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Lara Bossinger

Publications and source records attributed to Lara Bossinger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

Singularities of massless scattering and cluster algebras

Partial flag varieties arise in the context of massless scattering kinematics. They can be associated to both spinor-helicity variables and momentum twistor variables in two separate yet natural ways. Here we report on evidence at five and six points that the cluster algebras associated to these partial flag varieties contain information relevant to non-dual conformal massless scattering amplitudes and related observables. At five points both spinor-helicity and momentum twistor cluster structures capture similar information about symbol alphabets. At six points we demonstrate that the momentum twistor structure captures a larger subset of the alphabet compared to the spinor-helicity one. We also observe that the associated cluster structures correctly predict the appearance of certain triples of symbol letters related to cluster mutation relations.

hep-th↗
arXiv2024

Binary geometries from pellytopes

Binary geometries have recently been introduced in particle physics in connection with stringy integrals. In this work, we study a class of simple polytopes, called \emph{pellytopes}, whose number of vertices are given by Pell's numbers. We provide a new family of binary geometries determined by pellytopes as conjectured by He--Li--Raman--Zhang. We relate this family to the moduli space of curves by comparing the pellytope to the ABHY associahedron.

math.AG↗
arXiv2024

Cluster structures on spinor helicity and momentum twistor varieties

We study the homogeneous coordinate rings of partial flag varieties and Grassmannians in their Pl\"ucker embeddings and exhibit an embedding of the former into the latter. Both rings are cluster algebras and the embedding respects the cluster algebra structures in the sense that there exists a seed for the Grassmannian that restricts to a seed for the partial flag variety (\textit{i.e.} it is obtained by freezing and deleting some cluster variables). The motivation for this project stems from the application of cluster algebras in scattering amplitudes: spinor helicity and momentum twistor varieties describe massless scattering without assuming dual conformal symmetry. Both may be obtained from Grassmanninas which model the dual conformal case. They are instances of partial flag varieties and their cluster structures reveal information for the scattering amplitudes. As an application of our main result we exhibit the relation between these cluster algebras.

math.AG↗
arXiv2023

Tropical initial degeneration for systems of algebraic differential equations

We study the notion of degeneration for affine schemes associated to systems of algebraic differential equations with coefficients in the fraction field of a multivariate formal power series ring. In order to do this, we use an integral structure of this field that arises as the unit ball associated to the tropical valuation, first introduced in the context of tropical differential algebra. This unit ball turns out to be a particular type of integral domain, known as B\'ezout domain. By applying to these systems a translation map along a vector of weights that emulates the one used in classical tropical algebraic geometry, the resulting translated systems will have coefficients in this unit ball. When the resulting quotient module over the unit ball is torsion-free, then it gives rise to integral models of the original system in which every prime ideal of the unit ball defines an initial degeneration, and they can be found as a base-change to the residue field of the prime ideal. In particular, the closed fibres of our integral models can be rightfully called initial degenerations, since we show that the maximal ideals of this unit ball naturally correspond to monomial orders. We use this correspondence to define initial forms of differential polynomials and initial ideals of differential ideals, and we show that they share many features of their classical analogues.

math.AG↗
arXiv2023

Newton--Okounkov bodies and minimal models for cluster varieties

Let $Y$ be a (partial) minimal model of a scheme $V$ with a cluster structure. Under natural assumptions, for every choice of seed we associate a Newton--Okounkov body to every divisor on $Y$ supported on $Y \setminus V$ and show that these Newton--Okounkov bodies are positive sets in the sense of Gross, Hacking, Keel and Kontsevich \cite{GHKK}. This construction essentially reverses the procedure in loc. cit. that generalizes the polytope construction of a toric variety to the framework of cluster varieties. In a closely related setting, we consider cases where $Y$ is a projective variety whose universal torsor $\text{UT}_Y$ is a partial minimal model of a scheme with a cluster structure of type $\mathcal A$. If the theta functions parametrized by the integral points of the associated superpotential cone form a basis of the ring of algebraic functions on $\text{UT}_Y$ and the action of the torus $T_{\text{Pic}(Y)^*}$ on $\text{UT}_Y$ is compatible with the cluster structure, then for every choice of seed we associate a Newton--Okounkov body to every line bundle on $Y$. We prove that any such Newton--Okounkov body is a positive set and that $Y$ is a minimal model of a quotient of a cluster $\mathcal A$-variety by the action of a torus. Our constructions lead to the notion of the intrinsic Newton--Okounkov body associated to a boundary divisor in a partial minimal model of a scheme with a cluster structure. This provides a wide class of examples of Newton-Okoukov bodies exhibiting a wall-crossing phenomenon in the sense of Escobar--Harada \cite{EH20}. This approach includes the partial flag varieties that arise as minimal models of cluster varieties. For the case of Grassmannians, our approach recovers, up to interesting unimodular equivalences, the Newton--Okounkov bodies constructed by Rietsch--Williams in \cite{RW}.

