Cherkis bow varieties are believed to be the set of spaces where 3d mirror symmetry for characteristic classes can be observed. We describe geometric structures on a large class of Cherkis bow varieties by developing the necessary combinatorial presentations, including binary contingency tables and skein diagrams. We make the first steps toward the sought after statement for 3d mirror symmetry for characteristic classes by conjecturing a formula for cohomological stable envelopes. Additionally we provide an account of the full statement, with examples, for elliptic stable envelopes.
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 survey the theory of local models of Shimura varieties. In particular, we discuss their definition and illustrate it by examples. We give an overview of the results on their geometry and combinatorics obtained in the last 15 years. We also exhibit their connections to other classes of algebraic varieties such as nilpotent orbit closures, affine Schubert varieties, quiver Grassmannians and wonderful completions of symmetric spaces.
We study varieties with a finitely generated Cox ring. In a first part, we generalize a combinatorial approach developed in earlier work for varieties with a torsion free divisor class group to the case of torsion. Then we turn to modifications, e.g., blow ups, and the question how the Cox ring changes under such maps. We answer this question for a certain class of modifications induced from modifications of ambient toric varieties. Moreover, we show that every variety with finitely generated Cox ring can be explicitly constructed in a finite series of toric ambient modifications from a combin…
Toric geometry provides a bridge between algebraic geometry and combinatorics of fans and polytopes. For each polarized toric variety (X,L) we have associated a polytope P. In this thesis we use this correspondence to study birational geometry for toric varieties. To this end, we address subjects such as Minimal Model Program, Mori fiber spaces, and chamber structures on the cone of effective divisors. We translate some results from these theories to the combinatorics of polytopes and use them to get structure theorems on space of polytopes. In particular, we treat toric varieties known as 2-F…
In this paper we define the combinatorial analogous of a pencil, and show its relationship with the concept of admissibility. Such an object is usefull to study the isomorphisms between fundamental groups of the complements of line arrangement with the same combinatorial type. This definition generalizes the idea of net given by Yuzvinsky and others. The main theorem in this paper states that there is a correspondence between components of the resonance variety and combinatorial pencils.
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 …
We study the combinatorics of pseudoline arrangements and their relation to the geometry of flag and Schubert varieties. We associate to each pseudoline arrangement two polyhedral cones, defined in a dual manner. We prove that one of them is the weighted string cone by Littelmann and Berenstein-Zelevinsky. For the other we show how it arises in the framework of cluster varieties and mirror symmetry by Gross-Hacking-Keel-Kontsevich: for the flag variety the cone is the tropicalization of their superpotential while for Schubert varieties a restriction of the superpotential is necessary. We prove…
We give a description of the tropical variety of univariate polynomials of degree n having two double roots. As a set, it is given as the union of three types of maximal cones of dimension n-1, where only cones of two of these types are cones of the secondary fan of {0,...,n}. Through Kapranov's theorem, this goal is achieved by a careful study of the possible valuations of the elementary symmetric functions of the roots of a polynomial with two double root. Despite its apparent simplicity, the computation of the tropical Severi variety has both combinatorial and arithmetic ingredients.
Characteristic classes of Schubert varieties can be used to study the geometry and the combinatorics of homogeneous spaces. We prove a relation between elliptic classes of Schubert varieties on a generalized full flag variety and those on its Langlands dual. This new symmetry is only revealed if Schubert calculus is elevated from cohomology or K theory to the elliptic level.
We construct a concrete isomorphism from the permutohedral variety to the regular semisimple Hessenberg variety associated to the Hessenberg function $h_+(i)=i+1$, $1\le i\le n-1$. In the process of defining the isomorphism, we introduce a sequence of varieties which we call the prepermutohedral varieties. We first determine the toric structure of these varieties and compute the Euler characteristics and the Betti numbers using the theory of toric varieties. Then, we describe the cohomology of these varieties. We also find a natural way to encode the one-dimensional components of the cohomolog…
This survey paper describes Springer fibers, which are used in one of the earliest examples of a geometric representation. We will compare and contrast them with Schubert varieties, another family of subvarieties of the flag variety that play an important role in representation theory and combinatorics, but whose geometry is in many respects simpler. The end of the paper describes a way that Springer fibers and Schubert varieties are related, as well as open questions.
A hypertoric variety is a quaternionic analogue of a toric variety. Just as the topology of toric varieties is closely related to the combinatorics of polytopes, the topology of hypertoric varieties interacts richly with the combinatorics of hyperplane arrangements and matroids. Using finite field methods, we obtain combinatorial descriptions of the Betti numbers of hypertoric varieties, both for ordinary cohomology in the smooth case and intersection cohomology in the singular case. We also introduce a conjectural ring structure on the intersection cohomology of a hypertoric variety.
