Restricting Schubert classes to symplectic Grassmannians using self-dual puzzles

Iva Halacheva, Allen Knutson, Paul Zinn-Justin

Published 2018-11-19, updated 2019-04-13Version 2

Given a Schubert class on $Gr(k,V)$ where $V$ is a symplectic vector space of dimension $2n$, we consider its restriction to the symplectic Grassmannian $SpGr(k,V)$ of isotropic subspaces. Pragacz gave tableau formulae for positively computing the expansion of these $H^*(Gr(k,V))$ classes into Schubert classes of the target when $k=n$, which corresponds to expanding Schur polynomials into $Q$-Schur polynomials. Coskun described an algorithm for their expansion when $k\leq n$. We give a puzzle-based formula for these expansions, while extending them to equivariant cohomology. We make use of a new observation that usual Grassmannian puzzle pieces are already enough to do some $2$-step Schubert calculus, and apply techniques from quantum integrable systems (``scattering diagrams'').