math.AG↗
arXiv2023

A survey on toric degenerations of projective varieties

In this survey I summarize the constructions of toric degenerations obtained from valuations and Gr\"obner theory and describe in which sense they are equivalent. I show how adapted bases can be used to generalize the classical Newton polytope to what is called a $\mathbb B$-Newton polytope. The $\mathbb B$-Newton polytope determines the Newton--Okounkov polytopes of all Khovanskii-finite valuations sharing the adapted standard monomial basis $\mathbb B$.

math.AG↗
arXiv2022

Maps to toric varieties, toric degenerations and integrable systems \`a la Harada--Kaveh

Given a toric degeneration (a degeneration to a toric variety), over the complex numbers, we construct a surjective continuous map from a general fiber to the special fiber of the degeneration in the classical topology. The construction is a variant of one due to Goresky and MacPherson based on the Thom--Mather theory of stratified spaces. As an application, we recover and extend the construction of integrable systems \`a la Harada--Kaveh in "Integrable systems, toric degenerations and okounkov bodies." Compared to their result, our map is constructed more explicitly and we also construct the integrable systems on the boundary strata. This paper is a part of the authors' research on maps to toric degenerations; we refer the readers to "Toric degenerations and projections," arxiv and "Notes on multi-proj and maps to not-necessarily-normal toric varieties," researchgate for more algebraic approaches.

math.AG↗
arXiv2022

Tropical totally positive cluster varieties

We study the relation between the integer tropical points of a cluster variety (satisfying the full Fock-Goncharov conjecture) and the totally positive part of the tropicalization of an ideal presenting the corresponding cluster algebra. Suppose we are given a presentation of the cluster algebra by a Khovanskii basis for a collection of ${\bf g}$-vector valuations associated with several seeds related by mutations. In presence of a full rank fully extended exchange matrix we construct the rays of a subfan of the totally positive part of the tropicalization of the ideal that coincides combinatorially with the subgraph of the exchange graph of the cluster algebra corresponding to the collection of seeds. Moreover, geometric information about Gross-Hacking-Keel-Kontsevich's toric degenerations associated with seeds gets identified with the Gr\"obner toric degenerations obtained from maximal cones in the tropicalization. As application we prove a conjecture about the relation between Rietsch-Williams' valuations for Grassmannians arising from plabic graphs \cite{RW17} to Kaveh-Manon's work on valuations from the tropicalization of an ideal \cite{KM16}. In a second application we give a partial answer to the question if the Feigin-Fourier-Littelmann-Vinberg degeneration of the full flag variety in type $\mathtt A$ is isomorphic to a degeneration obtained from the cluster structure.

math.AG↗
arXiv2020

Families of Gr\"obner Degenerations, Grassmannians and Universal Cluster Algebras

Let $V$ be the weighted projective variety defined by a weighted homogeneous ideal $J$ and $C$ a maximal cone in the Gr\"obner fan of $J$ with $m$ rays. We construct a flat family over $\mathbb A^m$ that assembles the Gr\"obner degenerations of $V$ associated with all faces of $C$. This is a multi-parameter generalization of the classical one-parameter Gr\"obner degeneration associated to a weight. We explain how our family can be constructed from Kaveh-Manon's recent work on the classification of toric flat families over toric varieties: it is the pull-back of a toric family defined by a Rees algebra with base $X_C$ (the toric variety associated to $C$) along the universal torsor $\mathbb A^m \to X_C$. We apply this construction to the Grassmannians ${\rm Gr}(2,\mathbb C^n)$ with their Pl\"ucker embeddings and the Grassmannian ${\rm Gr}\big(3,\mathbb C^6\big)$ with its cluster embedding. In each case, there exists a unique maximal Gr\"obner cone whose associated initial ideal is the Stanley-Reisner ideal of the cluster complex. We show that the corresponding cluster algebra with universal coefficients arises as the algebra defining the flat family associated to this cone. Further, for ${\rm Gr}(2,\mathbb C^n)$ we show how Escobar-Harada's mutation of Newton-Okounkov bodies can be recovered as tropicalized cluster mutation.

math.AG↗
arXiv2019

Birational sequences and the tropical Grassmannian

We introduce iterated sequences for Grassmannians, a new class of Fang-Fourier-Littelmanns' birational sequences and explain how they give rise to points in $\text{trop}(\text{Gr}(k,\mathbb C^n))$, Speyer-Sturmfels' tropical Grassmannian. For $\text{Gr}(2,\mathbb C^n)$ we show that the associated valuations induce toric degenerations. We describe recursively the vertices of the corresponding Newton--Okounkov polytopes, which are particular vertices of a hypercube and hence integral. We show further that every toric degeneration of $\text{Gr}(2,\mathbb C^{n})$ constructed using the tropical Grassmannian can be recovered by iterated sequences.

