Betti numbers of smooth Schubert varieties and the remarkable formula of Kostant, Macdonald, Shapiro, and Steinberg (Q715708)

Let \(G\) be a semisimple linear complex algebraic group, \(B\) a Borel subgroup of \(G\), and \(G/B\) the flag manifold. A Schubert variety \(X_w\) in \(G/B\) is the Zariski closure of a \(B\)-orbit in \(G/B\) and has the form \(BwB/B\), where \(w\) is a unique element in the Weyl group \(W(T,G)\), for \(T\) a maximal torus in \(B\). This paper is concerned with the Poincaré polynomial of \textit{smooth} Schubert varieties in \(G/B\). The main result is the following. Theorem. Let \(X_w\) be a smooth Schubert variety in \(G/B\), and let \(k\) denote the largest height occurring in \(T_e(X_w)\), the Zariski tangent space of \(X_w\) at the identity coset. Then \(d_{w,k}>0\), and \[ P_w(t)=\prod_{1\leq i\leq k}(1+t^2+\ldots+t^{2i})^{d_{w,i}}. \] If \(\mu\) is the partition of \(\ell(w)\) conjugate to \(\eta\) and \(i\geq 1\), then \(d_{w,i}\) is the number of times \(i\) occurs in \(\mu\). \smallskip\noindent Here \(\ell(w)\) is the length of \(w\) in the Weyl group, \(\Phi\) is the root system determined by \(T\) and \(\Phi(w)^+=\{\alpha>0~|~ r_\alpha\leq w\}\), where \(r_\alpha\) denotes the reflection in \(\alpha\) and \(\leq\) stands for the Bruhat-Chevalley order. Moreover \(h_{w,i}=\{\alpha\in \Phi(w)^+~|~ \text{height}(\alpha)=i,~\text{for}~i>0\}\), the symbol \(\eta\) denotes the \textit{nonincreasing} partition of \(\ell(w)=|\Phi(w)^+|\) formed by the \(h_{w,i}\geq h_{w,i+1}\), and \(d_{w,i}=h_{w,i}-h_{w,i+1}\). \noindent As a consequence of the above formula, the second Betti number of \(X_w\) is given by \(b_2(X_w)=h_{w,1}\). As the authors point out, a factorization of \(P_w(t)\) into polynomials of the form \(\mu_i(t)=1+t^2+\ldots+t^{2i}\) does not hold for smooth Schubert varieties in arbitrary flag manifolds \(G/P\). \noindent The proof of the above theorem is obtained by generalizing to smooth Schubert varieties a cohomological proof of a formula of Kostant, Macdonald, Shapiro and Steinberg, which expresses the Poincaré polynomial of \(G/B\) as the product \(\prod_{i=1}^l(1+t^2+\ldots +t^{2m_i})\), where \(m_1,\ldots, m_l\) are the exponents of \(G\).