Compactifications of cluster varieties and convexity

TL;DR

This paper introduces a convexity concept called broken line convexity for subsets of scattering diagrams in cluster varieties, establishing a criterion to identify positive sets that lead to natural compactifications.

Contribution

It defines broken line convexity and proves its equivalence to positivity, offering a practical method to construct and verify positive subsets for compactifications of cluster varieties.

Findings

Broken line convexity characterizes positive sets in scattering diagrams.

The criterion simplifies the construction of compactifications.

Provides a combinatorial approach to positivity in cluster varieties.

Abstract

In [GHKK18], Gross-Hacking-Keel-Kontsevich discuss compactifications of cluster varieties from "positive subsets" in the real tropicalization of the mirror. To be more precise, let $\mathfrak{D}$ be the scattering diagram of a cluster variety $V$ (of either type -- $\mathcal{A}$ or $\mathcal{X}$), and let $S$ be a closed subset of $\left(V^\vee\right)^{\text{trop}}(\mathbb{R})$ -- the ambient space of $\mathfrak{D}$. The set $S$ is positive if the theta functions corresponding to the integral points of $S$ and its $\mathbb{N}$-dilations define an $\mathbb{N}$-graded subalgebra of $\Gamma(V, \mathcal{O}_V)[x]$. In particular, a positive set $S$ defines a compactification of $V$ through a Proj construction applied to the corresponding $\mathbb{N}$-graded algebra. In this paper we give a natural convexity notion for subsets of $\mathfrak{D}$, called "broken line convexity", and show that a set is positive if and only if it is broken line convex. The combinatorial criterion of broken line convexity provides a tractable way to construct positive subsets of $\mathfrak{D}$, or to check positivity of a given subset.