Tsirelson's problem and an embedding theorem for groups arising from non-local games

Tsirelson's problem asks whether the commuting operator model for two-party quantum correlations is equivalent to the tensor-product model. We give a negative answer to this question by showing that there are non-local games which have perfect commuting-operator strategies, but do not have perfect tensor-product strategies. The weak Tsirelson problem, which is known to be equivalent to Connes embedding problem, remains open. The examples we construct are instances of (binary) linear system games. For such games, previous results state that the existence of perfect strategies is controlled by the solution group of the linear system. Our main result is that every finitely-presented group embeds in some solution group. As an additional consequence, we show that the problem of determining whether a linear system game has a perfect commuting-operator strategy is undecidable.Comment: Update to match published version, including a new background section on quantum correlation sets, fixes to the definition of pictures in Section 6 (the previous definition using smooth curves allowed some pathological behaviour), and other minor changes throughout. 66 pages, 36 figure

A pattern avoidance criterion for free inversion arrangements

We show that the hyperplane arrangement of a coconvex set in a finite root system is free if and only if it is free in corank 4. As a consequence, we show that the inversion arrangement of a Weyl group element w is free if and only if w avoids a finite list of root system patterns. As a key part of the proof, we use a recent theorem of Abe and Yoshinaga to show that if the root system does not contain any factors of type C or F, then Peterson translation of coconvex sets preserves freeness. This also allows us to give a Kostant-Shapiro-Steinberg rule for the coexponents of a free inversion arrangement in any type.Comment: 20 pages. Corrects some errors from a preliminary version that was privately circulate

A Brylinski filtration for affine Kac-Moody algebras

Braverman and Finkelberg have recently proposed a conjectural analogue of the geometric Satake isomorphism for untwisted affine Kac-Moody groups. As part of their model, they conjecture that (at dominant weights) Lusztig's q-analog of weight multiplicity is equal to the Poincare series of the principal nilpotent filtration of the weight space, as occurs in the finite-dimensional case. We show that the conjectured equality holds for all affine Kac-Moody algebras if the principal nilpotent filtration is replaced by the principal Heisenberg filtration. The main body of the proof is a Lie algebra cohomology vanishing result. We also give an example to show that the Poincare series of the principal nilpotent filtration is not always equal to the q-analog of weight multiplicity. Finally, we give some partial results for indefinite Kac-Moody algebras.Comment: Typos and reference correcte

The set of quantum correlations is not closed

We construct a linear system non-local game which can be played perfectly using a limit of finite-dimensional quantum strategies, but which cannot be played perfectly on any finite-dimensional Hilbert space, or even with any tensor-product strategy. In particular, this shows that the set of (tensor-product) quantum correlations is not closed. The constructed non-local game provides another counterexample to the "middle" Tsirelson problem, with a shorter proof than our previous paper (though at the loss of the universal embedding theorem). We also show that it is undecidable to determine if a linear system game can be played perfectly with a finite-dimensional strategy, or a limit of finite-dimensional quantum strategies.Comment: 31 pages; v2 adds result on undecidability for finite-dimensional strategie

Rationally smooth Schubert varieties and inversion hyperplane arrangements

We show that an element $w$ of a finite Weyl group $W$ is rationally smooth if and only if the hyperplane arrangement $I$ associated to the inversion set of $w$ is inductively free, and the product $(d_1+1) \cdots (d_l+1)$ of the coexponents $d_1,\ldots,d_l$ is equal to the size of the Bruhat interval $[e,w]$, where $e$ is the identity in $W$. As part of the proof, we describe exactly when a rationally smooth element in a finite Weyl group has a chain Billey-Postnikov decomposition. For finite Coxeter groups, we show that chain Billey-Postnikov decompositions are connected with certain modular coatoms of $I$.Comment: 26 pages. Revised for publication, examples adde

Staircase diagrams and enumeration of smooth Schubert varieties

We enumerate smooth and rationally smooth Schubert varieties in the classical finite types A, B, C, and D, extending Haiman's enumeration for type A. To do this enumeration, we introduce a notion of staircase diagrams on a graph. These combinatorial structures are collections of steps of irregular size, forming interconnected staircases over the given graph. Over a Dynkin-Coxeter graph, the set of "nearly-maximally labelled" staircase diagrams is in bijection with the set of Schubert varieties with a complete Billey-Postnikov (BP) decomposition. We can then use an earlier result of the authors showing that all finite-type rationally smooth Schubert varieties have a complete BP decomposition to finish the enumeration.Comment: 42 pages, 3 table

Entanglement in non-local games and the hyperlinear profile of groups

We relate the amount of entanglement required to play linear-system non-local games near-optimally to the hyperlinear profile of finitely-presented groups. By calculating the hyperlinear profile of a certain group, we give an example of a finite non-local game for which the amount of entanglement required to play $\varepsilon$-optimally is at least $\Omega(1/\varepsilon^k)$, for some $k>0$. Since this function approaches infinity as $\varepsilon$ approaches zero, this provides a quantitative version of a theorem of the first author.Comment: 27 pages. v2: improved results based on a suggestion by N. Ozaw

Annular embeddings of permutations for arbitrary genus

In the symmetric group on a set of size 2n, let P_{2n} denote the conjugacy class of involutions with no fixed points (equivalently, we refer to these as ``pairings'', since each disjoint cycle has length 2). Harer and Zagier explicitly determined the distribution of the number of disjoint cycles in the product of a fixed cycle of length 2n and the elements of P_{2n}. Their famous result has been reproved many times, primarily because it can be interpreted as the genus distribution for 2-cell embeddings in an orientable surface,of a graph with a single vertex attached to n loops. In this paper we give a new formula for the cycle distribution when a fixed permutation with two cycles (say the lengths are p,q, where p+q=2n) is multiplied by the elements of P_{2n}. It can be interpreted as the genus distribution for 2-cell embeddings in an orientable surface, of a graph with two vertices, of degrees p and q. In terms of these graphs, the formula involves a parameter that allows us to specify, separately, the number of edges between the two vertices and the number of loops at each of the vertices. The proof is combinatorial, and uses a new algorithm that we introduce to create all rooted forests containing a given rooted forest.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure

The Nash blow-up of a cominuscule Schubert variety

We compute the Nash blow-up of a cominuscule Schubert variety. In particular, we show that the Nash blow-up is algebraically isomorphic to another Schubert variety of the same Lie type. As a consequence, we give a new characterization of the smooth locus and, for Grassmannian Schubert varieties, determine when the Nash blow-up is a resolution of singularities. We also study the induced torus action on the Nash blow-up and give a bijection between its torus fixed points and Peterson translates on the Schubert variety.Comment: 16 page

Perfect Commuting-Operator Strategies for Linear System Games

Linear system games are a generalization of Mermin's magic square game introduced by Cleve and Mittal. They show that perfect strategies for linear system games in the tensor-product model of entanglement correspond to finite-dimensional operator solutions of a certain set of non-commutative equations. We investigate linear system games in the commuting-operator model of entanglement, where Alice and Bob's measurement operators act on a joint Hilbert space, and Alice's operators must commute with Bob's operators. We show that perfect strategies in this model correspond to possibly-infinite-dimensional operator solutions of the non-commutative equations. The proof is based around a finitely-presented group associated to the linear system which arises from the non-commutative equations