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# Positivity and canonical bases in rank 2 cluster algebras of finite and affine types

## 1. Introduction

This paper continues the study of cluster algebras initiated in . The principal motivation for this theory was to design an algebraic framework for understanding total positivity and canonical bases in semisimple algebraic groups; see  for more details. Since its inception, the theory of cluster algebras has developed several interesting connections:

* Discrete dynamical systems .
* Al. Zamolodchikov’s $`Y`$-systems in thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz .
* A new family of convex polytopes (generalized associahedra) including as special cases Stasheff’s associahedron, and Bott-Taubes cyclohedron .
* Quiver representations .
* Grassmannians and projective configurations .
* Poisson geometry and Teichmueller spaces .

Amid these exciting developments, virtually no progress has been made (at least, documented) towards the original motivation. This paper presents the first step in this direction by introducing and explicitly constructing the canonical basis $``$ for a special class of rank $`2`$ cluster algebras of finite anf affine type. More precisely, in Theorem 2.3 we show that $``$ is uniquely determined by a certain positivity property. Needless to say, we hope to be able one day to extend the results of this paper to a much more general class of cluster algebras.

Restricting our attention to rank $`2`$ cluster algebras allows us to give all the necessary definitions in a quick and painless way. Thus, the treatment in this paper is completely self-contained, and no preliminary knowledge on cluster algebras is assumed from the reader.

## 2. Main results

Let $`=(y_1,y_2)`$ be the field of rational functions in two (commuting) independent variables $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$ with rational coefficients. Given positive integers $`b`$ and $`c`$, recursively define elements $`y_m`$ for $`m`$ by the relations

(2.1)
$$y_{m1}y_{m+1}=\{\begin{array}{cc}y_m^b+1\hfill & m\text{ odd;}\hfill \\ y_m^c+1\hfill & m\text{ even.}\hfill \end{array}$$

The main object of study in this paper is the *cluster algebra* $`𝒜(b,c)`$: by definition, this is a subring of $``$ generated by the $`y_m`$ for all $`m`$. The elements $`y_m`$ are called *cluster variables* and the relations (2.1) are called the *exchange relations*. The sets $`\{y_m,y_{m+1}\}`$ for $`m`$ are called *clusters*.

In the terminology of , $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is a (coefficient-free) cluster algebra of rank $`2`$. The most general definition of cluster algebras given in  allows terms in the right hand side of (2.1) to have nontrivial coefficients. In Section 6, we will show that for rank $`2`$ cluster algebras, it suffices to restrict to the coefficient-free case since the coefficients may be removed by a rescaling of the $`y_m`$.

In this paper, we introduce and explicitly construct the canonical basis $``$ in $`𝒜(b,c)`$ for $`bc4`$. More precisely, in Theorem 2.3 we show that $``$ is uniquely determined by a certain positivity property. We expect this result to hold in much greater generality; in particular, in a sequel to this paper we are planning to investigate whether the assumption $`bc4`$ can be lifted.

Before stating the new results, we briefly discuss some known properties of $`𝒜(b,c)`$.

### 2.1. Laurent phenomenon

It is clear from (2.1) that every cluster of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is a transcendence basis of the ambient field $``$, so every element of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is uniquely expressed as a rational function in $`y_m`$ and $`y_{m+1}`$, for every $`m`$. According to the *Laurent phenomenon* established in , all these rational functions are actually Laurent polynomials with integer coefficients. The following stronger result is a special case of the results in :

(2.2)
$$𝒜(b,c)=\underset{m}{}[y_m^{\pm 1},y_{m+1}^{\pm 1}]=\underset{m=0}{\overset{2}{}}[y_m^{\pm 1},y_{m+1}^{\pm 1}],$$

where $`[y_m^{\pm 1},y_{m+1}^{\pm 1}]`$ denotes the ring of Laurent polynomials with integer coefficients in $`y_m`$ and $`y_{m+1}`$. The symmetry of the exchange relations (2.1) allows the second intersection in (2.2) to be taken over any three consecutive clusters.

### 2.2. Standard monomial basis

Another special case of the results in  is the following:

(2.3) the set $`\{y_0^{a_0}y_1^{a_1}y_2^{a_2}y_3^{a_3}:a_m_0,a_0a_2=a_1a_3=0\}`$ is a $``$-basis of $`𝒜(b,c)`$.
Again, in view of the obvious symmetry, the variables $`y_0,\mathrm{},y_3`$ in (2.3) can be replaced by any four consecutive cluster variables. We refer to the basis in (2.3) as a *standard monomial basis*.

### 2.3. Finite generation

As an immediate corollary of (2.3) (cf. ), we obtain that the algebra $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is finitely generated and has the following presentation:

(2.4)
$$𝒜(b,c)=[y_0,y_1,y_2,y_3]/y_0y_2y_1^b1,y_1y_3y_2^c1.$$

### 2.4. Finite type classification

The structure of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is closely related to the root system associated with the (generalized) Cartan matrix

(2.5)
$$A=A(b,c)=(\begin{array}{cc}2& b\\ c& 2\end{array}).$$

Some properties of this root system will be reviewed in Section 3. Borrowing the terminology from the theory of Kac-Moody algebras (see ), we say that $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is of *finite* (resp. *affine, indefinite*) type if so is $`A(b,c)`$, i.e., if $`bc3`$ (resp. $`bc=4`$, $`bc>4`$). The following result is proved in \[7, Theorem 6.1\] (it is extended to cluster algebras of an arbitrary rank in ).

###### Proposition 2.1.

The algebra $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is of finite type if and only if it has finitely many distinct cluster variables. More precisely, if $`bc3`$ then

$$y_m=y_nmnmod(h+2),$$

where $`h`$ is the Coxeter number given by Table 1 below; whereas, if $`bc4`$ then all $`y_m`$ are distinct.

### 2.5. Positivity and canonical basis

We now turn to the statements of the new results. We will introduce the “canonical” $``$-basis $``$ in $`𝒜(b,c)`$, in the cases when $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is of finite or affine type (note that the basis in (2.3) is not canonical, because it involves an arbitrary choice of four consecutive cluster variables). Our construction of $``$ is based on the following concept of *positivity*.

###### Definition 2.2.

A non-zero element $`y𝒜(b,c)`$ is *positive* if for every $`m`$, all the coefficients in the expansion of $`y`$ as a Laurent polynomial in $`y_m`$ and $`y_{m+1}`$ are positive.

The set of positive elements is a *semiring*, i.e., is closed under addition and multiplication. The following theorem which is the main result of the paper gives a complete description of this semiring in the finite and affine type cases.

###### Theorem 2.3.

Suppose that $`bc4`$, i.e., $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is of finite or affine type. Then there exists a unique $``$-basis $``$ of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ such that the semiring of positive elements of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ consists precisely of positive integer linear combinations of elements of $``$.

The uniqueness of $``$ is clear: it consists of all indecomposable positive elements (those that cannot be written as a sum of two positive elements). We call $``$ the *canonical* basis in $`𝒜(b,c)`$.

Our next result provides a parametrization of $``$. Let $`Q=^2`$ be a lattice of rank 2 with a fixed basis $`\{\alpha _1,\alpha _2\}`$. We will sometimes write a point $`\alpha =a_1\alpha _1+a_2\alpha _2Q`$ simply as $`\alpha =(a_1,a_2)`$.

###### Theorem 2.4.

In the situation of Theorem 2.3, for every $`\alpha =(a_1,a_2)Q`$, there is a unique basis element $`x[\alpha ]`$ of the form

(2.6)
$$x[\alpha ]=\frac{N_\alpha (y_1,y_2)}{y_1^{a_1}y_2^{a_2}},$$

where $`N_\alpha `$ is a polynomial with constant term $`1`$. The correspondence $`\alpha x[\alpha ]`$ is a bijection between $`Q`$ and $``$.

By its definition in Theorem 2.3, the canonical basis $``$ is invariant under any automorphism of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ that preserves the semiring of positive elements; we refer to such an automorphism as *positive*. In view of the exchange relations (2.1), for every $`p`$, there is a positive automorphism $`\sigma _p`$ of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ (for arbitrary $`b`$ and $`c`$) acting on cluster variables by an involutive permutation $`\sigma _p(y_m)=y_{2pm}`$. The group of automorphisms of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ generated by all $`\sigma _p`$ acts transitively on the set of clusters; it is easy to see that this group is generated by any two elements $`\sigma _p`$ and $`\sigma _{p+1}`$, for instance, by $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$.

###### Theorem 2.5.

The bijection between $``$ and $`Q`$ given in Theorem 2.4 translates the action of each $`\sigma _p`$ on $``$ into a piecewise linear transformation of $`Q`$. In particular, the action of $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ on $`Q`$ is given by

(2.7)
$$\sigma _1(a_1,a_2)=(a_1,c\mathrm{max}(a_1,0)a_2),\sigma _2(a_1,a_2)=(b\mathrm{max}(a_2,0)a_1,a_2).$$

###### Remark 2.6.

The piecewise linear transformations in (2.7) are a special case of the transformations $`\tau _+`$ and $`\tau _{}`$ appearing in \[8, (1.7)\]. Note that they can be viewed as “tropicalizations” of exchange relations (2.1). We expect that a similar interpretation exists for cluster algebras of higher rank.

### 2.6. Explicit realization of $``$

We now describe the canonical basis $``$ explicitly. An element of the form $`y_m^py_{m+1}^q`$ for some $`m`$ and $`p,q_0`$ is called a *cluster monomial*.

###### Theorem 2.7.

If $`bc3`$, i.e., $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is of finite type, then the basis $``$ in Theorem 2.3 is the set of all cluster monomials.

Turning to the affine types, we notice that there are only two cases to consider: $`(b,c)=(2,2)`$, or $`(b,c)=(1,4)`$ (the case $`(b,c)=(4,1)`$ reduces to the latter one by shifting the indices of all cluster variables by $`1`$). In each of these two cases, we introduce an element $`z𝒜(b,c)`$ by setting

(2.8)
$$z=\{\begin{array}{cc}y_0y_3y_1y_2\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(2,2)\text{;}\hfill \\ y_0^2y_3(y_1+2)y_2^2\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(1,4)\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$

Let $`T_0,T_1,\mathrm{}`$ be the sequence of Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind given by $`T_0=1`$, and $`T_n(t+t^1)=t^n+t^n`$ for $`n>0`$. In each of the affine types, we define the sequence $`z_1,z_2,\mathrm{}`$ of elements of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ by setting $`z_n=T_n(z)`$.

###### Theorem 2.8.

If $`(b,c)`$ is one of the pairs $`(2,2)`$ or $`(1,4)`$ then the basis $``$ in Theorem 2.3 is the disjoint union of the set of all cluster monomials and the set $`\{z_n:n1\}`$.

