Schubert Polynomials Research Articles

Bumpless pipe dreams and alternating sign matrices

In their work on the infinite flag variety, Lam, Lee, and Shimozono [30] introduced objects called bumpless pipe dreams and used them to give a formula for double Schubert polynomials. We extend this formula to the setting of K-theory, giving an expression for double Grothendieck polynomials as a sum over a larger class of bumpless pipe dreams. Our proof relies on techniques found in an unpublished manuscript of Lascoux [27]. Lascoux showed how to write double Grothendieck polynomials as a sum over alternating sign matrices. We explain how to view the Lam-Lee-Shimozono formula as a disguised special case of Lascoux's alternating sign matrix formula.Knutson, Miller, and Yong [21] gave a tableau formula for vexillary Grothendieck polynomials. We recover this formula by showing vexillary marked bumpless pipe dreams and flagged set-valued tableaux are in weight preserving bijection. Finally, we give a bijection between Hecke bumpless pipe dreams and decreasing tableaux. The restriction of this bijection to Edelman-Greene bumpless pipe dreams solves a problem of Lam, Lee, and Shimozono.

𝐾-classes of Brill–Noether Loci and a Determinantal Formula

Abstract We compute the Euler characteristic of the structure sheaf of the Brill–Noether locus of linear series with special vanishing at up to two marked points. When the Brill–Noether number $\rho $ is zero, we recover the Castelnuovo formula for the number of special linear series on a general curve; when $\rho =1$, we recover the formulas of Eisenbud-Harris, Pirola, and Chan–Martín–Pflueger–Teixidor for the arithmetic genus of a Brill–Noether curve of special divisors. These computations are obtained as applications of a new determinantal formula for the $K$-theory class of certain degeneracy loci. Our degeneracy locus formula also specializes to new determinantal expressions for the double Grothendieck polynomials corresponding to 321-avoiding permutations and gives double versions of the flagged skew Grothendieck polynomials recently introduced by Matsumura. Our result extends the formula of Billey–Jockusch–Stanley expressing Schubert polynomials for 321-avoiding permutations as generating functions for flagged skew tableaux.

Principal specializations of Schubert polynomials in classical types

There is a remarkable formula for the principal specialization of a type A Schubert polynomial as a weighted sum over reduced words. Taking appropriate limits transforms this to an identity for the backstable Schubert polynomials recently introduced by Lam, Lee, and Shimozono. This note identifies some analogues of the latter formula for principal specializations of Schubert polynomials in classical types B, C, and D. We also describe some more general identities for Grothendieck polynomials. As a related application, we derive a simple proof of a pipe dream formula for involution Grothendieck polynomials.

A generalization of Edelman–Greene insertion for Schubert polynomials

Edelman and Greene generalized the Robinson--Schensted--Knuth correspondence to reduced words in order to give a bijective proof of the Schur positivity of Stanley symmetric functions. Stanley symmetric functions may be regarded as the stable limits of Schubert polynomials, and similarly Schur functions may be regarded as the stable limits of Demazure characters for the general linear group. We modify the Edelman--Greene correspondence to give an analogous, explicit formula for the Demazure character expansion of Schubert polynomials. Our techniques utilize dual equivalence and its polynomial variation, but here we demonstrate how to extract explicit formulas from that machinery which may be applied to other positivity problems as well.

An efficient algorithm for deciding vanishing of Schubert polynomial coefficients

Schubert polynomials form a basis of all polynomials and appear in the study of cohomology rings of flag manifolds. The vanishing problem for Schubert polynomials asks if a coefficient of a Schubert polynomial is zero. We give a tableau criterion to solve this problem, from which we deduce the first polynomial time algorithm. These results are obtained from new characterizations of the Schubitope, a generalization of the permutahedron defined for any subset of the n×n grid. In contrast, we show that computing these coefficients explicitly is #P-complete.

Schubert Polynomials, Theta and Eta Polynomials, and Weyl Group Invariants

We examine the relationship between the (double) Schubert polynomials of Billey-Haiman and Ikeda-Mihalcea-Naruse and the (double) theta and eta polynomials of Buch-Kresch-Tamvakis and Wilson from the perspective of Weyl group invariants. We obtain generators for the kernel of the natural map from the corresponding ring of Schubert polynomials to the (equivariant) cohomology ring of symplectic and orthogonal flag manifolds.

