We give a series of successively weaker conjectures on the cohomology ring of the Grassmannian, starting with the Hilbert series of a certain natural filtration.
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 find presentations by generators and relations for the equivariant quantum cohomology of the Grassmannian. For these presentations, we also find determinantal formulae for the equivariant quantum Schubert classes. To prove this, we use the theory of factorial Schur functions and a characterization of the equivariant quantum cohomology ring.
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.
The Peterson isomorphism relates the homology of the affine Grassmannian to the quantum cohomology of any flag variety. In the case of a partial flag, Peterson's map is only a surjection, and one needs to quotient by a suitable ideal on the affine side to map isomorphically onto the quantum cohomology. We provide a detailed exposition of this parabolic Peterson isomorphism in the case of the Grassmannian of m-planes in complex n-space, including an explicit recipe for doing quantum Schubert calculus in terms of the appropriate subset of non-commutative k-Schur functions. As an application, we …
The quantum cohomology of Grassmannians exhibits two symmetries related to the quantum product, namely a \Bbb {Z}/n action and an involution related to complex conjugation. We construct a new ring by dividing out these symmetries in an ideal theoretic way and analyze its structure, which is shown to control the sum of all coefficients appearing in the product of cohomology classes. We derive a combinatorial formula for the sum of all Littlewood-Richardson coefficients appearing in the expansion of a product of two Schur polynomials.
The odd symplectic Grassmannian $\mathrm{IG}:=\mathrm{IG}(k, 2n+1)$ parametrizes $k$ dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$ which are isotropic with respect to a general (necessarily degenerate) symplectic form. The odd symplectic group acts on $\mathrm{IG}$ with two orbits, and $\mathrm{IG}$ is itself a smooth Schubert variety in the submaximal isotropic Grassmannian $\mathrm{IG}(k, 2n+2)$. We use the technique of curve neighborhoods to prove a Chevalley formula in the equivariant quantum cohomology of $\mathrm{IG}$, i.e. a formula to multiply a Schubert class by the Schubert divisor cl…
We prove that if X is a Grassmannian of type A, then the Schubert basis of the (small) quantum cohomology ring QH(X) is the only homogeneous deformation of the Schubert basis of the ordinary cohomology ring of X that multiplies with non-negative structure constants. This implies that the (three point, genus zero) Gromov-Witten invariants of X are uniquely determined by Witten's presentation of QH(X) and the fact that they are non-negative. We conjecture that the same is true for any flag variety X = G/P of simply laced Lie type. For the variety GL(n)/B of complete flags, this conjecture is equ…
Let G be a simple and simply-connected complex algebraic group, P \subset G a parabolic subgroup. We prove an unpublished result of D. Peterson which states that the quantum cohomology QH^*(G/P) of a flag variety is, up to localization, a quotient of the homology H_*(Gr_G) of the affine Grassmannian \Gr_G of G. As a consequence, all three-point genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants of $G/P$ are identified with homology Schubert structure constants of H_*(Gr_G), establishing the equivalence of the quantum and homology affine Schubert calculi. For the case G = B, we use the Mihalcea's equivariant …
We prove that structure constants related to Hecke algebras at roots of unity are special cases of k-Littlewood-Richardson coefficients associated to a product of k-Schur functions. As a consequence, both the 3-point Gromov-Witten invariants appearing in the quantum cohomology of the Grassmannian, and the fusion coefficients for the WZW conformal field theories associated to \hat{su}(\ell) are shown to be k-Littlewood Richardson coefficients. From this, Mark Shimozono conjectured that the k-Schur functions form the Schubert basis for the homology of the loop Grassmannian, whereas k-Schur copro…
Let $LG_n$ denote the Lagrangian Grassmannian parametrizing maximal isotropic (Lagrangian) subspaces of a fixed symplectic vector space of dimension $2n.$ For each strict partition $λ=(λ_1,...,λ_k)$ with $λ_1\leq n$ there is a Schubert variety $X(λ).$ Let $T$ denote a maximal torus of the symplectic group acting on $LG_n.$ Consider the $T$-equivariant cohomology of $LG_n$ and the $T$-equivariant fundamental class $σ(λ)$ of $X(λ).$ The main result of the present paper is an explicit formula for the restriction of the class $σ(λ)$ to any torus fixed point. The formula is written in terms of fact…
A driving question in (quantum) cohomology of flag varieties is to find non-recursive, positive combinatorial formulas for expressing the product of two classes in a particularly nice basis, called the Schubert basis. Bertram, Ciocan-Fontanine and Fulton provided a way to compute quantum products of Schubert classes in the Grassmannian of k-planes in complex n-space by doing classical multiplication and then applying a combinatorial rim hook rule which yields the quantum parameter. In this paper, we provide a generalization of this rim hook rule to the setting in which there is also an action …
We give a proof of a result of D. Peterson's identifying the quantum cohomology ring of a Grassmannian with the reduced coordinate ring of a certain subvariety of $GL_n$. The totally positive part of this subvariety is then constructed and we give closed formulas for the values of the Schubert basis elements on the totally positive points. We then use the developed methods to give a new proof of a formula of Vafa and Intriligator and Bertram for the structure constants (Gromov--Witten invariants). Finally, we use the positivity of these Gromov--Witten invariants to prove certain inequalities f…
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.