###### Remark 2.9.

Theorems 2.7 and 2.8 imply in particular that in the finite or affine type, every cluster variable $`y_m`$ is a positive element of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ in the sense of Definition 2.2. Jim Propp informed us that he (resp. Gregg Musiker) found a combinatorial proof of this fact for $`𝒜(2,2)`$ (resp. $`𝒜(1,4)`$). Dylan Thurston told us that he found a topological interpretation of $`𝒜(2,2)`$ leading to yet another proof of positivity for this case. As conjectured in , the positivity of cluster variables is expected to hold for cluster algebras of arbitrary rank; cf. also Remark 5.6 below.

Following , for $`b,c`$ arbitrary, we identify $`Q`$ with the root lattice associated with the Cartan matrix (2.5), so that $`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _2`$ become *simple roots* (see Section 3 for the background on the corresponding root system). For the initial cluster variables $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$, the correspondence (2.6) takes the form

$$y_1=\frac{1}{y_1^1}=x[\alpha _1],y_2=\frac{1}{y_2^1}=x[\alpha _2].$$

As shown in \[7, Theorem 6.1\], the rest of the cluster variables have the following description.

###### Proposition 2.10.

In a cluster algebra $`𝒜(b,c)`$ with $`b,c`$ arbitrary (not necessarily of finite or affine type), every cluster variable $`y_m`$ different from $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$ has the form (2.6) for a positive real root $`\alpha `$. This correspondence is a bijection between the set of all positive real roots associated with the Cartan matrix $`A(b,c)`$, and the set of cluster variables different from $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$ in $`𝒜(b,c)`$.

In the affine type case $`bc=4`$, positive imaginary roots are all positive integer multiples of the root $`\delta `$ given by

(2.9)
$$\delta =\{\begin{array}{cc}\alpha _1+\alpha _2\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(2,2)\text{;}\hfill \\ \alpha _1+2\alpha _2\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(1,4)\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$

The following result complements Proposition 2.10.

###### Proposition 2.11.

Under the correspondence in Theorem 2.4, we have $`x[n\delta ]=z_n`$ for all $`n>0`$.

###### Remark 2.12.

As a consequence of Theorem 2.5 and Proposition 2.11, each $`z_n`$ is invariant under all automorphisms $`\sigma _p`$ (see Proposition 5.3 ). In particular, this means that in the “non-canonical” definition (2.8), the four cluster variables $`y_0,y_1,y_2`$, and $`y_3`$ can be replaced by any four consecutive cluster variables (see (5)).

###### Remark 2.13.

In view of Theorem 2.8, no non-trivial monomial in the $`z_n`$ belongs to the canonical basis $``$. This is in contrast with the behavior of cluster variables, since $``$ contains all cluster monomials. This contrast between the “real” generators $`y_m`$ and the “imaginary” generators $`z_n`$ seems to be a special case of a general phenomenon taking place in any cluster algebra of infinite type (cf. ).

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 3, after a necessary background on root systems of rank $`2`$, we state and prove some results about cluster monomials which are valid in an arbitrary algebra $`𝒜(b,c)`$ (not assumed to be of finite or affine type). In particular, we show (Corollary 3.3) that the cluster monomials are always linearly independent. Sharpening Proposition 2.10, we compute the Newton polygon of every cluster variable $`y_m`$ viewed as a Laurent polynomial in $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$ (Proposition 3.5); this description turns out to be crucial for the proof of Theorem 2.3.

Section 4 contains the proofs of our main results (Theorems 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, and 2.7) in the finite type case, while Section 5 treats the affine types. To avoid a case-by-case analysis of the algebras $`𝒜(2,2)`$ and $`𝒜(1,4)`$, we introduce in Section 5 an interesting $`2`$-parameter deformation of $`𝒜(2,2)`$, and extend to it most of the results in question.

Finally, in Section 6 we deal with more general cluster algebras of rank $`2`$, in which the two monomials on the right hand side of (2.1) have non-trivial coefficients. We show (Proposition 6.1 and Theorem 6.3) that this seemingly more general case reduces to the coefficient-free case by a rescaling of cluster variables.

## 3. Cluster monomials and their Newton polygons

### 3.1. Background on rank $`2`$ root systems.

In this section we work with an arbitrary cluster algebra of rank $`2`$; so the indefinite case $`bc>4`$ is not excluded. We start by recalling some basic facts about the root system associated with a $`2\times 2`$ Cartan matrix $`A=A(b,c)`$ (more details can be found in ).

First of all, the *Weyl group* $`W=W(A)`$ is a group of linear transformations of $`Q`$ generated by two *simple reflections* $`s_1`$ and $`s_2`$ whose action in the basis of simple roots is given by

(3.1)
$$s_1=(\begin{array}{cc}1& b\\ 0& 1\end{array}),s_2=(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ c& 1\end{array}).$$

Since both $`s_1`$ and $`s_2`$ are involutions, each element of $`W`$ is one of the following:

$$w_1(m)=s_1s_2s_1\mathrm{}s_m,w_2(m)=s_2s_1s_2\mathrm{}s_{m+1};$$

here $`m`$ stands for the element of $`\{1,2\}`$ congruent to $`m`$ modulo $`2`$, and both products are of length $`m0`$. It is well known that $`W`$ is finite if and only if $`bc3`$. The *Coxeter number* $`h`$ of $`W`$ is the order of $`s_1s_2`$ in $`W`$; it is given by Table 1. In the finite case, $`W`$ is the dihedral group of order $`2h`$, and its elements can be listed as follows: $`w_1(0)=w_2(0)=e`$ (the identity element), $`w_1(h)=w_2(h)=w_0`$ (the longest element), and $`2h2`$ distinct elements $`w_1(m),w_2(m)`$ for $`0<m<h`$. In the infinite case, all elements $`w_1(m)`$ and $`w_2(m)`$ for $`m>0`$ are distinct.

A vector $`\alpha Q`$ is a *real root* for $`A`$ if it is $`W`$-conjugate to a simple root. Let $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{\mathrm{re}}`$ denote the set of real roots for $`A`$. It is known that $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{\mathrm{re}}=\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{re}}(\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{re}})`$, where

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{re}}=\{\alpha =a_1\alpha _1+a_2\alpha _2\mathrm{\Phi }^{\mathrm{re}}:a_1,a_20\}$$

is the set of positive real roots.

In the finite case, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{re}}`$ has cardinality $`h`$, and we have

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{re}}=\{w_1(m)\alpha _{m+1}:0m<h\}.$$

In the infinite case, we have

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{re}}=\{w_i(m)\alpha _{m+i}:i\{1,2\},m0\},$$

with all the roots $`w_i(m)\alpha _{m+i}`$ distinct.

To introduce imaginary roots, consider the $`W`$-invariant symmetric scalar product on $`Q`$ given by

(3.2)
$$(\alpha ,\alpha )=ca_1^2bca_1a_2+ba_2^2(\alpha =a_1\alpha _1+a_2\alpha _2Q).$$

According to , the set of imaginary roots can be defined as follows:

(3.3)
$$\mathrm{\Phi }^{\mathrm{im}}=\{\alpha Q\{0\}:(\alpha ,\alpha )0\}.$$

Similarly to the case of real roots, we have $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{\mathrm{im}}=\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}(\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}})`$, where

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}=\{\alpha =a_1\alpha _1+a_2\alpha _2\mathrm{\Phi }^{\mathrm{im}}:a_1,a_20\}$$

is the set of positive imaginary roots. In view of (3.3) and (3.2), a vector $`a_1\alpha _1+a_2\alpha _2`$ from $`Q`$ belongs to $`\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$ if and only if $`a_1,a_2>0`$, and

(3.4)
$$\frac{bc\sqrt{bc(bc4)}}{2b}\frac{a_2}{a_1}\frac{bc+\sqrt{bc(bc4)}}{2b}.$$

In particular, in the affine type case $`bc=4`$, positive imaginary roots are precisely the positive integer multiples of the minimal such root $`\delta `$ given by (2.9). Note also that in the indefinite case $`bc>4`$, the upper and lower bounds for $`a_2/a_1`$ in (3.4) are irrational numbers (indeed, in this case, $`(bc3)^2<bc(bc4)<(bc2)^2`$, hence $`bc(bc4)`$ is not a perfect square); so both inequalities in (3.4) can be replaced by strict ones.

### 3.2. Parameterizing cluster monomials

Returning to cluster algebras, we start with the following result.

###### Proposition 3.1.

Every cluster monomial has a (unique) presentation of the form (2.6), with $`\alpha Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$. This correspondence is a bijection between the set of all cluster monomials and $`Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$.

###### Proof.

According to \[7, Theorem 6.1\] or Proposition 2.10 above, every cluster variable has the form $`y_m=x[\alpha (m)]`$; here $`\alpha (m)=\alpha _m`$ for $`m\{1,2\}`$, and the rest of the cluster variables are in a bijection with the set of all positive real roots. Clearly, every cluster monomial $`y_m^py_{m+1}^q`$ also has the form (2.6), i.e., can be written as $`x[\alpha ]`$ with $`\alpha =p\alpha (m)+q\alpha (m+1)`$. To complete the proof it is enough to show the following:

(3.5) For every $`m`$, the vectors $`\alpha (m)`$ and $`\alpha (m+1)`$ form a $``$-basis of $`Q`$.
(3.6) For every $`m`$, the vectors $`\alpha (m)`$ and $`\alpha (m+1)`$ are the only positive
real roots contained in the additive semigroup $`_0\alpha (m)+_0\alpha (m+1)`$.
(3.7) The union $`_m(_0\alpha (m)+_0\alpha (m+1))`$ is equal to $`Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$.
In the finite type, the properties (3.5)–(3.7) are seen by an easy inspection (they are in fact special cases of the results in \[8, Theorems 1.8,1.10\] valid for all cluster algebras of finite type). So let us assume we are in the infinite type case $`bc4`$. As shown in \[7, Theorem 6.1\], the positive roots $`\alpha (m)`$ are given by

(3.8)
$$\alpha (m+3)=w_1(m)\alpha _{m+1},\alpha (m)=w_2(m)\alpha _{m+2}(m0).$$

In particular, we have $`\alpha (3)=\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha (0)=\alpha _2`$. Thus, properties (3.5) and (3.6) hold for $`m\{0,1,2\}`$, and we also have

$$\underset{m=0}{\overset{2}{}}(_0\alpha (m)+_0\alpha (m+1))=Q(_{>0}\alpha _1+_{>0}\alpha _2).$$

We now check (3.5) and (3.6) for $`m3`$ (the case $`m0`$ follows by the obvious symmetry between $`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _2`$). As shown in \[7, (6.7)\], the roots $`\alpha (m)`$ for $`m\{1,2\}`$ satisfy the recurrence

