Discrete Morse theory for totally non-negative flag varieties (Q962137)

Given a parabolic subgroup \(P\) of the linear algebraic group \(G\), the \textit{totally nonnegative part} \((G/P)_{\geq 0}\) is a subspace of the homogeneous space \(G/P\) defined by \textit{G. Lusztig} [``Total positivity in reductive groups'', J.-L. Brylinski et al. (eds.), Lie theory and geometry: in honor of Bertram Kostant on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Invited papers, some originated at a symposium held at MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA in May 1993. Boston, MA: Birkhäuser. Prog. Math. 123, 531--568 (1994; Zbl 0845.20034)], and has a cell structure derived from the Bruhat decomposition. In previous work, the authors showed that this cell structure in fact gives \((G/P)_{\geq 0}\) the structure of a CW-complex, and they described the face poset structure of the cells in terms of operations within the Weyl group. In this article, the authors provide a group-theoretic criterion for a \(p\)-cell to be a regular face of a \((p+1)\)-cell. This result is then used to construct an acyclic matching on the face poset of the closure of any cell \(\sigma\) in \((G/P)_{\geq 0}\) with the properties: {\parindent7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] there is a single critical cell whose dimension is zero, \item[(2)] when restricted to the boundary of \(\bar\sigma\) there is an additional critical cell of top dimension, and \item[(3)] matched edges correspond to regular faces. Using Forman's discrete Morse theory, the authors then show that \(\bar\sigma\) is contractible, and the boundary of \(\sigma\) is homotopy equivalent to a sphere. \end{itemize}} The authors assume that the reader is knowledgeable in algebraic groups, partial flag varieties, Borel subgroups and Bruhat decomposition, and Coxeter groups; familiarity with discrete Morse theory is helpful. The article is well-written and well-organized, although many proofs are technical in nature.