We give a closed-form formula for the Hilbert function of the tangent cone at the identity of a Schubert variety X in the Grassmannian in both group theoretic and combinatorial terms. We also give a formula for the multiplicity of X at the identity, and a Grobner basis for the ideal defining the intersection of X with the opposite cell as a closed subvariety of the opposite cell. We give conjectures for the Hilbert function and multiplicity at points other than the identity.
We show that general isotropic flags for odd-orthogonal and symplectic groups are general for Schubert calculus on the classical Grassmannian in that Schubert cells defined by such flags meet transversally. This strengthens a result of Belkale and Kumar in arXiv:0708.0398.
In this paper we construct free resolutions of certain class of closed subvarieties of affine space of symmetric matrices (of a given size). Our class covers the symmetric determinantal varieties (i.e., determinantal varieties in the space of symmetric matrices), whose resolutions were first constructed by Józefiak-Pragacz-Weyman. Our approach follows the techniques developed in Free Resolutions of Some Schubert Singularities by Kummini-Lakshmibai-Sastry-Seshadri, and uses the geometry of Schubert varieties.
Let $\mbox{IG}(k,2n+1)$ be the odd symplectic Grassmannian. It is a quasi-ho\-mo\-ge\-neous space with homogeneous-like behavior. A very limited description of curve neighborhoods of Schubert varieties in $\mbox{IG}(k,2n+1)$ was used by Mihalcea and the second named author to prove an (equivariant) quantum Chevalley rule. In this paper we give a full description of the irreducible components of curve neighborhoods in terms of the Hecke product of (appropriate) Weyl group elements, $k$-strict partitions, and BC-partitions. The latter set of partitions respect the Bruhat order with inclusions. O…
Let $G=SL(n, \mathbb{C}),$ and $T$ be a maximal torus of $G,$ where $n$ is a positive even integer. In this article, we study the GIT quotients of the Schubert varieties in the Grassmannian $G_{2,n}.$ We prove that the GIT quotients of the Richardson varieties in the minimal dimensional Schubert variety admitting stable points in $G_{2,n}$ are projective spaces. Further, we prove that the GIT quotients of certain Richardson varieties in $G_{2,n}$ are projective toric varieties. Also, we prove that the GIT quotients of the Schubert varieties in $G_{2,n}$ have at most finite set of singular poin…
We study the arc space of the Grassmannian from the point of view of the singularities of Schubert varieties. Our main tool is a decomposition of the arc space of the Grassmannian that resembles the Schubert cell decomposition of the Grassmannian itself. Just as the combinatorics of Schubert cells is controlled by partitions, the combinatorics in the arc space is controlled by plane partitions (sometimes also called 3d partitions). A combination of a geometric analysis of the pieces in the decomposition and a combinatorial analysis of plane partitions leads to invariants of the singularities. …
Let X be an orthogonal Grassmannian parametrizing isotropic subspaces in an even dimensional vector space equipped with a nondegenerate symmetric form. We prove a Giambelli formula which expresses an arbitrary Schubert class in the singular and quantum cohomology ring of X as a polynomial in certain special Schubert classes. Our analysis reveals a surprising relation between the Schubert calculus on even and odd orthogonal Grassmannians. We also study eta polynomials, a family of polynomials defined using raising operators whose algebra agrees with the Schubert calculus on X.
We provide several ingredients towards a generalization of the Littlewood-Richardson rule from Chow groups to algebraic cobordism. In particular, we prove a simple product-formula for multiplying classes of smooth Schubert varieties with any Bott-Samelson class in algebraic cobordism of the grassmannian. We also establish some results for generalized Schubert polynomials for hyperbolic formal group laws.
These are extended notes of a talk given at Maurice Auslander Distinguished Lectures and International Conference (Woods Hole, MA) in April 2013. Their aim is to give an introduction into Schubert calculus on Grassmannians and flag varieties. We discuss various aspects of Schubert calculus, such as applications to enumerative geometry, structure of the cohomology rings of Grassmannians and flag varieties, Schur and Schubert polynomials. We conclude with a survey of results of V.Kiritchenko, V.Timorin and the author on a new approach to Schubert calculus on full flag varieties via combinatorics…
Quiver Grassmannians are projective varieties parametrizing subrepresentations of given dimension in a quiver representation. We define a class of quiver Grassmannians generalizing those which realize degenerate flag varieties. We show that each irreducible component of the quiver Grassmannians in question is isomorphic to a Schubert variety. We give an explicit description of the set of irreducible components, identify all the Schubert varieties arising, and compute the Poincaré polynomials of these quiver Grassmannians.
