Given a matrix Schubert variety $\overline{X_π}$, it can be written as $\overline{X_π}=Y_π\times \mathbb{C}^q$ (where $q$ is maximal possible). We characterize when $Y_π$ is toric (with respect to a $(\mathbb{C}^*)^{2n-1}$-action) and study the associated polytope $Φ(\mathbb{P}(Y_π))$ of its projectivization. We construct regular triangulations of $Φ(\mathbb{P}(Y_π))$ which we show are geometric realizations of a family of subword complexes. Subword complexes were introduced by Knutson and Miller in 2004, who also showed that they are homeomorphic to balls or spheres and raised the question of their polytopal realizations.
We study Gröbner degenerations of Schubert varieties inside flag varieties. We consider toric degenerations of flag varieties induced by matching fields and semi-standard Young tableaux. We describe an analogue of matching field ideals for Schubert varieties inside the flag variety and give a complete characterization of toric ideals among them. We use a combinatorial approach to standard monomial theory to show that block diagonal matching fields give rise to toric degenerations. Our methods and results use the combinatorics of permutations associated to Schubert varieties, matching fields an…
One approach to Schubert calculus is to realize Schubert classes as concrete combinatorial objects such as Schubert polynomials. Through an identification of the cohomology ring of the type A full flag variety with the polytope ring of the Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes, Kiritchenko-Smirnov-Timorin realized each Schubert class as a sum of reduced (dual) Kogan faces. In this paper, we explicitly describe string parametrizations of opposite Demazure crystals, which give a natural generalization of reduced dual Kogan faces. We also relate reduced Kogan faces with Demazure crystals using the theory of …
Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes are classical objects in algebraic combinatorics arising in the representation theory of $\mathfrak{gl}_n(\mathbb{C})$. The integer point transform of the Gelfand-Tsetlin polytope $\mathrm{GT}(λ)$ projects to the Schur function $s_λ$. Schur functions form a distinguished basis of the ring of symmetric functions; they are also special cases of Schubert polynomials $\mathfrak{S}_{w}$ corresponding to Grassmannian permutations. For any permutation $w \in S_n$ with column-convex Rothe diagram, we construct a polytope $\mathcal{P}_{w}$ whose integer point transform project…
We define Q-normal lattice polytopes. Natural examples of such polytopes are Cayley sums of strictly combinatorially equivalent lattice polytopes, which correspond to particularly nice toric fibrations, namely toric projective bundles. In a recent paper Batyrev and Nill have suggested that there should be a bound, N(d), such that every lattice polytope of degree d and dimension at least N(d) decomposes as a Cayley sum. We give a sharp answer to this question for smooth Q-normal polytopes. We show that any smooth Q-normal lattice polytope P of dimension n and degree d is a Cayley sum of strictl…
We study a family of posets and the associated chain and order polytopes. We identify the order polytope as a maximal Kogan face in a Gelfand-Tsetlin polytope of a multiple of a fundamental weight. We show that the character of such a Kogan face equals to the character of a Demazure module which occurs in the irreducible representation of $\mathfrak{sl}_n$ having highest weight multiple of fundamental weight and for any such Demazure module there exists a corresponding poset and associated maximal Kogan face. We prove that the chain polytope parametrizes a monomial basis of the associated PBW-…
We classify projective toric manifolds whose dual variety is not a hypersurface in the dual projective space. Under the standard dictionary between toric geometry and convex geometry, they correspond to certain convex Delzant integer polytopes, P, which we call defect polytopes. Using the geometrical classification we give a detailed description of defect polytopes and prove that they are characterized by the vanishing of a combinatorial invariant, denoted by c(P). We further prove that a related invariant, c*(P), is nonnegative, for any simple convex integral polytope.
We introduce the notion of cracked polytope, and - making use of joint work with Coates and Kasprzyk - construct the associated toric variety $X$ as a subvariety of a non-singular toric variety $Y$ under certain conditions. Restricting to the case in which this subvariety is a complete intersection, we present a sufficient condition for a smoothing of $X$ to exist inside $Y$. We exhibit a relative anti-canonical divisor for this smoothing of $X$, and show that the general member is simple normal crossings.
