In this article, we present a massively parallel framework for computing tropicalizations of algebraic varieties which can make use of finite symmetries. We compute the tropical Grassmannian TGr$_0(3,8)$, and show that it refines the $15$-dimensional skeleton of the Dressian Dr$(3,8)$ with the exception of $23$ special cones for which we construct explicit obstructions to the realizability of their tropical linear spaces. Moreover, we propose algorithms for identifying maximal-dimensional tropical cones which belong to the positive tropicalization. These algorithms exploit symmetries of the tropical variety even though the positive tropicalization need not be symmetric. We compute the maximal-dimensional cones of the positive Grassmannian TGr$^+(3,8)$ and compare them to the cluster complex of the classical Grassmannian Gr$(3,8)$.
In tropical algebraic geometry, the solution sets of polynomial equations are piecewise-linear. We introduce the tropical variety of a polynomial ideal, and we identify it with a polyhedral subcomplex of the Grobner fan. The tropical Grassmannian arises in this manner from the ideal of quadratic Plucker relations. It is shown to parametrize all tropical linear spaces. Lines in tropical projective space are trees, and their tropical Grassmannian G_{2,n} equals the space of phylogenetic trees studied by Billera, Holmes and Vogtmann. Higher Grassmannians offer a natural generalization of the spac…
In this paper we study tropicalization of Grassmannian and linear varieties. In particular, we study the tropical linear spaces cor- responding to the phylogenetic trees. We prove that corresponding to each subtree of the phylogenetic tree there is a point on the tropical grassmannian. We deduce a necessary and sufficient condition for it to be on the facet of the tropical linear space.
In this short writing we prove that the set of m-dissimilarity vectors of n-trees is contained in the (m,n)-tropical Grassmannian, answering a question of Pachter and Speyer. We do this by proving a generalization of an equivalent conjecture proposed by Cools.
The Dressian and the tropical Grassmannian parameterize abstract and realizable tropical linear spaces; but in general, the Dressian is much larger than the tropical Grassmannian. There are natural positive notions of both of these spaces -- the positive Dressian, and the positive tropical Grassmannian (which we introduced roughly fifteen years ago) -- so it is natural to ask how these two positive spaces compare. In this paper we show that the positive Dressian equals the positive tropical Grassmannian. Using the connection between the positive Dressian and regular positroidal subdivisions of…
In this article, we will prove that the set of 4-dissimilarity vectors of n-trees is contained in the tropical Grassmannian G_{4,n}. We will also propose three equivalent conjectures related to the set of m-dissimilarity vectors of n-trees for the case m > 4. Using a computer algebra system, we can prove these conjectures for m = 5.
We show that the tropical projective Grassmannian of planes is homeomorphic to a closed subset of the analytic Grassmannian in Berkovich's sense by constructing a continuous section to the tropicalization map. Our main tool is an explicit description of the algebraic coordinate rings of the toric strata of the Grassmannian. We determine the fibers of the tropicalization map and compute the initial degenerations of all the toric strata. As a consequence, we prove that the tropical multiplicities of all points in the tropical projective Grassmannian are equal to one. Finally, we determine a piec…
The Dressian Dr(k,n) parametrizes all tropical linear spaces, and it carries a natural fan structure as a subfan of the secondaryfan of the hypersimplex Δ(k,n). We explore the combinatorics of the rays of Dr(k,n), that is, the most degenerate tropical planes, for arbitrary k and n. This is related to a new rigidity concept for configurations of n-k points in the tropical (k-1)-torus. Additional conditions are given for k=3. On the way, we compute the entire fan Dr(3,8).
