arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Nicholas Proudfoot.
We introduce the intersection cohomology module of a matroid and prove that it satisfies Poincaré duality, the hard Lefschetz theorem, and the Hodge-Riemann relations. As applications, we obtain proofs of Dowling and Wilson's Top-Heavy conjecture and the nonnegativity of the coefficients of Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials for all matroids.
The Popov-Vinberg variety of a simply connected, split, semisimple algebraic group $G$ is a singular affine variety that contains the basic affine space $G/U$ as a Zariski open subset. It is defined as the spectrum of the ring of functions on $G/U$, and can also be identified with the universal symplectic implosion for the maximal compact subgroup of $G$. We provide a recursive procedure for computing the intersection cohomology of this variety, with an emphasis on the case where $G = \operatorname{SL}_n$.
A central question in the theory of hyperplane arrangements is when the complement of a complex arrangement is aspherical. Barkley and Speyer introduced a class of real arrangements that are called "clean," and Yoshinaga proved that every real arrangement whose complexification is $K(π,1)$ is clean. We show that cleanliness is equivalent to a natural statement about the Varchenko-Gelfand ring, which in practice allows for fast calculation. We conclude with an investigation of the relationships between various properties of arrangements, including cleanliness and the asphericity of the arrangement complement.
We survey three settings in which dimensions of intersection cohomology groups of algebraic varieties provide deep combinatorial and representation-theoretic information, and computations of the groups themselves have been made using combinatorial sheaves on finite posets. These settings are (1) intersection cohomology of Schubert varieties, the associated Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials and their realizations via moment graph sheaves and Soergel bimodules; (2) intersection cohomology of toric varieties, the associated g-polynomials of convex polytopes, and their realization via the theory of intersection cohomology of fans; and (3) intersection cohomology of arrangement Schubert varieties, the associated Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials of matroids, and their realization via intersection cohomology of matroids. In all three settings these constructions are valid in more general situations where the variety does not exist, leading to "intersection cohomology without spaces." We give parallel presentations of these three stories, highlighting applications to KLS-polynomials.
We give a new proof of the fact that the complement of the complexification of a real hyperplane arrangement is homotopy equivalent to the Salvetti complex of the associated oriented matroid. Our proof involves no choices, is relatively easy to visualize, and generalizes to the setting of conditional oriented matroids.
Zonotopal algebras of vector arrangements are combinatorially-defined algebras with connections to approximation theory, introduced by Holtz and Ron and independently by Ardila and Postnikov. We show that the internal zonotopal algebra of a cographical vector arrangement is isomorphic to the cohomology ring of a certain configuration space introduced by Moseley, Proudfoot, and Young. We also study an integral form of this algebra, which in the cographical case is isomorphic to the integral cohomology ring. Our results rely on interpreting the internal zonotopal algebra of a totally unimodular arrangement as an orbit harmonics ring, that is, as the associated graded of the ring of functions on a finite set of lattice points.
Zonotopal algebras, introduced by Postnikov--Shapiro--Shapiro, Ardila--Postnikov, and Holtz--Ron, show up in many different contexts, including approximation theory, representation theory, Donaldson--Thomas theory, and hypertoric geometry. In the first half of this paper, we construct a perfect pairing between the internal zonotopal algebra of a linear space and the reduced Orlik--Terao algebra of the Gale dual linear space. As an application, we prove a conjecture of Moseley--Proudfoot--Young that relates the reduced Orlik--Terao algebra of a graph to the cohomology of a certain configuration space. In the second half of the paper, we interpret the Macaulay inverse system of a zonotopal algebra as the space of sections of a sheaf on the Schubert variety of a linear space. As an application of this, we use an equivariant resolution of the structure sheaf of the Schubert variety inside of a product of projective lines to produce an exact sequence relating internal and external zonotopal algebras.
We determine the convergence regions of certain local integrals on the moduli spaces of curves in neighborhoods of fixed stable curves in terms of the combinatorics of the corresponding graphs.
We introduce the notion of a categorical valuative invariant of polyhedra or matroids, in which alternating sums of numerical invariants are replaced by split exact sequences in an additive category. We provide categorical lifts of a number of valuative invariants of matroids, including the Poincare polynomial, the Chow and augmented Chow polynomials, and certain two-variable extensions of the Kazhdan--Lusztig polynomial and Z-polynomial. These lifts allow us to perform calculations equivariantly with respect to automorphism groups of matroids.
By the work of Ferroni and Larson, Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials and Z-polynomials of complete graphs have combinatorial interpretations in terms of quasi series-parallel matroids. We provide explicit formulas for the number of series-parallel matroids and the number of simple series-parallel matroids of a given rank and cardinality, extending results of Ferroni-Larson and Gao-Proudfoot-Yang-Zhang.