For a given permutation $π\in S_N$, Fulton proves that the matrix Schubert variety $\overline{X_π} \cong Y_π \times \mathbb{C}^q$ can be defined via certain rank conditions encoded in the Rothe diagram of $π$. In the case where $Y_π:=\text{TV}(σ_π)$ is toric (with respect to a $(\mathbb{C}^*)^{2N-1}$ action), we show that it can be described as an edge ideal of a bipartite graph $G^π$. We characterize the lower dimensional faces of the associated so-called edge cone $σ_π$ explicitly in terms of subgraphs of $G^π$ and present a combinatorial study for the first order deformations of $Y_π$. We p…
We give a characterizaion of Gorenstein toric Fano $n$-folds with index $n-1$, which is called Gorenstein toric Del Pezzo $n$-folds, among toric varieties. In practice, we obtain a condition for a lattice $n$-polytope to be a Gorenstein Fano polytope. In our proof, we do not use Batyrev-Juny's classification of Gorenstein Fano polytopes.
We study the combinatorics of Gröbner degenerations of Grassmannians and the Schubert varieties inside them. We provide a family of binomial ideals whose combinatorics is governed by tableaux induced by matching fields in the sense of Sturmfels and Zelevinsky. We prove that these ideals are all quadratically generated and they yield a SAGBI basis of the Plücker algebra. This leads to a new family of toric degenerations of Grassmannians. Moreover, we apply our results to construct a family of Gröbner degenerations of Schubert varieties inside Grassmannians. We provide a complete characterizatio…
In this paper we use toric geometry to investigate the topology of the totally non-negative part of the Grassmannian (Gr_{kn})_{\geq 0}. This is a cell complex whose cells Delta_G can be parameterized in terms of the combinatorics of plane-bipartite graphs G. To each cell Delta_G we associate a certain polytope P(G). The polytopes P(G) are analogous to the well-known Birkhoff polytopes, and we describe their face lattices in terms of matchings and unions of matchings of G. We also demonstrate a close connection between the polytopes P(G) and matroid polytopes. We then use the data of P(G) to d…
For two elements $v$ and $w$ of the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$ with $v\leq w$ in Bruhat order, the Bruhat interval polytope $Q_{v,w}$ is the convex hull of the points $(z(1),\ldots,z(n))\in \mathbb{R}^n$ with $v\leq z\leq w$. It is known that the Bruhat interval polytope $Q_{v,w}$ is the moment map image of the Richardson variety $X^{v^{-1}}_{w^{-1}}$. We say that $Q_{v,w}$ is \emph{toric} if the corresponding Richardson variety $X_{w^{-1}}^{v^{-1}}$ is a toric variety. We show that when $Q_{v,w}$ is toric, its combinatorial type is determined by the poset structure of the Bruhat interva…
We want to understand the geometry of all irreducible components of the toric Hilbert scheme. Until now it is known that the coherent component is (up to normalisation) the toric variety associated to the state polytope of the toric ideal. For the non-coherent components it was only known that there exists such a polytope describing the normalisation. Using the local equations and various facts about toric Hilbert schemes, we will derive an explicit construction of the polytope corresponding to the normalisation of the underlying reduced structure of a given non-coherent component of the toric…
Bott-Samelson varieties are a twisted product of $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1$'s with a map into $G/B$. These varieties are mostly studied in the case in which the map into $G/B$ is birational to the image; however in this paper we study a fiber of this map when it is not birational. We will see that in some cases the general fiber, which we christen a brick manifold, is a toric variety. In order to do so we use the moment map of a Bott-Samelson variety to translate this problem into one in terms of the "subword complexes" of Knutson and Miller. Pilaud and Stump realized certain subword complexes a…
The slack ideal of a polytope is a saturated determinantal ideal that gives rise to a new model for the realization space of the polytope. The simplest slack ideals are toric and have connections to projectively unique polytopes. We prove that if a projectively unique polytope has a toric slack ideal, then it is the toric ideal of the bipartite graph of vertex-facet non-incidences of the polytope. The slack ideal of a polytope is contained in this toric ideal if and only if the polytope is morally 2-level, a generalization of the 2-level property in polytopes. We show that polytopes that do no…
