The \mathfrak {sl}_{3}-web algebra

In this paper we use Kuperberg’s $\mathfrak {sl}_3$ -webs and Khovanov’s $\mathfrak {sl}_3$ -foams to define a new algebra $K^S$ , which we call the $\mathfrak {sl}_3$ -web algebra. It is the $\mathfrak {sl}_3$ analogue of Khovanov’s arc algebra. We prove that $K^S$ is a graded symmetric Frobenius algebra. Furthermore, we categorify an instance of $q$ -skew Howe duality, which allows us to prove that $K^S$ is Morita equivalent to a certain cyclotomic KLR-algebra of level 3. This allows us to determine the split Grothendieck group $K^{\oplus }_0(\mathcal {W}^S)_{\mathbb {Q}(q)}$ , to show that its center is isomorphic to the cohomology ring of a certain Spaltenstein variety, and to prove that $K^S$ is a graded cellular algebra.