Flag manifold quantum cohomology, the Toda lattice, and the representation with highest weight \(\rho\) (Q1919131)

Let \(G\) be a complex simply connected semisimple Lie group, let \(B\) be a Borel subgroup and let \(X=G/B\) be the associated flag manifold. Inside \(X\) is a certain affine subvariety \(Q\), determined by the choice of a principal nilpotent element \(f\) of \(\text{Lie}(G)\), whose closure is denoted \(P_f\) and whose affine coordinate ring, denoted \(A(Q)\), is a polynomial ring. The intersection of \(P_f\) and the Schubert cell defined by \(B\) is denoted \(R\). Furthermore, there is an isomorphism of affine varieties which identifies \(R\) and a certain subset \(Y_0\) of \(\text{Lie}(G)\); under this isomorphism \(Q\cap R\) gets identified with the Toda leaf \(Y^*_0\). The author describes the affine algebras \(A(Q)\), \(A(Y_0)\), \(A(R)\), and \(A(Q\cap R)\) in terms of polynomial generators and relations. As the author explains in the first sections of the paper, this work was inspired by some conjectures in the case \(G=SL_n(\mathbb{C})\) where the quantum cohomology algebra \(CH(X,\mathbb{C})\) was conjectured and then proven to have a certain description in terms of generators and relations. The author shows this algebra is isomorphic to \(A(Y_0)\) in the \(SL_n\) case. There is much more in the paper than this brief review can summarize. Although it relies extensively on previous work of the author and others, the paper features examples and exposition making it largely self-contained.