Intersection theory of the Peterson variety and certain singularities of Schubert varieties (Q2634849)

Let \(G\) be a complex reductive linear algebraic group, \(B\subset G\) a Borel subgroup, \(G/B\) the associated flag variety and \(W\) the associated Weyl group. It is well known that the flag variety admits a CW decomposition into Schubert cells, and these define classes which form a basis for the homology of \(H_*(G/B,{\mathbb{C}})\). A regular nilpotent Hessenberg variety is a subvariety of the flag variety, determined by a regular nilpotent element \(N_0\in\mathfrak{g}\) and a certain \(\mathfrak{b}\)-stable subspace \(H\subset\mathfrak{g}\), denoted \(\mathcal{H}(N_0,H)\). A Peterson variety is a particular type of regular nilpotent Hessenberg variety corresponding to a particular choice of subspace \(\mathfrak{B}\subset \mathfrak{g}\). While the Hessenberg variety does not admit a natural CW decomposition in general, \textit{M. Precup} [Sel. Math., New Ser. 19, No. 4, 903--922 (2013; Zbl 1292.14032)] has shown that it does admit a paving by affines, obtained by intersecting it with the Schubert cells of the flag variety. Consequently these so-called Hessenberg-Schubert cells define classes which form a basis for the homology \(H_*(\mathcal{H}(N_0,H),{\mathbb{C}})\). In the paper under review, the authors focus on the Peterson variety. Specifically they show that the inclusion map \(i:\mathcal{H}(N_0,\mathfrak{B})\rightarrow G/B\) induces an injection on homology \(i_*: H_*(\mathcal{H}(N_0,\mathfrak{B}),{\mathbb{C}})\rightarrow H_*(G/B,{\mathbb{C}})\) by looking at the expansion of the Peterson-Schubert classes in terms of the (ordinary) Schubert classes, and then using intersection theory to identify zero and non-zero weights in this expansion. As the authors point out, these results can be seen as a strengthening of prior results obtained by \textit{M. Harada} and \textit{J. Tymoczko} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 103, No. 1, 40--72 (2011; Zbl 1219.14065)] in type A using combinatorial methods. Finally the authors give conditions under which the torus fixed points in a Peterson variety (a subset of torus fixed points of the flag variety, indexed by parabolic subgroups of \(W\)) are smooth in certain opposite Schubert varieties of the flag variety.