Abstract: | Let VI be the category whose objects are the finite dimensional vector spaces over a finite field of order q and whose morphisms are the injective linear maps. A VI-module over a ring is a functor from the category VI to the category of modules over the ring. A VI-module gives rise to a sequence of representations of the finite general linear groups. We prove that the sequence obtained from any finitely generated VI-module over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero is representation stable - in particular, the multiplicities which appear in the irreducible decompositions eventually stabilize. We deduce as a consequence that the dimension of the representations in the sequence {V n } obtained from a finitely generated VI-module V over a field of characteristic zero is eventually a polynomial in q n . Our results are analogs of corresponding results on representation stability and polynomial growth of dimension for FI-modules (which give rise to sequences of representations of the symmetric groups) proved by Church, Ellenberg, and Farb. |