Coherent sheaves and categorical sl(2) actions

Sabin Cautis, Joel Kamnitzer, Anthony Licata

Published 2009-02-11, updated 2009-11-19Version 2

We introduce the concept of a geometric categorical sl(2) action and relate it to that of a strong categorical sl(2) action. The latter is a special kind of 2-representation in the sense of Rouquier. The main result is that a geometric categorical sl(2) action induces a strong categorical sl(2) action. This allows one to apply the theory of strong sl(2) actions to various geometric situations. Our main example is the construction of a geometric categorical sl(2) action on the derived category of coherent sheaves on cotangent bundles of Grassmannians.