Wonderful subgroups of reductive groups and spherical systems

Let G be a semisimple complex algebraic group, and H ⊆ G a wonderful subgroup. We prove several results relating the subgroup H to the properties of a combinatorial invariant S of G/H, called its spherical system. It is also possible to consider a spherical system S as a datum defined by purely combinatorial axioms, and under certain circumstances our results prove the existence of a wonderful subgroup H associated with S. As a byproduct, we reduce for any group G the proof of the classification of wonderful G-varieties, known as the Luna conjecture, to its verification on a small family of cases, called primitive. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.