A Giambelli formula for the \(S^1\)-equivariant cohomology of type \(A\) Peterson varieties (Q1950921)

The authors prove a Giambelli formula for the \(S^1\)-equivariant cohomology of type A Peterson varieties. The classical Giambelli formula in the standard Schubert calculus expresses arbitrary Schubert classes in terms of degree-2 Schubert classes. Peterson varieties of type A are special subvarieties of the flag variety over \(\mathbb{C}^n\) defined by the principal nilpotent operator and are interesting because of their relation with the quantum cohomology of the flag variety. The precise definition and description of type A Peterson varieties, and the description of the fixed points of the natural \(S^1\) action on it is given in Section 2. Section 3 is devoted to the Giambelli formula. The section begins with recalling the Monk formula for the varieties and a theorem which gives an explicit formula for Peterson Schubert classes associated to a fixed subset of the set \([n-1]\). The \(S^1\)-equivariant cohomology of type A Peterson varieties is calculated in Theorem 3.6. Beside the proof of the Giambelli formula, several examples illustrating the results are given in Section 3. In Section 4, the connections between Stirling numbers of the second kind and the coefficients in the multiplicative structure of the cohomology is studied. The final section is devoted to the stability of Petersen Schubert classes. Although the paper addresses results relevant to the specialists in Schubert calculus, it is accessible to non-experts (assuming they are familiar with basic objects in algebraic topology).