A Primal-Dual Formulation for Certifiable Computations in Schubert Calculus

Abstract

Formulating a Schubert problem as solutions to a system of equations in either Plücker space or local coordinates of a Schubert cell typically involves more equations than variables. We present a novel primal-dual formulation of any Schubert problem on a Grassmannian or flag manifold as a system of bilinear equations with the same number of equations as variables. This formulation enables numerical computations in the Schubert calculus to be certified using algorithms based on Smale’s $$\alpha $$ -theory.