Quantum toric degeneration of quantum flag and Schubert varieties (Q1981150)

Given a field \(\mathbf{k}\) and a noetherian commutative algebra \(A\) over \(\mathbf{k}\), impose an ascending filtration on \(A\) to build the Rees ring of the filtration, which is a free \(\mathbf{k}[t]\)-algebra \(\mathcal R\) such that \(A \cong \mathcal R / (t - \lambda)\mathcal R\) for all \(\lambda \in \mathbf{k}^\times\), while \(\mathcal R / t \mathcal R\) is isomorphic to the associated graded ring. Geometrically, if \(\mathbf{k}\) is algebraically closed, then the variety associated to \(\mathcal R\) is a flat family over the affine line, whose generic fiber is isomorphic to \(\text{Spec}\: A\) and whose zero fiber is isomorphic to \(\text{Spec}~\textsf{gr} A\). In this context, the fiber over \(0\) is called a degeneration of \(\text{Spec}\: A\). A standard result from algebraic geometry states that if the fiber over \(0\) is regular (Gorenstein, Cohen-Macaulay, etc.), then all fibers are regular (Gorenstein, Cohen-Macaulay, etc.) The idea of studying a ring by imposing a filtration and passing to the associated graded ring is a basic tool for algebraists, and can be applied outside of a geometric context. In fact, commutativity is not a necessary condition for filtered-to-graded methods to work. In the spirit of noncommutative algebraic geometry, one studies the case where \(A\) is noetherian, \(\mathbb{N}\)-graded and connected, i.e., \(A_0 = \mathbf{k}\). Although in this case there are no varieties associated to such algebras as in the commutative setting, there are suitable analogues of the notions of being regular, Gorenstein, or Cohen-Macaulay, defined in purely homological terms. Thus it makes sense to ask whether these properties are ``stable by flat deformation'', i.e., if \(\textsf{gr} A\) has any of these properties, then \(A\) also has that property. In [J. Algebra 372, 293--317 (2012; Zbl 1279.16029); Algebr. Represent. Theory 18, No. 5, 1155--1186 (2015; Zbl 1388.16030)], the authors develop these ideas in order to study natural classes of noncommutative algebraic varieties, and show that good geometric properties are stable by degeneration in this context. In the commutative setting, the usual flag variety and its Schubert subvarieties are examples where the degeneration method is successful. On the other hand, the theory of quantum groups provides natural quantum analogues of flag and Schubert varieties, whose classical counterparts can be recovered as semi-classical limits when the deformation parameter tends to \(1\). This is the class of noncommutative varieties that the authors study. In [Transform. Groups 7, No. 1, 51--60 (2002; Zbl 1050.14040)], \textit{P. Caldero} was the first to prove that any Schubert variety of an arbitrary flag variety degenerates to an affine toric variety. A degeneration to a toric variety is particularly convenient since the geometric properties of toric varieties are easily tractable, being encoded in the combinatorial properties of a semigroup naturally attached to them in the affine case. Caldero uses the theory of quantum groups (the global bases of Lusztig and Kashiwara) to produce bases of the coordinate rings of the classical objects by relying on Littelmann's string parametrization of the crystal basis of the negative part of the quantized enveloping algebra, which allows him to show that his bases have good multiplicative properties. Thus, one can build adequate filtrations of the coordinate rings, leading to a toric degeneration. The authors wish to produce degenerations of quantum Schubert varieties at the noncommutative level, leading to introduce noncommutative analogues of affine toric varieties as a suitable target for degeneration and their geometric properties, where these properties are encoded in the associated semigroup. Inspired by Caldero's work, the authors show that quantum Schubert varieties degenerate into quantum toric varieties (Theorem 27, page 1141), followed by exploring their consequences.