Quantum Algebras and Cyclic Quiver Varieties

The purpose of this thesis is to present certain viewpoints on the geometric representation theory of Nakajima cyclic quiver varieties, in relation to the Maulik-Okounkov stable basis. Our main technical tool is the shuffle algebra, which arises as the K-theoretic Hall algebra of the double cyclic quiver. We prove the isomorphism between the shuffle algebra and the quantum toroidal algebra U_[q,t](sl_n), and identify the quotients of Verma modules for the shuffle algebra with the K-theory groups of Nakajima cyclic quiver varieties, which were studied by Nakajima and Varagnolo-Vasserot. The shuffle algebra viewpoint allows us to construct the universal R-matrix of the quantum toroidal algebra U_[q,t](sl_n), and to factor it in terms of pieces that arise from subalgebras isomorphic to quantum affine groups U_q(gl_m), for various m. This factorization generalizes constructions of Khoroshkin-Tolstoy to the toroidal case, and matches the factorization that Maulik-Okounkov produce via the stable basis in the K-theory of Nakajima quiver varieties. We connect the two pictures by computing formulas for the root generators of U_[q,t](sl_n) acting on the stable basis, which provide a wide extension of Murnaghan-Nakayama and Pieri type rules from combinatorics.