Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Abstract:
Fulton and Woodward have recently identified the smallest degree of that appears in the expansion of the product of two Schubert classes in the (small) quantum cohomology ring of a Grassmannian. We present a combinatorial proof of this result, and provide an alternative characterization of this smallest degree in terms of the rim hook formula for the quantum product.