Let $G$ be a semisimple algebraic group over $\mathbb{C}$. For a reduced word $\bf i$ of the longest element in the Weyl group of $G$ and a dominant integral weight $λ$, one can construct the string polytope $Δ_{\bf i}(λ)$, whose lattice points encode the character of the irreducible representation $V_λ$. The string polytope $Δ_{\bf i}(λ)$ is singular in general and combinatorics of string polytopes heavily depends on the choice of $\mathbf i$. In this paper, we study combinatorics of string polytopes when $G = SL_{n+1}(\mathbb{C})$, and present a sufficient condition on $\mathbf i$ such that …
Let $Δ$ be a $3$-dimensional lattice polytope containing exactly one interior lattice point. We give a simple combinatorial formula for computing the stringy $E$-function of the $3$-dimensional canonical toric Fano variety $X_Δ$ associated with the polytope $Δ$. Using the stringy Libgober-Wood identity and our formula, we generalize the well-known combinatorial identity $\sum_{θ\preceq Δ\atop \dim (θ) =1} v(θ) \cdot v(θ^*) = 24$ holding in the case of $3$-dimensional reflexive polytopes $Δ$.
A reflexive polytope, respectively its associated Gorenstein toric Fano variety, is called pseudo-symmetric, if the polytope has a centrally symmetric pair of facets. Here we present a complete classification of pseudo-symmetric simplicial reflexive polytopes together with some applications. This generalizes a result of Ewald on pseudo-symmetric nonsingular toric Fano varieties.
We study certain faces of the normal polytope introduced by Feigin, Littelmann and the author whose lattice points parametrize a monomial basis of the PBW-degenerated of simple modules for $\mathfrak{sl}_{n+1}$. We show that lattice points in these faces parametrize monomial bases of PBW-degenerated Demazure modules associated to Weyl group elements satisfying a certain closure property, for example Kempf elements. These faces are again normal polytopes and their Minkowski sum is compatible with tensor products, which implies that we obtain flat degenerations of the corresponding Schubert vari…
Chow stability is one notion of Mumford's Geometric Invariant Theory for studying the moduli space of polarized varieties. Kapranov, Sturmfels and Zelevinsky detected that Chow stability of polarized toric varieties is determined by its inherent {\it secondary polytope}, which is a polytope whose vertices correspond to regular triangulations of the associated polytope \cite{KSZ}. In this paper, we give a purely convex-geometrical proof that the Chow form of a projective toric variety is $H$-semistable if and only if it is $H$-polystable with respect to the standard complex torus action $H$. Th…
This paper studies two related subjects. One is some combinatorics arising from linear projections of polytopes and fans of cones. The other is quotient varieties of toric varieties. The relation is that projections of polytopes are related to quotients of projective toric varieties and projection of fans are related to quotients of general toric varieties. Despite its relation to geometry the first part is purely combinatorial and should be of interest in its own right.
We investigate Gorenstein toric Fano varieties by combinatorial methods using the notion of a reflexive polytope which appeared in connection to mirror symmetry. The paper contains generalisations of tools and previously known results for nonsingular toric Fano varieties. As applications we obtain new classification results, bounds of invariants and formulate conjectures concerning combinatorial and geometrical properties of reflexive polytopes.
We consider smooth complete intersection Calabi-Yau 3-folds in minuscule Schubert varieties, and study their mirror symmetry by degenerating the ambient Schubert varieties to Hibi toric varieties. We list all possible Calabi-Yau 3-folds of this type up to deformation equivalences, and find a new example of smooth Calabi-Yau 3-folds of Picard number one; a complete intersection in a locally factorial Schubert variety ${\boldsymbolΣ}$ of the Cayley plane ${\mathbb{OP}}^2$. We calculate topological invariants and BPS numbers of this Calabi-Yau 3-fold and conjecture that it has a non-trivial Fouri…
We show that any smooth lattice polytope P with codegree greater or equal than (dim(P)+3)/2 (or equivalently, with degree smaller than dim(P)/2), defines a dual defective projective toric manifold. This implies that P is Q-normal (in the terminology of a recent paper by Di Rocco, Piene and the first author) and answers partially an adjunction-theoretic conjecture by Beltrametti and Sommese. Also, it follows that smooth lattice polytopes with this property are precisely strict Cayley polytopes, which completes the answer of a question of Batyrev and the second author in the nonsingular case.