(3.9)
$$\alpha (m+1)+\alpha (m1)=\{\begin{array}{cc}b\alpha (m)\hfill & \text{if }m\text{ is odd;}\hfill \\ c\alpha (m)\hfill & \text{if }m\text{ is even.}\hfill \end{array}$$

Writing each $`\alpha (m)`$ as $`a_{m1}\alpha _1+a_{m2}\alpha _2`$, we conclude from (3.9) that

(3.10)
$$det(\begin{array}{cc}a_{m1}& a_{m+1,1}\\ a_{m2}& a_{m+1,2}\end{array})=det(\begin{array}{cc}a_{m1,1}& a_{m1}\\ a_{m1,2}& a_{m2}\end{array})=\mathrm{}=det(\begin{array}{cc}a_{21}& a_{31}\\ a_{22}& a_{32}\end{array})=1$$

for $`m2`$. This proves (3.5), as well as the fact that for $`m3`$, the vectors $`\alpha (m1)`$ and $`\alpha (m+1)`$ lie on the opposite sides of the ray through $`\alpha (m)`$. It follows that the sequence $`(a_{m2}/a_{m1})_{m3}`$ is strictly increasing. In view of (3.4), to finish the proof of (3.6) and (3.7), it is enough to show that

(3.11)
$$\underset{m\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{a_{m2}}{a_{m1}}=\frac{bc\sqrt{bc(bc4)}}{2b}.$$

Let us abbreviate $`u_m=a_{m2}/a_{m1}`$. By (3.8), for $`m3`$ we have $`\alpha (m+2)=s_1s_2\alpha (m)`$. Remembering (3.1), we conclude that

$$u_{m+2}=\frac{cu_m}{bc1bu_m}(m3).$$

An elementary check shows that the transformation

$$uf(u)=\frac{cu}{bc1bu}$$

preserves the interval $`[0,\frac{bc\sqrt{bc(bc4)}}{2b}]`$, and we have $`f(u)>u`$ for $`0u<\frac{bc\sqrt{bc(bc4)}}{2b}`$. This implies (3.11) and completes the proof of Proposition 3.1. ∎

###### Example 3.2.

We illustrate Proposition 3.1 by explicitly computing the family $`(\alpha (m))_m`$ for the affine types. First, let $`(b,c)=(2,2)`$. Using the recurrence (3.9) and induction on $`|m|`$, we obtain that

(3.12)
$$\alpha (m)=\{\begin{array}{cc}(m2)\alpha _1+(m3)\alpha _2\hfill & \text{if }m2\text{;}\hfill \\ m\alpha _1+(1m)\alpha _2\hfill & \text{if }m1\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$

These roots and the corresponding cluster variables are shown in Figure 1.

Similarly, for $`(b,c)=(1,4)`$, we get

(3.13)
$$m\alpha (m)=\{\begin{array}{cc}(m2)\alpha _1+2(m3)\alpha _2\hfill & \text{if }m2\text{;}\hfill \\ m\alpha _1+2(1m)\alpha _2\hfill & \text{if }m1\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$

###### Corollary 3.3.

In any cluster algebra of rank $`2`$, the cluster monomials are linearly independent.

###### Proof.

For $`\gamma =g_1\alpha _1+g_2\alpha _2Q`$, we abbreviate $`y^\gamma =y_1^{g_1}y_2^{g_2}`$. We will use the product partial order on $`Q=^2`$:

$$\gamma _1\gamma _2\gamma _1\gamma _2Q_+=_0\alpha _1+_0\alpha _2.$$

By Proposition 3.1, cluster monomials can be parametrized by $`Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$ so that the cluster monomial corresponding to $`\alpha Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$ has the form

(3.14)
$$x[\alpha ]=y^\alpha +\underset{\gamma >\alpha }{}c_\gamma y^\gamma .$$

Now suppose that a (finite) integer linear combination of the cluster monomials $`x[\alpha ]`$ is equal to $`0`$. Let $`SQ\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$ be the set of all $`\alpha `$ such that $`x[\alpha ]`$ occurs with a non-zero coefficient in this linear combination. If $`S`$ is non-empty, pick a maximal element $`\alpha S`$; in view of (3.14), the (Laurent) monomial $`y^\alpha `$ does not occur in any $`x[\beta ]`$ for $`\beta S\{\alpha \}`$, which gives a desired contradiction. ∎

We now turn our attention to positive automorphisms $`\sigma _p`$ of $`𝒜(b,c)`$ which appear in Theorem 2.5. By definition, each $`\sigma _p`$ acts on the set of all cluster monomials; identifying the latter set with $`Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$ as in Proposition 3.1, we obtain the action of $`\sigma _p`$ on $`Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$.

###### Proposition 3.4.

The action of $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ on $`Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$ is given by (2.7).

###### Proof.

By symmetry, it is enough to prove the claim for $`\sigma _1`$. In the finite type case, it is seen by inspection, so we shall deal with the infinite type case $`bc4`$. Remembering the definition, we see that the action of $`\sigma _1`$ on $`Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$ is given as follows: $`\sigma _1(\alpha (m))=\alpha (2m)`$ for $`m`$, and $`\sigma _1`$ acts linearly in each cone $`_0\alpha (m)+_0\alpha (m+1)`$; here $`\alpha (1)=\alpha _1,\alpha (2)=\alpha _2`$, and the rest of the $`\alpha (m)`$ are all positive real roots labeled according to (3.8). This description implies that $`\sigma _1(\alpha _1)=\alpha _1`$, and $`\sigma _1(\alpha (m))=s_2\alpha (m)`$ for $`m1`$, i.e., when $`\alpha (m)`$ is either a positive real root, or $`\alpha _2`$. It follows that the action of $`\sigma _1`$ on $`\alpha =(a_1,a_2)Q\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{\mathrm{im}}`$ is given as follows:

$$\sigma _1(\alpha )=\{\begin{array}{cc}(a_1,a_2)\hfill & \text{if }a_10\text{;}\hfill \\ s_2(a_1,a_2)=(a_1,ca_1a_2)\hfill & \text{if }a_10\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$

This is clearly equivalent to the first equality in (2.7), and we are done. ∎

### 3.3. Newton polygons of cluster variables

Sharpening (3.14), we now give an explicit description of the Newton polygon of any cluster variable $`y_m`$. Recall that the Newton polygon $`\mathrm{Newt}(x)`$ of a Laurent polynomial $`x[y_1^{\pm 1},y_2^{\pm 1}]`$ is the convex hull in $`Q_{}=\alpha _1\alpha _2`$ of all lattice points $`\gamma `$ such that the monomial $`y^\gamma `$ appears with a non-zero coefficient in the Laurent expansion of $`x`$. We will say that $`x`$ is *monic* if every monomial corresponding to a vertex of $`\mathrm{Newt}(x)`$ appears in the Laurent expansion of $`x`$ with coefficient $`1`$. For $`\alpha =a_1\alpha _1+a_2\alpha _2Q_+`$, let $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha )`$ denote the triangle (possibly degenerate) in $`Q_{}`$ with vertices $`\alpha ,\alpha +ba_2\alpha _1`$, and $`\alpha +ca_1\alpha _2`$.

###### Proposition 3.5.

For every positive real root $`\alpha `$, the corresponding cluster variable $`x[\alpha ]`$ is a monic Laurent polynomial in $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$, and its Newton polygon $`\mathrm{Newt}(x[\alpha ])`$ is equal to the triangle $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha )`$.

###### Proof.

Using the obvious symmetry, it is enough to prove the proposition for the cluster variables $`y_m`$ with $`m3`$. The cluster relations 2.1 imply immediately that

$$y_3=x[\alpha _1]=y^{\alpha _1}+y^{\alpha _1+c\alpha _2}$$

and

$$y_4=x[b\alpha _1+\alpha _2]=y^{b\alpha _1\alpha _2}(y^{c\alpha _2}+1)^b+y^{\alpha _2};$$

it follows that both $`y_3`$ and $`y_4`$ satisfy the proposition. Now let $`m4`$ be such that each of the cluster variables $`y_{m1},y_m`$ and $`y_{m+1}`$ is different from $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$ (this condition is vacuous for the infinite types). Proceeding by induction on $`m`$, we assume that the proposition holds for $`y_{m1}`$ and $`y_m`$, and will prove it for $`y_{m+1}`$. Let $`m`$ be even (the case of $`m`$ odd is entirely similar). To find $`\mathrm{Newt}(y_{m+1})`$, we compute the Newton polygons of both sides of the relation $`y_{m1}y_{m+1}=y_m^c+1`$. Since the Newton polygon of the product of two Laurent polynomials is the Minkowski sum of their Newton polygons, we obtain

(3.15)
$$\mathrm{Newt}(x[\alpha (m1)])+\mathrm{Newt}(x[\alpha (m+1)])=\mathrm{Newt}(x[\alpha (m)]^c+1).$$

We will use the following well-known properties of convex polygons in $`^2`$ and their Minkowski addition (see \[12, Section 15.3\]). With every convex $`n`$-gon $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ in $`^2`$ there is associated a set $`V(\mathrm{\Pi })`$ of $`n`$ non-zero vectors in $`^2`$ defined as follows: each side $`AB`$ of $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ contributes a vector of the same length as $`AB`$ whose direction is that of the outward normal to $`AB`$. In the degenerate case $`n=2`$ when $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is just a line segment, the set $`V(\mathrm{\Pi })`$ is a pair of opposite vectors, each of length equal to $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ and perpendicular to $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$. Clearly, the sum of $`n`$ vectors from $`V(\mathrm{\Pi })`$ is $`0`$, and no two of them are positively proportional. Conversely, every $`n`$-set of non-zero vectors in $`^2`$ with these properties has the form $`V(\mathrm{\Pi })`$, where a convex $`n`$-gon $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is determined uniquely up to translations. Furthermore, for every two convex polygons $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_2`$ in $`^2`$, the set $`V(\mathrm{\Pi }_1+\mathrm{\Pi }_2)`$ associated with their Minkowski sum is obtained by taking the union of $`V(\mathrm{\Pi }_1)`$ and $`V(\mathrm{\Pi }_2)`$ (as a multiset) and replacing any pair of positively proportional vectors by their sum. This implies in particular the *cancellation property* for the Minkowski addition: a convex polygon $`\mathrm{\Pi }_2`$ is uniquely determined by $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1+\mathrm{\Pi }_2`$.

Applying the cancellation property to (3.15) we see that the desired equality

$$\mathrm{Newt}(x[\alpha (m+1)])=\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m+1))$$

becomes a consequence of

(3.16)
$$\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m1))+\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m+1))=\mathrm{Conv}(c\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m))\{0\}),$$

where $`\mathrm{Conv}`$ stands for the convex hull in $`Q_{}=^2`$.

