Torus orbit closures in flag varieties and retractions on Weyl groups

TL;DR

This paper explores geometric and algebraic retractions on Weyl groups related to Coxeter matroids and flag varieties, establishing their equivalence and providing new insights into the structure of T-fixed points.

Contribution

It introduces geometric and algebraic retractions on Weyl groups and proves their equivalence in the context of Coxeter matroids and flag varieties.

Findings

Revealed the equivalence of geometric and algebraic retractions on Weyl groups.

Connected T-fixed points in flag varieties to Coxeter matroids.

Extended retraction concepts to classical Lie type Weyl groups.

Abstract

A finite Coxeter group $W$ has a natural metric $d$ and if $\mathcal{M}$ is a subset of $W$, then for each $u\in W$, there is $q\in \mathcal{M}$ such that $d(u,q)=d(u,\mathcal{M})$. Such $q$ is not unique in general but if $\mathcal{M}$ is a Coxeter matroid, then it is unique, and we define a retraction $\mathcal{R}^m_{\mathcal{M}}\colon W\to \mathcal{M}\subset W$ so that $\mathcal{R}^m_{\mathcal{M}}(u)=q$. The $T$-fixed point set $Y^T$ of a $T$-orbit closure $Y$ in a flag variety $G/B$ is a Coxeter matroid, where $G$ is a semisimple algebraic group, $B$ is a Borel subgroup, and $T$ is a maximal torus of $G$ contained in $B$. We define a retraction $\mathcal{R}^g_{Y}\colon W\to Y^T\subset W$ geometrically, where $W$ is the Weyl group of $G$, and show that $\mathcal{R}^g_{Y}=\mathcal{R}^m_{Y^T}$. We introduce another retraction $\mathcal{R}^a_{\mathcal{M}}\colon W\to \mathcal{M}\subset W$ algebraically for an arbitrary subset $\mathcal{M}$ of $W$ when $W$ is a Weyl group of classical Lie type, and show that $\mathcal{R}^a_{\mathcal{M}}=\mathcal{R}^m_{\mathcal{M}}$ when $\mathcal{M}$ is a Coxeter matroid.