We investigate double transitivity of Galois groups in the classical Schubert calculus on Grassmannians. We show that all Schubert problems on Grassmannians of 2- and 3-planes have doubly transitive Galois groups, as do all Schubert problems involving only special Schubert conditions. We use these results to give a new proof that Schubert problems on Grassmannians of 2-planes have Galois groups that contain the alternating group. We also investigate the Galois group of every Schubert problem on Gr(4,8), finding that each Galois group either contains the alternating group or is an imprimitive p…
Let X be a symplectic or odd orthogonal Grassmannian parametrizing isotropic subspaces in a vector space equipped with a nondegenerate (skew) symmetric form. We prove a Giambelli formula which expresses an arbitrary Schubert class in H^*(X,Z) as a polynomial in certain special Schubert classes. We study theta polynomials, a family of polynomials defined using raising operators whose algebra agrees with the Schubert calculus on X. Furthermore, we prove that theta polynomials are special cases of Billey-Haiman Schubert polynomials and use this connection to express the former as positive linear …
In this paper, we introduce Schubert decompositions for quiver Grassmannians and investigate example classes of quiver Grassmannians with a Schubert decomposition into affine spaces. The main theorem puts the cells of a Schubert decomposition into relation to the cells of a certain simpler quiver Grassmannian. This allows us to extend known examples of Schubert decompositions into affine spaces to a larger class of quiver Grassmannians. This includes exceptional representations of the Kronecker quiver as well as representations of forests with block matrices of the form $\begin{pmatrix} 0&1\\ …
We give positive formulas for the restriction of a Schubert Class to a T-fixed point in the equivariant K-theory and equivariant cohomology of the Lagrangian Grassmannian. Our formulas rely on a result of Ghorpade-Raghavan, which gives an equivariant Grobner degeneration of a Schubert variety in the neighborhood of a T-fixed point of the Lagrangian Grassmannian.
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 v…
We study the three point genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants on the Grassmannians which parametrize non-maximal isotropic subspaces in a vector space equipped with a nondegenerate symmetric or skew-symmetric form. We establish Pieri rules for the classical cohomology and the small quantum cohomology ring of these varieties, which give a combinatorial formula for the product of any Schubert class with certain special Schubert classes. We also give presentations of these rings, with integer coefficients, in terms of special Schubert class generators and relations.
We give positive formulas for the restriction of a Schubert Class to a T-fixed point in the equivariant K-theory and equivariant cohomology of the Grassmannian. Our formulas rely on a result of Kodiyalam-Raghavan and Kreiman-Lakshmibai, which gives an equivariant Grobner degeneration of a Schubert variety in the neighborhood of a T-fixed point of the Grassmannian.
In this paper we study the pseudoeffective cones of blow-ups of Grassmannians at sets of points. For small numbers of points, the cones are often spanned by proper transforms of Schubert classes. In some special cases, we provide sharp bounds for when the Schubert classes fail to span and we describe the resulting geometry.
A permutation is called covexillary if it avoids the pattern $3412$. We construct an open embedding of a covexillary matrix Schubert variety into a Grassmannian Schubert variety. As applications of this embedding, we show that the characteristic cycles of covexillary Schubert varieties are irreducible, and provide a new proof of Lascoux's model computing Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials of vexillary permutations. Combining the above embedding with earlier work of the author on the conormal varieties of Grassmannian Schubert varieties, we develop an algebraic criterion identifying the conormal varie…
We calculate using Macaulay 2 the multiplicities of the most singular point on Schubert varieties on Gl(n)/B for $n=5,6$. The method of computation is described and tables of the results are included.
Let $X$ be an isotropic Grassmannian of type $B$, $C$, or $D$. In this paper we calculate $K$-theoretic Pieri-type triple intersection numbers for $X$: that is, the sheaf Euler characteristic of the triple intersection of two arbitrary Schubert varieties and a special Schubert variety in general position. We do this by determining explicit equations for the projected Richardson variety corresponding to the two arbitrary Schubert varieties, and show that it is a complete intersection in projective space. The $K$-theoretic Pieri coefficients are alternating sums of these triple intersection numb…
We study spherical Schubert varieties in the affine Grassmannian. These Schubert varieties have a natural conjectural modular description due to Finkelberg-Mirković. This modular description is easily seen to be set-theoretically correct, but it is not obviously scheme-theoretically correct. We prove that this modular description is correct in many cases. We also link this modular description to the reducedness conjecture from Kamnitzer-Webster-Weekes-Yacobi for tranverse slices in the affine Grassmannian.
Let G be a simply-connected simple compact Lie group over the complex numbers. The affine Grassmannian is a projective ind-variety, homotopy-equivalent to the loop space of G and closely analogous to a maximal flag variety of the classical Grassmannian manifold. It has a Schubert cell decomposition indexed by the coroot lattice or equivalently by the minimal length coset representatives for the affine Weyl group modulo the Weyl group for G. The closure of an affine Schubert cell is a finite dimensional projective variety that we call an affine Schubert variety. In this paper we completely dete…
Let X be a symplectic or odd orthogonal Grassmannian which parametrizes isotropic subspaces in a vector space equipped with a nondegenerate (skew) symmetric form. We prove quantum Giambelli formulas which express an arbitrary Schubert class in the small quantum cohomology ring of X as a polynomial in certain special Schubert classes, extending the cohomological Giambelli formulas of arXiv:0811.2781.