Double Grothendieck Polynomials and Colored Lattice Models

Abstract We construct an integrable colored six-vertex model whose partition function is a double Grothendieck polynomial. This gives an integrable systems interpretation of bumpless pipe dreams and recent results of Weigandt relating double Grothendieck polynomias with bumpless pipe dreams. For vexillary permutations, we then construct a new model that we call the semidual version model. We use our semidual model and the five-vertex model of Motegi and Sakai to give a new proof that double Grothendieck polynomials for vexillary permutations are equal to flagged factorial Grothendieck polynomials. Taking the stable limit of double Grothendieck polynomials, we obtain a new proof that the stable limit is a factorial Grothendieck polynomial as defined by McNamara. The states of our semidual model naturally correspond to families of nonintersecting lattice paths, where we can then use the Lindström–Gessel–Viennot lemma to give a determinant formula for double Schubert polynomials corresponding to vexillary permutations.

Principal specializations of Schubert polynomials and pattern containment

The principal specialization νw=Sw(1,…,1) of the Schubert polynomial at w, which equals the degree of the matrix Schubert variety corresponding to w, has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. In this paper, we show that νw is bounded below by 1+p132(w)+p1432(w) where pu(w) is the number of occurrences of the pattern u in w, strengthening a previous result by A. Weigandt. We then make a conjecture relating the principal specialization of Schubert polynomials to pattern containment. Finally, we characterize permutations w whose RC-graphs are connected by simple ladder moves via pattern avoidance.

Slide complexes and subword complexes

Subword complexes were defined by A.Knutson and E.Miller in 2004 for describing Gr\"obner degenerations of matrix Schubert varieties. The facets of such a complex are indexed by pipe dreams, or, equivalently, by the monomials in the corresponding Schubert polynomial. In 2017 S.Assaf and D.Searles defined a basis of slide polynomials, generalizing Stanley symmetric functions, and described a combinatorial rule for expanding Schubert polynomials in this basis. We describe a decomposition of subword complexes into strata called slide complexes, that correspond to slide polynomials. The slide complexes are shown to be homeomorphic to balls or spheres.

A filtration on the cohomology rings of regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties

Let n be a positive integer. The main result of this manuscript is a construction of a filtration on the cohomology ring of a regular nilpotent Hessenberg variety in $$GL(n,{\mathbb {C}})/B$$ such that its associated graded ring has graded pieces (i.e., homogeneous components) isomorphic to rings which are related to the cohomology rings of Hessenberg varieties in $$GL(n-1,{\mathbb {C}})/B$$ , showing the inductive nature of these rings. In previous work, the first two authors, together with Abe and Masuda, gave an explicit presentation of these cohomology rings in terms of generators and relations. We introduce a new set of polynomials which are closely related to the relations in the above presentation and obtain a sequence of equivalence relations they satisfy; this allows us to derive our filtration. In addition, we obtain the following three corollaries. First, we give an inductive formula for the Poincare polynomial of these varieties. Second, we give an explicit monomial basis for the cohomology rings of regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties with respect to the presentation mentioned above. Third, we derive a basis of the set of linear relations satisfied by the images of the Schubert classes in the cohomology rings of regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties. Finally, our methods and results suggest many directions for future work; in particular, we propose a definition of “Hessenberg Schubert polynomials” in the context of regular nilpotent Hessenberg varieties, which generalize the classical Schubert polynomials. We also outline several open questions pertaining to them.

The Sperner property for 132‐avoiding intervals in the weak order

A well-known result of Stanley from 1980 implies that the weak order on a maximal parabolic quotient of the symmetric group $S_n$ has the Sperner property; this same property was recently established for the weak order on all of $S_n$ by Gaetz and Gao, resolving a long-open problem. In this paper we interpolate between these results by showing that the weak order on any parabolic quotient of $S_n$ (and more generally on any $132$-avoiding interval) has the Sperner property. This result is proven by exhibiting an action of $\mathfrak{sl}_2$ respecting the weak order on these intervals. As a corollary we obtain a new formula for principal specializations of Schubert polynomials. Our formula can be seen as a strong Bruhat order analogue of Macdonald's reduced word formula. This proof technique and formula generalize work of Hamaker, Pechenik, Speyer, and Weigandt and Gaetz and Gao.

Vertices of Schubitopes

Schubitopes were introduced by Monical, Tokcan and Yong as a specific family of generalized permutohedra. It was proven by Fink, Mészáros and St. Dizier that Schubitopes are the Newton polytopes of the dual characters of flagged Weyl modules. Important cases of Schubitopes include the Newton polytopes of Schubert polynomials and key polynomials. In this paper, we develop a combinatorial rule to generate the vertices of Schubitopes. As an application, we show that the vertices of the Newton polytope of a key polynomial can be generated by permutations in a lower interval in the Bruhat order, settling a conjecture of Monical, Tokcan and Yong.

Zero-one Schubert polynomials

We prove that if sigma in S_m is a pattern of w in S_n, then we can express the Schubert polynomial mathfrak {S}_w as a monomial times mathfrak {S}_sigma (in reindexed variables) plus a polynomial with nonnegative coefficients. This implies that the set of permutations whose Schubert polynomials have all their coefficients equal to either 0 or 1 is closed under pattern containment. Using Magyar’s orthodontia, we characterize this class by a list of twelve avoided patterns. We also give other equivalent conditions on mathfrak {S}_w being zero-one. In this case, the Schubert polynomial mathfrak {S}_w is equal to the integer point transform of a generalized permutahedron.

