Tropical Positivity and Semialgebraic Sets from Polytopes

This dissertation presents recent contributions in tropical geometry with a view towards positivity, and on certain semialgebraic sets which are constructed from polytopes. Tropical geometry is an emerging field in mathematics, combining elements of algebraic geometry and polyhedral geometry. A key in establishing this bridge is the concept of tropicalization, which is often described as mapping an algebraic variety to its 'combinatorial shadow'. This shadow is a polyhedral complex and thus allows to study the algebraic variety by combinatorial means. Recently, the positive part, i.e. the intersection of the variety with the positive orthant, has enjoyed rising attention. A driving question in recent years is: Can we characterize the tropicalization of the positive part? In this thesis we introduce the novel notion of positive-tropical generators, a concept which may serve as a tool for studying positive parts in tropical geometry in a combinatorial fashion. We initiate the study of these as positive analogues of tropical bases, and extend our theory to the notion of signed-tropical generators for more general signed tropicalizations. Applying this to the tropicalization of determinantal varieties, we develop criteria for characterizing their positive part. Motivated by questions from optimization, we focus on the study of low-rank matrices, in particular matrices of rank 2 and 3. We show that in rank 2 the minors form a set of positive-tropical generators, which fully classifies the positive part. In rank 3 we develop the starship criterion, a geometric criterion which certifies non-positivity. Moreover, in the case of square-matrices of corank 1, we fully classify the signed tropicalization of the determinantal variety, even beyond the positive part. Afterwards, we turn to the study of polytropes, which are those polytopes that are both tropically and classically convex. In the literature they are also established as alcoved polytopes of type A. We describe methods from toric geometry for computing multivariate versions of volume, Ehrhart and h^*-polynomials of lattice polytropes. These algorithms are applied to all polytropes of dimensions 2,3 and 4, yielding a large class of integer polynomials. We give a complete combinatorial description of the coefficients of volume polynomials of 3-dimensional polytropes in terms of regular central subdivisions of the fundamental polytope, which is the root polytope of type A. Finally, we provide a partial characterization of the analogous coefficients in dimension 4. In the second half of the thesis, we shift the focus to study semialgebraic sets by combinatorial means. Intersection bodies are objects arising in geometric tomography and are known not to be semialgebraic in general. We study intersection bodies of polytopes and show that such an intersection body is always a semialgebraic set. Computing the irreducible components of the algebraic boundary, we provide an upper bound for the degree of these components. Furthermore, we give a full classification for the convexity of intersection bodies of polytopes in the plane. Towards the end of this thesis, we move to the study of a problem from game theory, considering the correlated equilibrium polytope $P_G$ of a game G from a combinatorial point of view. We introduce the region of full-dimensionality for this class of polytopes, and prove that it is a semialgebraic set for any game. Through the use of oriented matroid strata, we propose a structured method for classifying the possible combinatorial types of $P_G$, and show that for (2 x n)-games, the algebraic boundary of each stratum is a union of coordinate hyperplanes and binomial hypersurfaces. Finally, we provide a computational proof that there exists a unique combinatorial type of maximal dimension for (2 x 3)-games.:Introduction 1. Background 2. Tropical Positivity and Determinantal Varieties 3. Multivariate Volume, Ehrhart, and h^*-Polynomials of Polytropes 4. Combinatorics of Correlated Equilibri

Tropical Ideals and Discriminants

Tropical ideals arose in the work of Maclagan-Rincon and Giansiracusa-Giansiracusa in the context of their scheme-theoretic refinement of tropicalization. An open problem is to understand what geometric information about a variety V (I) is encoded in the tropical ideal trop(I). In this thesis we focus on the valuation of the discriminant for certain classes of projective hypersurfaces of low-degree in both characteristic 0 and p. We find both cases where the valuation of the discriminant is determined by trop(I), and cases where it is not

Toric Bundles as Mori Dream Spaces

A projective, normal variety is called a Mori dream space when its Cox ring is finitely generated. These spaces are desirable to have, as they behave nicely under the Minimal Model Program, but no complete classification of them yet exists. Some early work identified that all toric varieties are examples of Mori dream spaces, as their Cox rings are polynomial rings. Therefore, a natural next step is to investigate projectivized toric vector bundles. These spaces still carry much of the combinatorial data as toric varieties, but have more variable behavior that means that they aren\u27t as straightforward as Mori dream spaces. Expanding on Gonzalez\u27s 2012 result that all rank 2 projectivized toric vector bundles are Mori dream spaces, we give a combinatorial sufficient condition for when a rank r bundle is Mori dream, using Kaveh and Manon\u27s description of a toric vector bundle by a linear ideal and an integral matrix. We then address the question: if a toric vector bundle projectivizes to a Mori dream space, when is the projectivization of the direct sum of that bundle with itself a Mori dream space? Expanding on the nice families of bundles found, we compute the positivity-related cones for these bundles and provide a description of additional classes of toric vector bundles that uphold the Fujita conjectures. Finally, we conclude with the subduction and KM algorithms, two Macaulay2-implemented algorithms that allow us to produce finite presentations of Cox rings of projectivized toric vector bundles, provided they exist, allowing for future work in the study of these bundles as Mori dream spaces

Toric degenerations of Grassmannians and Schubert varieties from matching field tableaux