We give explicit formulas for torus-equivariant fundamental classes of closed $K$-orbits on the flag variety $G/B$ when $G$ is one of the classical groups $SL(n,\C)$, $SO(n,\C)$, or $Sp(2n,\C)$, and $K$ is a symmetric subgroup of $G$. We describe parametrizations of each orbit set and the combinatorics of its weak order, allowing us to compute formulas for the equivariant classes of all remaining orbit closures using divided difference operators. In each of the cases in type A, we realize the $K$-orbit closures as universal degeneracy loci of a certain type, involving a vector bundle $V$ over …
This chapter combines an introduction and research survey about Schubert varieties. The theme is to combinatorially classify their singularities using a family of polynomial ideals generated by determinants.
We propose a combinatorical duality for lattice polyhedra which conjecturally gives rise to the pairs of mirror symmetric families of Calabi-Yau complete intersections in toric Fano varieties with Gorenstein singularities. Our construction is a generalization of the polar duality proposed by Batyrev for the case of hypersurfaces.
In this paper we study the combinatorial consequences of the relationship between rational Cherednik algebras of type $G(l,1,n)$, cyclic quiver varieties and Hilbert schemes. We classify and explicitly construct $\mathbb{C}^*$-fixed points in cyclic quiver varieties and calculate the corresponding characters of tautological bundles. Furthermore, we give a combinatorial description of the bijections between $\mathbb{C}^*$-fixed points induced by the Etingof-Ginzburg isomorphism and Nakajima reflection functors. We apply our results to obtain a new proof as well as a generalization of the $q$-ho…
A $d^{\{n\}}$-cage $\mathsf K$ is the union of $n$ groups of hyperplanes in $\Bbb P^n$, each group containing $d$ members. The hyperplanes from the distinct groups are in general position, thus producing $d^n$ points, where hyperplanes from all groups intersect. These points are called the nodes of $\mathsf K$. We study the combinatorics of nodes that impose independent conditions on the varieties $X \subset \Bbb P^n$ containing them. We prove that if $X$, given by homogeneous polynomials of degrees $\leq d$, contains the points from such a special set $\mathsf A$ of nodes, then it contains al…
We introduce a stratification on the space of symplectic flags on the de Rham bundle of the universal principally polarized abelian variety in positive characteristic and study its geometric properties like irreducibility of the strata and we calculate the cycle classes. When the characteristic $p$ is treated as a formal variable these classes can be seen as a deformation of the classes of the Schubert varieties for the corresponding classical flag variety (the classical case is recovered by putting $p$ equal to 0). We relate our stratification with the E-O stratification on the moduli space o…
In stochastic analysis, a standard method to study a path is to work with its signature. This is a sequence of tensors of different order that encode information of the path in a compact form. When the path varies, such signatures parametrize an algebraic variety in the tensor space. The study of these signature varieties builds a bridge between algebraic geometry and stochastics, and allows a fruitful exchange of techniques, ideas, conjectures and solutions. In this paper we study the signature varieties of two very different classes of paths. The class of rough paths is a natural extension o…
This paper will appear in the Proceedings of the 1995 Santa Cruz Summer Institute. The paper is a survey of recent developments in the theory of toric varieties, including new constructions of toric varieties and relations to symplectic geometry, combinatorics and mirror symmetry.
We investigate Gauss maps of (not necessarily normal) projective toric varieties over an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic. The main results are as follows: (1) The structure of the Gauss map of a toric variety is described in terms of combinatorics in any characteristic. (2) We give a developability criterion in the toric case. In particular, we show that any toric variety whose Gauss map is degenerate must be the join of some toric varieties in characteristic zero. (3) As applications, we provide two constructions of toric varieties whose Gauss maps have some given data …
On complex algebraic varieties, height functions arising in combinatorial applications fail to be proper. This complicates the description and computation via Morse theory of key topological invariants. Here we establish checkable conditions under which the behavior at infinity may be ignored, and the usual theorems of classical and stratified Morse theory may be applied. This allows for simplified arguments in the field of analytic combinatorics in several variables, and forms the basis for new methods applying to problems beyond the reach of previous techniques.
In this expository paper we describe a powerful combinatorial formula and its implications in geometry, topology, and algebra. This formula first appeared in the appendix of a book by Andersen, Jantzen, and Soergel. Sara Billey discovered it independently five years later, and it played a prominent role in her work to evaluate certain polynomials closely related to Schubert polynomials. Billey's formula relates many pieces of Schubert calculus: the geometry of Schubert varieties, the action of the torus on the flag variety, combinatorial data about permutations, the cohomology of the flag vari…
Hypertoric varieties are quaternionic analogues of toric varieties, important for their interaction with the combinatorics of matroids as well as for their prominent place in the rapidly expanding field of algebraic symplectic and hyperkahler geometry. The aim of this survey is to give clear definitions and statements of known results, serving both as a reference and as a point of entry to this beautiful subject.
