In this paper we consider certain closed subvarieties of the flag variety, known as Hessenberg varieties. We give a connectedness criterion for semisimple Hessenberg varieties generalizing a criterion given by Anderson and Tymoczko. We show that nilp
otent Hessenberg varieties are rationally connected.
In this paper we consider certain closed subvarieties of the flag variety, known as Hessenberg varieties. We prove that Hessenberg varieties corresponding to nilpotent elements which are regular in a Levi factor are paved by affines. We provide a par
tial reduction from paving Hessenberg varieties for arbitrary elements to paving those corresponding to nilpotent elements. As a consequence, we generalize results of Tymoczko asserting that Hessenberg varieties for regular nilpotent and arbitrary elements of mathfrak{gl}_n(C) are paved by affines. For example, our results prove that any Hessenberg variety corresponding to a regular element is paved by affines. As a corollary, in all these cases the Hessenberg variety has no odd dimensional cohomology.