We show that the number of combinatorial types of clusters of type $D_4$ modulo reflection-rotation is exactly equal to the number of combinatorial types of tropical planes in $\mathbb{TP}^5$. This follows from a result of Sturmfels and Speyer which classifies these tropical planes into seven combinatorial classes using a detailed study of the tropical Grassmannian $\operatorname{Gr}(3,6)$. Speyer and Williams show that the positive part $\operatorname{Gr}^+(3,6)$ of this tropical Grassmannian is combinatorially equivalent to a small coarsening of the cluster fan of type $D_4$. We provide a st…
Tropical algebraic geometry is the geometry of the tropical semiring (R, min, +). The theory of total positivity is a natural generalization of the study of matrices with all minors positive. In this paper we introduce the totally positive part of the tropicalization of an arbitrary affine variety, an object which has the structure of a polyhedral fan. We then investigate the case of the Grassmannian, denoting the resulting fan \Trop^+ Gr_{k,n}. We show that \Trop^+ Gr_{2,n} is the Stanley-Pitman fan, which is combinatorially the fan dual to the (type A_{n-3}) associahedron, and that \Trop^+ G…
We introduce combinatorial objects which are parameterized by the positive part of the tropical Grassmannian $Gr(k,n)$. Our method is to relate the Grassmannian to configuration spaces of flags. By work of the first author, and of Goncharov and Shen, configuration spaces of flags naturally tropicalize to give configurations of points in the affine building, which we call higher laminations. We use higher laminations to give two dual objects that are parameterized by the positive tropicalization of $Gr(k,n)$: equivalence classes of higher laminations; or certain restricted subset of higher lami…
Tropical geometry and the theory of Newton-Okounkov bodies are two methods which produce toric degenerations of an irreducible complex projective variety. Kaveh-Manon showed that the two are related. We give geometric maps between the Newton-Okounkov bodies corresponding to two adjacent maximal-dimensional prime cones in the tropicalization of $X$. Under a technical condition, we produce a natural "algebraic wall-crossing" map on the underlying value semigroups (of the corresponding valuations). In the case of the tropical Grassmannian $Gr(2,m)$, we prove that the algebraic wall-crossing map i…
We construct a family of compactifications of the affine cone of the Grassmannian variety of 2-planes. We show that both the tropical variety of the Plücker ideal and familiar valuations associated to the construction of Newton-Okounkov bodies for the Grassmannian variety can be recovered from these compactifications. In this way, we unite various perspectives for constructing toric degenerations of flag varieties.
We introduce iterated sequences for Grassmannians, a new class of Fang-Fourier-Littelmanns' birational sequences and explain how they give rise to points in $\text{trop}(\text{Gr}(k,\mathbb C^n))$, Speyer-Sturmfels' tropical Grassmannian. For $\text{Gr}(2,\mathbb C^n)$ we show that the associated valuations induce toric degenerations. We describe recursively the vertices of the corresponding Newton--Okounkov polytopes, which are particular vertices of a hypercube and hence integral. We show further that every toric degeneration of $\text{Gr}(2,\mathbb C^{n})$ constructed using the tropical Gra…
We introduce tropically unirational varieties, which are subvarieties of tori that admit dominant rational maps whose tropicalisation is surjective. The central (and unresolved) question is whether all unirational varieties are tropically unirational. We present several techniques for proving tropical unirationality, along with various examples.
We consider Gromov's homological higher convexity for complements of tropical varieties, establishing it for complements of tropical hypersurfaces and curves, and for nonarchimedean amoebas of varieties that are complete intersections over the field of complex Puiseaux series. Based on these results, we conjecture that the complement of a tropical variety has this higher convexity, and we prove a weak form of our conjecture for the nonarchimedean amoeba of a variety over the complex Puiseaux field. One of our main tools is Jonsson's limit theorem for tropical varieties.
In 2004 Pachter and Speyer introduced the higher dissimilarity maps for phylogenetic trees and asked two important questions about their relation to the tropical Grassmannian. Multiple authors, using independent methods, answered affirmatively the first of these questions, showing that dissimilarity vectors lie on the tropical Grassmannian, but the second question, whether the set of dissimilarity vectors forms a tropical subvariety, remained opened. We resolve this question by showing that the tropical balancing condition fails. However, by replacing the definition of the dissimilarity map wi…
We initiate the study of positive-tropical generators as positive analogues of the concept of tropical bases. Applying this to the tropicalization of determinantal varieties, we develop criteria for characterizing their positive part. We focus on the study of low-rank matrices, in particular matrices of rank 2 and 3. Moreover, in the case square-matrices of corank 1, we fully classify the signed tropicalization of the determinantal variety, even beyond the positive part.
We present an algorithm for computing zero-dimensional tropical varieties using projections. Our main tools are fast unimodular transforms of lexicographical Gröbner bases. We prove that our algorithm requires only a polynomial number of arithmetic operations if given a Gröbner basis, and we demonstrate that our implementation compares favourably to other existing implementations. Applying it to the computation of general positive-dimensional tropical varieties, we argue that the complexity for calculating tropical links is dominated by the complexity of the Gröbner walk.
The hypertoric variety $\mathfrak{M}_{\mathcal{A}}$ defined by an affine arrangement $\mathcal{A}$ admits a natural tropicalization, induced by its embedding in a Lawrence toric variety. We explicitly describe the polyhedral structure of this tropicalization. Using a recent result of Gubler, Rabinoff, and Werner, we prove that there is a continuous section of the tropicalization map.
