Schubert varieties, linear codes and enumerative combinatorics

We consider linear error correcting codes associated to higher-dimensional projective varieties defined over a finite field. The problem of determining the basic parameters of such codes often leads to some interesting and difficult questions in combinatorics and algebraic geometry. This is illustrated by codes associated to Schubert varieties in Grassmannians, called Schubert codes, which have recently been studied. The basic parameters such as the length, dimension and minimum distance of these codes are known only in special cases. An upper bound for the minimum distance is known and it is conjectured that this bound is achieved. We give explicit formulae for the length and dimension of arbitrary Schubert codes and prove the minimum distance conjecture in the affirmative for codes associated to Schubert divisors.     

Quadratic degenerations of odd-orthogonal Schubert varieties

This paper is the second in a series leading to a type B_n geometric Littlewood-Richardson rule. The rule will give an interpretation of the B_n Littlewood-Richardson numbers as an intersection of two odd-orthogonal Schubert varieties and will consider a sequence of linear and quadratic deformations of the intersection into a union of odd-orthogonal Schubert varieties. This paper describes the setup for the rule and specifically addresses results for quadratic deformations, including a proof that at each quadratic degeneration, the results occur with multiplicity one. This work is strongly influenced by Vakil’s [14].     

Desingularizations of Schubert varieties in double Grassmannians

Let X = Gr(k, V) × Gr(l, V) be the direct product of two Grassmann varieties of k-and l-planes in a finite-dimensional vector space V, and let B ? GL(V) be the isotropy group of a complete flag in V. We consider B-orbits in X, which are an analog of Schubert cells in Grassmannians. We describe this set of orbits combinatorially and construct desingularizations for the closures of these orbits, similar to the Bott-Samelson desingularizations for Schubert varieties.     

The recursive nature of cominuscule Schubert calculus

The necessary and sufficient Horn inequalities which determine the non-vanishing Littlewood-Richardson coefficients in the cohomology of a Grassmannian are recursive in that they are naturally indexed by non-vanishing Littlewood-Richardson coefficients on smaller Grassmannians. We show how non-vanishing in the Schubert calculus for cominuscule flag varieties is similarly recursive. For these varieties, the non-vanishing of products of Schubert classes is controlled by the non-vanishing products on smaller cominuscule flag varieties. In particular, we show that the lists of Schubert classes whose product is non-zero naturally correspond to the integer points in the feasibility polytope, which is defined by inequalities coming from non-vanishing products of Schubert classes on smaller cominuscule flag varieties. While the Grassmannian is cominuscule, our necessary and sufficient inequalities are different than the classical Horn inequalities.     

Initial ideals of tangent cones to Schubert varieties in orthogonal Grassmannians

We compute the initial ideals, with respect to certain conveniently chosen term orders, of ideals of tangent cones at torus fixed points to Schubert varieties in orthogonal Grassmannians. The initial ideals turn out to be square-free monomial ideals and therefore define Stanley-Reisner face rings of simplicial complexes. We describe these complexes. The maximal faces of these complexes encode certain sets of non-intersecting lattice paths.     

Recognizing Schubert Cells

We address the problem of distinguishing between different Schubert cells using vanishing patterns of generalized Plücker coordinates.     

Schubert polynomials for the affine Grassmannian

Confirming a conjecture of Mark Shimozono, we identify polynomial representatives for the Schubert classes of the affine Grassmannian as the -Schur functions in homology and affine Schur functions in cohomology. The results are obtained by connecting earlier combinatorial work of ours to certain subalgebras of Kostant and Kumar's nilHecke ring and to work of Peterson on the homology of based loops on a compact group. As combinatorial corollaries, we settle a number of positivity conjectures concerning -Schur functions, affine Stanley symmetric functions and cylindric Schur functions.

     

Multiplication of a Schubert polynomial by a Schur polynomial

Schur polynomials are a special case of Schubert polynomials. In this paper, we give an algorithm to compute the product of a Schubert polynomial with a Schur polynomial on the basis of Schubert polynomials. This is a special case of the general problem of the multiplication of two Schubert polynomials, where the corresponding algorithm is still missing. The main tools for the given algorithm is a factorization property of a special class of Schubert polynomials and the transition formula for Schubert polynomials.     