We study the $K$-ring of the wonderful variety of a hyperplane arrangement and give a combinatorial presentation that depends only on the underlying matroid. We use this combinatorial presentation to define the $K$-ring of an arbitrary loopless matroid. We construct an exceptional isomorphism, with integer coefficients, to the Chow ring of the matroid that satisfies a Hirzebruch--Riemann--Roch-type formula, generalizing a recent construction of Berget, Eur, Spink, and Tseng for the permutohedral variety (the wonderful variety of a Boolean arrangement). As an application, we give combinatorial formulas for Euler characteristics of arbitrary line bundles on wonderful varieties. We give analogous constructions and results for augmented wonderful varieties, and for Deligne--Mumford--Knudsen moduli spaces of stable rational curves with marked points.
Ferroni and Larson gave a combinatorial interpretation of the braid Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials in terms of series-parallel matroids. As a consequence, they confirmed an explicit formula for the leading Kazhdan-Lusztig coefficients of braid matroids with odd rank, as conjectured by Elias, Proudfoot, and Wakefield. Based on Ferroni and Larson's work, we further explore the combinatorics behind the leading Kazhdan-Lusztig coefficients of braid matroids. The main results of this paper include an explicit formula for the leading Kazhdan-Lusztig coefficients of braid matroids with even rank, a simple expression for the number of simple series-parallel matroids of rank k + 1 on 2k elements, and explicit formulas for the leading coefficients of inverse Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials of braid matroids. The binomial identity for the Abel polynomials plays an important role in the proofs of these formulas.
We give a cohomological interpretation of the Heaviside filtration on the Varchenko--Gelfand ring of a pair $(\mathcal{A},\mathcal{K})$, where $\mathcal{A}$ is a real hyperplane arrangement and $\mathcal{K}$ is a convex open subset of the ambient vector space. This builds on work of the first author, who studied the filtration from a purely algebraic perspective, as well as work of Moseley, who gave a cohomological interpretation in the special case where $\mathcal{K}$ is the ambient vector space. We also define the Gelfand--Rybnikov ring of a conditional oriented matroid, which simultaneously generalizes the Gelfand--Rybnikov ring of an oriented matroid and the aforementioned Varchenko--Gelfand ring of a pair. We give purely combinatorial presentations of the ring, its associated graded, and its Rees algebra.
We re-examine some topics in representation theory of Lie algebras and Springer theory in a more general context, viewing the universal enveloping algebra as an example of the section ring of a quantization of a conical symplectic resolution. While some modification from this classical context is necessary, many familiar features survive. These include a version of the Beilinson-Bernstein localization theorem, a theory of Harish-Chandra bimodules and their relationship to convolution operators on cohomology, and a discrete group action on the derived category of representations, generalizing the braid group action on category O via twisting functors. Our primary goal is to apply these results to other quantized symplectic resolutions, including quiver varieties and hypertoric varieties. This provides a new context for known results about Lie algebras, Cherednik algebras, finite W-algebras, and hypertoric enveloping algebras, while also pointing to the study of new algebras arising from more general resolutions.
We define and study category $\mathcal O$ for a symplectic resolution, generalizing the classical BGG category $\mathcal O$, which is associated with the Springer resolution. This includes the development of intrinsic properties parallelling the BGG case, such as a highest weight structure and analogues of twisting and shuffling functors, along with an extensive discussion of individual examples. We observe that category $\mathcal O$ is often Koszul, and its Koszul dual is often equivalent to category $\mathcal O$ for a different symplectic resolution. This leads us to define the notion of a symplectic duality between symplectic resolutions, which is a collection of isomorphisms between representation theoretic and geometric structures, including a Koszul duality between the two categories. This duality has various cohomological consequences, including (conjecturally) an identification of two geometric realizations, due to Nakajima and Ginzburg/Mirković-Vilonen, of weight spaces of simple representations of simply-laced simple algebraic groups. An appendix by Ivan Losev establishes a key step in the proof that $\mathcal O$ is highest weight.
We define the graph minor category and prove that the category of contravariant representations of the graph minor category over a Noetherian ring is locally Noetherian. This can be regarded as a categorification of the Robertson--Seymour graph minor theorem. In addition, we generalize Sam and Snowden's Gröbner theory of categories to the setting of pairs consisting of a category along with a functor to sets, and we apply this theory to the edge functor on the graph minor category. As an application, we study homology groups of unordered configuration spaces of graphs, improving upon various finite generation results in this subject.
We study the representation theory of the invariant subalgebra of the Weyl algebra under a torus action, which we call a "hypertoric enveloping algebra." We define an analogue of BGG category O for this algebra, and identify it with a certain category of sheaves on a hypertoric variety. We prove that a regular block of this category is highest weight and Koszul, identify its Koszul dual, compute its center, and study its cell structure. We also consider a collection of derived auto-equivalences analogous to the shuffling and twisting functors for BGG category O.
We study the way in which equivariant Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials, equivariant inverse Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials, and equivariant Z-polynomials of matroids change under the operation of relaxation of a collection of stressed hyperplanes. This allows us to compute these polynomials for arbitrary paving matroids, which we do in a number of examples, including various matroids associated with Steiner systems that admit actions of Mathieu groups.