Invariant bilinear forms on $W$-graph representations and linear algebra over integral domains

Lie-theoretic structures of type $E_8$ (e.g., Lie groups and algebras, Hecke algebras and Kazhdan-Lusztig cells, ...) are considered to serve as a `gold standard' when it comes to judging the effectiveness of a general algorithm for solving a computational problem in this area. Here, we address a problem that occurred in our previous work on decomposition numbers of Iwahori-Hecke algebras, namely, the computation of invariant bilinear forms on so-called $W$-graph representations. We present a new algorithmic solution which makes it possible to produce and effectively use the main results in further applications.