Our proof of (3.16) is illustrated by Figure 2. We first compute the polygon on the right hand side. Note that if $`\alpha =a_1\alpha _1+a_2\alpha _2Q`$ is such that $`a_1,a_2>0`$ then the side of the triangle $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha )`$ opposite to the vertex $`\alpha `$ lies on the straight line

$$\{g_1\alpha _1+g_2\alpha _2:ca_1g_1+ba_2g_2+(\alpha ,\alpha )=0\},$$

where $`(\alpha ,\alpha )`$ is given by (3.2). If $`\alpha `$ is a positive real root then $`(\alpha ,\alpha )>0`$, hence $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha )`$ does not contain the origin. We conclude that $`\mathrm{Conv}(c\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m))\{0\})`$ is the quadrilateral with vertices $`c\alpha (m),c\alpha (m)+bca_{m2}\alpha _1,0`$, and $`c\alpha (m)+c^2a_{m1}\alpha _2`$, where as before, we write $`\alpha (m)=a_{m1}\alpha _1+a_{m2}\alpha _2`$. It follows easily that the corresponding set $`V(\mathrm{Conv}(c\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m))\{0\}))`$ consists of the following four vectors written in the basis $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2`$:

(3.17)
$$\{(c^2a_{m1},0),(0,bca_{m2}),(ca_{m2},bca_{m2}ca_{m1}),(c^2a_{m1}ca_{m2},ca_{m1})\}.$$

The position of the quadrilateral itself is uniquely determined by this set and the property that its minimal vertex (with respect to the product order on $`^2`$) is $`c\alpha (m)=(ca_{m1},ca_{m2})`$.

Turning to the left hand side of (3.16), we use the following easily checked property: if $`\alpha =a_1\alpha _1+a_2\alpha _2Q_+`$ then

$$V(\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha ))=\{(ca_1,0),(0,ba_2),(ca_1,ba_2)\}$$

(with the convention that if, say, $`a_1>0`$ and $`a_2=0`$ then the zero vector $`(0,ba_2)`$ does not appear in $`V(\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha ))`$). Using the equality $`\alpha (m1)+\alpha (m+1)=c\alpha (m)`$ from (3.9), we see that $`V(\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m1))+\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m+1)))`$ is equal to

(3.18)
$$\{(c^2a_{m1},0),(0,bca_{m2}),(ca_{m1,1},ba_{m1,2}),(ca_{m+1,1},ba_{m+1,2})\}.$$

It follows that $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m1))+\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m+1))`$ is a quadrilateral; again, its position is uniquely determined by $`V(\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m1))+\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m+1)))`$ and the property that its minimal vertex is $`(\alpha (m1)+\alpha (m+1))=c\alpha (m)`$.

To show (3.16), it remains to prove that the sets in (3.17) and (3.18) are equal to each other. Remembering that the vectors in each of the sets must sum to zero, we see it suffices to show that

$$a_{m2}=a_{m1,1},ca_{m1}=ba_{m+1,2}.$$

Once again using (3.9), we can rewrite these equalities as

(3.19)
$$a_{m+1,2}=ca_{m1,1}a_{m1,2},a_{m1,1}=ba_{m+1,2}a_{m+1,1},$$

which is an immediate consequence of $`\alpha (m+1)=s_1s_2\alpha (m1)`$. This concludes the proof of the equality $`\mathrm{Newt}(x[\alpha (m+1)])=\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m+1))`$.

To complete the proof of Proposition 3.5, it remains to show that if $`y_{m1}`$ and $`y_m`$ are monic then so is $`y_{m+1}`$. In view of the exchange relations, this is a consequence of the following easily verified general property: a Laurent polynomial equal to the ratio of two monic Laurent polynomials is itself monic. ∎

We conclude this section with the following corollary of Proposition 3.5.

###### Proposition 3.6.

Let $`y=y_m^py_{m+1}^q`$ be a cluster monomial containing at least one cluster variable different from $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$. Then there exists a non-zero linear form $`\phi _m`$ on $`Q_{}`$ such that

$$\phi _m(g_1\alpha _1+g_2\alpha _2)=c_{m1}g_1+c_{m2}g_2,c_{m1},c_{m2}0,$$

and $`\mathrm{Newt}(y)`$ lies in the open half-plane $`\{\phi _m<0\}`$. In particular, $`\mathrm{Newt}(y)`$ has empty intersection with the positive quadrant $`Q_+=_0\alpha _1+_0\alpha _2`$.

###### Proof.

It is enough to consider the case $`m2`$; by Proposition 2.1, in the finite type case we can also assume without loss of generality that $`m\frac{h}{2}+2`$. If $`m=2`$ then $`y=y_2^py_3^q`$ for some $`p0`$ and $`q>0`$; in this case, $`\mathrm{Newt}(y)`$ is a line segment parallel to $`\alpha _2`$ and lying in the open half-plane $`\{g_1\alpha _1+g_2\alpha _2:g_1<0\}`$. Thus, the proposition holds for $`m=2`$.

For $`m3`$, we define a linear form $`\phi _m`$ on $`Q_{}`$ by setting

$$\phi _m(g_1\alpha _1+g_2\alpha _2)=(a_{m+1,2}+ca_{m1}a_{m2})g_1+(a_{m,1}+ba_{m+1,2}a_{m+1,1})g_2.$$

Remembering (3.19), we can rewrite $`\phi _m`$ as

(3.20)
$$\phi _m(g_1\alpha _1+g_2\alpha _2)=(a_{m+2,2}+a_{m+1,2})g_1+(a_{m1,1}+a_{m,1})g_2,$$

so the coefficients of $`g_1`$ and $`g_2`$ in $`\phi _m`$ are nonnegative. Since

$$\mathrm{Newt}(y)=p\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m))+q\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m+1)),$$

to complete the proof it is enough to show that $`\phi _m`$ takes negative values at all vertices of each of the triangles $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m))`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha (m+1))`$. Clearly, both $`\phi _m(\alpha (m))`$ and $`\phi _m(\alpha (m+1))`$ are negative since $`\phi _m`$ has positive coefficients. As for the remaining four vertices, a direct calculation using (3.10) yields

$$\phi _m(\alpha (m)+ca_{m1}\alpha _2)=\phi _m(\alpha (m+1)+ba_{m+1,2}\alpha _1)=1,$$

$$\phi _m(\alpha (m)+ba_{m2}\alpha _1)=(\alpha (m),\alpha (m))1,$$

$$\phi _m(\alpha (m+1)+ca_{m+1,1}\alpha _2)=(\alpha (m+1),\alpha (m+1))1.$$

Since $`\alpha (m)`$ and $`\alpha (m+1)`$ are real roots, both $`(\alpha (m),\alpha (m))`$ and $`(\alpha (m+1),\alpha (m+1))`$ are positive. Hence all the above values of $`\phi _m`$ are negative, as desired. ∎

In the affine types, the linear forms $`\phi _m`$ given by (3.20) can be computed explicitly using (3.12) and (3.13). This implies the following corollary which will be used in Section 5.

###### Corollary 3.7.

In an affine type, for $`m3`$, every Laurent monomial $`y_1^{g_1}y_2^{g_2}`$ that occurs in the expansion of a non-trivial cluster monomial in $`y_m`$ and $`y_{m+1}`$ satisfies the following condition:

* $`(2m3)g_1+(2m5)g_2<0`$ if $`(b,c)=(2,2)`$.
* $`(3m3m)g_1+\frac{3m6m}{2}g_2<0`$ if $`(b,c)=(1,4)`$.

## 4. Proofs for finite types

Throughout this section, $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is a cluster algebra of finite type. It is enough to consider three cases: type $`A_2`$ with $`(b,c)=(1,1)`$, type $`B_2`$ with $`(b,c)=(1,2)`$, and type $`G_2`$ with $`(b,c)=(1,3)`$. Note that in these cases there are no imaginary roots, so Theorem 2.4 (resp. Theorem 2.5) becomes a consequence of Theorem 2.7 and Proposition 3.1 (resp. Proposition 3.4).

To prove Theorems 2.3 and 2.7, it suffices to show the following:

(4.1) Every cluster variable is a positive element of $`𝒜(b,c)`$.
(4.2) Cluster monomials linearly span $`𝒜(b,c)`$.
(4.3) If $`y𝒜(b,c)`$ is written as a linear combination of cluster monomials then
its every coefficient is equal to some coefficient in the Laurent polynomial
expansion of $`y`$ with respect to some cluster $`\{y_m,y_{m+1}\}`$.
Recall from Proposition 2.1 that every cluster variable $`y_m`$ is equal to one of the variables $`y_1,y_2,\mathrm{},y_{h+2}`$. To prove (4.1), is is enough to show that each of the elements $`y_3,\mathrm{},y_{h+2}`$ is a positive Laurent polynomial in $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$ (since all the clusters are interchangeable). This is clear from their explicit calculation (the formulas below are obtained from those in the proof of \[7, Theorem 6.1\] by specializing all the coefficients to $`1`$):

Type $`A_2`$: $`(b,c)=(1,1)`$.

(4.4)
$$y_3=\frac{y_2+1}{y_1},y_4=\frac{y_1+y_2+1}{y_1y_2},y_5=\frac{y_1+1}{y_2}.$$

Type $`B_2`$: $`(b,c)=(1,2)`$.

(4.5)
$$y_3=\frac{y_2^2+1}{y_1},y_4=\frac{y_1+y_2^2+1}{y_1y_2},y_5=\frac{(y_1+1)^2+y_2^2}{y_1y_2^2},y_6=\frac{y_1+1}{y_2}.$$

Type $`G_2`$: $`(b,c)=(1,3)`$.

(4.6) $`y_3={\displaystyle \frac{y_2^3+1}{y_1}},y_4={\displaystyle \frac{y_1+y_2^3+1}{y_1y_2}},y_5={\displaystyle \frac{(y_1+1)^3+y_2^3(y_2^3+3y_1+2)}{y_1^2y_2^3}},`$
$`y_6={\displaystyle \frac{(y_1+1)^2+y_2^3}{y_1y_2^2}},y_7={\displaystyle \frac{(y_1+1)^3+y_2^3}{y_1y_2^3}},y_8={\displaystyle \frac{y_1+1}{y_2}}.`$
To prove (4.2), we notice that cluster monomials are the monomials in the cluster variables $`y_m`$ that do not contain products of the form $`y_my_{m+n}`$ for $`n2`$. Our first task is to produce the relations that express every such “forbidden” product as a linear combination of cluster monomials. Without loss of generality we can assume that $`n(h+2)/2`$. For $`n=2`$, the relations in question are just the exchange relations (2.1). It remains to treat $`n=3`$ in the $`B_2`$ case, and $`n=3,4`$ in the $`G_2`$ case. A direct calculation using (4.5) and (4.6) yields the following:

Type $`B_2`$: $`(b,c)=(1,2)`$.

