Quantum cohomology rings of Grassmannians and total positivity (Q1847883)

A result of D.~Peterson identifying the quantum cohomology ring of a Grassmannian with the reduced coordinate ring of a certain subvariety of \(\text{GL}_n\) is proven. The methods developed are used to give a new proof of a formula of C.~Vafa, K.~Intriligator, and A.~Bertram for the structure constants (Gromov-Witten invariants). Certain inequalities for Schur polynomials at roots of unity are proven.