We compute the Newton--Okounkov bodies of line bundles on the complete flag variety of GL_n for a geometric valuation coming from a flag of translated Schubert subvarieties. The Schubert subvarieties correspond to the terminal subwords in the decompo
sition (s_1)(s_2s_1)(s_3s_2s_1)(...)(s_{n-1}...s_1) of the longest element in the Weyl group. The resulting Newton--Okounkov bodies coincide with the Feigin--Fourier--Littelmann--Vinberg polytopes in type A.
We describe an elementary convex geometric algorithm for realizing Schubert cycles in complete flag varieties by unions of faces of polytopes. For GL_n and Gelfand--Zetlin polytopes, combinatorics of this algorithm coincides with that of the mitosis
on pipe dreams introduced by Knutson and Miller. For Sp_4 and a Newton--Okounkov polytope of the symplectic flag variety, the algorithm yields a new combinatorial rule that extends to Sp_{2n}.
We define convex-geometric counterparts of divided difference (or Demazure) operators from the Schubert calculus and representation theory. These operators are used to construct inductively polytopes that capture Demazure characters of representation
s of reductive groups. In particular, Gelfand-Zetlin polytopes and twisted cubes of Grossberg-Karshon are obtained in a uniform way.
Given a spherical homogeneous space G/H of minimal rank, we provide a simple procedure to describe its embeddings as varieties with torus action in terms of divisorial fans. The torus in question is obtained as the identity component of the quotient
group N/H, where N is the normalizer of H in G. The resulting Chow quotient is equal to (a blowup of) the simple toroidal compactification of G/(H N^0). In the horospherical case, for example, it is equal to a flag variety, and the slices (coefficients) of the divisorial fan are merely shifts of the colored fan along the colors.
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.
I construct a correspondence between the Schubert cycles on the variety of complete flags in C^n and some faces of the Gelfand-Zetlin polytope associated with the irreducible representation of SL_n(C) with a strictly dominant highest weight. The cons
truction is based on a geometric presentation of Schubert cells by Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand using Demazure modules. The correspondence between the Schubert cycles and faces is then used to interpret the classical Chevalley formula in Schubert calculus in terms of the Gelfand-Zetlin polytopes. The whole picture resembles the picture for toric varieties and their polytopes.
