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.     

Restriction varieties and geometric branching rules

This paper develops a new method for studying the cohomology of orthogonal flag varieties. Restriction varieties are subvarieties of orthogonal flag varieties defined by rank conditions with respect to (not necessarily isotropic) flags. They interpolate between Schubert varieties in orthogonal flag varieties and the restrictions of general Schubert varieties in ordinary flag varieties. We give a positive, geometric rule for calculating their cohomology classes, obtaining a branching rule for Schubert calculus for the inclusion of the orthogonal flag varieties in Type A flag varieties. Our rule, in addition to being an essential step in finding a Littlewood–Richardson rule, has applications to computing the moment polytopes of the inclusion of SO(n) in SU(n), the asymptotic of the restrictions of representations of SL(n) to SO(n) and the classes of the moduli spaces of rank two vector bundles with fixed odd determinant on hyperelliptic curves. Furthermore, for odd orthogonal flag varieties, we obtain an algorithm for expressing a Schubert cycle in terms of restrictions of Schubert cycles of Type A flag varieties, thereby giving a geometric (though not positive) algorithm for multiplying any two Schubert cycles.     

A combinatorial rule for (co)minuscule Schubert calculus

We prove a root system uniform, concise combinatorial rule for Schubert calculus of minuscule and cominuscule flag manifolds G/P (the latter are also known as compact Hermitian symmetric spaces). We connect this geometry to the poset combinatorics of Proctor, thereby giving a generalization of Schützenberger's jeu de taquin formulation of the Littlewood-Richardson rule that computes the intersection numbers of Grassmannian Schubert varieties. Our proof introduces cominuscule recursions, a general technique to relate the numbers for different Lie types.     

Growth diagrams for the Schubert multiplication

We present a partial generalization of the classical Littlewood-Richardson rule (in its version based on Schützenberger's jeu de taquin) to Schubert calculus on flag varieties. More precisely, we describe certain structure constants expressing the product of a Schubert and a Schur polynomial. We use a generalization of Fomin's growth diagrams (for chains in Young's lattice of partitions) to chains of permutations in the so-called k-Bruhat order. Our work is based on the recent thesis of Beligan, in which he generalizes the classical plactic structure on words to chains in certain intervals in k-Bruhat order. Potential applications of our work include the generalization of the S₃-symmetric Littlewood-Richardson rule due to Thomas and Yong, which is based on Fomin's growth diagrams.     

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.     

Root games on Grassmannians

We recall the root game, introduced in [8], which gives a fairly powerful sufficient condition for non-vanishing of Schubert calculus on a generalised flag manifold G/B. We show that it gives a necessary and sufficient rule for non-vanishing of Schubert calculus on Grassmannians. In particular, a Littlewood-Richardson number is non-zero if and only if it is possible to win the corresponding root game. More generally, the rule can be used to determine whether or not a product of several Schubert classes on Gr _l (ℂ ⁿ ) is non-zero in a manifestly symmetric way. Finally, we give a geometric interpretation of root games for Grassmannian Schubert problems. Research partially supported by an NSERC scholarship.     

Singularités génériques et quasi-résolutions des variétés de Schubert pour le groupe linéaire

We determine explicitly the irreducible components of the singular locus of any Schubert variety for being an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic. We also describe the generic singularities along each of them.The case of covexillary Schubert varieties was solved in an earlier work of the author [Ann. Inst. Fourier 51 (2) (2001) 375]. Here, we first exhibit some irreducible components of the singular locus of X_w, by describing the generic singularity along each of them. Let Σ_w be the union of these components. As mentioned above, the equality is known for covexillary varieties, and we base our proof of the general case on this result. More precisely, we study the exceptional locus of certain quasi-resolutions of a non-covexillary Schubert variety X_w, and we relate the intersection of these loci to Σ_w. Then, by induction on the dimension, we can establish the equality.     

Equivariant Pieri Rule for the homology of the affine Grassmannian

An explicit rule is given for the product of the degree two class with an arbitrary Schubert class in the torus-equivariant homology of the affine Grassmannian. In addition a Pieri rule (the Schubert expansion of the product of a special Schubert class with an arbitrary one) is established for the equivariant homology of the affine Grassmannians of SL _n and a similar formula is conjectured for Sp _2n and SO _2n+1. For SL _n the formula is explicit and positive. By a theorem of Peterson these compute certain products of Schubert classes in the torus-equivariant quantum cohomology of flag varieties. The SL _n Pieri rule is used in our recent definition of k-double Schur functions and affine double Schur functions.     

Rigidity of Schubert classes in orthogonal Grassmannians

A Schubert class σ in the cohomology of a homogeneous variety X is called rigid if the only projective subvarieties of X representing σ are Schubert varieties. A Schubert class σ is called multi rigid if the only projective subvarieties representing positive integral multiples of σ are unions of Schubert varieties. In this paper, we discuss the rigidity and multi rigidity of Schubert classes in orthogonal Grassmannians. For a large set of non-rigid classes, we provide explicit deformations of Schubert varieties using combinatorially defined varieties called restriction varieties. We characterize rigid and multi rigid Schubert classes of Grassmannian and quadric type. We also characterize all the rigid classes in OG(2, n) if n > 8.     

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.     

