Invariants of the orthosymplectic Lie superalgebra and super Pfaffians

Abstract: Given a complex orthosymplectic superspace $V$, the orthosymplectic Lie superalgebra $\mathfrak {osp}(V)$ and general linear algebra ${\mathfrak {gl}}_N$ both act naturally on the coordinate super-ring $\mathcal{S}(N)$ of the dual space of $V\otimes{\mathbb C}^N$, and their actions commute. Hence the subalgebra $\mathcal{S}(N)^{\mathfrak {osp}(V)}$ of $\mathfrak {osp}(V)$-invariants in $\mathcal{S}(N)$ has a ${\mathfrak {gl}}_N$-module structure. We introduce the space of super Pfaffians as a simple ${\mathfrak {gl}}_N$-submodule of $\mathcal{S}(N)^{\mathfrak {osp}(V)}$, give an explicit formula for its highest weight vector, and show that the super Pfaffians and the elementary (or `Brauer') ${\rm OSp}$-invariants together generate $\mathcal{S}(N)^{\mathfrak {osp}(V)}$ as an algebra. The decomposition of $\mathcal{S}(N)^{\mathfrak {osp}(V)}$ as a direct sum of simple ${\mathfrak {gl}}_N$-submodules is obtained and shown to be multiplicity free. Using Howe's $({\mathfrak {gl}}(V), {\mathfrak {gl}}_N)$-duality on $\mathcal{S}(N)$, we deduce from the decomposition that the subspace of $\mathfrak{osp}(V)$-invariants in any simple ${\mathfrak {gl}}(V)$-tensor module is either $0$ or $1$-dimensional. These results also enable us to determine the $\mathfrak {osp}(V)$-invariants in the tensor powers $V^{\otimes r}$ for all $r$.