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

Order ideals in weak subposets of Young's lattice and associated unimodality conjectures

The k-Young lattice Y^k is a weak subposet of the Young lattice containing partitions whose first part is bounded by an integer k>0. The Y^k poset was introduced in connection with generalized Schur functions and later shown to be isomorphic to the weak order on the quotient of the affine symmetric group by a maximal parabolic subgroup. We prove a number of properties for $Y^k$ including that the covering relation is preserved when elements are translated by rectangular partitions with hook-length $k$. We highlight the order ideal generated by an $m\times n$ rectangular shape. This order ideal, L^k(m,n), reduces to L(m,n) for large k, and we prove it is isomorphic to the induced subposet of L(m,n) whose vertex set is restricted to elements with no more than k-m+1 parts smaller than m. We provide explicit formulas for the number of elements and the rank-generating function of L^k(m,n). We conclude with unimodality conjectures involving q-binomial coefficients and discuss how implications connect to recent work on sieved q-binomial coefficients.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Determinantal Construction of Orthogonal Polynomials Associated with Root Systems

We consider semisimple triangular operators acting in the symmetric component of the group algebra over the weight lattice of a root system. We present a determinantal formula for the eigenbasis of such triangular operators. This determinantal formula gives rise to an explicit construction of the Macdonald polynomials and of the Heckman-Opdam generalized Jacobi polynomials.Comment: 28 page