Geometric construction of Heisenberg-Weil representations for finite unitary groups and Howe correspondences

Abstract

We give a geometric construction of the Heisenberg-Weil representation of a finite unitary group by the middle étale cohomology of an algebraic variety over a finite field, whose rational points give a unitary Heisenberg group. Using also a Frobenius action, we give a geometric realization of the Howe correspondence for $(\mathit{Sp}_{2n},O_2^-)$ over any finite field including characteristic two. As an application, we show that unipotency is preserved under the Howe correspondence.