On tropical geometry in $\rr^2$, the divisor and the Jacobian variety are defined in analogy to algebraic geometry. For study of these objects, it is important to think of the `bunch' of a tropical curve. In this paper, we will show that if the bunch is a bouquet, then the Jacobian is a higher-dimensional torus.
In analogy to chapter 9 of arXiv:0709.3705 we define an intersection product of tropical cycles on tropical linear spaces L^n_k, i.e. on tropical fans of the type max{0,x_1,...,x_n}^(n-k)*R^n. Afterwards we use this result to obtain an intersection product of cycles on every smooth tropical variety, i.e. on every tropical variety that arises from gluing such tropical linear spaces. In contrast to classical algebraic geometry these products always yield well-defined cycles, not cycle classes only. Using these intersection products we are able to define the pull-back of a tropical cycle along a …
Tropical ideals, introduced in arXiv:1609.03838, define subschemes of tropical toric varieties. We prove that the top-dimensional parts of their varieties are balanced polyhedral complexes of the same dimension as the ideal. This means that every subscheme of a tropical toric variety defined by a tropical ideal has an associated class in the Chow ring of the toric variety. A key tool in the proof is that specialization of variables in a tropical ideal yields another tropical ideal; this plays the role of hyperplane sections in the theory. We also show that elimination theory (projection of var…
This paper proves that when the $r \times r$ minors of an $m \times n$ matrix of indeterminates are not a tropical basis then the tropical prevariety has greater dimension than the tropical variety. It proves the same for the $r \times r$ minors of an $n \times n$ symmetric matrix of indeterminates when r > 4.
We study the behavior of theta characteristics on an algebraic curve under the specialization map to a tropical curve. We show that each effective theta characteristic on the tropical curve is the specialization of $2^{g-1}$ even theta characteristics and $2^{g-1}$ odd theta characteristics. We then study the relationship between unramified double covers of a tropical curve and its theta characteristics, and use this to define the tropical Prym variety.
We study toric degenerations of opposite Schubert and Richardson varieties inside degenerations of Grassmannians and flag varieties. These degenerations are parametrized by matching fields in the sense of Sturmfels and Zelevinsky. We construct so-called restricted matching field ideals whose generating sets are understood combinatorially through tableaux. We determine when these ideals are toric and coincide with Gröbner degenerations of Richardson varieties using the well established standard monomial theory for Grassmannians and flag varieties.
To each prime ideal in a polynomial ring over a field we associate an algebraic matroid and show that it is preserved under tropicalization. This gives a necessary condition for a tropical variety to be set-theoretically realizable from a prime ideal. We also show that there are infinitely many Bergman fans that are not set-theoretically realizable as the tropicalization of any ideal.
In this text, we show that locally tropically convex tropical varieties in $\mathbb{R}^n$ have locally a canonical polyhedral structure that satisfies higher balancing conditions at all cells of positive codimension.
This article studies the relationship between tropical Severi varieties and secondary fans. In the case when tropical Severi varieties are hypersurfaces this relationship is very well known; specifically, in this case, a tropical Severi variety of codimension 1 is a subfan of the corresponding secondary fan. It was expected for some time that this continues to hold more generally, but Katz found a counterexample in codimension 2, showing that this relationship is more subtle. The two main results in this paper are as follows. The first theorem finds a simple condition under which a tropical Se…
The goal of this paper is to clarify the connection between certain structures from the theory of totally nonnegative Grassmannians, quiver Grassmannians for cyclic quivers and the theory of local models of Shimura varieties. More precisely, we generalize the construction from our previous paper relating the combinatorics and geometry of quiver Grassmanians to that of the totally nonnegative Grassmannians. The varieties we are interested in serve as realizations of local models of Shimura varieties. We exploit quiver representation techniques to study the quiver Grassmannians of interest and, …
We give several characterizations of stable intersections of tropical cycles and establish their fundamental properties. We prove that the stable intersection of two tropical varieties is the tropicalization of the intersection of the classical varieties after a generic rescaling. A proof of Bernstein's theorem follows from this. We prove that the tropical intersection ring of tropical cycle fans is isomorphic to McMullen's polytope algebra. It follows that every tropical cycle fan is a linear combination of pure powers of tropical hypersurfaces, which are always realizable. We prove that ever…
We tropicalize the rational map that takes triples of points in the projective plane to the plane of quadrics passing through these points. The image of its tropicalization is contained in the tropicalization of its image. We identify these objects inside the tropical Grassmannian of planes in projective 5-space, and we explore a small tropical Hilbert scheme.
