kk-Schur functions and affine Schubert calculus

This book is an exposition of the current state of research of affine Schubert calculus and $k$-Schur functions. This text is based on a series of lectures given at a workshop titled "Affine Schubert Calculus" that took place in July 2010 at the Fields Institute in Toronto, Ontario. The story of this research is told in three parts: 1. Primer on $k$-Schur Functions 2. Stanley symmetric functions and Peterson algebras 3. Affine Schubert calculusComment: 213 pages; conference website: http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/programs/scientific/10-11/schubert/, updates and corrections since v1. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMS-065264

Crystal approach to affine Schubert calculus

We apply crystal theory to affine Schubert calculus, Gromov-Witten invariants for the complete flag manifold, and the positroid stratification of the positive Grassmannian. We introduce operators on decompositions of elements in the type-$A$ affine Weyl group and produce a crystal reflecting the internal structure of the generalized Young modules whose Frobenius image is represented by stable Schubert polynomials. We apply the crystal framework to products of a Schur function with a $k$-Schur function, consequently proving that a subclass of 3-point Gromov-Witten invariants of complete flag varieties for $\mathbb C^n$ enumerate the highest weight elements under these operators. Included in this class are the Schubert structure constants in the (quantum) product of a Schubert polynomial with a Schur function $s_\lambda$ for all $|\lambda^\vee|< n$. Another by-product gives a highest weight formulation for various fusion coefficients of the Verlinde algebra and for the Schubert decomposition of certain positroid classes.Comment: 42 pages; version to appear in IMR

Lattice Diagram Polynomials and Extended Pieri Rules

The lattice cell in the ${i+1}^{st}$ row and ${j+1}^{st}$ column of the positive quadrant of the plane is denoted $(i,j)$. If $\mu$ is a partition of $n+1$, we denote by $\mu/ij$ the diagram obtained by removing the cell $(i,j)$ from the (French) Ferrers diagram of $\mu$. We set $\Delta_{\mu/ij}=\det \| x_i^{p_j}y_i^{q_j} \|_{i,j=1}^n$, where $(p_1,q_1),... ,(p_n,q_n)$ are the cells of $\mu/ij$, and let ${\bf M}_{\mu/ij}$ be the linear span of the partial derivatives of $\Delta_{\mu/ij}$. The bihomogeneity of $\Delta_{\mu/ij}$ and its alternating nature under the diagonal action of $S_n$ gives ${\bf M}_{\mu/ij}$ the structure of a bigraded $S_n$-module. We conjecture that ${\bf M}_{\mu/ij}$ is always a direct sum of $k$ left regular representations of $S_n$, where $k$ is the number of cells that are weakly north and east of $(i,j)$ in $\mu$. We also make a number of conjectures describing the precise nature of the bivariate Frobenius characteristic of ${\bf M}_{\mu/ij}$ in terms of the theory of Macdonald polynomials. On the validity of these conjectures, we derive a number of surprising identities. In particular, we obtain a representation theoretical interpretation of the coefficients appearing in some Macdonald Pieri Rules.Comment: 77 pages, Te