It is known that a lattice path matroid polytope can be associated with two given noncrossing lattice paths on $\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}$ with the same end points. In this short note we give explicit formulae for the $f$-vector, toric $f$- and $g$-polynomials of a lattice path matroid polytope when two boundary paths enclose a hook shape.
The Chow polytope of an algebraic cycle in a torus depends only on its tropicalisation. Generalising this, we associate a Chow polytope to any abstract tropical variety in a tropicalised toric variety. Several significant polyhedra associated to tropical varieties are special cases of our Chow polytope. The Chow polytope of a tropical variety $X$ is given by a simple combinatorial construction: its normal subdivision is the Minkowski sum of $X$ and a reflected skeleton of the fan of the ambient toric variety.
In this paper, we discuss the normality of the toric rings of stable set polytopes, and the set of generators and Gröbner bases of toric ideals of stable set polytopes by using the results on that of edge polytopes of finite nonsimple graphs. In particular, for a graph of stability number two, we give a graph theoretical characterization of the set of generators of the toric ideal of the stable set polytope, and a criterion to check whether the toric ring of the stable set polytope is normal or not. One of the application of the results is an infinite family of stable set polytopes whose toric…
In a previous article, we proved tight lower bounds for the coefficients of the generalized $h$-vector of a centrally symmetric rational polytope using intersection cohomology of the associated projective toric variety. Here we present a new proof based on the theory of combinatorial intersection cohomology developed by Barthel, Brasselet, Fieseler and Kaup. This theory is also valid for nonrational polytopes when there are no corresponding toric varieties. So we can establish our bounds for centrally symmetric polytopes even without requiring them to be rational.
Q-factorial Gorenstein toric Fano varieties X of dimension d with Picard number rho(X) correspond to simplicial reflexive d-polytopes with rho(X)+d vertices. Casagrande showed that any simplicial reflexive d-polytope has at most 3d vertices, if d is even, respectively, 3d-1, if d is odd. Moreover, it is known that equality for d even implies uniqueness up to unimodular equivalence. In this paper we completely classify all simplicial reflexive d-polytopes having 3d-1 vertices, corresponding to d-dimensional Q-factorial Gorenstein toric Fano varieties with Picard number 2d-1. For d even, there e…
These notes are based on three lectures given at the 2013 CIME/CIRM summer school. The purpose of this series of lectures is to introduce the notion of a toric fibration and to give its geometrical and combinatorial characterizations. Polarized toric varieties which are birationally equivalent to projective toric bundles are associated to a class of polytopes called Cayley polytopes. Their geometry and combinatorics have a fruitful interplay leading to fundamental insight in both directions. These notes will illustrate geometrical phenomena, in algebraic geometry and neighboring fields, which …
We introduce a natural weighted enumeration of lattice points in a polytope, and give a Brion-type formula for the corresponding generating function. The weighting has combinatorial significance, and its generating function may be viewed as a generalization of the Rogers-Szegő polynomials. It also arises from the geometry of the toric arc scheme associated to the normal fan of the polytope. We show that the asymptotic behavior of the coefficients at $q = 1$ is Gaussian.
The classification of toric Fano manifolds with large Picard number corresponds to the classification of smooth Fano polytopes with large number of vertices. A smooth Fano polytope is a polytope that contains the origin in its interior such that the vertex set of each facet forms a lattice basis. Casagrande showed that any smooth $d$-dimensional Fano polytope has at most $3d$ vertices. Smooth Fano polytopes in dimension $d$ with at least $3d-2$ vertices are completely known. The main result of this paper deals with the case of $3d-k$ vertices for $k$ fixed and $d$ large. It implies that there …