We study the combinatorics of Gr\"obner degenerations of Grassmannians and the Schubert varieties inside them. We provide a family of binomial ideals whose combinatorics is governed by tableaux induced by matching fields in the sense of Sturmfels and Zelevinsky. We prove that these ideals are all quadratically generated and they yield a SAGBI basis of the Pl\"ucker algebra. This leads to a new family of toric degenerations of Grassmannians. Moreover, we apply our results to construct a family of Gr\"obner degenerations of Schubert varieties inside Grassmannians. We provide a complete characterization of toric ideals among these degenerations in terms of the combinatorics of matching fields, permutations, and semi-standard tableaux

Of matroid polytopes, chow rings and character polynomials

Matroids are combinatorial structures that capture various notions of independence. Recently there has been great interest in studying various matroid invariants. In this thesis, we study two such invariants: Volume of matroid base polytopes and the Tutte polynomial. We gave an approach to computing volume of matroid base polytopes using cyclic flats and apply it to the case of sparse paving matroids. For the Tutte polynomial, we recover (some of) its coefficients as degrees of certain forms in the Chow ring of underlying matroid. Lastly, we study the stability of characters of the symmetric group via character polynomials. We show a combinatorial identity in the ring of class functions that implies stability results for certain class of Kronecker coefficients

Khovanskii-Gröbner Basis

In this thesis a natural generalization and further extension of Gröbner theory using Kaveh and Manon's Khovanskii basis theory is constructed. Suppose A is a finitely generated domain equipped with a valuation v with a finite Khovanskii basis. We develop algorithmic processes for computations regarding ideals in the algebra A. We introduce the notion of a Khovanskii-Gröbner basis for an ideal J in A and give an analogue of the Buchberger algorithm for it (accompanied by a Macaulay2 code). We then use Khovanskii-Gröbner bases to suggest an algorithm to solve a system of equations from A. Finally we suggest a notion of relative tropical variety for an ideal in A and sketch ideas to extend the tropical compactification theorem to this setting

Multivariate orthogonal Laurent polynomials and integrable systems

An ordering for Laurent polynomials in the algebraic torus (C*)(D), inspired by the Cantero-Moral-Velazquez approach to orthogonal Laurent polynomials in the unit circle, leads to the construction of a moment matrix for a given Borel measure in the unit torus T-D. The Gauss-Borel factorization of this moment matrix allows for the construction of multivariate biorthogonal Laurent polynomials in the unit torus, which can be expressed as last quasi-determinants of bordered truncations of the moment matrix. The associated second-kind functions are expressed in terms of the Fourier series of the given measure. Persymmetries and partial persymmetries of the moment matrix are studied and Cauchy integral representations of the second-kind functions are found, as well as Plemelj-type formulae. Spectral matrices give string equations for the moment matrix, which model the three-term relations as well as the Christoffel-Darboux formulae. Christoffel-type perturbations of the measure given by the multiplication by Laurent polynomials are studied. Sample matrices on poised sets of nodes, which belong to the algebraic hypersurface of the perturbing Laurent polynomial, are used to find a Christoffel formula that expresses the perturbed orthogonal Laurent polynomials in terms of a last quasi-determinant of a bordered sample matrix constructed in terms of the original orthogonal Laurent polynomials. Poised sets exist only for prepared Laurent polynomials, which are analyzed from the perspective of Newton polytopes and tropical geometry. Then, an algebraic geometrical characterization of prepared Laurent polynomial perturbation and poised sets is given; full-column-rankness of the corresponding multivariate Laurent-Vandermonde matrices and a product of different prime prepared Laurent polynomials leads to such sets. Some examples are constructed in terms of perturbations of the Lebesgue-Haar measure. Discrete and continuous deformations of the measure lead to a Toda-type integrable hierarchy, being the corresponding flows described through Lax and Zakharov-Shabat equations; bilinear equations and vertex operators are found. Varying size matrix nonlinear partial difference and differential equations of two-dimensional Toda lattice type are shown to be solved by matrix coefficients of the multivariate orthogonal polynomials. The discrete flows are connected with a Gauss-Borel factorization of the Jacobi-type matrices and its quasi-determinants allow for expressions for the multivariate orthogonal polynomials in terms of shifted quasi-tau matrices, which generalize those that relate the Baker functions with ratios of Miwa shifted r-functions in the one-dimensional scenario. It is shown that the discrete and continuous flows are deeply connected and determine nonlinear partial difference-differential equations that involve only one site in the integrable lattice behaving as a Kadomtsev-Petviashvili-type system

Cluster algebras and monotone Lagrangian tori

Motivated by recent developments in the construction of Newton--Okounkov bodies and toric degenerations via cluster algebras in [GHKK18, FO20], we consider a family of Newton--Okounkov polytopes of a complex smooth projective variety $X$ related by a composition of tropicalized cluster mutations. According to the work of [HK15], the toric degeneration associated with each Newton--Okounkov polytope $\Delta$ in the family produces a Lagrangian torus fibration of $X$ over $\Delta$. We investigate circumstances in which each Lagrangian torus fibration possesses a monotone Lagrangian torus fiber. We provide a sufficient condition, based on the data of tropical integer points and exchange matrices, for the family of constructed monotone Lagrangian tori to contain infinitely many monotone Lagrangian tori, no two of which are related by any symplectomorphisms. By employing this criterion and exploiting the correspondence between the tropical integer points and the dual canonical basis elements, we generate infinitely many distinct monotone Lagrangian tori on flag manifolds of arbitrary type except in a few cases.Comment: 43 page