The Cox ring of a spherical embedding (Q405887)

Let \(G\) be a connected reductive algebraic group over the field \(\mathbb C\) of the complex numbers, a normal algebraic \(G\)-variety is called spherical if it possesses an open orbit for a Borel subgroup of \(G\). The aim of the paper is to give a description by generators and relations of the Cox ring of a spherical variety \(Y\), which is supposed to have no non-constant regular function. The spherical variety \(Y\) may be regarded as an equivariant embedding of a spherical homogeneous variety \(G/H\). The Cox ring of \(Y\) is then presented as a quotient of a polynomial ring \(A(Y):= A(G/H)[W_1, \ldots, W_n]\), where \(A(G/H)\) is a polynomial ring depending only on the open orbit \(G/H\) and where the variables \(W_1, \ldots, W_n\) correspond to the \(G\)-stable prime divisors of \(Y\). In order to define the set of relations, the general case is reduced to the case where the spherical homogeneous variety \(G/H\) is quasi-affine. In this situation, the author constructs a locally closed \(G\)-equivariant embedding of \(G/H\) into an affine variety \(Z\), which is the product of an affine space and a torus and which only depends on \(G/H\). Then he defines a homogeneization map \(\mathbb C[Z] \longrightarrow A(Y)\), and the set of relations defining the Cox ring of \(Y\) in \(A(Y)\) is generated by the image of the ideal which defines \(G/H\) inside \(Z\). When \(Y\) is a toric variety for a torus \(T\), the theorem reduces to the result of Cox that the Cox ring of \(Y\) is a polynomial ring with one variable for any \(T\)-stable prime divisor. Another description of the Cox ring of a spherical vareity is due to \textit{M. Brion} [J. Algebra 313, No. 1, 61--99 (2007; Zbl 1123.14024)] by making use of wonderful varieties, the two descriptions are compared in the last section of the paper.