text:
# Cooper pairs as resonances

## Abstract

Using the Bethe-Salpeter (BS) equation, Cooper pairing can be generalized to include contributions from holes as well as particles from the ground state of either an ideal Fermi gas (IFG) or of a BCS many-fermion state. The BCS model interfermion interaction is employed throughout. In contrast to the better-known original Cooper pair problem for either two particles or two holes, the generalized Cooper equation in the IFG case has no real-energy solutions. Rather, it possesses two complex-conjugate solutions with purely imaginary energies. This implies that the IFG ground state is unstable when an attractive interaction is switched on. However, solving the BS equation for the BCS ground state reveals two types of real solutions: one describing moving (i.e., having nonzero total, or center-of-mass, momenta) Cooper pairs as resonances (or bound composite particles with a finite lifetime), and another exhibiting superconducting collective excitations analogous to Anderson-Bogoliubov-Higgs RPA modes. A Bose-Einstein-condensation-based picture of superconductivity is addressed.

Abstract

PACS: 74:20.Fg; 64.90+b; 05.30.Fk; 05.30.Jp
Keywords: Cooper pairs; Bethe-Salpeter equation; superconductivity; collective excitations

1. Introduction

The original Cooper pair (CP) equation  is a two-electron Schrödinger equation in momentum representation with a given two-body interaction (having some attraction) but includes ad hoc restrictions on the magnitudes of both electron wavevectors $`𝐤_1`$, $`𝐤_2`$, namely $`k_1>k__F`$, $`k_2>k__F`$, where $`k__F`$ is the electron Fermi wavenumber for an ideal nonrelativistic many-electron system. One then seeks the energy eigenvalues of a CP bound state and its corresponding wave-function.

Since there is no rigorous derivation of the original CP equation, several authors  reformulated the complete CP problem without neglecting holes, using the mathematically exact BS equation approach  applied to the system, in search of two-particle bound states in the presence of other system electrons. Such a treatment allows generalizing  several approaches in superconductivity theory, including the BCS, the BCS-Bose crossover, and the Bose-Einstein condensation pictures. But if the BS equation is based merely on the IFG ground state one obtains purely imaginary solutions, suggesting that the ground state is unstable in the presence of attractive interactions of some kind. This is an instability of the IFG ground state with respect to the creation of two-particle (2p-) or two-hole (2h-) resonant states, a situation analogous to the classical problem of hydrodynamic instability .

2. BS equation based on BCS ground state

Consider, however, the generalized two-component, two-electron BS equation based not on the IFG ground state  but rather on the BCS ground state. We introduce the Bogoliubov-Valatin $`u`$, $`v`$ transformation of electron Fermi operators $`a_{𝐤,\sigma }`$ to new Fermi operators $`\alpha _{𝐤,\sigma }`$, namely

$$a_{𝐤,\sigma }=u_k\alpha _{𝐤,\sigma }+2\sigma v_k\alpha _{𝐤,\sigma }^+,$$
(1)
where $`\sigma =\pm \frac{1}{2}`$ is the spin projection for an electron state. The coefficients $`u_k,v_k`$ are real and depend on $`k`$. The many-electron system hamiltonian is $`H=H_0+H_{int}`$ where

$`H_0={\displaystyle \underset{𝐤,\sigma }{}}\left(ϵ_kE_F\right)a_{𝐤,\sigma }^+a_{𝐤,\sigma },`$

$`\text{}H_{int}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2L^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤_1,𝐤_2,𝐤_1^{^{}},𝐤_2^{^{}},\sigma _{1,}\sigma _2}{\overset{}{}}}\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)\times `$

$$\times a_{𝐤_1^{}\sigma _1}^+a_{𝐤_2^{}\sigma _2}^+a_{𝐤_2\sigma _2}a_{𝐤_1\sigma _1},$$
(2)
where $`ϵ_k=\mathrm{}^2k^2/2m`$ is the kinetic energy of an electron of mass $`m`$; $`E_F=\mathrm{}^2k_F^2/2m`$ is the Fermi energy; $`L`$ is the system size; $`\nu (q)`$ the Fourier transform of the two-electron interaction potential; and the last sum is restricted by momentum conservation $`𝐤_1^{}+𝐤_2^{}=𝐤_1+𝐤_2`$. This leads to the well-known BCS hamiltonian

$$H_{BCS}=U_0+\underset{𝐤,\sigma }{}E(k)\alpha _{𝐤,\sigma }^+\alpha _{𝐤,\sigma },$$
(3)
with $`U_0`$ a generalized BCS ground-state energy

$`U_0=2{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}\left(ϵ_kE_F\right)v_k^2+`$

$`+L^3{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤,𝐤^{}}{}}\nu (\left|𝐤𝐤^{}\right|)v_ku_kv_k^{}u_k^{}+`$

$`+2L^3{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤,𝐤^{}}{}}\nu (0)v_k^2v_k^{}^2L^3{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤,𝐤^{}}{}}\nu (\left|𝐤𝐤^{}\right|)v_k^2v_k^{}^2,`$

where

$`u_k^2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[1+{\displaystyle \frac{A(k)}{E(k)}}\right],v_k^2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{A(k)}{E(k)}}\right],`$

$$2u_kv_k=\frac{B(k)}{E(k)},E(k)\sqrt{A^2(k)+B^2(k)}.$$
(4)
Here $`B(k)`$ plays the role of the original BCS energy gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }(k)`$, and

$`A(k)`$ $``$ $`ϵ_𝐤E_F+`$ (5)
$`+`$ $`2L^3\nu (0){\displaystyle \underset{k^{^{}}}{}}v_k^{^{}}^2L^3{\displaystyle \underset{k^{^{}}}{}}\nu (|𝐤𝐤^{}|)v_k^{^{}}^2,`$ (6)
$`B(k)`$ $``$ $`L^3{\displaystyle \underset{k^{^{}}}{}}\nu (|𝐤𝐤^{}|)u_k^{^{}}v_k^{^{}}.`$ (7)
For the new interaction hamiltonian we obtain

$`H_{int}^{}HH_{BCS}=`$

$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2L^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤_1^{},𝐤_2^{},𝐤_1,𝐤_2,\sigma _1,\sigma _2}{\overset{}{}}}\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)\times `$

$`\times L(k_1,k_1^{})L(k_2,k_2^{})\times `$

$`\times \alpha _{𝐤_1^{}\sigma _1}^+\alpha _{𝐤_2^{}\sigma _2}^+\alpha _{𝐤_2\sigma _2}\alpha _{𝐤_1\sigma _1}+`$

$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4L^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤_1^{},𝐤_2^{},𝐤_1,𝐤_2,\sigma _1,\sigma _2}{\overset{}{}}}\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)\times `$

$`\times M(k_1,k_1^{})M(k_2,k_2^{})\times `$

$`\times 2\sigma _1\alpha _{𝐤_1^{}\sigma _1}^+\alpha _{𝐤_1,\sigma _1}^+2\sigma _2\alpha _{𝐤_2^{},\sigma _2}\alpha _{𝐤_2\sigma _2}+`$

