Kumar's criterion modulo \(p\) (Q480950)

Let \(X\) be an irreducible \(n\)-dimensional complex algebraic variety and let \(k\) be a commutatitve ring. A point \(x\in X\) is called \(k\)-smooth if for all \(y\) in an analytic neighborhood of \(x\), \[ H^\bullet(X, X\setminus\{u\}; k)\simeq H^\bullet(\mathbb{C}^n, \mathbb{C}^n\setminus\{0\}; k). \] The \(k\)-smooth locus of \(X\) is, by definition, the analytic open subset consisting of \(k\)-smooth points. By the universal coefficient theorem, it is clear that if \(k\) is a field, then the \(k\)-smooth locus of \(X\) only depends on the characteristic of \(k\). (This allows us to talk about rationally smooth and \(p\)-smooth points in \(X\) for a prime \(p\).) Following a criterion by Kumar for rational smoothness of points in Schubert varieties (and extended by Arabia and further extended by Brion), the authors in the paper under review prove the following result: Let \(X\) be a complex affine irreducible \(T\)-variety with an attractive fixed point \(x\), where \(T\) is a torus. Fix a prime \(p\) and let \(U:= X\setminus\{x\}\). Assume that \(U\) is \(p\)-smooth (in particular, rationally smooth), \(X\) is rationally smooth at \(x\) (and hence the numerator \(f_x\) of the equivariant multiplicity \(e_x(X)\) of \(X\) at \(x\) is an integer) and the \(T\)-equivariant cohomology \(H^\bullet_T(U;\mathbb{Z})\) is free of \(p\)-torsion. Then, \(x\in X\) is \(p\)-smooth if and only if \(p\) does not divide \(f_x\). Let \(G\) be any connected semisimple complex algebraic group. The above result applied to the normal slices in the Schubert variety \(X_z\) (for any \(z\) in the Weyl group \(W\) of \(G\)) in the full flag variety \(G/B\) gives the following generalization of Kumar's criterion of rational smoothness of points in \(X_z\): For any \(x\leq z\in W\), the point \(x\in X_z\) is \(p\)-smooth (for any prime \(p\)) if and only if the numerator \(f_{y,z}\) of the equivariant multiplicity \(e_{y,z}\) of the point \(y\in X_z\) for any \(x\leq y\leq z\) is an integer which is not divisible by \(p\). Thus, by using the smoothness criterion of Kumar, one readily gets the following corollary: The smooth and \(\mathbb{Z}\)-smooth loci of any \(X_z\) coincide. These results also hold for finite-dimensional Schubert varieties in Kac-Moody flag varieties. Thus, one immediately gets a proof of a conjecture of Malkin-Ostrik-Vybornov about nonsmoothly equivalent singularities in affine Grassmannians. Dyer has shown that for a rationally smooth point \(x\in X_z\) in the finite case, the numerator \(f_{x,z}\) is of the form \(2^m3^n\). Moreover, in the simply-laced case, \(m=n=0\) and if \(G_2\) is not a component of \(G\), then \(n=0\). Thus, if all the components of \(G\) are simply-laced, then \(x\in X_z\) is rationally smooth if and only if it is smooth (a result originally due to D. Peterson).