The quantum cohomology of flag varieties and the periodicity of the Schubert structure constants

We give conditions on a curve class that guarantee the vanishing of the structure constants of the small quantum cohomology of partial flag varieties F(k ₁, ..., k _r ; n) for that class. We show that many of the structure constants of the quantum cohomology of flag varieties can be computed from the image of the evaluation morphism. In fact, we show that a certain class of these structure constants are equal to the ordinary intersection of Schubert cycles in a related flag variety. We obtain a positive, geometric rule for computing these invariants (see Coskun in A Littlewood–Richardson rule for partial flag varieties, preprint). Our study also reveals a remarkable periodicity property of the ordinary Schubert structure constants of partial flag varieties.     

Patch ideals and Peterson varieties

Patch ideals encode neighbourhoods of a variety in GL _n /B. For Peterson varieties we determine generators for these ideals and show they are complete intersections, and thus Cohen–Macaulay and Gorenstein. Consequently, we

— combinatorially describe the singular locus of the Peterson variety;

— give an explicit equivariant K-theory localization formula; and

— extend some results of [B. Kostant ‘96] and of D. Peterson to intersections of Peterson varieties with Schubert varieties.

We conjecture that the tangent cones are Cohen–Macaulay, and that their h-polynomials are nonnegative and upper-semicontinuous. Similarly, we use patch ideals to briey analyze other examples of torus invariant subvarieties of GL _n /B, including Richardson varieties and Springer fibers.     

Forest-Like Permutations

Given a permutation , construct a graph G _π on the vertex set {1, 2,..., n} by joining i to j if (i) i < j and π(i) < π(j) and (ii) there is no k such that i < k < j and π(i) < π(k) < π(j). We say that π is forest-like if G _π is a forest. We first characterize forest-like permutations in terms of pattern avoidance, and then by a certain linear map being onto. Thanks to recent results of Woo and Yong, these show that forest-like permutations characterize Schubert varieties which are locally factorial. Thus forest-like permutations generalize smooth permutations (corresponding to smooth Schubert varieties). We compute the generating function of forest-like permutations. As in the smooth case, it turns out to be algebraic. We then adapt our method to count permutations for which G _π is a tree, or a path, and recover the known generating function of smooth permutations. Received March 27, 2006     

On the variety parameterizing completely decomposable polynomials

The purpose of this paper is to relate the variety parameterizing completely decomposable homogeneous polynomials of degree d in n+1 variables on an algebraically closed field, called , with the Grassmannian of (n−1)-dimensional projective subspaces of P^n+d−1. We compute the dimension of some secant varieties to . Moreover by using an invariant embedding of the Veronese variety into the Plücker space, we are able to compute the intersection of G(n−1,n+d−1) with , some of its secant varieties, the tangential variety and the second osculating space to the Veronese variety.     

Short cycles of Poncelet’s conics

Main results of this paper are the following:1. A closed N-gon interscribed between two conics exists if and only if a specially constructed polygon with a smaller number of sides (n) is closed. To verify the closure of this n-gon, we need to find a periodic solution of a dynamical system of order n. The proof is based on the connection of Poncelet’s curves and matrices that admit unitary bordering [4,9,10,16]. Application of this criterion makes sense when n?N, in particular when n≈log₂N (see Table 4 where n=m₁). So for example we may say that a polygon with 2049 sides interscribed between two circles is closed if and only if some specially constructed 11-gon is closed.2. A closed N-gon interscribed between two confocal ellipses (the billiard case) exists if and only if an N-gon interscribed between two special nested circles is closed.     

Schubert calculus on the Grassmannian of hermitian lagrangian spaces

With an eye towards index theoretic applications we describe a Schubert like stratification on the Grassmannian of hermitian lagrangian spaces in Cn⊕Cn. This is a natural compactification of the space of hermitian n×n matrices. The closures of the strata define integral cycles, and we investigate their intersection theoretic properties. We achieve this by blending Morse theoretic ideas, with techniques from o-minimal (or tame) geometry and geometric integration theory.     

The Hilbert-Chow morphism and the incidence divisor: Zero-cycles and divisors

For a smooth projective variety X of dimension n, on the product of Chow varieties C_a(X)×C_n−a−1(X) parameterizing pairs (A,B) of an a-cycle A and an (n−a−1)-cycle B in X, Barry Mazur raised the problem of constructing a Cartier divisor supported on the locus of pairs with A∩B≠0?. We introduce a new approach to this problem, and new techniques supporting this approach.     

Chains in the Bruhat order

We study a family of polynomials whose values express degrees of Schubert varieties in the generalized complex flag manifold G/B. The polynomials are given by weighted sums over saturated chains in the Bruhat order. We derive several explicit formulas for these polynomials, and investigate their relations with Schubert polynomials, harmonic polynomials, Demazure characters, and generalized Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. In the second half of the paper, we study the classical flag manifold and discuss related combinatorial objects: flagged Schur polynomials, 312-avoiding permutations, generalized Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes, the inverse Schubert-Kostka matrix, parking functions, and binary trees. A.P. was supported in part by National Science Foundation grant DMS-0201494 and by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation research fellowship. R.S. was supported in part by National Science Foundation grant DMS-9988459.     

Bioriented flags and resolutions of Schubert varieties

We use incidence relations running in two directions in order to construct a Kempf–Laksov type resolution for any Schubert variety of the complete flag manifold but also an embedded resolution for any Schubert variety in the Grassmannian. These constructions are alternatives to the celebrated Bott–Samelson resolutions. The second process led to the introduction of W-flag varieties, algebro-geometric objects that interpolate between the standard flag manifolds and products of Grassmannians, but which are singular in general. The surprising simple desingularization of a particular such type of variety produces an embedded resolution of the Schubert variety within the Grassmannian.