(4.7)
$$y_my_{m+3}=\{\begin{array}{cc}y_{m1}+y_{m+1}\hfill & \text{if }m\text{ is odd;}\hfill \\ y_{m+2}+y_{m+4}\hfill & \text{if }m\text{ is even.}\hfill \end{array}$$

Type $`G_2`$: $`(b,c)=(1,3)`$.

(4.8)
$$y_my_{m+3}=\{\begin{array}{cc}y_{m1}+y_{m+1}^2\hfill & \text{if }m\text{ is odd;}\hfill \\ y_{m+2}^2+y_{m+4}\hfill & \text{if }m\text{ is even.}\hfill \end{array}$$

(4.9)
$$y_my_{m+4}=\{\begin{array}{cc}y_{m2}+y_{m+2}+3\hfill & \text{if }m\text{ is odd;}\hfill \\ y_{m2}+y_{m+2}\hfill & \text{if }m\text{ is even.}\hfill \end{array}$$

To complete the proof of (4.2), it remains to show that the above relations form a system of *straightening* relations, i.e., that their repeated application allows one to express every monomial in the cluster variables as a linear combination of cluster monomials.

In type $`A_2`$, the exchange relations are of the form $`y_my_{m+2}=y_m+1`$. Note that both terms on the right have smaller degree than the product on the left hand side. It follows that if we take any monomial $`M`$ in the cluster variables which has $`y_my_{m+2}`$ as a factor, and replace this factor by $`y_m+1`$, then $`M`$ will be written as a sum of two monomials of smaller degree. The fact that $`M`$ is a linear combination of cluster monomials follows at once by induction on the degree of $`M`$.

In types $`B_2`$ and $`G_2`$, the argument is similar. The only difference is that we use the degree of monomials in the cluster variables based on the following grading: in type $`B_2`$ (resp. $`G_2`$) we set $`\mathrm{deg}(y_m)=3`$ (resp. $`5`$) for $`m`$ odd, and $`\mathrm{deg}(y_m)=2`$ (resp. $`3`$) for $`m`$ even. By inspection, every monomial on the right hand side of (4.7)–(4.9) (and of every exchange relation for $`B_2`$ and $`G_2`$) has smaller degree than the “forbidden” product on the left hand side of the same relation. Thus, the proof of (4.2) is completed by the same argument.

To prove (4.3), suppose that an element $`y𝒜(b,c)`$ is written as a linear combination of cluster monomials. Again, since all the clusters are interchangeable, it is enough to show that the coefficient of a cluster monomial $`y_1^py_2^q`$ in this linear combination is equal to the coefficient of $`y_1^py_2^q`$ in the Laurent polynomial expansion of $`y`$ with respect to $`\{y_1,y_2\}`$. This follows at once from Proposition 3.6, which implies that, for $`p,q0`$, the monomial $`y_1^py_2^q`$ does not occur in the Laurent expansion of any other cluster monomial. This concludes the proofs of Theorems 2.3 and 2.7 for the finite type.

## 5. Proofs for affine types

In this section, we prove Theorems 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.8, and Proposition 2.11 for the algebras $`𝒜(2,2)`$ and $`𝒜(1,4)`$. To avoid the case-by-case analysis as much as possible, we introduce the following $`2`$-parameter deformation of $`𝒜(2,2)`$. Let $`\stackrel{~}{}=(q_1,q_2,Y_1,Y_2)`$ be the field of rational functions in four (commuting) independent variables. We recursively define elements $`Y_m\stackrel{~}{}`$ for $`m`$ by the relations

(5.1)
$$Y_{m1}Y_{m+1}=Y_m^2+q_mY_m+1.$$

Now let $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$ denote the $`[q_1,q_2]`$-subalgebra of $`\stackrel{~}{}`$ generated by the $`Y_m`$ for all $`m`$. In view of \[6, Example 5.3\], $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}[q_1,q_2,Y_m^{\pm 1},Y_{m+1}^{\pm 1}]`$ for every $`m`$, i.e., every element of $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$ is a Laurent polynomial in $`Y_m`$ and $`Y_{m+1}`$ with coefficients in $`[q_1,q_2]`$.

The algebra $`𝒜(2,2)`$ is obtained from $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$ by an obvious specialization

(5.2)
$$Y_m=y_m,q_1=q_2=0.$$

Less obvious is the following observation: the subalgebra of $`𝒜(1,4)`$ generated by the elements $`y_m^m`$ for $`m`$ (i.e., by the $`y_m`$ for $`m`$ odd, and the $`y_m^2`$ for $`m`$ even) is obtained from $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$ by the specialization

(5.3)
$$Y_m=y_m^m,q_1=2,q_2=0.$$

To see this, notice that

$$Y_{m1}Y_{m+1}=(y_{m1}y_{m+1})^2=(y_m+1)^2=Y_m^2+2Y_m+1$$

for $`m`$ odd, and

$$Y_{m1}Y_{m+1}=y_{m1}y_{m+1}=y_m^4+1=Y_m^2+1$$

for $`m`$ even.

We introduce an element $`Z\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$ by setting

(5.4)
$$Z=Y_0Y_3(Y_1+q_1)(Y_2+q_2).$$

As before, we define the sequence $`Z_1,Z_2,\mathrm{}`$ of elements of $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$ by setting $`Z_n=T_n(Z)`$. In view of (2.8), each element $`z_n𝒜(2,2)`$ (resp. $`z_n𝒜(1,4)`$) is obtained from $`Z_n`$ by a specialization (5.2) (resp. (5.3)).

Returning to the cluster algebras of affine types, we now prove the following result, sharpening Proposition 2.11 in the spirit of Proposition 3.5. Recall that $`\delta `$ denotes the minimal positive imaginary root given by (2.9).

###### Proposition 5.1.

In the affine type, each $`z_n`$ is a monic Laurent polynomial in $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$, and its Newton polygon $`\mathrm{Newt}(z_n)`$ is equal to the triangle $`\mathrm{\Delta }(n\delta )`$.

###### Proof.

It is enough to show that $`Z_n`$ is a monic Laurent polynomial in $`Y_1`$ and $`Y_2`$, and that its Newton polygon $`\mathrm{Newt}(Z_n)`$ is a triangle $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$ with vertices $`(n,n),(n,n)`$ and $`(n,n)`$; in view of (2.9), the proposition then follows from the specializations (5.2) and (5.3).

First of all, combining (5.4) with (5.1), we obtain

(5.5)
$$Z=\frac{Y_1}{Y_2}+\frac{Y_2}{Y_1}+\frac{q_1}{Y_2}+\frac{q_2}{Y_1}+\frac{1}{Y_1Y_2},$$

implying our claims for $`Z_1=Z`$. To deal with $`n>1`$, we write $`Z`$ as $`Z=t+t^1+u`$, where

$$t=\frac{Y_1}{Y_2},u=\frac{q_1}{Y_2}+\frac{q_2}{Y_1}+\frac{1}{Y_1Y_2}.$$

Taking the Taylor expansion of the Chebyshev polynomial $`T_n`$, we get

(5.6)
$$Z_n=T_n(Z)=\underset{k=0}{\overset{n}{}}\frac{1}{k!}T_n^{(k)}(t+t^1)u^k.$$

Since each derivative $`T_n^{(k)}`$ is a linear combination of the polynomials $`T_{\mathrm{}}`$ for $`0\mathrm{}nk`$, it follows that $`Z_n`$ is a linear combination of Laurent monomials $`t^{\mathrm{}}u^k`$ for $`0kn`$ and $`(nk)\mathrm{}nk`$. The Newton polygon $`\mathrm{Newt}(t^{\mathrm{}}u^k)`$ is a triangle (possibly degenerate) with vertices $`(\mathrm{}k,\mathrm{}k),(\mathrm{},\mathrm{}k)`$ and $`(\mathrm{}k,\mathrm{})`$, and sides parallel to those of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$. By inspection, all these vertices belong to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$, and so $`\mathrm{Newt}(Z_n)\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$. Furthermore, the only term $`t^{\mathrm{}}u^k`$ whose Newton polygon may contain the vertex $`(n,n)`$ (resp. $`(n,n)`$, $`(n,n)`$) of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$ is $`u^n`$ (resp. $`t^n`$, $`t^n`$), and the corresponding Laurent monomial occurs with coefficient 1. But it is clear from (5.6) and the definition of the Chebyshev polynomial $`T_n`$ that each of the monomials $`u^n`$ and $`t^{\pm n}`$ occurs in $`Z_n`$ with coefficient $`1`$. This implies the desired equality $`\mathrm{Newt}(Z_n)=\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$, as well as the claim that $`Z_n`$ is monic. ∎

A more careful analysis of (5.6) implies the following analogue of Proposition 3.6.

###### Proposition 5.2.

1. Let $`n>0`$ and suppose that a point $`\gamma Q`$ belongs to the interior of the side of the triangle $`\mathrm{\Delta }(n\delta )`$ opposite to the vertex $`n\delta `$. Then the monomial $`y^\gamma `$ does not occur in the Laurent expansion of $`z_n`$ in $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$.
2. The Laurent expansion of $`z_n`$ in $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$ contains no monomials $`y_1^py_2^q`$ with $`p,q0`$.

###### Proof.

As in Proposition 5.1, it is enough to prove the corresponding statements for $`Z_n`$. Using the notation in the proof of Proposition 5.1, it is easy to see that the only terms $`t^{\mathrm{}}u^k`$ whose Newton polygons have non-empty intersection with the side $`[(n,n),(n,n)]`$ of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$ are those with $`k=0`$, i.e., those appearing in $`T_n(t+t^1)=t^n+t^n`$. This implies Part 1.

Part 2 follows at once from Part 1 by observing that the intersection of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$ with the positive quadrant $`_0^2`$ consists of a single point (namely, the origin), and this point belongs to the interior of the line segment $`[(n,n),(n,n)]`$. ∎

Our next result implies, in particular, that both Propositions 5.1 and 5.2 hold not just for $`\{y_1,y_2\}`$ but for any choice of “initial” cluster.

###### Proposition 5.3.

For every $`p`$, the automorphism $`\sigma _p`$ preserves each of the elements $`z_n`$.

