Geometry of Higher-Order Markov Chains

We determine an explicit Gr\"obner basis, consisting of linear forms and determinantal quadrics, for the prime ideal of Raftery's mixture transition distribution model for Markov chains. When the states are binary, the corresponding projective variety is a linear space, the model itself consists of two simplices in a cross-polytope, and the likelihood function typically has two local maxima. In the general non-binary case, the model corresponds to a cone over a Segre variety.Comment: 9 page

Normality of cut polytopes of graphs is a minor closed property

Sturmfels-Sullivant conjectured that the cut polytope of a graph is normal if and only if the graph has no K_5 minor. In the present paper, it is proved that the normality of cut polytopes of graphs is a minor closed property. By using this result, we have large classes of normal cut polytopes. Moreover, it turns out that, in order to study the conjecture, it is enough to consider 4-connected plane triangulations.Comment: 11 pages, References added, notation improve

A sagbi basis for the quantum Grassmannian

The maximal minors of a p by (m + p) matrix of univariate polynomials of degree n with indeterminate coefficients are themselves polynomials of degree np. The subalgebra generated by their coefficients is the coordinate ring of the quantum Grassmannian, a singular compactification of the space of rational curves of degree np in the Grassmannian of p-planes in (m + p)-space. These subalgebra generators are shown to form a sagbi basis. The resulting flat deformation from the quantum Grassmannian to a toric variety gives a new `Gr\"obner basis style' proof of the Ravi-Rosenthal-Wang formulas in quantum Schubert calculus. The coordinate ring of the quantum Grassmannian is an algebra with straightening law, which is normal, Cohen-Macaulay, Gorenstein and Koszul, and the ideal of quantum Pl\"ucker relations has a quadratic Gr\"obner basis. This holds more generally for skew quantum Schubert varieties. These results are well-known for the classical Schubert varieties (n=0). We also show that the row-consecutive p by p-minors of a generic matrix form a sagbi basis and we give a quadratic Gr\"obner basis for their algebraic relations.Comment: 18 pages, 3 eps figure, uses epsf.sty. Dedicated to the memory of Gian-Carlo Rot