arXiv subjects

Martha Precup

Publications and source records attributed to Martha Precup.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Hessenberg varieties of parabolic type

This paper studies the geometry and combinatorics of three interrelated varieties: Springer fibers, Steinberg varieties, and parabolic Hessenberg varieties. We prove that each parabolic Hessenberg variety is the pullback of a Steinberg variety under the projection of the flag variety to an appropriate partial flag variety and we give three applications of this result. The first application constructs an explicit paving of all Steinberg varieties in Lie type $A$ in terms of semistandard tableaux. As a result, we obtain an elementary proof of a theorem of Steinberg and Shimomura that the well-known Kostka numbers count the maximal-dimensional irreducible components of Steinberg varieties. The second application proves an open conjecture for certain parabolic Hessenberg varieties in Lie type A by showing that their Betti numbers equal those of a specific union of Schubert varieties. The third application proves that the irreducible components of parabolic Hessenberg varieties are in bijection with the irreducible components of the Steinberg variety. All three of these applications extend our geometric understanding of the three varieties at the heart of this paper, a full understanding of which is unknown even for Springer varieties, despite over forty years' worth of work.

math.AG↗

arXiv2019

Upper-triangular linear relations on multiplicities and the Stanley-Stembridge conjecture

In 2015, Brosnan and Chow, and independently Guay-Paquet, proved the Shareshian-Wachs conjecture, which links the Stanley-Stembridge conjecture in combinatorics to the geometry of Hessenberg varieties through Tymoczko's permutation group action on the cohomology ring of regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties. In previous work, the authors exploited this connection to prove a refined (graded) version of the Stanley-Stembridge conjecture in a special case. In this manuscript, we derive a new set of linear relations satisfied by the multiplicities of certain permutation representations in Tymoczko's representation. We also show that these relations are upper-triangular in an appropriate sense, and in particular, they uniquely determine the multiplicities. As an application of these results, we prove an inductive formula for the multiplicity coefficients corresponding to partitions with a maximal number of parts. It follows from our formula that these coefficients are non-negative, thus giving additional positive evidence for the graded Stanley--Stembridge conjecture in the general case.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Springer fibers and Schubert points

Springer fibers are subvarieties of the flag variety parametrized by partitions; they are central objects of study in geometric representation theory. Schubert varieties are subvarieties of the flag variety that induce a well-known basis for the cohomology of the flag variety. This paper relates these two varieties combinatorially. We prove that the Betti numbers of the Springer fiber associated to a partition with at most three rows or two columns are equal to the Betti numbers of a specific union of Schubert varieties.

math.CO↗

arXiv2017

The cohomology of abelian Hessenberg varieties and the Stanley-Stembridge conjecture

We define a subclass of Hessenberg varieties called abelian Hessenberg varieties, inspired by the theory of abelian ideals in a Lie algebra developed by Kostant and Peterson. We give an inductive formula for the $S_n$-representation on the cohomology of an abelian regular semisimple Hessenberg variety with respect to the action defined by Tymoczko. Our result implies that a graded version of the Stanley-Stembridge conjecture holds in the abelian case, and generalizes results obtained by Shareshian-Wachs and Teff. Our proof uses previous work of Stanley, Gasharov, Shareshian-Wachs, and Brosnan-Chow, as well as results of the second author on the geometry and combinatorics of Hessenberg varieties. As part of our arguments, we obtain inductive formulas for the Poincaré polynomials of regular abelian Hessenberg varieties.

math.CO↗

arXiv2017

The singular locus of semisimple Hessenberg varieties

Although regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties are smooth and irreducible, semisimple Hessenberg varieties are not necessarily smooth in general. In this paper we determine the irreducible components of semisimple Hessenberg varieties corresponding to the standard Hessenberg space. We prove that these irreducible components are smooth and give an explicit description of their intersections, which constitute the singular locus. We conclude with an example of a semisimple Hessenberg variety corresponding to another Hessenberg space which is singular and irreducible, showing that results of this nature do not hold for all semisimple Hessenberg varieties.

math.AG↗

arXiv2016

The Betti numbers of regular Hessenberg varieties are palindromic

Recently Brosnan and Chow have proven a conjecture of Shareshian and Wachs describing a representation of the symmetric group on the cohomology of regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties for $GL_n(\mathbb{C})$. A key component of their argument is that the Betti numbers of regular Hessenberg varieties for $GL_n(\mathbb{C})$ are palindromic. In this paper, we extend this result to all reductive algebraic groups, proving that the Betti numbers of regular Hessenberg varieties are palindromic.

math.AG↗

arXiv2013

The Connectedness of Hessenberg Varieties

In this paper we consider certain closed subvarieties of the flag variety, known as Hessenberg varieties. We give a connectedness criterion for semisimple Hessenberg varieties generalizing a criterion given by Anderson and Tymoczko. We show that nilpotent Hessenberg varieties are rationally connected.

math.AG↗

arXiv2012

Affine pavings of Hessenberg varieties for semisimple groups

In this paper we consider certain closed subvarieties of the flag variety, known as Hessenberg varieties. We prove that Hessenberg varieties corresponding to nilpotent elements which are regular in a Levi factor are paved by affines. We provide a partial reduction from paving Hessenberg varieties for arbitrary elements to paving those corresponding to nilpotent elements. As a consequence, we generalize results of Tymoczko asserting that Hessenberg varieties for regular nilpotent and arbitrary elements of \mathfrak{gl}_n(\C) are paved by affines. For example, our results prove that any Hessenberg variety corresponding to a regular element is paved by affines. As a corollary, in all these cases the Hessenberg variety has no odd dimensional cohomology.

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