Quantum Pieri rules for isotropic Grassmannians (Q1034701)

If one compared the problem of describing the small quantum deformation of the cohomology ring of homogeneous varieties with a big puzzle, the paper under review should be thought of as a bunch of crucial important pieces fitting in it. The authors of the article are not new to such kind of questions and they are certainly among the worldwide main experts in the field. This time they cope with the three point genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants on the isotropic Grassmannians. Let \(V\) be a finite dimensional \({\mathbb C}\)-vector space, \(G(k,V)\) the Grassmannian of \(k\)-planes and \(\omega\) be either a symmetric or a skew-symmetric non-degenerate bilinear form on \(V\). A point \(W\in G(k,V)\) is said to be \(\omega\)-isotropic if \(\omega_{|_W}=0\). The Grassmannian of isotropic \(k\)-dimensional subspaces of \(V\) is a closed subvariety of \(G(k,V)\) parameterizing the set of all \(\omega\)-isotropic \(k\)-planes. Notice that if \(\omega\) is skew-symmetric then the dimension of \(V\) is necessarily even (\(\omega\) is non-degenerate) and if \(k=\dim(V)/2\) then the isotropic Grassmannian is called Lagrangian and parameterizes maximal isotropic subspaces (which are co-isotropic as well). Such a framework can be more intrinsically described via the general theory of algebraic groups. Homogeneous varieties are projective varieties of the form \(G/P\) where \(G\) is an algebraic group and \(P\) is a parabolic subgroup. The various kind of isotropic Grassmannians are recovered by letting \(G\) being a classical group of type \(B,C\) or \(D\) and \(P\) a maximal parabolic subgroup. If \(X\) is any of the aforementioned homogeneous varieties, let \(QH^*(X)\) be the quantum deformation of the cohomology ring \(H^*(X, {\mathbb Z})\). As a \({\mathbb Z}\)-module it is generated by the classes of classical Schubert varieties, but the structure constants involves the three-point genus zero Gromov-Witten invariant and are indeed elements of the polynomial ring \({\mathbb Z}[q]\). By virtue of previous work by the same authors [``A Giambelli formula for isotropic Grassmannians'', \url{arXiv:0811.2781} (2008)] the product structure of \(QH^*(X)\) is entirely determined once one disposes of Pieri's type formulas, expressing the product of any Schubert variety with certain special Schubert cycles. The determination, and the proof, of quantum Pieri's formulas for isotropic Grassmannians is the main goal of the paper, as it is so clearly declared in the title. Recall that quantum Pieri's rule for the usual Grassmannians were first found by Bertram; then simpler proofs were provided by the first named author of the paper under review. It corresponds to the case when \(G\) is a classical group of type \(A\). As for isotropic Grassmannians, recall in advance that there is important work by Pragacz and Ratajski exhibiting ``classical Pieri's rule'' (i.e. not quantum deformed) for \(X\). If \(0\rightarrow {\mathcal S}\rightarrow {\mathcal V}_X\rightarrow {\mathcal Q}\rightarrow 0\) is the universal sequence over \(X\) (\({\mathcal S}\) is the tautological bundle and \({\mathcal Q}\) the universal quotient), then \textit{P. Pragacz} and \textit{J. Ratajski} [Fundam. Math. 178, No. 1, 49--96 (2003; Zbl 1037.51012)] proved a Pieri's formula expressing the product of any Schubert cycle with the Chern classes \(c_h({\mathcal S}^\vee)\) of the dual of \({\mathcal S}\). One main innovation of this beautiful paper is to search for Pieri's formulas ruling the product of any Schubert cycle with the Chern classes \(c_h({\mathcal Q})\) of the universal quotient bundle over \(X\). Already in the classical case, this gives rise to dramatic simplifications, as the authors themselves point out. The nicest feature, however, consists in the fact that the quantum product of any Schubert cycle with \(c_h({\mathcal Q})\) can be interpreted as a classical product in a larger isotropic Grassmannian, a fact which happens also with Bertram-Buch's quantum Schubert calculus for ordinary Grassmann varieties. A novelty coming out from these investigations is that the \textsl{quantum Pieri's rule} in the orthogonal case involves quadratic \(q\) terms -- a new phenomenon seemingly peculiar for such a kind of Grassmannians. The paper is subdivided into an introduction, 5 sections and an appendix. Section 5 is devoted to classical Pieri's rules for isotropic Grassmannians, Section 0 is a very nice Introduction describing all the innovations introduced in the paper with respect to any previous literature, while the appendix is especially about the quantum cohomology of \(OG(n, 2n + 2)\) (OG standing for orthogonal Grassmannians).