$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4L^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤_1^{},𝐤_2^{},𝐤_1,𝐤_2,\sigma _1,\sigma _2}{\overset{}{}}}\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)\times `$

$`\times M(k_1,k_1^{})L(k_2,k_2^{})\times `$

$`\times 2\sigma _1\alpha _{𝐤_1^{}\sigma _1}^+\alpha _{𝐤_1,\sigma _1}^+\alpha _{𝐤_2^{}\sigma _2}^+\alpha _{𝐤_2\sigma _2}+`$

$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4L^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤_1^{},𝐤_2^{},𝐤_1,𝐤_2,\sigma _1,\sigma _2}{\overset{}{}}}\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)\times `$

$`\times L(k_1,k_1^{})M(k_2,k_2^{})\times `$

$`\times \alpha _{𝐤_1^{}\sigma _1}^+\alpha _{𝐤_1\sigma _1}2\sigma _2\alpha _{𝐤_2^{},\sigma _2}\alpha _{𝐤_2\sigma _2}+`$

$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8L^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤_1^{},𝐤_2^{},𝐤_1,𝐤_2,\sigma _1,\sigma _2}{\overset{}{}}}\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)\times `$

$`\times M(k_1,k_1^{})M(k_2,k_2^{})\times `$

$`\times 2\sigma _1\alpha _{𝐤_1^{}\sigma _1}^+\alpha _{𝐤_1,\sigma _1}^+2\sigma _2\alpha _{𝐤_2^{}\sigma _2}^+\alpha _{𝐤_2,\sigma _2}^++`$

$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8L^3}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤_1^{},𝐤_2^{},𝐤_1,𝐤_2,\sigma _1,\sigma _2}{\overset{}{}}}\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)\times `$

$`\times M(k_1,k_1^{})M(k_2,k_2^{})\times `$

$`\times 2\sigma _1\alpha _{𝐤_1^{},\sigma _1}\alpha _{𝐤_1\sigma _1}2\sigma _2\alpha _{𝐤_2^{},\sigma _2}\alpha _{𝐤_2\sigma _2}.`$

where $`L(k,k^{})u_ku_k^{}v_kv_k^{}`$ and $`M(k,k^{})u_kv_k^{}+u_k^{}v_k.`$

To obtain the BS equation based on the BCS ground state consider the Feynman diagrams of perturbation theory based on this ground state, where (3) is the new unperturbed hamiltonian $`H_0^{^{}}`$. We now have the usual arrowed electron lines labeled by $`𝐤`$, $`E`$, $`\sigma `$ to which we associate the BCS unperturbed Green’s function

$$𝒢_0(𝐤,E,\sigma )=\frac{\mathrm{}}{i}\frac{1}{E+E(k)i\epsilon },$$
(8)
where $`E(k)`$ is given by (4). There exist four-line-end double vertices of six different kinds (see Fig. 1) where the interfermion interaction is denoted by dashed lines. To a double vertex type (a) of Fig. 1, with two outgoing line ends with indices $`(𝐤_1^{}`$, $`E_1^{}`$, $`\sigma _1)`$ and $`(𝐤_2^{}`$, $`E_2^{}`$, $`\sigma _2)`$ along with two incoming line ends with indices $`(𝐤_1`$, $`E_1`$, $`\sigma _1)`$ and $`(𝐤_2`$, $`E_2`$, $`\sigma _2)`$, we attach the factor

$`L^3\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)L(𝐤_1,𝐤_1^{})L(𝐤_2,𝐤_2^{}).`$

To a double vertex of type (b), with two outgoing line ends $`(𝐤_1^{}`$, $`E_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$, $`\sigma _1)`$and $`(𝐤_2^{}`$, $`E_{2}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$, $`\sigma _2)`$ along with two outgoing line ends $`(𝐤_1`$, $`E_1`$, $`\sigma _1)`$ and $`(𝐤_2`$, $`E_2`$, $`\sigma _2)`$, as well as to a double vertex of type (c) with two incoming line ends with indices $`(𝐤_1^{}`$, $`E_{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$, $`\sigma _1)`$ and $`(𝐤_2^{}`$, $`E_{2}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$, $`\sigma _2)`$ along with two incoming line ends with indices $`𝐤_1`$, $`E_1`$, $`\sigma _1)`$ and $`(𝐤_2`$, $`E_2`$, $`\sigma _2)`$, we attach the factor

$`L^3\nu (|𝐤_1𝐤_1^{}|)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}\sigma _1\sigma _2M(𝐤_1,𝐤_1^{})M(𝐤_2,𝐤_2^{}).`$

3. Coupled BS equations

Because of different kinds of vertices in Fig. 1 we now have a system of two coupled BS equations. Figure 2 shows their diagrammatic representation in the ladder approximation of the two-electron BS equation for the BCS ground state. Depicted are both the two-electron $`\psi _+(𝐤E;𝐊_K)`$ and two-hole $`\psi _{}(𝐤E;𝐊_K)`$ bound-state functions. Here $`𝐊𝐤_1+𝐤_2`$ is the total (or center-of-mass) wave-vector and $`_K`$ is the total energy of the two electrons referred to $`2E_F`$.

Using the diagramatic rules just described, the two-component BS equations for the bound state is

$`\psi _+(𝐤E)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}}dE^{^{}}L^3{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤^{^{}}}{}}\nu (|𝐤𝐤^{}|)\times `$

$`\times L(𝐊/2+𝐤,𝐊/2+𝐤^{})L(𝐊/2𝐤,𝐊/2𝐤^{})\times `$

$`\times (i/\mathrm{})^2𝒢_0(𝐊/2+𝐤,_K/2+E)\times `$

$`\times 𝒢_0(𝐊/2𝐤,_K/2E)\psi _+(𝐤^{^{}}E^{^{}})`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}}dE^{^{}}L^3{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤^{^{}}}{}}\nu (|𝐤𝐤^{}|)\times `$

$`\times M(𝐊/2+𝐤,𝐊/2+𝐤^{})M(𝐊/2𝐤,𝐊/2𝐤^{})\times `$

$`\times (i/\mathrm{})^2𝒢_0(𝐊/2+𝐤,_K/2+E)\times `$

$$\times 𝒢_0(𝐊/2𝐤,_K/2E)\psi _{}(𝐤^{^{}}E^{^{}});$$
(9)
$`\psi _{}(𝐤E)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}}dE^{^{}}L^3{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤^{^{}}}{}}\nu (|𝐤𝐤^{}|)\times `$

$`\times L(𝐊/2+𝐤,𝐊/2+𝐤^{})L(𝐊/2𝐤,𝐊/2𝐤^{})\times `$

$`\times (i/\mathrm{})^2𝒢_0(𝐊/2𝐤,_K/2E)\times `$

$`\times 𝒢_0(𝐊/2+𝐤,_K/2+E)\psi _{}(𝐤^{^{}}E^{^{}})`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}}dE^{^{}}L^3{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤^{^{}}}{}}\nu (|𝐤𝐤^{}|)\times `$

$`\times M(𝐊/2+𝐤,𝐊/2+𝐤^{})M(𝐊/2𝐤,𝐊/2𝐤^{})\times `$

$`\times (i/\mathrm{})^2𝒢_0(𝐊/2𝐤,_K/2E)\times `$

$$\times 𝒢_0(𝐊/2+𝐤,_K/2+E)\psi _+(𝐤^{^{}}E^{^{}}).$$
(10)
It can be shown that these equations coincide exactly with those used in the description of collective excitations in the BCS-Bogoliubov microscopic theory of superconductivity.