The saturation theorem of [Knutson-Tao '99] concerns the nonvanishing of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. In combination with work of [Klyachko '98], it implies [Horn '62]'s conjecture about eigenvalues of sums of Hermitian matrices. This eigenvalue problem has a generalization [Friedland '00] to majorized sums of Hermitian matrices. We further illustrate the common features between these two eigenvalue problems and their connection to Schubert calculus of Grassmannians. Our main result gives a Schubert calculus interpretation of Friedland's problem, via equivariant cohomology of Grassmanni…
In 2005, A. Knutson--R. Vakil conjectured a puzzle rule for equivariant K-theory of Grassmannians. We resolve this conjecture. After giving a correction, we establish a modified rule by combinatorially connecting it to the authors' recently proved tableau rule for the same Schubert calculus problem.
We give a Pieri rule for the torus-equivariant cohomology of (submaximal) Grassmannians of Lie types B, C, and D. To the authors' best knowledge, our rule is the first manifestly positive formula, beyond the equivariant Chevalley formula. We also give a simple proof of the equivariant Pieri rule for the ordinary (type A) Grassmannian.
This paper studies, for a positive integer $m$, the subalgebra of the cohomology ring of the complex Grassmannians generated by the elements of degree at most $m$. We build in two ways upon a conjecture for the Hilbert series of this subalgebra due to Reiner and Tudose. The first reinterprets it in terms of the operation of $k$-conjugation, suggesting two conjectural bases for the subalgebras that would imply their conjecture. The second introduces an analogous conjecture for the cohomology of Lagrangian Grassmannians.
We generalize our puzzle formula for ordinary Schubert calculus on Grassmannians, to a formula for the T-equivariant Schubert calculus. The structure constants to be calculated are polynomials in {y_{i+1} - y_i}; they were shown (abstractly) to have positive coefficients in [Graham] math.AG/9908172. Our formula is the first to be manifestly positive in this sense. In particular this gives a new and self-contained proof of the ordinary puzzle formula, by an induction backwards from the "most equivariant" case. The proof of the formula is mostly combinatorial, but requires no prior combinatorics…
In this paper, we prove a generalization of Kempf-Laksov formula for the degeneracy loci classes in even infinitesimal cohomology theories of the Grassmannian bundle and the Lagrangian Grassmannian bundle.
This chapter concerns edge labeled Young tableaux, introduced by H. Thomas and the third author. It is used to model equivariant Schubert calculus of Grassmannians. We survey results, problems, conjectures, together with their influences from combinatorics, algebraic and symplectic geometry, linear algebra, and computational complexity. We report on a new shifted analogue of edge labeled tableaux. Conjecturally, this gives a Littlewood-Richardson rule for the structure constants of the D. Anderson-W. Fulton ring, which is related to the equivariant cohomology of isotropic Grassmannians.
In this article, we make a close analysis on quantum multiplication operators on the quantum cohomology rings of Lagrangian and orthogonal Grassmannians, and give an explicit description on all simultaneous eigenvectors and the corresponding eigenvalues for these operators. As a result, we show that Conjecture $\mathcal{O}$ of Galkin, Golyshev and Iritani holds for these manifolds.
