Polyhedral combinatorics in representation theory and algebraic geometry

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ABSTRACTPrincipal Investigator: Zelevinsky, Andrei Proposal Number: DMS - 0801187Institution: Northeastern UniversityTitle: Polyhedral combinatorics in representation theory and algebraic geometryThe proposed research focuses on cluster algebras, a class of commutative rings discovered by the PI in collaboration with S. Fomin. This theory arose as an attempt to create an algebraic framework for the study of two classical fields: theory of total positivity, and representation theory of semisimple Lie groups. Since its inception, the theory of cluster algebras found a number of exciting connections and applications: quiver representations, preprojective algebras, Calabi-Yau algebras and categories, Seiberg dualities, discrete integrable systems, Poisson geometry, etc. The PI explores the structural properties of cluster algebras, and their connections and applications. He also develops the theory of quivers with potentials and their representations, motivated among other things, by the theory of superpotentials in theoretical physics. One of the main instruments of the study is polyhedral combinatorics.This project has roots in two classical areas of mathematics: representation theory and the theory of total positivity. Representation theory is a mathematical approach to studying symmetry; more specifically, it encodes the symmetry properties of various physical and biological systems that occur in nature. Total positivity is a remarkable property of matrices (square arrays of numbers) that generalizes the familiar notion of positive numbers. Both theories find numerous applications in physics, chemistry and other sciences, as well as in other mathematical disciplines. In fact, representation theory serves as the mathematical foundation of quantum mechanics, while total positivity is a major tool for explaining oscillations in mechanical systems. During the last decade, deep connections were found between the two fields, and the scope of their applications was greatly extended. This project explores the modern framework of representation theory and total positivity, with the goal of making its formalism more explicit and understandable.