Equivariant deformation theory for nilpotent slices in symplectic Lie algebras

Abstract: The Slodowy slice is a flat Poisson deformation of its nilpotent part, and it was demonstrated by Lehn-Namikawa-Sorger that there is an interesting infinite family of nilpotent orbits in symplectic Lie algebras for which the slice is not the universal Poisson deformation of its nilpotent part. This family corresponds to slices to nilpotent orbits in symplectic Lie algebras whose Jordan normal form has two blocks. We show that the nilpotent Slodowy varieties associated to these orbits are isomorphic as Poisson $\mathbb{C}^\times$-varieties to nilpotent Slodowy varieties in type D. It follows that the universal Poisson deformation in type C is a slice in type D. When both Jordan blocks have odd size the underlying singularity is equipped with a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetry coming from the type D realisation. We prove that the Slodowy slice in type C is the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-equivariant universal Poisson deformation of its nilpotent part. This result also has non-commutative counterpart, identifying the finite W-algebra as the universal equivariant quantization.