Let $\mathrm{IG}(k, 2n+1)$ be the odd-symplectic Grassmannian. Property $\mathcal{O}$, introduced by Galkin, Golyshev and Iritani for arbitrary complex, Fano manifolds $X$, is a statement about the eigenvalues of the linear operator obtained by the quantum multiplication by the anticanonical class of $X$. We prove that property $\mathcal{O}$ holds in the case when $X= \mathrm{IG}(k, 2n+1)$ is an odd-symplectic Grassmannian. The proof uses the combinatorics of the recently found quantum Chevalley formula for $\mathrm{IG}(k, 2n+1)$, together with the Perron-Frobenius theory of nonnegative matric…
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 give a new description of the Pieri rule for k-Schur functions using the Bruhat order on the affine type-A Weyl group. In doing so, we prove a new combinatorial formula for representatives of the Schubert classes for the cohomology of affine Grassmannians. We show how new combinatorics involved in our formulas gives the Kostka-Foulkes polynomials and discuss how this can be applied to study the transition matrices between Hall-Littlewood and k-Schur functions.
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 prove that the geometric Satake correspondence admits quantum corrections for minuscule Grassmannians of Dynkin types $A$ and $D$. We find, as a corollary, that the quantum connection of a spinor variety $OG(n,2n)$ can be obtained as the half-spinorial representation of that of the quadric $Q_{2n-2}$. We view the (quantum) cohomology of these Grassmannians as endowed simultaneously with two structures, one of a module over the algebra of symmetric functions, and the other, of a module over the Langlands dual Lie algebra, and investigate the interaction between the two. In particular, we stu…
To each finite subset of $\mathbb{Z}^2$ (a diagram), one can associate a subvariety of a complex Grassmannian (a diagram variety), and a representation of a symmetric group (a Specht module). Liu has conjectured that the cohomology class of a diagram variety is represented by the Frobenius characteristic of the corresponding Specht module. We give a counterexample to this conjecture. However, we show that for the diagram variety of a permutation diagram, Liu's conjectured cohomology class $σ$ is at least an upper bound on the actual class $τ$, in the sense that $σ- τ$ is a nonnegative linear c…
Matroid bundles, introduced by MacPherson, are combinatorial analogues of real vector bundles. This paper sets up the foundations of matroid bundles, and defines a natural transformation from isomorphism classes of real vector bundles to isomorphism classes of matroid bundles, as well as a transformation from matroid bundles to spherical quasifibrations. The poset of oriented matroids of a fixed rank classifies matroid bundles, and the above transformations give a splitting from topology to combinatorics back to topology. This shows the mod 2 cohomology of the poset of rank k oriented matroids…
We prove the strong Macdonald conjecture of Hanlon and Feigin for reductive groups G. In a geometric reformulation, we show that the Dolbeault cohomology $H^q(X;Ω^p)$ of the loop Grassmannian X is freely generated by de Rham's forms on the disk coupled to algebra generators of $H*(BG)$. Equating Euler characteristics of the two gives an identity, independently known to Macdonald [M], which generalises Ramanujan's_1ψ_1 sum. Simply laced root systems at level 1 are related to a `strong'_4ψ_4 sum. Failure of Hodge decomposition implies the singularity of X, and of the algebraic loop groups.
A remarkable connection between the cohomology ring ${\rm H^{\ast}(Gr}(d, d+r),\Z)$ of the Grasssmannian ${\rm Gr}(d,d+r)$ and the lattice points of the dilation $rΔ_{d}$ of the standard d-simplex is investigated. The natural grading on the cohomology induces different gradings of the lattice points of $rΔ_{d}$. This leads to different refinements of the Ehrhart polynomial $L_{Δ_{d}}(r)$ of the standard $d$-simplex. We study two of these refinements which are defined by the weights $(1,1,\dots,1)$ and $(1,2,\dots, d)$. One of the refinements interprets the Poincaré polynomial ${\rm P(Gr}(d,d+r…
We relate the counting of rational curves intersecting Schubert varieties of the Grassmannian to the counting of certain non-intersecting lattice paths on the cylinder, so-called vicious and osculating walkers. These lattice paths form exactly solvable statistical mechanics models and are obtained from solutions to the Yang-Baxter equation. The eigenvectors of the transfer matrices of these models yield the idempotents of the Verlinde algebra of the gauged u(n)-WZNW model. The latter is known to be closely related to the small quantum cohomology ring of the Grassmannian. We establish further t…