In this exposition we give a simple and complete treatment of A. Knutson and T. Tao's recent proof (http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/math.RT/9807160) of the saturation conjecture, which asserts that the Littlewood-Richardson semigroup is saturated. The main tool is Knutson and Tao's hive model for Berenstein-Zelevinsky polytopes. In an appendix of W. Fulton it is shown that the hive model is equivalent to the original Littlewood-Richardson rule.
We give a positive equivariant Littlewood-Richardson rule also discovered independently by Molev. Our proof generalizes a proof by Stembridge of the ordinary Littlewood-Richardson rule. We describe a weight-preserving bijection between our indexing tableaux and the Knutson-Tao puzzles.
The Belkale-Kumar product on H*(G/P) is a degeneration of the usual cup product on the cohomology ring of a generalized flag manifold. In the case G=GL_n, it was used by N. Ressayre to determine the regular faces of the Littlewood-Richardson cone. We show that for G/P a (d-1)-step flag manifold, each Belkale-Kumar structure constant is a product of d(d-1)/2 Littlewood-Richardson numbers, for which there are many formulae available, e.g. the puzzles of [Knutson-Tao '03]. This refines previously known factorizations into d-1 factors. We define a new family of puzzles to assemble these to give a …
We propose a new formulation of Hall polynomials in terms of honeycombs, which were previously introduced in the context of the Littlewood--Richardson rule. We prove a Pieri rule and associativity for our honeycomb formula, thus showing equality with Hall polynomials. Our proofs are linear algebraic in nature, extending nontrivially the corresponding bijective results for ordinary Littlewood--Richardson coefficients [A. Knutson, T. Tao, C. Woodward, 2004].
Starting with Knutson and Tao's hive model (in J. Amer. Math. Soc., 1999) we characterize the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient $c_{λ,μ}^ν$ of given partitions $λ,μ,ν\in N^n$ as the number of capacity achieving hive flows on the honeycomb graph. Based on this, we design a polynomial time algorithm for deciding $c_{λ,μ}^ν>0$. This algorithm is easy to state and takes $O(n^3 \log ν_1)$ arithmetic operations and comparisons. We further show that the capacity achieving hive flows can be seen as the vertices of a connected graph, which leads to new structural insights into Littlewood-Richardson coe…
In previous work with Mikhail Khovanov and Aaron Lauda we introduced two odd analogues of the Schur functions: one via the combinatorics of Young tableaux (odd Kostka numbers) and one via the odd symmetrization operator. In this paper we introduce a third analogue, the plactic Schur functions. We show they coincide with both previously defined types of Schur function, confirming a conjecture. Using the plactic definition, we establish an odd Littlewood-Richardson rule. We also re-cast this rule in the language of polytopes, via the Knutson-Tao hive model.
We prove an asymptotic saturation-type version of Rota's basis conjecture. It relies on the connection of Tao's slice rank with unstable tensors from geometric invariant theory.
We define mosaics, which are naturally in bijection with Knutson-Tao puzzles. We define an operation on mosaics, which shows they are also in bijection with Littlewood-Richardson skew-tableaux. Another consequence of this construction is that we obtain bijective proofs of commutativity and associativity for the ring structures defined either of these objects. In particular, we obtain a new, easy proof of the Littlewood-Richardson rule. Finally we discuss how our operation is related to other known constructions, particularly jeu de taquin.
Knutson, Tao, and Woodward formulated a Littlewood-Richardson rule for the cohomology ring of Grassmannians in terms of puzzles. Vakil and Wheeler-Zinn-Justin have found additional triangular puzzle pieces that allow one to express structure constants for $K$-theory of Grassmannians. Here we introduce two other puzzle pieces of hexagonal shape, each of which gives a Littlewood-Richardson rule for $K$-homology of Grassmannians. We also explore the corresponding eight versions of $K$-theoretic Littlewood-Richardson tableaux.