###### Proof.

It suffices to prove the corresponding statement for the elements $`Z_n\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$, and the $`[q_1,q_2]`$-automorphisms $`\sigma _p`$ acting on the generators by $`\sigma _p(Y_m)=Y_{2pm}`$; the proposition then follows by an appropriate specialization ((5.2) in the case of $`𝒜(2,2)`$, and (5.3) in the case of $`𝒜(1,4)`$). It is enough to show that $`\sigma _1(Z)=Z`$. This is proved by the following calculation using (5.5):

(5.7) $`\sigma _1(Z)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{Y_0^2+q_2Y_0+(Y_1^2+q_1Y_1+1)}{Y_0Y_1}}={\displaystyle \frac{Y_0^2+q_2Y_0+Y_0Y_2}{Y_0Y_1}}={\displaystyle \frac{Y_0+Y_2+q_2}{Y_1}}`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{Y_0Y_2+Y_2^2+q_2Y_2}{Y_1Y_2}}={\displaystyle \frac{Y_1^2+Y_2^2+q_1Y_1+q_2Y_2+1}{Y_1Y_2}}=Z,`$
as desired. ∎

The above proof implies, in particular, that $`Z`$ can be expressed in any four consecutive variables $`Y_m,\mathrm{},Y_{m+3}`$ as $`Z=Y_mY_{m+3}(Y_{m+1}+q_{m+1})(Y_{m+2}+q_{m+2})`$ where as above $`n`$ is $`1`$ for $`n`$ odd and $`2`$ for $`n`$ even. In the two affine cases this specializes for all even $`m`$ to

$$z=\{\begin{array}{cc}y_my_{m\pm 3}y_{m\pm 1}y_{m\pm 2}\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(2,2)\text{;}\hfill \\ y_m^2y_{m\pm 3}(y_{m\pm 1}+2)y_{m\pm 2}^2\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(1,4)\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$

We are ready for the proofs of main results for the affine types: Theorems 2.32.5 and 2.8. We follow the same strategy as in Section 4 with necessary technical modifications.

First of all, Theorem 2.4 for the affine types is a consequence of Theorem 2.8 combined with Propositions 2.11 and 3.1. Second, Propositions 3.1 and 2.11 imply that the cluster monomials together with the elements $`z_n`$ are linearly independent: this is proved by the same argument as in Corollary 3.3. Third, Theorem 2.5 follows from Theorem 2.8 combined with Propositions 3.4, 2.11 and 5.3.

As in Section 4, it remains to prove the following counterparts of (4.1)–(4.3):

(5.8) Every cluster variable and every $`z_n`$ is a positive element of $`𝒜(b,c)`$.
(5.9) Cluster monomials and the elements $`z_n`$ linearly span $`𝒜(b,c)`$.
(5.10) If $`y𝒜(b,c)`$ is written as a linear combination of cluster monomials
and the $`z_n`$’s then its every coefficient is equal to some coefficient in the
Laurent polynomial expansion of $`y`$ with respect to some cluster.
Our proofs of (5.8) and (5.9) will use explicit expressions for all minimal “forbidden” products

(5.11)
$$z_nz_p(n,p>0),z_ny_m(n>0,m),y_my_{m+n}(m,n2),$$

as linear combinations of the cluster monomials and the $`z_n`$’s. In the formulas below we use the convention that $`z_0=1`$ and $`z_n=0`$ for $`n>0`$. Also $`n`$ has the same meaning as above: it is $`1`$ for $`n`$ odd, and $`2`$ for $`n`$ even.

###### Proposition 5.4.

1. For any affine type, the following relation holds for all $`pn1`$:

(5.12)
$$z_nz_p=\{\begin{array}{cc}z_{pn}+z_{p+n}\hfill & \text{if }p>n\text{;}\hfill \\ 2+z_{2n}\hfill & \text{if }p=n\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$
2. In the case $`(b,c)=(2,2)`$, for all $`m`$ and $`n1`$, we have

(5.13)
$$z_ny_m=y_{mn}+y_{m+n},$$

(5.14)
$$y_my_{m+n}=y_{m+\frac{n}{2}}y_{m+\frac{n}{2}}+\underset{k1}{}kz_{n2k}.$$
3. In the case $`(b,c)=(1,4)`$, we have

(5.15)
$$z_ny_m=\{\begin{array}{cc}y_{m2n}+y_{m+2n}\hfill & \text{for }m\text{ even;}\hfill \\ y_{mn}^{mn}+y_{m+n}^{m+n}+4\underset{k1}{}kz_{n2k}\hfill & \text{for }m\text{ odd;}\hfill \end{array}$$

(5.16)
$$y_my_{m+2n}=y_{m+n}^{m+n}+\underset{k1}{}(2k1)z_{n+12k}\text{(}m\text{ even, }n0\text{)};$$

(5.17) $`y_my_{m\pm n}=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{1<2k<n}{}}\mathrm{min}(4k,n2k)y_{m\pm 4k}+\{\begin{array}{cc}y_s^3\hfill & \text{if }n0\text{ mod }3\text{,}\hfill \\ y_sy_s\hfill & \text{otherwise}\hfill \end{array}`$
($`m`$ even, $`n1`$ odd),
where $`s=m\pm \frac{2n}{3}`$;

(5.18) $`y_my_{m+2n}=`$ $`y_{m+n}^{2m+n}+4{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n1}{}}}\mathrm{min}(k,nk)y_{m+2k}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}(2k^3+k)z_{2n2k}`$
($`m`$ odd, $`n0`$);

###### Proof.

To prove Proposition 5.4, we first establish the analogs of the relations in question for the elements $`Z_n`$ and $`Y_m`$ in the algebra $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$. As above, we use the convention that $`Z_0=1`$, and $`Z_n=0`$ for $`n>0`$.

###### Lemma 5.5.

The following relations hold for all $`m`$ and $`pn1`$:

(5.19)
$$Z_nZ_p=\{\begin{array}{cc}Z_{pn}+Z_{p+n}\hfill & \text{if }p>n\text{;}\hfill \\ 2+Z_{2n}\hfill & \text{if }p=n\text{;}\hfill \end{array}$$

(5.20)
$$Z_nY_m=Y_{mn}+Y_{m+n}+\underset{k1}{}kq_{m+k}Z_{nk};$$

(5.21)
$$Y_mY_{m+n}=Y_{m+\frac{n}{2}}Y_{m+\frac{n}{2}}+\underset{k=1}{\overset{n1}{}}\mathrm{min}(k,nk)q_{m+k}Y_{m+nk}+\underset{k1}{}c_kZ_{n1k},$$

where the coefficients $`c_k`$ are given by

(5.22)
$$c_{2p}=\frac{p(p+1)(2p+1)}{6}q_1q_2,c_{2p1}=\frac{(p1)p(p+1)}{6}(q_1^2+q_2^2)+p.$$

###### Proof.

The relation (5.19) follows at once from the definition of Chebyshev polynomials $`T_n`$.

To prove (5.20), we start with $`n=1`$. Proposition 5.3 and the symmetry of indices $`1`$ and $`2`$ in (5.1) reduces the case of general $`m`$ to a special case $`m=1`$; the corresponding relation $`Z_1Y_1=Y_0+Y_2+q_2`$ has already appeared in (5.7). The case $`n=2`$ now follows since

$$Z_2Y_m=(Z_1^22)Y_m=Z_1(Y_{m1}+Y_{m+1}+q_{m+1})2Y_m=Y_{m2}+Y_{m+2}+q_{m+1}Z_1+2q_m.$$

Proceeding by induction, we now assume that the products $`Z_{n1}Y_m`$ and $`Z_nY_m`$ satisfy (5.20) for some $`n2`$, and we want to show that the same is true for $`Z_{n1}Y_m`$. This is done by the following calculation using (5.19):

$`Z_{n+1}Y_m=(Z_1Z_nZ_{n1})Y_m`$
$`=Z_1(Y_{mn}+Y_{m+n}+{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}kq_{m+k}Z_{nk})(Y_{mn+1}+Y_{m+n1}+{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}kq_{m+k}Z_{n1k})`$
$`=Y_{mn1}+Y_{m+n+1}+2q_{m+n+1}+{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}kq_{m+k}(Z_1Z_{nk}Z_{n1k})`$
$`=Y_{mn1}+Y_{m+n+1}+(n+1)q_{m+n+1}+{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}kq_{m+k}Z_{n+1k},`$
as desired.

The proof of (5.21) uses the same strategy but requires a little bit more work. The case $`n=1`$ is tautologically true (the two summations in the right hand side being empty), and the case $`n=2`$ is the cluster relations (5.1). Proceeding by induction, we now assume that the products $`Y_mY_{m+n1}`$ and $`Y_mY_{m+n}`$ satisfy (5.21) for some $`n2`$, and we want to show that the same is true for $`Y_mY_{m+n+1}`$. Using the relation

$$Y_{m+n+1}=Z_1Y_{m+n}Y_{m+n1}q_{m+n+1},$$

which is a special case of (5.20), we obtain

$`Y_mY_{m+n+1}=Y_m(Z_1Y_{m+n}Y_{m+n1}q_{m+n+1})`$
$`=Z_1(Y_{m+\frac{n}{2}}Y_{m+\frac{n}{2}}+{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n1}{}}}\mathrm{min}(k,nk)q_{m+k}Y_{m+nk}+{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}c_kZ_{n1k})`$
$`(Y_{m+\frac{n1}{2}}Y_{m+\frac{n1}{2}}+{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n2}{}}}\mathrm{min}(k,n1k)q_{m+k}Y_{m+n1k}+{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}c_kZ_{n2k})`$
$`q_{m+n+1}Y_m=S_1+S_2+S_3,`$
where we abbreviated

$`S_1=Z_1Y_{m+\frac{n}{2}}Y_{m+\frac{n}{2}}Y_{m+\frac{n1}{2}}Y_{m+\frac{n1}{2}},`$
$`S_2={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\mathrm{min}(k,nk)q_{m+k}(Y_{m+n+1k}+Y_{m+n1k}+q_{m+n+1+k})`$
$`q_{m+n+1}Y_m{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n1}{}}}\mathrm{min}(k,n1k)q_{m+k}Y_{m+n1k},`$
$`S_3={\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}c_k(Z_1Z_{n1k}Z_{n2k}).`$
Using (5.19), we simplify

$$S_3=\underset{k1}{}c_kZ_{nk}+c_{n2}c_n.$$

To simplify $`S_1`$ and $`S_2`$, we first assume that $`n=2p`$ is even. The routine calculations yield

$`S_1=Y_{m+p}(Z_1Y_{m+p}Y_{m+p1})=Y_{m+p}Y_{m+p+1}+q_{m+p+1}Y_{m+p};`$
$`S_2={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\mathrm{min}(k,n+1k)q_{m+k}Y_{m+n+1k}q_{m+p+1}Y_{m+p}+p^2q_1q_2.`$
Plugging in the expressions for $`c_n`$ and $`c_{n2}`$ given by the first equality in (5.22), we see that $`S_1+S_2+S_3`$ is indeed the right hand side of (5.21) for $`Y_mY_{m+n+1}`$. In the case $`n=2p1`$, similar calculations yield

$`S_1=Y_{m+p1}Y_{m+p+1}+q_{m+p+1}Y_{m+p1}=Y_{m+p}^2+q_{m+p}Y_{m+p}+q_{m+p+1}Y_{m+p1}+1;`$
$`S_2={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\mathrm{min}(k,n+1k)q_{m+k}Y_{m+n+1k}q_{m+p}Y_{m+p}`$
$`q_{m+p+1}Y_{m+p1}+{\displaystyle \frac{p(p1)}{2}}(q_1^2+q_2^2)`$
To conclude that $`S_1+S_2+S_3`$ is again the desired expression, it remains to plug in the expressions for $`c_n`$ and $`c_{n2}`$ given by the second equality in (5.22). This completes the proof of Lemma 5.5. ∎

Returning to the relations in Proposition 5.4, we notice that all of them in the case $`(b,c)=(2,2)`$ are obtained from the corresponding relations in Lemma 5.5 by a specialization (5.2). So we assume throughout the rest of the proof that we are in the case $`(b,c)=(1,4)`$.

