Generalization of Schensted insertion algorithm to the cases of hooks and semi-shuffles (Q1873816)

Perhaps the most important open problem in the combinatorial-algebraic-geometric study of the classical manifold of flags in \(n\)-space is to find an analog of the Littlewood-Richardson rule. The cohomology ring of the flag manifold has a distinguished integral basis of Schubert classes \(S_u\) which are indexed by permutations \(u\) on \(n\) letters, and the coefficients \(c^w_{u,v}\) express the product \(S_u\cdot S_v\) in terms of the basis elements \(S_w\). These coefficients are known to be positive from geometry and the challenge is to find a manifestly positive combinatorial formula for them. This paper by Kogan contains the best results to date on this problem. His result is for the admittedly special cases when the permutation \(v\) has a single descent at \(k\) (\(v\) is Grassmannian) and \(u\) has no descents at positions greater than \(k\), and it also holds when the partition corresponding to \(v\) has the shape of a hook. Nevertheless, his result is very appealing, as in the special case when \(u\) is also Grassmannian with descent at \(k\), his formula coincides with the Littlewood-Richardson formula. Also, when \(v\) has hook shape, it coincides with the formula obtained by the reviewer [Ann. Inst. Fourier 46, 89-110 (1996; Zbl 0837.14041)]. His formula expresses these numbers \(c^w_{u,v}\) in terms of filling of the partition shape of \(v\) by numbers corresponding to certain chains in the Bruhat order from \(u\) to \(w\). Furthermore, his proof is via an insertion algorithm that generalizes Schensted insertion. The insertion algorithm was introduced by \textit{N. Bergeron} and \textit{S. Billey} [Exp. Math. 2, 257-269 (1993; Zbl 0803.05054)] to give a proof of Monk's formula (when \(v\) is a simple reflection).