The torus equivariant cohomology rings of Springer varieties (Q290627): Difference between revisions

The Springer variety of type \(A\) is a closed subvariety of the flag variety \(\mathrm{Flags} (\mathbb C^n)\) of \(\mathbb C^n\) determined by a nilpotent operator on \(\mathbb C^n\), where the flag variety \(\mathrm{Flags} (\mathbb C^n)\) is the collection of nested linear subspaces \(V_{\bullet} = (0 = V_0 \subset V_1 \subset \cdots \subset V_{n-1} \subset V_n = \mathbb C^n)\) of \(\mathbb C^n\) such that \(\dim_{\mathbb C} V_i = i\) for all i. More precisely, the Springer variety of type \(A\) associated to a nilpotent operator \(N : \mathbb C^n \rightarrow \mathbb C^n\) is a closed subvariety of the flag variety \(\mathrm{Flags} (\mathbb C^n)\) defined by \[ \{V_{\bullet}\in\mathrm{Flags} (\mathbb C^n)\, |\, N V_i \subseteq V_{i-1}\,\text{for all }\, i, 1\leq i \leq n\}. \] When the operator \(N\) is in Jordan canonical form with Jordan blocks of weakly decreasing size \(\lambda = (\lambda_1, \ldots, \lambda_{\ell})\), the Springer variety is denoted by \(S_{\lambda}\). In the 1970s, Springer constructed a representation of the \(n\)-th symmetric group \(S_n\) on the cohomology \(H^* (S_{\lambda}; \mathbb C)\) considered as a complex vector space, and this representation on the top degree part is the irreducible representation of type \(\lambda\). DeConcini and Procesi used this representation to give a presentation of the cohomology ring \(H^* (S_{\lambda}; \mathbb C)\) as a quotient of a polynomial ring by an ideal. Tanisaki gave another set of generators of this ideal which simplifies their presentation; this ideal is now called Tanisaki's ideal. In this paper the authors give an explicit presentation of the \(T^{\ell}\)-equivariant cohomology ring \({H^*}_{T^{\ell}} (S_{\lambda}; \mathbb Z)\) where \(T^{\ell}\) is the torus that is constant on each Jordan block of \(N\). In more detail, they give a presentation as the quotient of a polynomial ring by an ideal whose generators generalize the generators of Tanisaki's ideal. The main technique in this paper is localization; the inclusion map \({S_{\lambda}}^{T^{\ell}} \rightarrow S_{\lambda}\) from the fixed point set induces an injection \({H^*}_{T^{\ell}} (S_{\lambda}; \mathbb Z)\rightarrow {H^*}_{T^{\ell}} ({S_{\lambda}}^{T^{\ell}}; \mathbb Z)\) on the equivariant cohomology rings where the target ring is isomorphic to a finite direct sum of copies of \({H^*}_{T^{\ell}} (\mathrm{pt}; \mathbb Z)\). In many situations, computations are easier in the target ring. This is a well-known tool to study torus equivariant cohomology rings.