The Galois group of a Schubert problem encodes some structure of its set of solutions. Galois groups are known for a few infinite families and some special problems, but what permutation groups may appear as a Galois group of a Schubert problem is still unknown. We expand the list of Schubert problems with known Galois groups by fully exploring the Schubert problems on $\text{Gr}(4,9)$, the smallest Grassmannian for which they are not currently known. We also discover sets of Schubert conditions for any sufficiently large Grassmannian that imply the Galois group of a Schubert problem is much s…
Let HH_{ab}(H) be the equivariant Hilbert scheme parametrizing the zero dimensional subschemes of the affine plane k^2, fixed under the one dimensional torus T_{ab}={(t^{-b},t^a), t\in k^*} and whose Hilbert function is H. This Hilbert scheme admits a natural stratification in Schubert cells which extends the notion of Schubert cells on Grassmannians. However, the incidence relations between the cells become more complicated than in the case of Grassmannians. In this paper, we give a necessary condition for the closure of a cell to meet another cell. In the particular case of Grassmannians, it…
Confirming a conjecture of Mark Shimozono, we identify polynomial representatives for the Schubert classes of the affine Grassmannian as the k-Schur functions in homology and affine Schur functions in cohomology. Our results rely on Kostant and Kumar's nilHecke ring, work of Peterson on the homology of based loops on a compact group, and earlier work of ours on non-commutative k-Schur functions.
We study the Schubert calculus of the affine Grassmannian Gr of the symplectic group. The integral homology and cohomology rings of Gr are identified with dual Hopf algebras of symmetric functions, defined in terms of Schur's P and Q-functions. An explicit combinatorial description is obtained for the Schubert basis of the cohomology of Gr, and this is extended to a definition of the affine type C Stanley symmetric functions. A homology Pieri rule is also given for the product of a special Schubert class with an arbitrary one.
We apply the previous calculations of Chow-Witt rings of Grassmannians to develop an oriented analogue of the classical Schubert calculus. As a result, we get complete diagrammatic descriptions of the ring structure in Chow-Witt rings and twisted Witt groups. In the resulting arithmetic refinements of Schubert calculus, the multiplicity of a solution subspace is a quadratic form encoding additional orientation information. We also discuss a couple of applications, such as a Chow-Witt version of the signed count of balanced subspaces of Fehér and Matszangosz.
We classify Schubert problems in the Grassmannian of 4-planes in 9-dimensional space by their Galois groups. Of the 31,806 essential Schubert problems in this Grassmannian, there are only 149 whose Galois group does not contain the alternating group. We identify the Galois groups of these 149 -- each is an imprimitive permutation group. These 149 fall into two families according to their geometry. This study suggests a possible classification of Schubert problems whose Galois group is not the full symmetric group, and it begins to establish the inverse Galois problem for Schubert calculus.
We introduce two families of symmetric functions with an extra parameter t that specialize to Schubert representatives for cohomology and homology of the affine Grassmannian when t = 1. The families are defined by a statistic on combinatorial objects associated to the type-A affine Weyl group and their transition matrix with Hall-Littlewood polynomials is t-positive. We conjecture that one family is the set of k-atoms.
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.
Let X be the direct product of two Grassmann varieties of k- and l-planes in a finite-dimensional vector space V, and let B be the isotropy group of a complete flag in V. We consider B-orbits in X, which are an analog to Schubert cells in Grassmannians. We describe this set of orbits combinatorially and construct desingularizations for the closures of these orbits, similar to the Bott--Samelson desingularizations for Schubert varieties.
We formulate the Secant Conjecture, which is a generalization of the Shapiro Conjecture for Grassmannians. It asserts that an intersection of Schubert varieties in a Grassmannian is transverse with all points real, if the flags defining the Schubert varieties are secant along disjoint intervals of a rational normal curve. We present theoretical evidence for it as well as computational evidence obtained in over one terahertz-year of computing, and we discuss some phenomena we observed in our data.
The intuitive notion of the Gromov invariant for maps from a Riemann surface to a Grassmannian is shown to agree with the definition in \cite{BDW}. Also, an induction on the genus is proved, which extends the results of \cite{BDW} to a computation of all Gromov invariants associated to G(2,k). This is shown to agree with the conjectured formula of Vafa and Intriligator.
