Crystal Structures for Double Stanley Symmetric Functions

We relate the combinatorial definitions of the type $A_n$ and type $C_n$ Stanley symmetric functions, via a combinatorially defined "double Stanley symmetric function," which gives the type $A$ case at $(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{0})$ and gives the type $C$ case at $(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{x})$. We induce a type $A$ bicrystal structure on the underlying combinatorial objects of this function which has previously been done in the type $A$ and type $C$ cases. Next we prove a few statements about the algebraic relationship of these three Stanley symmetric functions. We conclude with some conjectures about what happens when we generalize our constructions to type $C$.

Combinatorial description of the cohomology of the affine flag variety

International audience We construct the affine version of the Fomin-Kirillov algebra, called the affine FK algebra, to investigatethe combinatorics of affine Schubert calculus for typeA. We introduce Murnaghan-Nakayama elements and Dunklelements in the affine FK algebra. We show that they are commutative as Bruhat operators, and the commutativealgebra generated by these operators is isomorphic to the cohomology of the affine flag variety. As a byproduct, weobtain Murnaghan-Nakayama rules both for the affine Schubert polynomials and affine Stanley symmetric functions. This enable us to expressk-Schur functions in terms of power sum symmetric functions. We also provide the defi-nition of the affine Schubert polynomials, polynomial representatives of the Schubert basis in the cohomology of theaffine flag variety.

Cohomology Classes of Interval Positroid Varieties and a Conjecture of Liu

To each finite subset of $\mathbb{Z}^2$ (a diagram), one can associate a subvariety of a complex Grassmannian (a diagram variety), and a representation of a symmetric group (a Specht module). Liu has conjectured that the cohomology class of a diagram variety is represented by the Frobenius characteristic of the corresponding Specht module. We give a counterexample to this conjecture.However, we show that for the diagram variety of a permutation diagram, Liu's conjectured cohomology class $\sigma$ is at least an upper bound on the actual class $\tau$, in the sense that $\sigma - \tau$ is a nonnegative linear combination of Schubert classes. To do this, we exhibit the appropriate diagram variety as a component in a degeneration of one of Knutson's interval positroid varieties (up to Grassmann duality). A priori, the cohomology classes of these interval positroid varieties are represented by affine Stanley symmetric functions. We give a different formula for these classes as ordinary Stanley symmetric functions, one with the advantage of being Schur-positive and compatible with inclusions between Grassmannians.

Schur $P$-positivity and Involution Stanley Symmetric Functions

The involution Stanley symmetric functions$\hat{F}_y$ are the stable limits of the analogs of Schubert polynomials for the orbits of the orthogonal group in the flag variety. These symmetric functions are also generating functions for involution words and are indexed by the involutions in the symmetric group. By construction, each $\hat{F}_y$ is a sum of Stanley symmetric functions and therefore Schur positive. We prove the stronger fact that these power series are Schur $P$-positive. We give an algorithm to efficiently compute the decomposition of $\hat{F}_y$ into Schur $P$-summands and prove that this decomposition is triangular with respect to the dominance order on partitions. As an application, we derive pattern avoidance conditions which characterize the involution Stanley symmetric functions which are equal to Schur $P$-functions. We deduce as a corollary that the involution Stanley symmetric function of the reverse permutation is a Schur $P$-function indexed by a shifted staircase shape. These results lead to alternate proofs of theorems of Ardila–Serrano and DeWitt on skew Schur functions which are Schur $P$-functions. We also prove new Pfaffian formulas for certain related involution Schubert polynomials.

Crystal Analysis of type C Stanley Symmetric Functions

Combining results of T.K. Lam and J. Stembridge, the type $C$ Stanley symmetric function $F_w^C(\mathbf{x})$, indexed by an element $w$ in the type $C$ Coxeter group, has a nonnegative integer expansion in terms of Schur functions. We provide a crystal theoretic explanation of this fact and give an explicit combinatorial description of the coefficients in the Schur expansion in terms of highest weight crystal elements.