4. CP solutions of BS equations

We now employ the BCS model interaction

$$\nu (|𝐤𝐤^{}|)(k_F^2/k_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})V\eta (k)\eta (k^{}),$$
(11)
where $`V0`$, and $`\eta (k)=1`$ when $`k_Fk_D<k<k_F+k_D`$ and $`=0`$ otherwise. Here $`k_Dm\omega _D/\mathrm{}k_F`$ with $`\omega _D`$ the Debye frequency, if $`\mathrm{}\omega _D<<E_F`$.

The detailed solution for the system of the two-component coupled BS equations of Fig. 2 is too cumbersome to present here, but it can be shown that they yield two types of independent solutions. The first solution of (9) and (10) with (11) is just

$`{\displaystyle \frac{Vk_F^2}{2\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle _{k_Fk_D}^{k_F+k_D}}dk{\displaystyle _1^1}dtu(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)\times `$

$`\times v(|𝐊/2𝐤|)[u(|𝐊/2𝐤|)v(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)`$

$`u(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)v(|𝐊/2𝐤|)]\times `$

$$\frac{E(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)+E(|𝐊/2𝐤|)}{_K^2+[E(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)+E(|𝐊/2𝐤|)]^2}=1.$$
(12)
Here $`t\mathrm{cos}\theta `$, $`\theta `$ being the angle between $`𝐤`$ and $`𝐊`$ while $`\left|𝐊/2+𝐤\right|=\sqrt{k^2+Kkt+K^2/4}`$ and $`\left|𝐊/2𝐤\right|=\sqrt{k^2Kkt+K^2/4}.`$

As we see the numerator in (12) vanishes for $`K=0`$, so the denominator must vanish as $`K0`$ as well. This gives $`_K=\pm 2\mathrm{\Delta }+O(K).`$ To find the asymptotic solution for both small coupling and $`K`$ we may neglect terms with $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ in $`u,v`$ in the integrand. Thus we put $`u(k)\theta (k_Fk)\theta _F(k)`$, $`v(k)\theta (kk_F)\theta _G(k),`$ where $`\theta (k)`$ is the usual Heaviside step function. Therefore,

$`u(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)v(|𝐊/2𝐤|)\times `$
$`\times [u(|𝐊/2𝐤|)v(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)`$
$`u(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)v(|𝐊/2𝐤|)]`$
$`\theta _F(\left|𝐊/2+𝐤\right|)\theta _G(\left|𝐊/2𝐤\right|).`$
Thus we can rewrite (12) as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{Vk_F^2}{4\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle _{k_Fk_D}^{k_F+k_D}}dk{\displaystyle _0^1}dt\times `$

$`\times \theta _F\left(\right|𝐊/2+𝐤\left|\right)\theta _G\left(\right|𝐊/2𝐤\left|\right)\times `$

$`\times [{\displaystyle \frac{1}{_K+E\left(\left|𝐊/2+𝐤\right|\right)+E\left(\left|𝐊/2𝐤\right|\right)}}+`$

$$+\frac{1}{_K+E\left(\left|𝐊/2+𝐤\right|\right)+E\left(\left|𝐊/2𝐤\right|\right)}]=1.$$
(13)
In Fig. 3 we show as shaded the region of integration over $`k`$ and $`t=\mathrm{cos}\theta `$. The integral over the polar angle $`\theta `$ is restricted to from $`0`$ to $`\pi /2`$ since the integrand in (12) vanishes for $`t<0`$. We first integrate over $`k`$ from $`k_{\mathrm{min}}`$ to $`k_{\mathrm{max}}`$ which are solutions of $`\left|𝐊/2+𝐤\right|=k_F`$, and $`|𝐊/2𝐤|=k_F,`$ or

$`k_{\mathrm{min}}`$ $`=`$ $`Kt/2+\sqrt{K^2t^2/4K^2/4+k_F^2},`$
$`k_{\mathrm{max}}`$ $`=`$ $`Kt/2+\sqrt{K^2t^2/4K^2/4+k_F^2}.`$
The restrictions $`k_Fk_Dkk_F+k_D`$ are not illustrated in Fig. 3 as they are unimportant for us. As $`K0`$ we then have

$`k_{\mathrm{min}}Kt/2+O(K^2),`$
$`k_{\mathrm{max}}Kt/2+O(K^2),`$
$`E\left(\left|𝐊/2+𝐤\right|\right)+E\left(\left|𝐊/2𝐤\right|\right)2\mathrm{\Delta }+O(K^2)`$
where we redefined the integration variable $`k=k_F`$ $`+xK`$, with $`x`$ the new variable.

Consequently in seeking a solution of Eq. (13), for example of the form

$`_K=2\mathrm{\Delta }+c\mathrm{}K+O(K^2),`$

where $`c`$ is a constant, we obtain for small $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`K`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{Vk_F^2}{4\pi ^2\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑t{\displaystyle _{k_FKt/2}^{k_F+Kt/2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}k}{cK}}1.`$

Thus $`c=Vk_F^2/8\pi ^2\mathrm{}`$. Finally one gets

$$_K=2\mathrm{\Delta }+\frac{\lambda }{4}v_F\mathrm{}K+O(K^2),$$
(14)
together with its symmetric solution

$$_K=2\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{\lambda }{4}v_F\mathrm{}K+O(K^2),$$
(15)
where $`\lambda N(0)V`$ and $`N(0)mk_F/2\pi ^2\mathrm{}^2`$. These two solutions describe moving $`2p`$-CPs and $`2h`$-CPs, respectively. A linear -in-$`K`$ behavior of the moving pair binding energy was obtained for the original Cooper-pair problem  but it was independent of the interaction coupling strength as it excluded $`2h`$-CP contributions. More significantly, the binding energy there was negative as it refers to an infinite-lifetime composite particle, while in (14) it is positive as it describes a resonance in the continuum with a finite lifetime as evidenced by an imaginary contribution  appearing in higher order terms in $`K`$.

