Partial $F$-invariants and cluster categorifications

Abstract

The $F$-invariant in cluster algebras is a combinatorial invariant that unifies the $E$-invariant from additive categorification and the $\mathfrak{d}$-invariant from monoidal categorification. In this paper, we study its refinement, the partial $F$-invariant, and establish its mutation formula under changes of the initial seed. As an application, we prove a conjecture of Reading, which asserts that the non-compatible cluster variables can be separated by sign-coherence of $g$-vectors upon varying the initial seed. We further show that, for cluster monomials, the partial $F$-invariants coincide with both the partial $E$-invariants for reachable decorated representations of quivers with potentials and the pole orders of normalized $R$-matrices (or partial $\mathfrak{d}$-invariants) for finite-dimensional reachable simple modules over quantum affine algebras. As consequences, we obtain a combinatorial formula for the pole orders for reachable simple modules in terms of $q$-characters; we verify the conjectural explicit formula for the pole orders between Kirillov--Reshetikhin modules.