Schubert polynomials and Bott-Samelson varieties (Q1281753)

In this well written and many faceted article several analogs of properties of Schur polynomials are provided for Schubert polynomials. The author gives three different constructions of Bott-Samelson varieties for a general reductive group with a Borel subgroup, and gives a characterization of the Bott-Samelson variety in terms of certain incidence conditions. In the case when the group is \(Gl(n)\) the results are given as combinatorial interpretations, and it is shown that in this case the coordinate ring of the Bott-Samelson variety consists of generalized Schur modules. This allows the author to compute the generalized Schur polynomials that are the characters of these modules. Using the same arguments as in an earlier paper [\textit{P. Magyar}, Adv. Math. 134, No. 2, 328-366 (1998; Zbl 0911.14024)] the Borel-Weil theorem is proved, and a version of Demazures character formula is worked out in order to obtain a new expression for generalized Schur polynomials. The theory is used to compute the Schubert polynomials associated to permutations, the theorem of Kraskiewicz and Pragacz is proved, and three new explicit formulas for Schubert polynomials are given. The essential ingredient in the combinatorial approach are chamber families used by \textit{A. Berenstein, A. Fomin} and \textit{A. Zelevinsky} [Parametrizations of canonical bases and totally positive matrices, Adv.Math. 122, 49-149 (1996)], associated to reduced decompositions of elements in the Weyl group via its wiring diagram. This is translated into the language of generalized Young diagrams.