The Macaulay2 package NumericalSchubertCalculus provides methods for the numerical computation of Schubert problems on Grassmannians. It implements both the Pieri homotopy algorithm and the Littlewood-Richardson homotopy algorithm. Each algorithm has two independent implementations in this package. One is in the scripting language of Macaulay2 using the package NumericalAlgebraicGeometry, and the other is in the compiled code of PHCpack.
We develop the Littlewood-Richardson homotopy algorithm, which uses numerical continuation to compute solutions to Schubert problems on Grassmannians and is based on the geometric Littlewood-Richardson rule. One key ingredient of this algorithm is our new optimal formulation of Schubert problems in local Stiefel coordinates as systems of equations. Our implementation can solve problem instances with tens of thousands of solutions.
Many aspects of Schubert calculus are easily modeled on a computer. This enables large-scale experimentation to investigate subtle and ill-understood phenomena in the Schubert calculus. A well-known web of conjectures and results in the real Schubert calculus has been inspired by this continuing experimentation. A similarly rich story concerning intrinsic structure, or Galois groups, of Schubert problems is also beginning to emerge from experimentation. This showcases new possibilities for the use of computers in mathematical research.
In the recent paper [arXiv:1612.06893] P. Burgisser and A. Lerario introduced a geometric framework for a probabilistic study of real Schubert Problems. They denoted by $delta_{k,n}$ the average number of projective $k$-planes in $mathbb{R}textrm{P}^n$ that intersect $(k+1)(n-k)$ many random, independent and uniformly distributed linear projective subspaces of dimension $n-k-1$. They called $delta_{k,n}$ the expected degree of the real Grassmannian $mathbb{G}(k,n)$ and, in the case $k=1$, they proved that: $$ delta_{1,n}= frac{8}{3pi^{5/2}} cdot left(frac{pi^2}{4}right)^n cdot n^{-1/2} left( 1+mathcal{O}left(n^{-1}right)right) .$$ Here we generalize this result and prove that for every fixed integer $k>0$ and as $nto infty$, we have begin{equation*} delta_{k,n}=a_k cdot left(b_kright)^ncdot n^{-frac{k(k+1)}{4}}left(1+mathcal{O}(n^{-1})right) end{equation*} where $a_k$ and $b_k$ are some (explicit) constants, and $a_k$ involves an interesting integral over the space of polynomials that have all real roots. For instance: $$delta_{2,n}= frac{9sqrt{3}}{2048sqrt{2pi}} cdot 8^n cdot n^{-3/2} left( 1+mathcal{O}left(n^{-1}right)right).$$ Moreover we prove that these numbers belong to the ring of periods intoduced by Kontsevich and Zagier and we give an explicit formula for $delta_{1,n}$ involving a one dimensional integral of certain combination of Elliptic functions.
We describe a new approach to the Schubert calculus on complete flag varieties using the volume polynomial associated with Gelfand-Zetlin polytopes. This approach allows us to compute the intersection products of Schubert cycles by intersecting faces of a polytope.
A Newton-Okounkov polytope of a complete flag variety can be turned into a convex geometric model for Schubert calculus. Namely, we can represent Schubert cycles by linear combinations of faces of the polytope so that the intersection product of cycles corresponds to the set-theoretic intersection of faces (whenever the latter are transverse). We explain the general framework and survey particular realizations of this approach in types A, B and C.