We study algebraic and combinatorial aspects of (classical) projections of $m$-dimensional tropical varieties onto $(m+1)$-dimensional planes. Building upon the work of Sturmfels, Tevelev, and Yu on tropical elimination as well as the work of the authors on projection-based tropical bases, we characterize algebraic properties of the relevant ideals and provide a characterization of the dual subdivision (as a subdivision of a fiber polytope). This dual subdivision naturally leads to the issue of self-intersections of a tropical variety under projections. For the case of curves, we provide some …
A variety of codimension $c$ in complex affine space is called positively hyperbolic if the imaginary part of any point in it does not lie in any positive linear subspace of dimension $c$. Positively hyperbolic hypersurfaces are defined by stable polynomials. We give a new characterization of positively hyperbolic varieties using sign variations, and show that they are equivalently defined by being hyperbolic with respect to the positive part of the Grassmannian, in the sense of Shamovich and Vinnikov. We prove that positively hyperbolic projective varieties have tropicalizations that are loca…
The tropical variety of a $d$-dimensional prime ideal in a polynomial ring with complex coefficients is a pure $d$-dimensional polyhedral fan. This fan is shown to be connected in codimension one. We present algorithmic tools for computing the tropical variety, and we discuss our implementation of these tools in the Gröbner fan software \texttt{Gfan}. Every ideal is shown to have a finite tropical basis, and a sharp lower bound is given for the size of a tropical basis for an ideal of linear forms.
We present a review on the recently discovered link between the Lie theory,the theory of quiver Grassmannians, and various degenerations of flag varieties. Our starting point is the induced Poincaré--Birkhoff--Witt filtration on the highest weight representations and the corresponding PBW degenerate flag varieties.
Let $r < n$ be positive integers and further suppose $r$ and $n$ are coprime. We study the GIT quotient of Schubert varieties $X(w)$ in the Grassmannian $G_{r,n}$, admitting semistable points for the action of $T$ with respect to the $T$-linearized line bundle ${\cal L}(nω_r)$. We give necessary and sufficient combinatorial conditions for the GIT quotient $T\backslash\mkern-6mu\backslash X(w)^{ss}_{T}({\cal L}(nω_r))$ to be smooth.
Mustafin varieties are flat degenerations of projective spaces, induced by a choice of an $n-$tuple of lattices in a vector space over a non-archimedean field. They were introduced by Mustafin in the 70s in order to generalise Mumford's groundbreaking work on the unformisation of curves to higher dimension. These varieties have a rich combinatorial structure as can be seen in pioneering work of Cartwright, Häbich, Sturmfels and Werner. In this paper, we introduce a new approach to Mustafin varieties in terms of images of rational maps, which were studied by Li. Applying tropical intersection t…
We investigate the problem of counting tropical genus g curves in g-dimensional tropical abelian varieties. For g = 2, 3, we prove that the tropical count matches the count provided by Göttsche, Bryan-Leung, and Lange-Sernesi in the complex setting.
We give an overview of recently implemented polymake features for computations in tropical geometry. The main focus is on explicit examples rather than technical explanations. Our computations employ tropical hypersurfaces, moduli of tropical plane curves, tropical linear spaces and Grassmannians, lines on tropical cubic surfaces as well as intersection rings of matroids
We apply ideas from intersection theory on toric varieties to tropical intersection theory. We introduce mixed Minkowski weights on toric varieties which interpolate between equivariant and ordinary Chow cohomology classes on complete toric varieties. These objects fit into the framework of tropical intersection theory developed by Allermann and Rau. Standard facts about intersection theory on toric varieties are applied to show that the definitions of tropical intersection product on tropical cycles in $\R^n$ given by Allermann-Rau and Mikhalkin are equivalent. We introduce an induced tropica…
We study the tropicalizations of Severi varieties, which we call tropical Severi varieties. In this paper, we give a partial answer to the following question, ``describe the tropical Severi varieties explicitly.'' We obtain a description of tropical Severi varieties in terms of regular subdivisions of polygons. As an intermediate step, we construct explicit parameter spaces of curves. These parameter spaces are much simpler objects than the corresponding Severi variety and they are closely related to flat degenerations of the Severi variety, which in turn describes the tropical Severi variety.…
We present an algorithm for computing zero-dimensional tropical varieties based on triangular decomposition and Newton polygon methods. From it, we derive algorithms for computing points on and links of higher-dimensional tropical varieties, using intersections with affine hyperplanes to reduce the dimension to zero. We use the algorithms to show that the tropical Grassmannians $\mathcal G_{3,8}$ and $\mathcal G_{4,8}$ are not simplicial.