Kraskiewicz-Pragacz modules and Pieri and dual Pieri rules for Schubert polynomials

In their 1987 paper Kraskiewicz and Pragacz defined certain modules, which we call KP modules, over the upper triangular Lie algebra whose characters are Schubert polynomials. In a previous work the author showed that the tensor product of Kraskiewicz-Pragacz modules always has KP filtration, i.e. a filtration whose each successive quotients are isomorphic to KP modules. In this paper we explicitly construct such filtrations for certain special cases of these tensor product modules, namely Sw Sd(Ki) and Sw Vd(Ki), corresponding to Pieri and dual Pieri rules for Schubert polynomials.

Factorial Characters and Tokuyama's Identity for Classical Groups

In this paper we introduce factorial characters for the classical groups and derive a number of central results. Classically, the factorial Schur function plays a fundamental role in traditional symmetric function theory and also in Schubert polynomial theory. Here we develop a parallel theory for the classical groups, offering combinatorial definitions of the factorial characters for the symplectic and orthogonal groups, and further establish flagged factorial Jacobi-Trudi identities and factorial Tokuyama identities, providing proofs in the symplectic case. These identities are established by manipulating determinants through the use of certain recurrence relations and by using lattice paths.

Combinatorial description of the cohomology of the affine flag variety

We construct the affine version of the Fomin-Kirillov algebra, called the affine FK algebra, to investigatethe combinatorics of affine Schubert calculus for typeA. We introduce Murnaghan-Nakayama elements and Dunklelements in the affine FK algebra. We show that they are commutative as Bruhat operators, and the commutativealgebra generated by these operators is isomorphic to the cohomology of the affine flag variety. As a byproduct, weobtain Murnaghan-Nakayama rules both for the affine Schubert polynomials and affine Stanley symmetric functions. This enable us to expressk-Schur functions in terms of power sum symmetric functions. We also provide the defi-nition of the affine Schubert polynomials, polynomial representatives of the Schubert basis in the cohomology of theaffine flag variety.

The Prism tableau model for Schubert polynomials

The Schubert polynomials lift the Schur basis of symmetric polynomials into a basis for Z[x1; x2; : : :]. We suggest the prism tableau model for these polynomials. A novel aspect of this alternative to earlier results is that it directly invokes semistandard tableaux; it does so as part of a colored tableau amalgam. In the Grassmannian case, a prism tableau with colors ignored is a semistandard Young tableau. Our arguments are developed from the Gr¨obner geometry of matrix Schubert varieties.

Weighted enumeration of Bruhat chains in the symmetric group

We use the recently introduced padded Schubert polynomials to prove a common generalization of the fact that the weighted number of maximal chains in the strong Bruhat order on the symmetric group is ( n 2 ) ! {n \choose 2}! for both the code weights and the Chevalley weights, generalizing a result of Stembridge. We also define weights which give a one-parameter family of strong order analogues of Macdonald’s well-known reduced word identity for Schubert polynomials.

Generation of Schubert polynomial series via nanometre-scale photoisomerization in photochromic single crystal and double-probe optical near-field measurements

Generation of irregular time series based on physical processes is indispensable in computing and artificial intelligence. In this report, we propose and demonstrate the generation of Schubert polynomials, which are the foundation of versatile permutations in mathematics, via optical near-field processes introduced in a photochromic crystal of diarylethene combined with a simple photon detection protocol. Optical near-field excitation on the surface of a photochromic single crystal yields a chain of local photoisomerization, forming a complex pattern on the opposite side of the crystal. The incoming photon travels through the nanostructured photochromic crystal, and the exit position of the photon exhibits a versatile pattern. We emulated trains of photons based on the optical pattern experimentally observed through double-probe optical near-field microscopy, where the detection position was determined based on a simple protocol, leading to Schubert matrices corresponding to Schubert polynomials. The versatility and correlations of the generated Schubert matrices could be reconfigured in either a soft or hard manner by adjusting the photon detection sensitivity. This is the first study of Schubert polynomial generation via physical processes or nanophotonics, paving the way for future nano-scale intelligence devices and systems.

Derivatives of Schubert polynomials and proof of a determinant conjecture of Stanley

We study the action of a differential operator on Schubert polynomials. Using this action, we first give a short new proof of an identity of I. Macdonald (1991). We then prove a determinant conjecture of R. Stanley (2017). This conjecture implies the (strong) Sperner property for the weak order on the symmetric group, a property recently established by C. Gaetz and Y. Gao (2018).