Intersections of Schubert varieties and eigenvalue inequalities in an arbitrary finite factor

The intersection ring of a complex Grassmann manifold is generated by Schubert varieties, and its structure is governed by the Littlewood-Richardson rule. Given three Schubert varieties S₁, S₂, S₃ with intersection number equal to one, we show how to construct an explicit element in their intersection. This element is obtained generically as the result of a sequence of lattice operations on the spaces of the corresponding flags, and is therefore well defined over an arbitrary field of scalars. Moreover, this result also applies to appropriately defined analogues of Schubert varieties in the Grassmann manifolds associated with a finite von Neumann algebra. The arguments require the combinatorial structure of honeycombs, particularly the structure of the rigid extremal honeycombs. It is known that the eigenvalue distributions of self-adjoint elements a,b,c with a+b+c=0 in the factor Rω are characterized by a system of inequalities analogous to the classical Horn inequalities of linear algebra. We prove that these inequalities are in fact true for elements of an arbitrary finite factor. In particular, if x,y,z are self-adjoint elements of such a factor and x+y+z=0, then there exist self-adjoint a,b,c∈Rω such that a+b+c=0 and a (respectively, b,c) has the same eigenvalue distribution as x (respectively, y,z). A (‘complete’) matricial form of this result is known to imply an affirmative answer to an embedding question formulated by Connes. The critical point in the proof of this result is the production of elements in the intersection of three Schubert varieties. When the factor under consideration is the algebra of n×n complex matrices, our arguments provide new and elementary proofs of the Horn inequalities, which do not require knowledge of the structure of the cohomology of the Grassmann manifolds.     

The degree of a Schubert variety

We study integration along Bott-Samelson cycles. As an application the degree of a Schubert variety on a flag manifold G/B is evaluated in terms of certain Cartan numbers of G.     

Schubert polynomials of types A--D

Schubert polynomials of type B, C, and D have been described first by S. Billey and M. Haiman [BH] using a combinatorial method. In this paper we give a unified algebraic treatment of Schubert polynomials of types A–D in the style of the Lascoux–Schützenberger theory in type A, i.e. Schubert polynomials are generated by the application of sequences of divided difference operators to “top polynomials”. The use of the creation operators for Q-Schur and P-Schur functions allows us to give: (1) simple and natural forms of the “top polynomials”, (2) formulas for the easy computation with all divided differences, (3) recursive structures, and (4) simplified derivations of basic properties. Received: 23 July 1998     

Vector bundles on flag varieties

We study vector bundles on flag varieties over an algebraically closed field k. In the first part, we suppose $G=G_k(d,n)$ $(2\le d\le n-d)$ to be the Grassmannian parameterizing linear subspaces of dimension d in $k^n$, where k is an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$. Let E be a uniform vector bundle over G of rank $r\le d$. We show that E is either a direct sum of line bundles or a twist of the pullback of the universal subbundle $H_d$ or its dual $H_d^{\vee }$ by a series of absolute Frobenius maps. In the second part, splitting properties of vector bundles on general flag varieties $F(d_1,\text{…},d_s)$ in characteristic zero are considered. We prove a structure theorem for bundles over flag varieties which are uniform with respect to the ith component of the manifold of lines in $F(d_1,\text{…},d_s)$. Furthermore, we generalize the Grauert–M$\ddot{\mathrm{u}}$lich–Barth theorem to flag varieties. As a corollary, we show that any strongly uniform i-semistable $(1\le i\le n-1)$ bundle over the complete flag variety splits as a direct sum of special line bundles.     

Schubert unions in Grassmann varieties

We study subsets of Grassmann varieties G(l,m) over a field F, such that these subsets are unions of Schubert cycles, with respect to a fixed flag. We study unions of Schubert cycles of Grassmann varieties G(l,m) over a field F. We compute their linear span and, in positive characteristic, their number of F_q-rational points. Moreover, we study a geometric duality of such unions, and give a combinatorial interpretation of this duality. We discuss the maximum number of F_q-rational points for Schubert unions of a given spanning dimension, and as an application to coding theory, we study the parameters and support weights of the well-known Grassmann codes. Moreover, we determine the maximum Krull dimension of components in the intersection of G(l,m) and a linear space of given dimension in the Plücker space.     

Local properties of Richardson varieties in the Grassmannian via a bounded Robinson-Schensted-Knuth correspondence

The Richardson variety X _α ^γ in the Grassmannian is defined to be the intersection of the Schubert variety X ^γ and opposite Schubert variety X _α . We give an explicit Gröbner basis for the ideal of the tangent cone at any T-fixed point of X _α ^γ , thus generalizing a result of Kodiyalam-Raghavan (J. Algebra 270(1):28–54, 2003) and Kreiman-Lakshmibai (Algebra, Arithmetic and Geometry with Applications, 2004). Our proof is based on a generalization of the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth (RSK) correspondence, which we call the bounded RSK (BRSK). We use the Gröbner basis result to deduce a formula which computes the multiplicity of X _α ^γ at any T-fixed point by counting families of nonintersecting lattice paths, thus generalizing a result first proved by Krattenthaler (Sém. Lothar. Comb. 45:B45c, 2000/2001; J. Algebr. Comb. 22:273–288, 2005).