arXiv subjects

Frank Sottile

Publications and source records attributed to Frank Sottile.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

The recursive nature of cominuscule Schubert calculus

The necessary and sufficient Horn inequalities which determine the non-vanishing Littlewood-Richardson coefficients in the cohomology of a Grassmannian are recursive in that they are naturally indexed by non-vanishing Littlewood-Richardson coefficients on smaller Grassmannians. We show how non-vanishing in the Schubert calculus for cominuscule flag varieties is similarly recursive. For these varieties, the non-vanishing of products of Schubert classes is controlled by the non-vanishing products on smaller cominuscule flag varieties. In particular, we show that the lists of Schubert classes whose product is non-zero naturally correspond to the integer points in the feasibility polytope, which is defined by inequalities coming from non-vanishing products of Schubert classes on smaller cominuscule flag varieties. While the Grassmannian is cominuscule, our necessary and sufficient inequalities are different than the classical Horn inequalities.

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arXiv2007

On the Sharpness of fewnomial bound and the number of components of a fewnomial hypersurface

We show the existence of systems of n polynomial equations in n variables, with a total of n+k+1 distinct monomial terms, possessing [n/k+1]^k nondegenerate positive solutions. (Here, [x] is the integer part of a positive number x.) This shows that the recent upper bound of (e^2+3)/4 2^{\binom{k}{2}} n^k for the number of nondegenerate positive solutions is asymptotically sharp for fixed k and large n. We also adapt a method of Perrucci to show that there are fewer than (e^2+3)/4 2^{\binom{k}{2}} 2^n n^k connected components in a smooth hypersurface in the positive orthant of R^n defined by a polynomial with n+k+1 monomials. Our results hold for polynomials with real exponents.

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arXiv2007

Line problems in nonlinear computational geometry

We first review some topics in the classical computational geometry of lines, in particular the O(n^{3+ε}) bounds for the combinatorial complexity of the set of lines in R^3 interacting with $n$ objects of fixed description complexity. The main part of this survey is recent work on a core algebraic problem--studying the lines tangent to k spheres that also meet 4-k fixed lines. We give an example of four disjoint spheres with 12 common real tangents.

math.MG↗

arXiv2007

The Equivariant Chow rings of quot schemes

We give a presentation for the (integral) torus-equivariant Chow ring of the quot scheme, a smooth compactification of the space of rational curves of degree d in the Grassmannian. For this presentation, we refine Evain's extension of the method of Goresky, Kottwitz, and MacPherson to express the torus-equivariant Chow ring in terms of the torus-fixed points and explicit relations coming from the geometry of families of torus-invariant curves. As part of this calculation, we give a complete description of the torus-invariant curves on the quot scheme and show that each family is a product of projective spaces.

math.AG↗

arXiv2006

New fewnomial upper bounds from Gale dual polynomial systems

We show that there are fewer than (e^2+3) 2^(k choose 2) n^k/4 non-degenerate positive solutions to a fewnomial system consisting of n polynomials in n variables having a total of n+k+1 distinct monomials. This is significantly smaller than Khovanskii's fewnomial bound of 2^(n+k choose 2)(n+1)^(n+k). We reduce the original system to a system of k equations in k variables which depends upon the vector configuration Gale dual to the exponents of the monomials in the original system. We then bound the number of solutions to this Gale system. We adapt these methods to show that a hypersurface in the positive orthant of R^n defined by a polynomial with n+k+1 monomials has at most C(k)n^(k-1) compact connected components. Our results hold for polynomials with real exponents.

math.AG↗

arXiv2006

Real Hessian Curves

We give some real polynomials in two variables of degrees 4, 5, and 6 whose hessian curves have more connected components than had been known previously. In particular, we give a quartic polynomial whose hessian curve has 4 compact connected components (ovals), a quintic whose hessian curve has 8 ovals, and a sextic whose hessian curve has 11 ovals.

math.AG↗

arXiv2006

The Horn recursion for Schur P- and Q- functions: Extended Abstract

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 determine when these other Littlewood-Richardson numbers are non-zero. Our inequalities come from the usual Littlewood-Richardson numbers, and while we give two very different Horn recursions, they have the same sets of solutions. Another combinatorial by-product of this work is a new Horn-type recursion for the usual Littlewood-Richardson coefficients.

math.CO↗

arXiv2005

Experimentation and conjectures in the real Schubert calculus for flag manifolds

The Shapiro conjecture in the real Schubert calculus, while likely true for Grassmannians, fails to hold for flag manifolds, but in a very interesting way. We give a refinement of the Shapiro conjecture for the flag manifold and present massive (15.76 gigahertz-years) computational experimentation in support of this refined conjecture. We also prove the conjecture in some special cases using discriminants and establish relationships between different cases of the conjecture.

math.AG↗

arXiv2005

Grothendieck polynomials via permutation patterns and chains in the Bruhat order

We give new formulas for Grothendieck polynomials of two types. One type expresses any specialization of a Grothendieck polynomial in at least two sets of variables as a linear combination of products Grothendieck polynomials in each set of variables, with coefficients Schubert structure constants for Grothendieck polynomials. The other type is in terms of chains in the Bruhat order. We compare this second type to other constructions of Grothendieck polynomials within the more general context of double Grothendieck polynomials and the closely related H-polynomials. Our methods are based upon the geometry of permutation patterns.