Using the specialization (5.3), we see that (5.12), the second case in (5.15) and (5.18) are again consequences of the corresponding relations in Lemma 5.5. It remains to prove the first case in (5.15), and also (5.16) and (5.17).

We start with an observation that the specialization (5.3) of (5.20) yields the identity

$$z_1y_m^2=y_{m1}+y_{m+1}+2\text{(}m\text{ even).}$$

Using the exchange relations (2.1), we obtain the following relation for any even $`m`$:

$$z_1y_m=\frac{y_{m1}+y_{m+1}+2}{y_m}=\frac{(y_{m2}y_m1)+(y_my_{m+2}1)+2}{y_m}=y_{m2}+y_{m+2}.$$

We see that the operator of multiplication by $`z_1`$ preserves the linear span $`V`$ of the cluster variables $`y_m`$ with even $`m`$; and it acts on $`V`$ as $`t+t^1`$, where $`t`$ is the shift operator acting by $`t(y_{2m})=y_{2m+2}`$. It follows that the multiplication by an arbitrary element $`z_n`$ acts on $`V`$ as $`T_n(t+t^1)=t^n+t^n`$, which is precisely the first case in (5.15).

To prove (5.16), we proceed by induction on $`n`$. The case $`n=0`$ is trivial, while $`n=1`$ is simply the exchange relation. To treat the product $`y_my_{m+2(n+1)}`$ for $`n1`$, we substitute $`y_{m+2(n+1)}=z_1y_{m+2n}y_{m+2(n1)}`$ (see (5.15)) and then use the inductive assumption together with (5.12) and the appropriate specialization of (5.20); the routine details are left to the reader.

The same strategy is used for the proof of (5.17). This completes the proof of Proposition 5.4. ∎

Now we are ready to prove (5.8), i.e., that the cluster variables and the $`z_n`$ are positive. By Proposition 5.3, it suffices to check the positivity of the Laurent expansion of each $`z_n`$ or $`y_m`$ in the variables $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$. For $`z_n`$, the desired positivity is an immediate consequence of (5.6) combined with the following well-known property of Chebyshev polynomials: the derivative of $`T_n`$ is a positive linear combination of the polynomials $`T_p`$ with $`p<n`$. For the sake of completeness, here is the proof: setting $`z=t+t^1`$, we obtain

$`dT_n(z)/dz`$ $`=dT_n(t+t^1)/dt(dz/dt)^1=n(t^{n1}t^{n1})/(1t^2)`$
$`=n(t^nt^n)/(tt^1)=n(t^{n1}+t^{n3}+\mathrm{}+t^{(n1)})`$
$`=n{\displaystyle \underset{0k\frac{n1}{2}}{}}T_{n12k}.`$
To prove that each cluster variable $`y_m`$ for $`m3`$ is a positive Laurent polynomial in $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$, it suffices to apply one of the formulas (5.14), (5.16) or (5.18) to the product $`y_my_m`$, and to notice that the right hand side is a positive linear combination of the elements $`z_n`$ and cluster monomials containing the variables $`y_p`$ with $`m<p<m`$. The desired positivity of $`y_m`$ follows by induction on $`m`$. The positivity of $`y_m`$ for $`m0`$ follows by Proposition 5.3.

###### Remark 5.6.

Note that the same argument establishes that, in the algebra $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}`$ given by (5.1), every element $`Y_m`$ is a Laurent polynomial in $`Y_1`$ and $`Y_2`$ whose coefficients are polynomials in $`q_1`$ and $`q_2`$ with *positive* integer coefficients.

To prove (5.9), it suffices to show that every monomial $`M`$ in the variables $`z_n`$ and $`y_m`$ is a linear combination of the cluster monomials and the $`z_n`$’s. We write $`M`$ in the form $`M=z_{n_1}^{a_1}\mathrm{}z_{n_s}^{a_s}y_{m_1}^{b_1}\mathrm{}y_{m_t}^{b_t}`$, where $`0<n_1<\mathrm{}<n_s,m_1<\mathrm{}<m_t`$, and the exponents $`a_1,\mathrm{},a_s`$ and $`b_1,\mathrm{},b_t`$ are positive integers. We define the *multi-degree* $`\mu (M)=(\mu _1(M),\mu _2(M),\mu _3(M))_0^3`$ by setting

$`\mu _1(M)=\{\begin{array}{cc}_{i=1}^sa_i+_{j=1}^tb_j\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(2,2)\text{;}\hfill \\ _{i=1}^sa_i+_{j=1}^tm_j1b_j\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(1,4)\text{;}\hfill \end{array}`$
$`\mu _2(M)=m_tm_1;`$
$`\mu _3(M)=b_1+b_t.`$
The lexicographic order on $`_0^3`$ makes it into a well ordered set (i.e., every non-empty subset of $`_0^3`$ has the smallest element). Therefore, to complete the proof, it suffices to show that every monomial $`M`$ which has at least one of the “forbidden” products in (5.11) as a factor, can be written as a linear combination of monomials of (lexicographically) smaller multi-degree. We will show that this can be done by replacing some “forbidden” factor of $`M`$ with its expression given by the appropriate relation in Proposition 5.4. Indeed, if $`_{i=1}^sa_i2`$ (resp. $`_{i=1}^sa_i=1`$) then one can apply (5.12) (resp. (5.13) or (5.15)), expressing $`M`$ as a linear combination of monomials with smaller value of $`\mu _1`$. So we can assume that $`M=y_{m_1}^{b_1}\mathrm{}y_{m_t}^{b_t}`$ with $`m_tm_12`$. Then we apply (5.14) or one of (5.16)–(5.18) to the product $`y_{m_1}y_{m_t}`$. By inspection, in the resulting expression for $`M`$, there is precisely one monomial $`M^{}`$ with $`\mu _1(M^{})=\mu _1(M)`$, while the rest of the terms have smaller value of $`\mu _1`$. By further inspection, we have $`\mu _2(M^{})<\mu _2(M)`$ (resp. $`\mu _2(M^{})=\mu _2(M)`$ and $`\mu _3(M^{})=\mu _3(M)2`$) if $`\mathrm{min}(b_1,b_t)=1`$ (resp. $`\mathrm{min}(b_1,b_t)2`$). This concludes the proof of (5.9).

To prove (5.10), suppose that an element $`y𝒜(b,c)`$ is written (uniquely) as a linear combination of cluster monomials and the elements $`z_n`$. We need to show that every coefficient in this linear combination is equal to some coefficient in the Laurent expansion of $`y`$ with respect to some cluster. For the coefficients of cluster monomials, this is proved by precisely the same argument as in the proof of (4.3) given in Section 4; the only extra thing to take into account is Part 2 of Proposition 5.2. It remains to deal with the coefficient of each $`z_n`$. By Proposition 5.3, we can assume without loss of generality that our linear combination involves only cluster variables $`y_m`$ with $`m3`$. It is then enough to show the following: for every $`n1`$, there exists a Laurent monomial $`y^\gamma =y_1^{g_1}y_2^{g_2}`$ that occurs with coefficient $`1`$ in (the Laurent expansion of) $`z_n`$ but does not occur in any $`z_p`$ for $`pn`$, or in any cluster monomial in the variables $`y_m`$ for $`m3`$. We claim that the following vector $`\gamma `$ has all the desired properties:

$$\gamma =(g_1,g_2)=\{\begin{array}{cc}(n,n)\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(2,2)\text{;}\hfill \\ (n,2n)\hfill & \text{if }(b,c)=(1,4)\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$

Indeed, by Proposition 5.1, $`\gamma `$ is a vertex of $`\mathrm{Newt}(z_n)`$, and so $`y^\gamma `$ occurs in $`z_n`$ with coefficient $`1`$. The fact that $`y^\gamma `$ does not occur in $`z_p`$ for $`pn`$ follows from Part 1 of Proposition 5.2. Finally, the fact that $`y^\gamma `$ does not occur in any cluster monomial $`y_m^py_{m+1}^q`$ for $`m3`$, follows from Corollary 3.7: an immediate check shows that $`\gamma `$ does *not* satisfy the linear inequality given there that must hold on $`\mathrm{Newt}(y_m^py_{m+1}^q)`$. This concludes the proofs of Theorems 2.3 and 2.8 for the affine type.

###### Example 5.7.

As an illustration of the above proof of (5.10), let $`(b,c)=(2,2)`$ and let $`y`$ be a positive element that is a $``$-linear combination of $`y_1^2y_2`$, $`y_4y_5`$ and $`z_4`$. We wish to show each of the three coefficients is positive. First we consider $`y`$ as a Laurent polynomial in the variables $`\{y_1,y_2\}`$. Propositions 3.5 and 5.1 make it an easy exercise to compute the Newton polygons of the three terms; the results are shown in Figure 3. Since the point $`\mathrm{Newt}(y_1^2y_2)`$ does not belong to $`\mathrm{Newt}(y_4y_5)`$ or $`\mathrm{Newt}(z_4)`$, the coefficient of $`y_1^2y_2`$ must be positive. Expressing $`y`$ as Laurent polynomial in $`\{y_4,y_5\}`$ we could generate a similar picture (not shown) implying $`y_4y_5`$ has positive coefficient. Finally, we consider $`y`$ as a Laurent polynomial in $`\{y_1,y_0\}`$ as shown in Figure 4. Since $`z_4`$ is monic and $`\mathrm{Newt}(z_4)`$ has a vertex that lies outside $`\mathrm{Newt}(y_1^2y_2)`$ and $`\mathrm{Newt}(y_4y_5)`$, we conclude that $`z_4`$ has a positive coefficient.

###### Remark 5.8.

The second equality in (2.2) shows that the Laurentness property is *local*: if an element of the ambient field $``$ of the cluster algebra $`𝒜(b,c)`$ is a Laurent polynomial with respect to three consecutive clusters, then the same is true with respect to *any* cluster. Unfortunately, there seems to be no hope to extend this to the “positive Laurentness” property, as shown by the following counterexample for the algebra $`𝒜(2,2)`$. A direct check shows that the element $`y_0y_1+y_2y_3+y_3y_4z`$ has positive Laurent expansion in $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$. It follows that, for every $`n1`$, the element

$$\underset{m=0}{\overset{n+2}{}}y_my_{m+1}z$$

has positive Laurent expansion in $`y_m`$ and $`y_{m+1}`$, for each $`m=1,2,\mathrm{},n`$. However, by Theorem 2.3, this element is not positive.