5. ABH-like mode solution of BS equations

The second solution of the coupled BS equation (9) and (10) follows from

$`{\displaystyle \frac{Vk_F^2}{2\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle _{k_Fk_D}^{k_F+k_D}}dk{\displaystyle _1^1}dtv(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)\times `$

$`\times v(|𝐊/2𝐤|)[u(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)u(|𝐊/2𝐤|)+`$

$`+v(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)v(|𝐊/2𝐤|)]\times `$

$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{1}{_K+E(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)+E(|𝐊/2𝐤|)}}+`$

$`+{\displaystyle \frac{Vk_F^2}{2\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle _{k_Fk_D}^{k_F+k_D}}dk{\displaystyle _1^1}dtu(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)\times `$

$`\times u(|𝐊/2𝐤|)[u(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)u(|𝐊/2𝐤|)+`$

$`+v(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)v(|𝐊/2𝐤|)]\times `$

$$\times \frac{1}{_K+E(|𝐊/2+𝐤|)+E(|𝐊/2𝐤|)}=1.$$
(16)
Proceeding as before, in the limit $`K0`$ one now finds

$$_K=(v_F\mathrm{}K/\sqrt{3})[1+\frac{\mathrm{}\omega _D}{4E_F}e^{2/\lambda }+\mathrm{}]+O(K^2),$$
(17)
which is similar to the Anderson-Bogoliubov-Higgs (ABH) RPA excitation mode in the BCS theory of superconductivity .

6. Conclusion

We have presented a new many-fermion formalism based on a BS equation applied to the full BCS ground state which does not neglect the presence of holes. This leads in the ladder approximation to two types of solutions: the first referring to simple moving CPs consisting of two-electron (12) or two-hole (13) resonances. In addition, this formalism naturally provides a second solution (15) of an entirely different physical nature which is analogous to the ABH excitation mode. Bose-Einstein condensation can occur with the first type of objects but not with the second.

Acknowledgments. Partial support from UNAM-DGAPA-PAPIIT (Mexico) # IN102198 and CONACyT (Mexico) # 27828 E is gratefully acknowledged. V.V.T. acknowledges a CONACyT chair fellowship at UNAM.

\*On leave from N.E. Baumann State Technical University, 107005, 2-ja Baumanscaja Street, 5, Moscow, Russia.


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# Tensor product varieties and crystals GL case

## 0. Introduction

### 0.1.

Given a partition $`\lambda `$ of an integer $`k`$ into $`N`$ parts (zero parts allowed) one can associate to it various mathematical objects. Three of them are of particular interest to the representation theory: a nilpotent orbit $`O_\lambda `$ in $`\mathrm{End}_{}^k`$ (consisting of operators with the Jordan form given by $`\lambda `$), an irreducible polynomial representation $`L(\lambda )`$ of $`GL_N`$ (with the highest weight $`\lambda `$), and an irreducible representation $`\rho _\lambda `$ of the symmetric group $`S_k`$ over $``$ (defined via the idempotent $`e_\lambda `$ in the group algebra $`S_k`$). The goal of the geometric representation theory in this context is to exploit the relation between nilpotent orbits and representations of $`S_k`$ and $`GL_N`$.

### 0.2.

Let $`tO_\lambda `$ (i.e. $`t`$ is a nilpotent operator in $`^k`$ with Jordan form $`\lambda `$), and let $`\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l`$ be partitions of integers $`k^1,\mathrm{},k^l`$ into $`N`$ parts each. Assume that $`k^1+\mathrm{}+k^l=k`$, and consider a variety $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ of all $`l`$-step partial flags in $`^k`$ with dimensions of the subfactors given by $`k^1,\mathrm{},k^l`$ and such that $`t`$ preserves each subspace in the flag, and when restricted to the subfactors it defines operators with the Jordan forms given by $`\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l`$. $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ is called Spaltenstein variety. It is proven by Spaltenstein (cf. \[Spa82, II.5\]) that $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ has pure dimension. Let $`𝒮_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ be the set of irreducible components of $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$. It follows from a theorem of Hall \[Hal59\] (see also \[Mac95, Chapter II\]) that the cardinal of $`𝒮_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ (i.e. the number of irreducible components of $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$) is equal to the multiplicity of the representation $`L_\lambda `$ of $`GL_m`$ in the tensor product $`L_{\mu ^1}\mathrm{}L_{\mu ^l}`$:

(0.2.1)
$$|𝒮_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )|=dim_{}\mathrm{Hom}_{GL_N}(L_{\mu ^1}\mathrm{}L_{\mu ^l},L_\lambda ),$$

or to the multiplicity of $`\rho _{\mu ^1}\mathrm{}\rho _{\mu ^l}`$ in the restriction of $`\rho _\lambda `$ to $`S_{k^1}\times \mathrm{}\times S_{k^l}`$:

(0.2.2)
$$|𝒮_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )|=dim_{}\mathrm{Hom}_{S_{k^1}\times \mathrm{}\times S_{k^l}}(\rho _{\mu ^1}\mathrm{}\rho _{\mu ^l},\mathrm{res}_{S_k}^{S_{k^1}\times \mathrm{}\times S_{k^l}}\rho _\lambda ).$$

The right hand sides of 0.2.1 and 0.2.2 are equal due to Schur-Weyl duality, and either equality can be derived by combinatorial means (for example from the Littlewood-Richardson Rule – cf. \[Mac95, Chapter II\]). However it is interesting to understand the geometric meaning of 0.2.1 and 0.2.2 (i.e to find the role of the variety $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ in the tensor product for $`GL_N`$ and in the restriction functor for symmetric groups).

The statement 0.2.2 was proven geometrically by Borho and MacPherson \[BM83\] using Springer’s realization of representations of symmetric groups.

The goal of this paper is to develop a geometric theory of tensor product for polynomial representations of $`GL_N`$, or, more exactly, for $`gl_N`$-crystals. In this geometric setup the variety $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ is responsible for the multiplicities in the tensor product decomposition. In particular, 0.2.1 is an immediate corollary of the main theorem of the paper (Theorem Theorem).

### 0.3.

Let $`t`$ be again a nilpotent operator in $`^k`$ with Jordan form $`\lambda `$ (i. e. $`tO_\lambda `$). Consider the variety $`𝔐_N(\lambda )`$ consisting of all $`N`$-step partial flags $`(\{0\}=F_0F_1\mathrm{}F_N=^k)`$ in $`^k`$ such that $`tF_kF_{k1}`$ for any $`k=1,\mathrm{},N`$. Note that the dimensions of the subfactors of the flag are not fixed. Each connected component of the variety $`𝔐_N(\lambda )`$ is of pure dimension. Ginzburg \[Gin91\] constructed a representation of $`GL_N`$ in the top homology of $`𝔐_N(\lambda )`$ (more exactly, in the sum of the top Borel-Moore homology groups of connected components of $`𝔐_N(\lambda )`$), and proved that this representation is isomorphic to $`L(\lambda )`$. This paper deals with a weaker structure – that of Kashiwara’s $`gl_N`$-crystal on the set $`_N(\lambda )`$ of irreducible components of $`𝔐_N(\lambda )`$. This crystal is isomorphic to the crystal $`(\lambda )`$ of the canonical basis of $`L(\lambda )`$.