Let V be a symplectic vector space and LG be the Lagrangian Grassmannian which parametrizes maximal isotropic subspaces in V. We give a presentation for the (small) quantum cohomology ring QH^*(LG) and show that its multiplicative structure is determined by the ring of (Q^~)-polynomials. We formulate a "quantum Schubert calculus" which includes quantum Pieri and Giambelli formulas, as well as algorithms for computing the structure constants appearing in the quantum product of Schubert classes.
Let $L$ be a Levi subgroup of $GL_N$ which acts by left multiplication on a Schubert variety $X(w)$ in the Grassmannian $G_{d,N}$. We say that $X(w)$ is a spherical Schubert variety if $X(w)$ is a spherical variety for the action of $L$. In earlier work we provide a combinatorial description of the decomposition of the homogeneous coordinate ring of $X(w)$ into irreducible $L$-modules for the induced action of $L$. In this work we classify those decompositions into irreducible $L$-modules that are multiplicity-free. This is then applied towards giving a complete classification of the spherical…
In this work we extend some previously known results on the automorphism group of Schubert varieties. We consider the Schubert conditions which define a Schubert variety. An automorphism of the Grassmannian fixes a Schubert variety contained in it if and only if it fixes certain elements of the flag used to define the Schubert conditions.
We construct the Schubert basis of the torus-equivariant K-homology of the affine Grassmannian of a simple algebraic group G, using the K-theoretic NilHecke ring of Kostant and Kumar. This is the K-theoretic analogue of a construction of Peterson in equivariant homology. For the case G = SL_n, the K-homology of the affine Grassmannian is identified with a sub-Hopf algebra of the ring of symmetric functions. The Schubert basis is represented by inhomogeneous symmetric functions, called K-k-Schur functions, whose highest degree term is a k-Schur function. The dual basis in K-cohomology is given …
Given two Schubert classes $σ_λ$ and $σ_μ$ in the quantum cohomology of a Grassmannian, we construct a partition $ν$, depending on $λ$ and $μ$, such that $σ_ν$ appears with coefficient 1 in the lowest (or highest) degree part of the quantum product $σ_λ\starσ_μ$. To do this, we show that for any two partitions $λ$ and $μ$, contained in a $k$-by-$(n-k)$ rectangle and such that the 180-degree rotation of one does not overlap the other, there is a third partition $ν$, also contained in the rectangle, such that the Littlewood-Richardson number $c_{λμ}^ν$ is 1.
We answer some questions related to multiplicity formulas by Rosenthal and Zelevinsky and by Lakshmibai and Weyman for points on Schubert varieties in Grassmannians. In particular, we give combinatorial interpretations in terms of nonintersecting lattice paths of these formulas, which makes the equality of the two formulas immediately obvious. Furthermore we provide an alternative determinantal formula for these multiplicities, and we show that they count semistandard tableaux of unusual shapes.
Let $G=SO(8n+4,\mathbb{C})$ ($n\ge 1$). Let $B$ be a Borel subgroup of $G$ containing a maximal torus $T$ of $G.$ Let $P (\supset B)$ denote the maximal parabolic subgroup of $G$ corresponding to the simple root $α_{4n+2}$. In this article, we prove projective normality of the GIT quotients of certain Schubert varieties in the orthogonal Grassmannian $G/P$ with respect to the descent of a suitable $T$-linearized very ample line bundle.
We compute the initial ideals, with respect to certain conveniently chosen term orders, of ideals of tangent cones at torus fixed points to Schubert varieties in orthogonal Grassmannians. The initial ideals turn out to be square-free monomial ideals and therefore Stanley-Reisner face rings of simplicial complexes. We describe these complexes. The maximal faces of these complexes encode certain sets of non-intersecting lattice paths.
Let $Q$ be a quiver, $M$ a representation of $Q$ with an ordered basis $\cB$ and $\ue$ a dimension vector for $Q$. In this note we extend the methods of \cite{L12} to establish Schubert decompositions of quiver Grassmannians $\Gr_\ue(M)$ into affine spaces to the ramified case, i.e.\ the canonical morphism $F:T\to Q$ from the coefficient quiver $T$ of $M$ w.r.t.\ $\cB$ is not necessarily unramified. In particular, we determine the Euler characteristic of $\Gr_\ue(M)$ as the number of \emph{extremal successor closed subsets of $T_0$}, which extends the results of Cerulli Irelli (\cite{Cerulli11…
Two Schubert problems on possibly different Grassmannians may be composed to obtain a Schubert problem on a larger Grassmannian whose number of solutions is the product of the numbers of the original problems. This generalizes a construction discovered while classifying Schubert problems on the Grassmannian of 4-planes in C^9 with imprimitive Galois groups. We give an algebraic proof of the product formula. In a number of cases, we show that the Galois group of the composed Schubert problem is a subgroup of a wreath product of the Galois groups of the original problems, and is therefore imprim…