## 6. General coefficients

According to , for a given pair $`(b,c)`$ of positive integers, the most general form of the corresponding algebra involves the exchange relations

(6.1)
$$\widehat{y}_{m1}\widehat{y}_{m+1}=\{\begin{array}{cc}q_m\widehat{y}_m^b+r_m\hfill & m\text{ odd;}\hfill \\ q_m\widehat{y}_m^c+r_m\hfill & m\text{ even.}\hfill \end{array}$$

Here the coefficients $`q_m`$ and $`r_m`$ are the generators of the *universal coefficient group* $``$ defined by the relations

(6.2)
$$r_{m1}r_{m+1}=\{\begin{array}{cc}q_{m1}q_{m+1}r_m^c\hfill & m\text{ odd;}\hfill \\ q_{m1}q_{m+1}r_m^b\hfill & m\text{ even.}\hfill \end{array}$$

The group $``$ is a free abelian group with countably many generators; as a set of free generators, one can choose $`\{q_m:m\}\{r_1\}`$ (cf. \[7, Proposition 5.2\]). For our current purposes, we prefer to work with the completion $`\widehat{}`$ of $``$ given by

(6.3)
$$\widehat{}=_{};$$

in plain words, $`\widehat{}`$ is obtained from $``$ by adjoining the roots of all degrees from all the elements of $``$. Thus, we will work over the ground ring $`\widehat{}`$, the integer group ring of $`\widehat{}`$. And so we define the *completed universal cluster algebra* $`\widehat{𝒜}(b,c)`$ as the $`\widehat{}`$-subalgebra generated by the $`y_m`$ for $`m`$ inside the ambient field of rational functions in $`\widehat{y}_1`$ and $`\widehat{y}_2`$ over the field of fractions of $`\widehat{}`$. The *coefficient-free* cluster algebra $`𝒜(b,c)`$ studied above is obtained from $`\widehat{𝒜}(b,c)`$ by the specialization

(6.4)
$$\widehat{y}_m=y_m,q_m=r_m=1.$$

The following result shows that this specialization does not lead to any loss of information, since $`\widehat{𝒜}(b,c)`$ can be obtained from $`𝒜(b,c)`$ by an extension of scalars from $``$ to $`\widehat{}`$.

###### Proposition 6.1.

There is a natural $`\widehat{}`$-algebra isomorphism $`\psi :𝒜(b,c)\widehat{}\widehat{𝒜}(b,c)`$ given by

(6.5)
$$\psi (y_m)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\left(\frac{q_m}{r_m}\right)^{1/b}\widehat{y}_m\hfill & m\text{ odd;}\hfill \\ \left(\frac{q_m}{r_m}\right)^{1/c}\widehat{y}_m\hfill & m\text{ even.}\hfill \end{array}$$

###### Proof.

We just need to show that the elements in (6.5) satisfy the coefficient-free exchange relations (2.1). This follows at once from (6.1) and (6.2). ∎

In view of Proposition 6.1, the canonical basis $``$ in $`𝒜(b,c)`$ given by Theorem 2.3 can be viewed as a $`\widehat{}`$-basis in $`\widehat{𝒜}(b,c)`$. Theorem 2.3 extends to $`\widehat{𝒜}(b,c)`$ in the following way. Let $`_{>0}\widehat{}`$ denote the semiring in $`\widehat{}`$ consisting of positive integer linear combinations of elements of $`\widehat{}`$. The following definition is a counterpart of Definition 2.2.

###### Definition 6.2.

A non-zero element $`y\widehat{𝒜}(b,c)`$ is *positive* if for every $`m`$, all the coefficients in the expansion of $`y`$ as a Laurent polynomial in $`\widehat{y}_m`$ and $`\widehat{y}_{m+1}`$ belong to $`_{>0}\widehat{}`$.

A counterpart of Theorem 2.3 can be now stated as follows.

###### Theorem 6.3.

Suppose that $`bc4`$. Then the semiring of positive elements of $`\widehat{𝒜}(b,c)`$ consists precisely of $`_{>0}\widehat{}`$-linear combinations of elements of $``$. This property determines $``$ uniquely up to rescaling by elements of $`\widehat{}`$.

###### Proof.

For the finite (resp. affine) type, the theorem follows at once from the properties (4.1) and (4.3) (resp. (5.8) and (5.10)). ∎

## Acknowledgments

We thank Sergey Fomin for editorial suggestions, and Jim Propp and Dylan Thurston for helpful discussions. Dylan’s remark that Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind appeared naturally in his topological model of cluster algebras was especially stimulating. One of the authors (A. Z.) gratefully acknowledges the hospitality of David Eisenbud and the financial support of MSRI during his visit in May 2003.

Andrei Zelevinsky is especially happy to dedicate this paper to Borya Feigin, an old friend and classmate since 7th grade in the unforgettable Moscow School No. 2. Many years ago, Borya taught me the basics of Kac-Moody algebras and their root systems (he did it in the best possible way, by engaging me in writing a joint survey paper  on the subject). I am happy to be able to apply some of his lessons in this work.


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# Direct Observation of Long-Term Durability of Superconductivity in YBa2Cu3O7-Ag2O Composites

## Abstract

We report direct observation of long-term durability of superconductivity of several YBa2Cu3O7-Ag2O composites that were first prepared and studied almost 14 years ago \[J. J. Lin et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 29, 497 (1990)\]. Remeasurements performed recently on both resistances and magnetizations indicate a sharp critical transition temperature at 91 K. We also find that such long-term environmental stability of high-temperature superconductivity can only be achieved in YBa2Cu3O7 with Ag2O addition, but not with pure Ag addition.

The science and technology of superconductivity has long been a fascinating research subject in both academics and industry for almost a century now. In particular, the discoveries of high-temperature superconductors in 1986 and in subsequent years, have inspired many scientists and engineers to devote a tremendous amount of effort to the research and development of large-scale as well as electronic applications of superconductivity \[1-5\]. However, it was soon realized that advanced applications of high-temperature superconductors were hindered by the absence of long-term durability of such ceramic materials \[6-8\]. In this work, we have investigated the superconducting properties of several YBa2Cu3O7-Ag2O composites that were first prepared and studied almost 14 years ago . We demonstrate that robust, bulk superconductivity with a sharp critical transition temperature, $`T_c`$, above 90 K was well preserved in these 14-year-old composites. No special precautions have been taken in storing these materials since they were made in 1989. Our results provide direct and strong evidence for long-term environmental stability of superconductivity observed in the cuprate superconductors $``$ in particular in the most widely utilized YBa2Cu3O7 compounds. This observation points to an easy and reliable way for feasible fabrication of high-temperature superconductors for advanced applications.

Our samples were fabricated in 1989 by the standard solid-state reaction method as previously described in . Appropriate amounts of stoichiometric YBa2Cu3O7 and Ag2O were mixed and heated at 910C in air for 48 h. The amount of starting material was chosen so that, after Ag2O decomposed, the weight ratios of YBa2Cu3O7 to Ag in the three samples were equal to 10, 6, and 4. The fired mixture was then reground and pelletized. The pellets were then fired at 935C for one day and subsequently were annealed at 470-480C in flowing O2 for 24 h and then slowly cooled to ambient in O2. The resistances and magnetizations of the samples were first reported in , where both measurements showed a sharp superconducting transition with a $`T_c`$ 91.5$`\pm `$0.5 K for all samples. After those measurements, the samples were placed in an ordinary desiccator without vacuum for the last 14 years. The desiccator, in turn, has been kept at room temperatures that vary approximately between 15C and 30C throughout the year. The relative humidity inside the desiccator generally remains at around 35% or slightly below 40%. The values for the relevant parameters of our samples are listed in Table I.

Figure 1 shows a plot of the normalized resistance, $`R(T)/R`$(300 K), as a function of temperature recently remeasured for these aged samples. The resistances (plotted as the solid curve) for these samples first reported in  are also reproduced for comparison. It is clearly seen that the normalized resistances for all samples are very similar. Remarkably, the new data and the old data overlap and are practically indistinguishable. This result strongly demonstrates the absence of any (noticeable) degradation in superconductivity in these materials for almost fourteen years.

Zero-field-cooled and field-cooled measurements (Fig. 2) performed recently on these aged samples also confirm a very sharp superconducting transition with a $`T_c`$ similar to that determined from resistance measurements. At 5 K, a large ratio ($`>`$ 20%) of the field-cooled magnetization to the zero-field-cooled magnetization is observed, clearly suggesting that the superconductivity in these materials is maintained as a bulk property.

X-ray diffraction data for these samples were recently remeasured and are shown in Fig. 3. The diffraction pattern characteristic of YBa2Cu3O7 is clearly revealed in these aged samples. The diffraction peaks characteristic of Ag, which should be largest at 2$`\theta `$ = 38.1, 44.3, and 77.5, are barely seen in the figure.

Insofar as applications are concerned, our results indicate that only a small amount of Ag2O addition is sufficient to achieve long-term durability of superconductivity in the YBa2Cu3O7 compound. There are no noticeable differences in the electrical-transport, magnetic, and structural properties in these composites with different weight ratios. This observation points to an essential way of reducing the cost in the fabrication of this material system for industrial applications.

To check the importance of Ag2O addition in the fabrication of robust YBa2Cu3O7 with long-term environmental stability, we have also reexamined several aged YBa2Cu3O7-Ag composites (taken from ) that were made in a similar manner at about the same time as the YBa2Cu3O7-Ag2O composites discussed above. While our YBa2Cu3O7-Ag and YBa2Cu3O7-Ag2O composites demonstrated essentially similar normal-state and superconducting properties when they were freshly made , we now find absolutely no trace of a resistive transition to a superconducting state down to 2 K in any of our aged YBa2Cu3O7-Ag composites. In addition, recent electrical-transport measurements revealed much higher normal-state resistivities in YBa2Cu3O7-Ag than in YBa2Cu3O7-Ag2O, while magnetization measurements indicated a small Meissner fraction of about 13% in the aged YBa2Cu3O7-Ag composites. These results suggest that Ag2O, but not pure Ag, should be added to achieve long-term durability of superconductivity in the YBa2Cu3O7 compound. Finally, we mention that most of our pure (i.e., Ag2O- or Ag-free) YBa2Cu3O7 compounds prepared in the same time frame from 1989 to 1990 either are decomposed now or show insulating behavior (i.e., an increasing resistance with decreasing temperature) below room temperature.

The authors are grateful to D. C. Yan and C. C. Chi for magnetization measurements. This work was supported by the Taiwan National Science Council through Grant No. NSC 91-2112-M-009-028.

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