A note on Schubert varieties in G/B (Q913881)

Let G be a semi-simple algebraic group over an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(p>1.\) Let T be a maximal torus in G and B a Borel subgroup, \(B\supset T\). Let \(W\) (\(=N(T)/T,\) \(N(T)\) the normalizer of T in G) be the Weyl group of G. For \(w\in W\), let \(X(w)\) \((=\overline{BwB}(\mod B))\) be the Schubert variety in \(G/B\) associated to w. Using Frobenius-splitting Ramanathan proved that \(X(w)\) is Cohen-Macaulay. The authors give a short proof of Ramanthan's result, using two simple lemmas.