A general problem in complex cobordism theory is to find useful representatives for cobordism classes. One particularly convenient class of complex manifolds consists of smooth projective toric varieties. The bijective correspondence between these varieties and smooth polytopes allows us to examine which complex cobordism classes contain a smooth projective toric variety by studying the combinatorics of polytopes. These combinatorial properties determine obstructions to a complex cobordism class containing a smooth projective toric variety. However, the obstructions are only necessary conditio…
These lecture notes for the 2013 CIME/CIRM summer school Combinatorial Algebraic Geometry deal with manifestly infinite-dimensional algebraic varieties with large symmetry groups. So large, in fact, that subvarieties stable under those symmetry groups are defined by finitely many orbits of equations---whence the title Noetherianity up to symmetry. It is not the purpose of these notes to give a systematic, exhaustive treatment of such varieties, but rather to discuss a few "personal favourites": exciting examples drawn from applications in algebraic statistics and multilinear algebra. My hope i…
We give formulas for the products of classes of Schubert varieties in the quantum cohomology rings of Grassmannians, in terms of the combinatorics of partitions and tableaux.
For a finite Coxeter system and a subset of its diagram nodes, we define spherical elements (a generalization of Coxeter elements). Conjecturally, for Weyl groups, spherical elements index Schubert varieties in a flag manifold G/B that are spherical for the action of a Levi subgroup. We evidence the conjecture, employing the combinatorics of Demazure modules, and work of R. Avdeev-A. Petukhov, M. Can-R. Hodges, R. Hodges-V. Lakshmibai, P. Karuppuchamy, P. Magyar-J. Weyman-A. Zelevinsky, N. Perrin, J. Stembridge, and B. Tenner. In type A, we establish connections with the key polynomials of A. …
Extending work of Bielawski-Dancer and Konno, we develop a theory of toric hyperkahler varieties, which involves toric geometry, matroid theory and convex polyhedra. The framework is a detailed study of semi-projective toric varieties, meaning GIT quotients of affine spaces by torus actions, and specifically, of Lawrence toric varieties, meaning GIT quotients of even-dimensional affine spaces by symplectic torus actions. A toric hyperkahler variety is a complete intersection in a Lawrence toric variety. Both varieties are non-compact, and they share the same cohomology ring, namely, the Stanle…
Regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties are a family of subvarieties of the flag variety that arise in number theory, numerical analysis, representation theory, algebraic geometry, and combinatorics. We give a "Giambelli formula" expressing the classes of regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties in terms of Chern classes. In fact, we show that the cohomology class of each regular semisimple Hessenberg variety is the specialization of a certain double Schubert polynomial, giving a natural geometric interpretation to such specializations. We also decompose such classes in terms of the Schubert ba…
The connections amongst (1) quivers whose representation varieties are Calabi-Yau, (2) the combinatorics of bipartite graphs on Riemann surfaces, and (3) the geometry of mirror symmetry have engendered a rich subject at whose heart is the physics of gauge/string theories. We review the various parts of this intricate story in some depth, for a mathematical audience without assumption of any knowledge of physics, emphasizing a plethora of results residing at the intersection between algebraic geometry, representation theory and number theory.
We generalize the Tutte polynomial of a matroid to a morphism of matroids via the K-theory of flag varieties. We introduce two different generalizations, and demonstrate that each has its own merits, where the trade-off is between the ease of combinatorics and geometry. One generalization recovers the Las Vergnas Tutte polynomial of a morphism of matroids, which admits a corank-nullity formula and a deletion-contraction recursion. The other generalization does not, but better reflects the geometry of flag varieties.
Let X->B be a morphism of varieties in characteristic zero. Semistable reduction has been proved for dim(B)=1 (Kempf, Knudsen, Mumford, Saint-Donat), dim(X)=dim(B)-1 (de Jong) and dim(X)=dim(B)+2 (Alexeev, Kollar, Shepherd-Barron). In this paper we consider the general case. First we define what we mean by a semistable morphism in terms of toroidal embeddings. Then we reduce the varieties to toroidal embeddings and solve a slightly weaker version of semistable reduction. We also state the full semistable reduction problem in terms of combinatorics of the associated polyhedral complexes.
Let F:X->B be a morphism of varieties in characteristic zero. The problem of semistable reduction of F was stated as a problem in the combinatorics of polyhedral complexes by Abramovich and Karu (alg-geom/9707012). In this paper we solve the combinatorial problem when the relative dimension of F is not bigger than 3.
Building on a recent joint paper with Sturmfels, here we argue that the combinatorics of matroids is intimately related to the geometry and topology of toric hyperkaehler varieties. We show that just like toric varieties occupy a central role in Stanley's proof for the necessity of McMullen's conjecture (or g-inequalities) about the classification of face vectors of simplicial polytopes, the topology of toric hyperkaehler varieties leads to new restrictions on face vectors of matroid complexes. Namely in this paper we give two proofs that the injectivity part of the Hard Lefschetz theorem surv…
