Matching polytopes, toric geometry, and the totally non-negative Grassmannian. (Q835659)

The real Grassmannian \(Gr_{k,n}\) is the space parametrizing all \(k\)-dimensional subspaces of \(\mathbb R^n\). Equivalently, it can be seen as the set of equivalence classes of \(k\times n\) real matrices of maximal rank. The Plücker embedding, \(Gr_{k,n}\hookrightarrow\mathbb R\mathbb P^{{n\choose k}-1}\) realizes \(Gr_{k,n}\) as a projective variety by sending a matrix to its maximal minors. The totally non-negative Grassmannian \((Gr_{k,n})_{\geq 0}\) is the subset of \(Gr_{k,n}\) represented by \(k\times n\) matrices with all maximal minors non-negative. For any set \(\mathcal M\), consisting of \(k\)-element subsets of \(\{1,\dots,n\}\), the positive Grassmann cell \(C_{\mathcal M}\) is the subset of \((Gr_{k,n})_{\geq 0}\) represented by matrices in \(Gr_{k,n}\) with strictly positive minors corresponding to elements of \(\mathcal M\) and all the other minors equal to \(0\). The main result shows that the above cell decomposition of \((Gr_{k,n})_{\geq 0}\) is a CW complex. This is a special case of the conjecture posed by \textit{G. Lusztig} [in de Gruyter Expo. Math. 26, 133-145 (1998; Zbl 0929.20035); Represent. Theory 2, 70-78 (1998; Zbl 0895.14014); and in Prog. Math. 123, 531-568 (1994; Zbl 0845.20034)], who introduced the non-negative part of a real flag variety \((\mathbb G/P)_{\geq 0}\) with its cell decomposition and conjectured that it is a finite, regular CW complex homeomorphic to a ball. A CW complex is regular if the closure of each cell is homeomorphic to a ball and the boundary of each cell is homeomorphic to a sphere. The proof uses the combinatorial description of \((Gr_{k,n})_{\geq 0}\) by the first author, which allows to parametrize cells of \((Gr_{k,n})_{\geq 0}\) with plane-bipartite graphs. For each such graph \(G\) one can construct a toric variety \(X_G\) such that the interior of its moment polytope \(P(G)\) is homeomorphic to the interior of some cell. However, the isomorphisms do not necessarily extend to the boundary. Moreover, each cell in the closure of the cell parametrized by the moment polytope \(P(G)\) corresponds to a certain face of \(P(G)\), which is of the form \(P(H)\), where \(H\) is a subgraph of \(G\).