### 0.4.

The main idea of this paper is to construct a certain variety $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$ such that its connected components are of pure dimension and the set $`𝒯_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$ of its irreducible components can be equipped with a structure of $`gl_N`$-crystal in such a way that one has two crystal isomorphisms:

(0.4.1)
$$𝒯_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)_N(\mu ^1)\mathrm{}_N(\mu ^l)$$

and

(0.4.2)
$$𝒯_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)\underset{\lambda }{}𝒮_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )_N(\lambda ),$$

where the set $`𝒮_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ is considered as a trivial crystal, and $``$ (resp. $``$) denotes the tensor product (resp. direct sum) of crystals, which is equal to the direct product (resp. disjoint union) on the level of sets.

The variety $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$ is defined as the variety of all triples $`(t,𝐗,𝐅)`$ consisting of a nilpotent operator $`t`$ in $`\mathrm{End}_{}^k`$, an $`l`$-step partial flag $`𝐗`$ in $`^k`$, and an $`N`$-step partial flag $`𝐅`$ in $`^k`$, such that subspaces of both flags are preserved by $`t`$, and when $`t`$ is restricted to the subfactors of $`𝐗`$ (resp. $`𝐅`$) it gives operators with the Jordan forms $`\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l`$ (resp. $`0`$ operators). In particular the dimensions of the subfactors of $`𝐗`$ are equal to $`k^1,\mathrm{},k^l`$, but the dimensions of the subfactors of $`𝐅`$ can vary. The variety $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$ is called tensor product variety.

To describe the bijection 0.4.1 restrict the flag $`𝐅`$ onto the subfactors of the flag $`𝐗`$. In this way one obtains a map from $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$ to $`𝔐_N(\mu ^1)\times \mathrm{}\times 𝔐_N(\mu ^l)`$, which induces the bijection 0.4.1.

To obtain the bijection 0.4.2 consider $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$ as a fibration over the nilpotent cone in $`\mathrm{End}_{}^k`$ (the projection map takes $`(t,𝐗,𝐅)`$ to $`t`$). The fiber of this fibration over a point $`tO_\lambda `$ is isomorphic to the product of varieties $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ and $`𝔐_N(\lambda )`$. Moreover the dimension of the preimage of $`O_\lambda `$ in a connected component of $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$ does not depend on $`\lambda `$. Hence one have the bijection 0.4.2.

### 0.5.

The most important result of the paper is that the crystal structures on $`𝒯_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$ induced by the bijections 0.4.1 and 0.4.2 are the same, in other words that the composite bijection

(0.5.1)
$$\tau _N:_N(\mu ^1)\mathrm{}_N(\mu ^l)\stackrel{}{}\underset{\lambda }{}𝒮_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )_N(\lambda )$$

is a crystal isomorphism. This is shown by reducing the problem to $`GL_2`$ case.

Actually in the main body of the paper only the case of two multiples (i.e. $`l=2`$) is considered. However generalization to arbitrary $`l`$ is straightforward.

### 0.6.

Certainly another proof of 0.2.1 would not worth the effort. However the understanding of its geometric meaning paves the way for generalizations to Kac-Moody algebras other than $`gl_N`$. In particular in \[Mal01\] the ADE case is considered, and certain “multiplicity variety” is defined such that the number of its irreducible components is equal to the multiplicity of a simple finite dimensional representation of a Lie algebra of ADE type in the tensor product of $`l`$ simple finite dimensional representations. The multiplicity variety is a generalization of the Spaltenstein variety in the context of Nakajima’s theory of quiver varieties.

### 0.7.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 contains a short review of Kashiwara’s theory of crystals. In Section 2 the geometric tensor product is described in $`GL_2`$ case. This demonstrates general constructions on a simple example, but more important reason for including this section is that the generic $`GL_N`$ case is reduced later to $`N=2`$. In Section 3 the case of $`GL_N`$ is considered. Both Sections 2 and 3 follow the same pattern. First tensor product and Spaltenstein varieties are defined, then the bijections $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are described using certain “tensor product” diagrams, and finally it is proven that the composite bijection $`\tau `$ is a crystal morphism (in the case of $`N=2`$ by a direct verification and for arbitrary $`N`$ via reduction to $`gl_2`$-subalgebras inside $`gl_N`$).

Most of the proofs consist of tedious checks of dimensions of various locally closed subsets of the varieties involved. The only non-routine result is 2.5.7 which is the reason for $`\tau _N`$ to be a crystal morphism.

### 0.8.

The tensor product variety in the special case $`\mu ^1=(k^1,0,0,\mathrm{})`$, $`\mathrm{}`$, $`\mu ^l=(k^l,0,0,\mathrm{})`$, was independently described by H. Nakajima \[Nak01, 9.1\].

In the case when $`k^1=\mathrm{}=k^l=1`$ (i.e. the case of the product of $`l`$ copies of the fundamental representation of $`GL_N`$) the tensor product variety is a certain Lagrangian subvariety of the cotangent bundle to the variety considered by Grojnowski and Lusztig in \[GL92\].

### 0.9.

Throughout the paper the following conventions are used: the ground field is $``$; “closed”, “locally closed”, etc. refer to the Zariski topology; in the phrase “locally trivial fibration” “locally” refers to the Zariski topology, however trivialization is analytic (not regular).

## 1. Crystals

Crystals were unearthed by Kashiwara \[Kas90, Kas91, Kas94\]. An excellent survey of crystals as well as some new results are given by Joseph in \[Jos95, Chapters 5, 6\].

### 1.1. Definition of $`𝔤`$-crystals

Let $`𝔤`$ be a reductive or a Kac-Moody Lie algebra, $`I`$ be the set of vertices of the Dynkin graph of $`𝔤`$, $`𝒬_𝔤`$ (resp. $`𝒬_𝔤^{}`$) be the weight (resp. coweight) lattice of $`𝔤`$, $`\{\alpha _i𝒬_𝔤\}_{iI}`$ (resp. $`\{\alpha _i^{}𝒬_𝔤^{}\}_{iI}`$) be the set of simple roots (resp. simple coroots), $`<,>`$ be the natural pairing between $`𝒬_𝔤`$ and $`𝒬_𝔤^{}`$.

A $`𝔤`$-*crystal* is a tuple $`(𝒜,wt,\{\epsilon _i\}_{iI},\{\phi _i\}_{iI},\{\stackrel{~}{e}_i\}_{iI},\{\stackrel{~}{f}_i\}_{iI})`$, where

* $`𝒜`$ is a set,
* $`wt`$ is a map from $`𝒜`$ to $`𝒬_𝔤`$,
* $`\epsilon _i`$ and $`\phi _i`$ are maps from $`𝒜`$ to $``$,
* $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{f}_i`$ are maps from $`𝒜`$ to $`𝒜\{0\}`$.

