On the combinatorics of crystal graphs. I: Lusztig's involution (Q876325)

[For Part II see Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 136, No. 3, 825--837 (2008; Zbl 1129.05058 below).] In two recent papers the author of the paper under review and A. Postnikov have developed a new combinatorial model for the irreducible characters of a complex semisimple Lie group \(G\); see e.g. \textit{C. Lenart} and \textit{A. Postnikov} [Affine Weyl groups in K-theory and representation theory, Int. Math. Res. Not. 2007, No. 12, Article ID rnm038, 65 p. (2007; Zbl 1137.14037)]. This model is called the alcove path model and combines the context of the equivariant K-theory of the generalized flag varity \(G/B\) and ideas based on the Stembridge combinatorial model for Weyl characters. It leads to an extensive generalization of the combinatorics of irreducible characters from Lie type A to arbitrary type. In the present paper the author continues the development of the new model. The approach is type-independent. The main results are: (1) A combinatorial description of the crystal graphs corresponding to the irreducible representations. In particular, the author gives a transparent proof, based on the Yang--Baxter equation, that the mentioned description does not depend on the choice involved in the model; (2) A combinatorial realization of Lusztig's involution on the canonical basis exhibiting the crystals as self-dual posets; (3) An analog for arbitrary root systems, based on the Yang--Baxter equation, of Schützenberger's jeu de taquin.