Poset pinball, GKM-compatible subspaces, and Hessenberg varieties (Q2407549)

In certain cases, the equivariant cohomology \(H^*_T(X)\) of an action of a torus \(T\) on a space \(X\) can be computed by determining its image under the natural restriction map to the fixed point set \(X^T\). Most effectively, this is possible for so-called GKM actions, named after a paper by \textit{M. Goresky} et al. [Invent. Math. 131, No. 1, 25--83 (1998; Zbl 0897.22009)]. There exist various variants of this theory; the simplest one deals with equivariantly formal actions with finite fixed point set, and one-skeleton a union of invariant two-spheres. In this paper the authors consider (in the context of generalized equivariant cohomology theories) subspaces \(Y\subset X\) of a GKM space that are invariant under a subgroup \(G'\) of the acting group \(G\). Although they assume that the fixed point set of \(Y\) is just the intersection of the original one with \(Y\), and that \(Y\) is again equivariantly formal, \(Y\) is not necessarily of GKM type. This already happens in the case \(Y=X\), if the subgroup \(G'\) is chosen appropriately. They ask the question when a module basis of \(H^*_G(X)\), obtained using the ambient GKM theory, induces a module basis of \(H^*_{G'}(Y)\). For this, they introduce a combinatorial game called poset pinball, which is played on the GKM graph of \(X\). As applications, they consider Hessenberg varieties, and in particular Peterson and Springer varieties.