A note on quantum products of Schubert classes in a Grassmannian

Abstract

Given two Schubert classes $σ_λ$ and $σ_μ$ in the quantum cohomology of a Grassmannian, we construct a partition $ν$, depending on $λ$ and $μ$, such that $σ_ν$ appears with coefficient 1 in the lowest (or highest) degree part of the quantum product $σ_λ\starσ_μ$. To do this, we show that for any two partitions $λ$ and $μ$, contained in a $k$-by-$(n-k)$ rectangle and such that the 180-degree rotation of one does not overlap the other, there is a third partition $ν$, also contained in the rectangle, such that the Littlewood-Richardson number $c_{λμ}^ν$ is 1.

9 pages, 4 figures