These data should satisfy the following axioms:

* $`wt(\stackrel{~}{e}_ia)=wt(a)+\alpha _i`$, $`\phi _i(\stackrel{~}{e}_ia)=\phi _i(a)+1`$, $`\epsilon _i(\stackrel{~}{e}_ia)=\epsilon _i(a)1`$, for any $`iI`$ and $`a𝒜`$ such that $`\stackrel{~}{e}_ia0`$,
* $`wt(\stackrel{~}{f}_ia)=wt(a)\alpha _i`$, $`\phi _i(\stackrel{~}{f}_ia)=\phi _i(a)1`$, $`\epsilon _i(\stackrel{~}{f}_ia)=\epsilon _i(a)+1`$, for any $`iI`$ and $`a𝒜`$ such that $`\stackrel{~}{f}_ia0`$,
* $`<\alpha _i^{},wt(a)>=\phi _i(a)\epsilon _i(a)`$ for any $`iI`$ and $`a𝒜`$,
* $`\stackrel{~}{f}_ia=b`$ if and only if $`\stackrel{~}{e}_ib=a`$, where $`iI`$, and $`a,b𝒜`$.

The maps $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{f}_i`$ are called Kashiwara’s operators, and the map $`wt`$ is called the weight function.

###### Remark.

In a more general definition of crystals the maps $`\epsilon _i`$ and $`\phi _i`$ are allowed to have infinite values.

A $`𝔤`$-crystal $`(𝒜,wt,\{\epsilon _i\}_{iI},\{\phi _i\}_{iI},\{\stackrel{~}{e}_i\}_{iI},\{\stackrel{~}{f}_i\}_{iI})`$ is called *trivial* if

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill wt(a)=0& \text{ for any }a𝒜\text{,}\hfill \\ \hfill \epsilon _i(a)=\phi _i(a)=0& \text{ for any }iI\text{ and }a𝒜\text{,}\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{~}{e}_ia=\stackrel{~}{f}_ia=0& \text{ for any }iI\text{ and }a𝒜\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$

Any set $`𝒜`$ can be equipped with the trivial crystal structure as above.

A $`𝔤`$-crystal $`(𝒜,wt,\{\epsilon _i\}_{iI},\{\phi _i\}_{iI},\{\stackrel{~}{e}_i\}_{iI},\{\stackrel{~}{f}_i\}_{iI})`$ is called *normal* if

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \epsilon _i(a)& =\mathrm{max}\{n|\stackrel{~}{e}_i^na0\},\hfill \\ \hfill \phi _i(a)& =\mathrm{max}\{n|\stackrel{~}{f}_i^na0\},\hfill \end{array}$$

for any $`iI`$ and $`a𝒜`$. Thus in a normal $`𝔤`$-crystal the maps $`\epsilon _i`$ and $`\phi _i`$ are uniquely determined by the action of $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{f}_i`$. A trivial crystal is normal.

In the rest of the paper all $`𝔤`$-crystals are assumed normal, and thus the maps $`\epsilon _i`$ and $`\phi _i`$ are usually omitted.

By abuse of notation a $`𝔤`$-crystal $`(𝒜,wt,\{\epsilon _i\}_{iI},\{\phi _i\}_{iI},\{\stackrel{~}{e}_i\}_{iI},\{\stackrel{~}{f}_i\}_{iI})`$ is sometimes denoted simply by $`𝒜`$.

An *isomorphism* of two $`𝔤`$-crystals $`𝒜`$ and $``$ is a bijection between the sets $`𝒜`$ and $``$ commuting with the action of the operators $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{f}_i`$, and the functions $`wt`$, $`\epsilon _i`$, and $`\phi _i`$.

The *direct sum* $`𝒜`$ of two $`𝔤`$-crystals $`𝒜`$ and $``$ is their disjoint union as sets with the maps $`\stackrel{~}{e}_i`$, $`\stackrel{~}{f}_i`$, $`wt`$, $`\epsilon _i`$, and $`\phi _i`$ acting on each component of the union separately.

### 1.2. Tensor product of $`𝔤`$-crystals

The *tensor product* $`𝒜`$ of two $`𝔤`$-crystals $`𝒜`$ and $``$ is their direct product as sets equipped with the following crystal structure:

(1.2.1)
$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill wt((a,b))& =wt(a)+wt(b),\hfill \\ \hfill \epsilon _i((a,b))& =\mathrm{max}\{\epsilon _i(a),\epsilon _i(a)+\epsilon _i(b)\phi _i(a)\},\hfill \\ \hfill \phi _i((a,b))& =\mathrm{max}\{\phi _i(b),\phi _i(a)+\phi _i(b)\epsilon _i(b)\},\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{~}{e}_i((a,b))& =\{\begin{array}{cc}(\stackrel{~}{e}_ia,b)\hfill & \text{ if }\phi _i(a)\epsilon _i(b),\hfill \\ (a,\stackrel{~}{e}_ib)\hfill & \text{ if }\phi _i(a)<\epsilon _i(b),\hfill \end{array}\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{~}{f}_i((a,b))& =\{\begin{array}{cc}(\stackrel{~}{f}_ia,b)\hfill & \text{ if }\phi _i(a)>\epsilon _i(b),\hfill \\ (a,\stackrel{~}{f}_ib)\hfill & \text{ if }\phi _i(a)\epsilon _i(b).\hfill \end{array}\hfill \end{array}$$

Here $`(a,0)`$, $`(0,b)`$, and $`(0,0)`$ are identified with $`0`$. One can check that the set $`𝒜\times `$ with the above structure satisfies all the axioms of a (normal) crystal, and that the tensor product of crystals is associative.

###### Remark.

Tensor product of crystals is not commutative.

###### Remark.

The tensor product (in any order) of a crystal $`𝒜`$ with a trivial crystal $``$ is isomorphic to the direct sum $`_b𝒜_b`$ where each $`𝒜_b`$ is isomorphic to $`𝒜`$.

### 1.3. Highest weight crystals and closed families

A crystal $`𝒜`$ is a *highest weight* crystal with highest weight $`\lambda 𝒬_𝔤`$ if there exists an element $`a_\lambda 𝒜`$ such that:

* $`wt(a_\lambda )=\lambda `$ ,
* $`\stackrel{~}{e}_ia_\lambda =0`$ for any $`iI`$,
* any element of $`𝒜`$ can be obtained from $`a_\lambda `$ by successive applications of the operators $`\stackrel{~}{f}_i`$.

Consider a family of highest weight normal crystals $`\{𝒜(\lambda )\}_{\lambda 𝒥}`$ labeled by a set $`𝒥𝒬_𝔤`$ (the highest weight of $`𝒜(\lambda )`$ is $`\lambda `$). The family $`\{𝒜(\lambda )\}_{\lambda 𝒥}`$ is called *strictly closed* (with respect to tensor products) if the tensor product of any two members of the family is isomorphic to a direct sum of members of the family:

$$𝒜(\mu ^1)𝒜(\mu ^2)=\underset{\lambda 𝒥}{}𝒰((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )𝒜(\lambda ),$$

where $`𝒰((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is a set with the trivial crystal structure. A family $`\{𝒜(\lambda )\}_{\lambda 𝒥}`$ is called *closed* if the tensor product $`𝒜(\mu ^1)𝒜(\mu ^2)`$ of any two members of the family contains $`𝒜_{\mu ^1+\mu ^2}`$ as a direct summand. Any strictly closed family is closed. The converse is also true, as a corollary of Theorem 1.4.

