The algebraic geometry of Kazhdan-Lusztig-Stanley polynomials Nicholas Proudfoot Department of Mathematics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
[email protected] Abstract. Kazhdan-Lusztig-Stanley polynomials are combinatorial generalizations of Kazhdan- Lusztig polynomials of Coxeter groups that include g-polynomials of polytopes and Kazhdan- Lusztig polynomials of matroids. In the cases of Weyl groups, rational polytopes, and realizable matroids, one can count points over finite fields on flag varieties, toric varieties, or reciprocal planes to obtain cohomological interpretations of these polynomials. We survey these results and unite them under a single geometric framework. 1 Introduction Given a Coxeter group W along with a pair of elements x; y 2 W , Kazhdan and Lusztig [KL79] defined a polynomial Px;y(t) 2 Z[t], which is non-zero if and only if x ≤ y in the Bruhat order. This polynomial has a number of different interpretations in terms of different areas of mathematics: • Combinatorics: There is a purely combinatorial recursive definition of Px;y(t) in terms of more elementary polynomials, called R-polynomials. See [Lus83a, Proposition 2], as well as [BB05, x5.5] for a more recent account. • Algebra: The Hecke algebra of W is a q-deformation of the group algebra C[W ], and the polynomials Px;y(t) are the entries of the matrix relating the Kazhdan-Lusztig basis to the standard basis of the Hecke algebra [KL79, Theorem 1.1]. • Geometry: If W is the Weyl group of a semisimple Lie algebra, then Px;y(t) may be interpreted as the Poincar´epolynomial of a stalk of the intersection cohomology sheaf on a Schubert variety in the associated flag variety [KL80, Theorem 4.3].