Algebraic groups over the field with one element

Abstract

Remarks in a paper by Jacques Tits from 1956 led to a philosophy how a theory of split reductive groups over $\F_1$, the so-called field with one element, should look like. Namely, every split reductive group over $\Z$ should descend to $\F_1$, and its group of $\F_1$-rational points should be its Weyl group. We connect the notion of a torified variety to the notion of $\F_1$-schemes as introduced by Connes and Consani. This yields models of toric varieties, Schubert varieties and split reductive groups as $\Fun$-schemes. We endow the class of $\F_1$-schemes with two classes of morphisms, one leading to a satisfying notion of $\F_1$-rational points, the other leading to the notion of an algebraic group over $\F_1$ such that every split reductive group is defined as an algebraic group over $\F_1$. Furthermore, we show that certain combinatorics that are expected from parabolic subgroups of $\GL(n)$ and Grassmann varieties are realized in this theory.