius twist functor, and also discuss future directions of research. The content of Chapter 3 is joint work with S. Leslie.