Let $`𝒬_𝔤^+𝒬_𝔤`$ be the set of highest weights of integrable highest weights modules of $`𝔤`$ (in the reductive case a module is called integrable if it is derived from a polynomial representation of the corresponding connected simply connected reductive group, in the Kac-Moody case the highest weight should be a positive linear combination of the fundamental weights). The original motivation for the introduction of crystals was the discovery by Kashiwara \[Kas91\] and Lusztig \[Lus91\] of canonical (or crystal) bases in integrable highest weight modules of a (quantum) Kac-Moody algebra. These bases have many favorable properties, one of which is that as sets they are equipped with a crystal structure. In other words to each irreducible integrable highest weight module $`L(\lambda )`$ corresponds a normal crystal $`(\lambda )`$ (crystal of the canonical basis). In this way one obtains a strictly closed family of crystals $`\{(\lambda )\}_{\lambda 𝒬_𝔤^+}`$, satisfying the following two properties:

* the cardinality of $`(\lambda )`$ is equal to the dimension of $`L(\lambda )`$;
* one has the following tensor product decompositions for $`𝔤`$-modules and $`𝔤`$-crystals:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill L(\mu ^1)L(\mu ^2)& =\underset{\lambda 𝒬_𝔤^+}{}C((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )L(\lambda ),\hfill \\ \hfill (\mu ^1)(\mu ^2)& =\underset{\lambda 𝒬_𝔤^+}{}𝒞((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )(\lambda ),\hfill \end{array}$$

where the cardinality of the set (trivial crystal) $`𝒞((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is equal to the dimension of the linear space (trivial $`𝔤`$-module) $`C((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$.

The aim of this paper is to construct another strictly closed family of $`𝔤`$-crystals $`\{(\lambda )\}_{\lambda 𝒬_𝔤^+}`$ (for $`𝔤`$ being $`gl_N`$ or a symmetric Kac-Moody algebra), using geometry associated to $`𝔤`$. The following crucial theorem ensures that this family is isomorphic to the family $`\{(\lambda )\}_{\lambda 𝒬_𝔤^+}`$ of crystals of canonical bases (two families of crystals labeled by the same index set are called isomorphic if the corresponding members of the families are isomorphic as crystals).

###### 1.4 Theorem.

There exists a unique (up to an isomorphism) closed family of $`𝔤`$-crystals labeled by $`𝒬_𝔤^+`$.

###### Proof.

For the proof in Kac-Moody case see \[Jos95, Proposition 6.4.21\]. The statement for a reductive $`𝔤`$ easily follows from the statement for the factor of $`𝔤`$ by its center. ∎

## 2. Grassmann varieties and $`gl_2`$-crystals

This section contains a geometric description of a closed family of $`gl_2`$-crystals.

### 2.1. Notation

From now on the weight lattice $`𝒬_{gl_2}`$ of $`gl_2`$ is denoted simply by $`𝒬_2`$ and identified with $``$. In particular, $`𝒬_2^+=_0_0`$.

Given $`n,m`$, $`Gr_m^n`$ denotes the Grassmann variety of all $`m`$-dimensional subspaces of $`^n`$. If $`m<0`$ or $`n<m`$ then $`Gr_m^n`$ is empty. Otherwise it is a smooth connected variety of dimension $`m(nm)`$. Let $`Gr(n)=_{0mn}Gr_m^n`$ be the variety of all subspaces of $`^n`$.

### 2.2. Geometric $`gl_2`$-crystals

Given $`w_0`$ consider the following diagram of varieties (cf. \[Gin91\]):

(2.2.1)
where

$`𝔑_2(w)=\{t\mathrm{End}(^w)|t^2=0\}`$,

$`𝔐_2(w)=\{(t,F)|t𝔑_2(w),FGr(w),\mathrm{im}tF\mathrm{ker}t\}`$, in other words, $`𝔐_2(w)`$ is a variety of pairs $`(t,F)`$ consisting of an operator $`t`$ in $`^w`$ and a subspace $`F^w`$, such that $`\mathrm{im}tF\mathrm{ker}t`$,

$`\pi _2((t,F))=t`$.

The variety $`𝔐_2(w)`$ is a disjoint union of connected components:

$$𝔐_2(w)=\underset{v_0}{}𝔐_2(v,w),$$

where

$$𝔐_2(v,w)=\{(t,F)𝔐_2(w)|dimF=v\}.$$

The variety $`𝔑_2(w)`$ can be stratified as follows

$$𝔑_2(w)=\underset{r_0}{}O_{(wr,r)},$$

where

$$O_{(wr,r)}=\{t𝔑_2(w)|\mathrm{rank}t=r\}.$$

The weird way of writing index $`\lambda `$ of $`O_\lambda `$ will be explained in subsection 3.2. Each stratum $`O_\lambda `$ is a single $`GL(w)`$-orbit in $`𝔑_2(w)`$ and there are finitely many non-empty strata. The dimension of $`O_{(wr,r)}`$ is given by

(2.2.2)
$$dimO_{(wr,r)}=2r(wr).$$

Choose $`tO_{(wr,r)}`$ and consider the variety $`𝔐_2(w,r)=\pi _2^1(t)`$. This variety does not depend (up to an isomorphism) on the choice of $`tO_{(wr,r)}`$. However if a specific $`t`$ is used then the notation is $`𝔐_2(w,t)`$ instead of $`𝔐_2(w,r)`$.

The variety $`𝔐_2(w,r)`$ is a disjoint union of connected components:

$$𝔐_2(w,r)=\underset{v_0}{}𝔐_2(v,w,r),$$

where

$$𝔐_2(v,w,r)=𝔐_2(w,r)𝔐_2(v,w).$$

The component $`𝔐_2(v,w,r)`$ is isomorphic to $`Gr_{vr}^{w2r}`$ (in particular it is nonempty only for a finite number of values of $`v`$). Thus $`𝔐_2(v,w,r)`$ is a smooth connected variety of dimension

(2.2.3)
$$dim𝔐_2(v,w,r)=(wrv)(vr).$$

Let $`_2(w,r)=\{𝔐_2(v,w,r)\}_{v=r}^{wr}`$ be the set of irreducible components of $`𝔐_2(w,r)`$. Endow this set with the following structure of a $`gl_2`$-crystal:

(2.2.4)
$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill wt(𝔐_2(v,w,r))& =(v,wv),\hfill \\ \hfill \epsilon (𝔐_2(v,w,r))& =wrv,\hfill \\ \hfill \phi (𝔐_2(v,w,r))& =vr,\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{~}{e}(𝔐_2(v,w,r))& =\{\begin{array}{cc}𝔐_2(v+1,w,r)\hfill & \text{ if }v<wr,\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{ if }vwr,\hfill \end{array}\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{~}{f}(𝔐_2(v,w,r))& =\{\begin{array}{cc}𝔐_2(v1,w,r)\hfill & \text{ if }v>r,\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{ if }vr.\hfill \end{array}\hfill \end{array}$$

Here indexes of $`\epsilon `$, $`\phi `$, $`\stackrel{~}{e}`$, and $`\stackrel{~}{f}`$ are omitted because $`gl_2`$ has only one root. The set $`_2(w,r)`$ equipped with this structure is a highest weight normal $`gl_2`$-crystal with the highest weight $`(wr,r)`$. In other words, it is isomorphic (as a crystal) to $`((wr,r))`$.