math.CO↗

arXiv2005

Irrational proofs for three theorems of Stanley

We give new proofs of three theorems of Stanley on generating functions for the integer points in rational cones. The first, Stanley's reciprocity theorem, relates the rational generating functions for the integer points in a cone K and for those in its interior. The second, Stanley's Positivity theorem asserts that the generating function of the Ehrhart quasipolynomial of a rational polytope P can be written as a rational function with nonnegative numerator. The third, Stanley's Monotonicity Theorem, asserts that if a polytope Q contains P, then each coefficient in the numerator for Q is at least as large as the corresponding coefficient in the numerator for P. Our proofs are based on elementary (primary school) counting afforded by irrational decompositions of rational polyhedra.

math.CO↗

arXiv2005

Structure of the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra of permutations

We analyze the structure of the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra of permutations in detail. We give explicit formulas for its antipode, prove that it is a cofree coalgebra, determine its primitive elements and its coradical filtration, and show that it decomposes as a crossed product over the Hopf algebra of quasi-symmetric functions. In addition, we describe the structure constants of the multiplication as a certain number of facets of the permutahedron. As a consequence we obtain a new interpretation of the product of monomial quasi-symmetric functions in terms of the facial structure of the cube. The Hopf algebra of Malvenuto and Reutenauer has a linear basis indexed by permutations. Our results are obtained from a combinatorial description of the Hopf algebraic structure with respect to a new basis for this algebra, related to the original one via Möbius inversion on the weak order on the symmetric groups. This is in analogy with the relationship between the monomial and fundamental bases of the algebra of quasi-symmetric functions. Our results reveal a close relationship between the structure of the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra and the weak order on the symmetric groups.

math.CO↗

arXiv2005

Lower Bounds for Real Solutions to Sparse Polynomial Systems

We show how to construct sparse polynomial systems that have non-trivial lower bounds on their numbers of real solutions. These are unmixed systems associated to certain polytopes. For the order polytope of a poset P this lower bound is the sign-imbalance of P and it holds if all maximal chains of P have length of the same parity. This theory also gives lower bounds in the real Schubert calculus through sagbi degeneration of the Grassmannian to a toric variety, and thus recovers a result of Eremenko and Gabrielov.

math.AG↗

arXiv2005

Structure of the Loday-Ronco Hopf algebra of trees

Loday and Ronco defined an interesting Hopf algebra structure on the linear span of the set of planar binary trees. They showed that the inclusion of the Hopf algebra of non-commutative symmetric functions in the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra of permutations factors through their Hopf algebra of trees, and these maps correspond to natural maps from the weak order on the symmetric group to the Tamari order on planar binary trees to the boolean algebra. We further study the structure of this Hopf algebra of trees using a new basis for it. We describe the product, coproduct, and antipode in terms of this basis and use these results to elucidate its Hopf-algebraic structure. We also obtain a transparent proof of its isomorphism with the non-commutative Connes-Kreimer Hopf algebra of Foissy, and show that this algebra is related to non-commutative symmetric functions as the (commutative) Connes-Kreimer Hopf algebra is related to symmetric functions.

math.CO↗

arXiv2005

Polynomial systems with few real zeroes

We study some systems of polynomials whose support lies in the convex hull of a circuit, giving a sharp upper bound for their numbers of real solutions. This upper bound is non-trivial in that it is smaller than either the Kouchnirenko or the Khovanskii bounds for these systems. When the support is exactly a circuit whose affine span is ${\Z}^n$, this bound is $2n+1$, while the Khovanskii bound is exponential in $n^2$. The bound $2n+1$ can be attained only for non-degenerate circuits. Our methods involve a mixture of combinatorics, geometry, and arithmetic.

math.AG↗

arXiv2005

Line tangents to four triangles in three-dimensional space

We investigate the lines tangent to four triangles in R^3. By a construction, there can be as many as 62 tangents. We show that there are at most 162 connected components of tangents, and at most 156 if the triangles are disjoint. In addition, if the triangles are in (algebraic) general position, then the number of tangents is finite and it is always even.

math.MG↗

arXiv2005

A Pieri-type formula for the K-theory of a flag manifold

We derive explicit Pieri-type multiplication formulas in the Grothendieck ring of a flag variety. These expand the product of an arbitrary Schubert class and a special Schubert class in the basis of Schubert classes. These special Schubert classes are indexed by a cycle which has either the form (k-p+1,k-p+2,...,k+1) or the form (k+p,k+p-1,...,k), and are pulled back from a Grassmannian projection. Our formulas are in terms of certain labeled chains in the k-Bruhat order on the symmetric group and are combinatorial in that they involve no cancellations. We also show that the multiplicities in the Pieri formula are naturally certain binomial coefficients.

math.CO↗

arXiv2005

Cocommutative Hopf algebras of permutations and trees

Consider the coradical filtrations of the Hopf algebras of planar binary trees of Loday and Ronco and of permutations of Malvenuto and Reutenauer. We give explicit isomorphisms showing that the associated graded Hopf algebras are dual to the cocommutative Hopf algebras introduced in the late 1980's by Grossman and Larson. These Hopf algebras are constructed from ordered trees and heap-ordered trees, respectively. These results follow from the fact that whenever one starts from a Hopf algebra that is a cofree graded coalgebra, the associated graded Hopf algebra is a shuffle Hopf algebra.

math.QA↗

arXiv2005

The envelope of lines meeting a fixed line that are tangent to two spheres

We study the set of lines that meet a fixed line and are tangent to two spheres and classify the configurations consisting of a single line and three spheres for which there are infinitely many lines tangent to the three spheres that also meet the given line. All such configurations are degenerate. The path to this result involves the interplay of some beautiful and intricate geometry of real surfaces in 3-space, complex algebraic geometry, explicit computation and graphics.

math.AG↗