The equivariant cohomology rings of Peterson varieties (Q500091)

Peterson varieties in type \(A\) can be defined as the following subvariety \(\mathcal Y\) of \(\mathrm{Flags}(\mathbb C^n)\): \[ \mathcal Y = \{V_{\bullet} \mid NV_i \subseteq V_{i+1}\text{ for all }i=1,\dots, n-1\} \] where \(V_{\bullet}\) denotes a nested sequence \(0 \subseteq V_1 \subseteq V_2 \subseteq \cdots \subseteq V_{n-1}\subseteq V_n =\mathbb C^n\) of subspaces of \(\mathbb C^n\) and \(\dim_{\mathbb C} V_i = i\) for all \(i\) and \(N : \mathbb C^n \rightarrow \mathbb C^n \) denotes a principal nilpotent operator. These varieties have been much studied due to their relation to the quantum cohomology of the flag variety. Thus it is natural to study their topology, e.g. the structure of their (equivariant) cohomology rings. There is a natural circle subgroup of \(U(n, \mathbb C)\) which acts on \(\mathcal Y\). The inclusion of \(\mathcal Y\) into \(\text{Flags} (\mathbb C^n)\) induces a natural ring homomorphism \[ {H_T}^* (\mathrm{Flags} (\mathbb C^n))\rightarrow {H_{\mathbb S^1}}^* (\mathcal Y) \] where \(T\) is the subgroup of diagonal matrices of \(U(n, \mathbb C)\) acting in the usual way on \(\mathrm{Flags} (\mathbb C^n)\). The content of this paper is to give an efficient presentation of the equivariant cohomology ring \({H_{\mathbb S^1}}^* (\mathcal Y)\). The proof uses Hilbert series and regular sequences. The main result of this paper is an explicit and efficient presentation of the \(\mathbb S^1\)-equivariant cohomology ring of type \(A\) Peterson varieties in terms of generators and relations, in the spirit of the well-known Borel presentation of the cohomology of the flag variety.