Blocks of symmetric groups, semicuspidal KLR algebras and zigzag Schur-Weyl duality

Abstract: We prove Turner's conjecture, which describes the blocks of the Hecke algebras of the symmetric groups up to derived equivalence as certain explicit Turner double algebras. Turner doubles are Schur-algebra-like `local' objects, which replace wreath products of Brauer tree algebras in the context of the Brou\'e abelian defect group conjecture for blocks of symmetric groups with non-abelian defect groups. The main tools used in the proof are generalized Schur algebras corresponding to wreath products of zigzag algebras and imaginary semicuspidal quotients of affine KLR algebras.