Abstract :
Let G be a connected reductive algebraic group over an algebraically closed field k of characteristic p>0, , and suppose that p is a good prime for the root system of G. In this paper, we give a fairly short conceptual proof of Pommereningʹs theorem [Pommerening, J. Algebra 49 (1977) 525–536; J. Algebra 65 (1980) 373–398] which states that any nilpotent element in is Richardson in a distinguished parabolic subalgebra of the Lie algebra of a Levi subgroup of G. As a by-product, we obtain a short noncomputational proof of the existence theorem for good transverse slices to the nilpotent G-orbits in (for earlier proofs of this theorem see [Kawanaka, Invent. Math. 84 (1986) 575–616; Premet, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 347 (1995) 2961–2988; Spaltenstein, J. Fac. Sci. Univ. Tokyo Sect. IA Math. 31 (1984) 283–286]). We extend recent results of Sommers [Internal. Math. Res. Notices 11 (1998) 539–562] to reductive Lie algebras of good characteristic thus providing a satisfactory approach to computing the component groups of the centralisers of nilpotent elements in and unipotent elements in G. Earlier computations of these groups in positive characteristics relied, mostly, on work of Mizuno [J. Fac. Sci. Univ. Tokyo Sect. IA Math. 24 (1977) 525–563; Tokyo J. Math. 3 (1980) 391–459]. Our approach is based on the theory of optimal parabolic subgroups for G-unstable vectors, also known as the Kempf–Rousseau theory, which provides a good substitute for the -theory prominent in the characteristic zero case.