math.RT↗
arXiv2019

Full-rank Valuations and Toric Initial Ideals

Let $V(I)$ be a polarized projective variety or a subvariety of a product of projective spaces and let $A$ be its (multi-)homogeneous coordinate ring. Given a full-rank valuation $\mathfrak v$ on $A$ we associate weights to the coordinates of the projective space, respectively, the product of projective spaces. Let $w_{\mathfrak v}$ be the vector whose entries are these weights. Our main result is that the value semi-group of $\mathfrak v$ is generated by the images of the generators of $A$ if and only if the initial ideal of $I$ with respect to $w_{\mathfrak v}$ is prime. We further show that $w_{\mathfrak v}$ always lies in the tropicalization of $I$. Applying our result to string valuations for flag varieties, we solve a conjecture by \cite{BLMM} connecting the Minkowski property of string cones with the tropical flag variety. For Rietsch-Williams' valuation for Grassmannians our results give a criterion for when the Pl\"ucker coordinates form a Khovanskii basis. Further, as a corollary we obtain that the weight vectors defined in \cite{BFFHL} lie in the tropical Grassmannian.

math.AG↗
arXiv2018

Toric degenerations of cluster varieties and cluster duality

We introduce the notion of a $Y$-pattern with coefficients and its geometric counterpart: a cluster $\mathcal{X}$-variety with coefficients. We use these constructions to build a flat degeneration of every skew-symmetrizable specially completed cluster $\mathcal{X}$-variety $\widehat{\mathcal{X}}$ to the toric variety associated to its $\mathbf{g}$-fan. Moreover, we show that the fibers of this family are stratified in a natural way, with strata the specially completed $\mathcal{X}$-varieties encoded by $\mathrm{Star}(\tau)$ for each cone $\tau$ of the $\mathbf{g}$-fan. These strata degenerate to the associated toric strata of the central fiber. We further show that the family is cluster dual to $\mathcal{A}_{\mathrm{prin}}$ of Gross-Hacking-Keel-Kontsevich, and the fibers cluster dual to $\mathcal{A}_t$. Finally, we give two applications. First, we use our construction to identify the Rietsch-Williams toric degeneration of Grassmannians with the Gross-Hacking-Keel-Kontsevich degeneration in the case of $\mathrm{Gr}_2(\mathbb{C}^5)$. Next, we use it to link cluster duality to Batyrev-Borisov duality of Gorenstein toric Fanos in the context of mirror symmetry.

math.AG↗
arXiv2018

Toric degenerations: a bridge between representation theory, tropical geometry and cluster algebras

In this thesis we study toric degenerations of projective varieties. We compare different constructions to understand how and why they are related as s first step towards developing a global framework. In focus are toric degenerations obtained from representation theory, tropical geometry and cluster algebras. Often those rely on valuations and the theory of Newton-Okounkov bodies. Toric degenerations can be seen as a combinatorial shadow of the original objects. The goal is therefore to understand why the different theories are so closely related, by understanding the toric degenerations they yield first. We choose Grassmannians, flag varieties and Schubert varieties as starting point as here many different constructions are applicable. One of our main results gives a sufficient condition for when toric degenerations obtained using full-rank valuations, independent of how these are constructed, can be realized using tropical geometry.

math.AG↗
arXiv2018

Following Schubert varieties under Feigin's degeneration of the flag variety

We describe the effect of Feigin's flat degeneration of the type $\textrm{A}$ flag variety on its Schubert varieties. In particular, we study when they stay irreducible and in several cases we are able to encode reducibility of the degenerations in terms of symmetric group combinatorics. As a side result, we obtain an identification of some Schubert varieties with Richardson varieties in higher rank partial flag varieties.

math.RT↗
arXiv2017

Computing toric degenerations of flag varieties

We compute toric degenerations arising from the tropicalization of the full flag varieties $\mathcal{F}\ell_4$ and $\mathcal{F}\ell_5$ embedded in a product of Grassmannians. For $\mathcal{F}\ell_4$ and $\mathcal{F}\ell_5$ we compare toric degenerations arising from string polytopes and the FFLV polytope with those obtained from the tropicalization of the flag varieties. We also present a general procedure to find toric degenerations in the cases where the initial ideal arising from a cone of the tropicalization of a variety is not prime.

math.AG↗
arXiv2016

Toric degenerations of Gr(2,n) and Gr(3,6) via plabic graphs

We establish an explicit bijection between the toric degenerations of the Grassmannian $\textrm{Gr}(2,n)$ arising from maximal cones in tropical Grassmannians and the ones coming from plabic graphs corresponding to $\textrm{Gr}(2,n)$. We show that a similar statement does not hold for $\textrm{Gr}(3,6)$.

math.CO↗
arXiv2016

String cone and Superpotential combinatorics for flag and Schubert varieties in type A

We study the combinatorics of pseudoline arrangements and their relation to the geometry of flag and Schubert varieties. We associate to each pseudoline arrangement two polyhedral cones, defined in a dual manner. We prove that one of them is the weighted string cone by Littelmann and Berenstein-Zelevinsky. For the other we show how it arises in the framework of cluster varieties and mirror symmetry by Gross-Hacking-Keel-Kontsevich: for the flag variety the cone is the tropicalization of their superpotential while for Schubert varieties a restriction of the superpotential is necessary. We prove that the two cones are unimodularly equivalent. As a corollary of our combinatorial result we realize Caldero's toric degenerations of Schubert varieties as GHKK-degeneration using cluster theory.

math.RT↗