We provide direct proofs of product and coproduct formulae for Schur functions where the coefficients (Littlewood--Richardson coefficients) are defined as counting puzzles. The product formula includes a second alphabet for the Schur functions, allowing in particular to recover formulae of [Molev--Sagan '99] and [Knutson--Tao '03] for factorial Schur functions. The method is based on the quantum integrability of the underlying tiling model.
In this work we continue our study of Fully Packed Loop (FPL) configurations in a triangle. These are certain subgraphs on a triangular subset of the square lattice, which first arose in the study of the usual FPL configurations on a square grid. We show that, in a special case, the enumeration of these FPLs in a triangle is given by Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. The proof consists of a bijection with Knutson-Tao puzzles.
We study the Littlewood-Richardson coefficients of double Grothendieck polynomials indexed by Grassmannian permutations. Geometrically, these are the structure constants of the equivariant $K$-theory ring of Grassmannians. Representing the double Grothendieck polynomials as partition functions of an integrable vertex model, we use its Yang-Baxter equation to derive a series of product rules for the former polynomials and their duals. The Littlewood-Richardson coefficients that arise can all be expressed in terms of puzzles without gashes, which generalize previous puzzles obtained by Knutson-T…
The purpose of this paper is to present an interpretation for the decomposition of the tensor product of two or more irreducible representations of GL(N) in terms of a system of quantum particles. Our approach is based on a certain scattering matrix that satisfies a Yang-Baxter type equation. The corresponding piecewise-linear transformations of parameters give a solution to the tetrahedron equation. These transformation maps are naturally related to the dual canonical bases for modules over the quantum enveloping algebra $U_q(sl_n)$. A byproduct of our construction is an explicit description …
We describe an explicit geometric Littlewood-Richardson rule, interpreted as deforming the intersection of two Schubert varieties so that they break into Schubert varieties. There are no restrictions on the base field, and all multiplicities arising are 1; this is important for applications. This rule should be seen as a generalization of Pieri's rule to arbitrary Schubert classes, by way of explicit homotopies. It has a straightforward bijection to other Littlewood-Richardson rules, such as tableaux, and Knutson and Tao's puzzles. This gives the first geometric proof and interpretation of the…
A consequence of work of Klyachko and of Knutson-Tao is the Horn recursion to determine when a Littlewood-Richardson coefficient is non-zero. Briefly, a Littlewood-Richardson coefficient is non-zero if and only if it satisfies a collection of Horn inequalities which are indexed by smaller non-zero Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. There are similar Littlewood-Richardson numbers for Schur P- and Q- functions. Using a mixture of combinatorics of root systems, combinatorial linear algebra in Lie algebras, and the geometry of certain cominuscule flag varieties, we give Horn recursions to determi…
We introduce a family of rings of symmetric functions depending on an infinite sequence of parameters. A distinguished basis of such a ring is comprised by analogues of the Schur functions. The corresponding structure coefficients are polynomials in the parameters which we call the Littlewood-Richardson polynomials. We give a combinatorial rule for their calculation by modifying an earlier result of B. Sagan and the author. The new rule provides a formula for these polynomials which is manifestly positive in the sense of W. Graham. We apply this formula for the calculation of the product of eq…
I prove that the full Fock-Goncharov conjecture holds for $\mathrm{Conf}_3^\times(\widetilde{\mathcal{F}\hspace{-1.6pt}\ell})$-- the configuration space of triples of decorated flags in generic position. As a key ingredient of this proof, I exhibit a maximal green sequence for the quiver of the initial seed. I compute the Landau-Ginzburg potential $W$ on $\mathrm{Conf}_3^\times(\widetilde{\mathcal{F}\hspace{-1.6pt}\ell})^\vee$ associated to the partial minimal model $\mathrm{Conf}_3^\times(\widetilde{\mathcal{F}\hspace{-1.6pt}\ell}) \subset \mathrm{Conf}_3(\widetilde{\mathcal{F}\hspace{-1.6pt}…