The above is a trivial example of a geometric construction of crystals due to Lusztig and Nakajima (cf. \[Lus91, Nak98, KS97\]). Next subsection provides a geometric description of the crystal tensor product on the family $`\{_2(w,r)\}_{w,r_0}`$.

### 2.3. The tensor product variety

Let $`w^1,w^2,r^1,r^2`$ be non-negative integers, and let $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ be a variety of triples $`(t,X,F)`$, where

$`t𝔑_2(w^1+w^2)`$;

$`F`$ is a subspace of $`^{w^1+w^2}`$, such that $`\mathrm{im}tF\mathrm{ker}t`$ (i.e. $`(t,F)𝔐_2(w^1+w^2)`$);

$`X`$ is a subspace in $`^{w^1+w^2}`$ such that $`dimX=w^1`$, $`tXX`$, $`\mathrm{rank}(t|_X)=r^1`$, and $`\mathrm{rank}(t|_{(^{w^1+w^2}/X)})=r^2`$.

The variety $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ is called *tensor product variety* for its role in the description of the $`gl_2`$-crystal $`_2(w^1,r^1)_2(w^2,r^2)`$. One has the following decomposition of $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ into a disjoint union of varieties:

$$𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)=\underset{v_0}{}𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2),$$

where

$$𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)=\{(t,X,F)𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)|dimF=v\}.$$

Moreover

$$𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)=\underset{v^1,v^2_0}{}𝔗_2(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2),$$

where

(2.3.1)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔗_2(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)=\hfill \\ \hfill =\{(t,X,F)𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)|dimFX=v^1,dimF/(FX)=v^2\}.\end{array}$$

Each subset $`𝔗_2(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$ is locally closed and one has

$$𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)=\underset{\begin{array}{c}v^1,v^2_0\\ v^1+v^2=v\end{array}}{}𝔗_2(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2).$$

In the next several subsections the variety $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ is used to describe the tensor product of $`gl_2`$-crystals $`_2(w^1,r^1)`$ and $`_2(w^2,r^2)`$. The set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ appears to be in bijection with the set $`_2(w^1,r^1)\times _2(w^2,r^2)`$, and two ways of labeling the irreducible components imply the decomposition of the tensor product as a direct sum.

### 2.4. The tensor product variety as a fibered product

The variety $`𝔑_2(w^1+w^2)`$ can be stratified by $`GL(w^1+w^2)`$-orbits (cf. subsection 2.2):

$$𝔑_2(w^1+w^2)=\underset{r_0}{}O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)},$$

where

$$O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}=\{t𝔑_2(w^1+w^2)|\mathrm{rank}t=r\}.$$

The dimension of $`O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}`$ is given by (2.2.2):

(2.4.1)
$$dimO_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}=2r(w^1+w^2r).$$

Consider a diagram

where $`\delta _2((t,X,F))=t`$. The map $`\delta _2`$ restricted to a stratum $`O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}`$ is a locally trivial fibration with a fiber isomorphic to a direct product

$$𝔐_2(v,w^1+w^2,r)\times 𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r)),$$

where the variety $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ can be described as follows. Fix $`tO_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}`$. Then $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ is a subvariety of the Grassmannian $`Gr_{w^1}^{w^1+w^2}`$ of $`w^1`$-dimensional subspaces of $`^{w^1+w^2}`$ given by

(2.4.2)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))=\hfill \\ \hfill \{X^{w^1+w^2}|dimX=w^1,tXX,\mathrm{rank}(t|_X)=r^1,\mathrm{rank}(t|_{^{w^1+w^2}/X})=r^2\}\end{array}$$

The variety $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ is an example of a Spaltenstein variety (cf. subsection 3.2). It does not depend (up to an isomorphism) on the choice of $`tO_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}`$.

###### Proposition.

If the inequality

$$r^1+r^2r\mathrm{min}(w^2r^2+r^1,w^1r^1+r^2)$$

holds then the variety $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ is a smooth connected quasi-projective variety of dimension

(2.4.3)
$$\begin{array}{c}dim𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))=\hfill \\ \hfill =w^1w^2+\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(w^1r^1,r^1)}+dimO_{(w^2r^2,r^2)}dimO_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}).\end{array}$$

Otherwise $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ is empty.

###### Proof.

Fix $`t𝔑_2(w^1+w^2)`$, $`\mathrm{rank}t=r`$. The operator $`t`$ defines a flag

$$\{0\}\mathrm{im}t\mathrm{ker}t^{w^1+w^2}.$$

The variety $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ is a variety of all subspaces $`X^{w^1+w^2}`$ such that

$`dim(X\mathrm{im}t)=rr^2`$,

$`\mathrm{im}(t|_X)(X\mathrm{im}t)`$,

$`dim(\mathrm{im}t|_X)=r^1`$,

$`dim((X\mathrm{ker}t)/(X\mathrm{im}t))=w^1rr^1+r^2`$.

The idea of the proof of the Proposition is to construct a subspace $`X`$ satisfying the above conditions in several steps. On each step the choices are parametrized by a certain variety. Start with $`X\mathrm{im}t`$. It is an arbitrary subspace of dimension $`rr^2`$ in $`\mathrm{im}t`$. So one has a Grassmannian $`Gr_{rr^2}^r`$ of such subspaces. Having fixed $`X\mathrm{im}t`$ choose a subspace $`\mathrm{im}(t|_X)`$ inside of it (the choices are parametrized by the Grassmannian $`Gr_{r^1}^{rr^2}`$). Next step is to select $`X\mathrm{ker}t`$. The intersection $`X\mathrm{im}t`$ is already fixed. Thus one proceeds in two steps. First choose a subspace $`(X\mathrm{ker}t)/(X\mathrm{im}t)`$ inside $`\mathrm{ker}t/\mathrm{im}t`$ (which gives $`Gr_{w^1rr^1+r^2}^{w^1+w^22r}`$). Then each choice of $`X\mathrm{ker}t`$ corresponds to an element of the affine space $`\mathrm{Hom}((X\mathrm{ker}t)/(X\mathrm{im}t),(\mathrm{im}t/(X\mathrm{im}t)))`$. At this point $`(X\mathrm{ker}t)\mathrm{ker}t`$ and $`(X/(X\mathrm{ker}t))^{w^1+w^2}/\mathrm{ker}t`$ are fixed (the latter is determined by $`\mathrm{im}(t|_X)`$). Thus the remaining choices for $`X`$ correspond to elements of $`\mathrm{Hom}((X/(X\mathrm{ker}t)),(\mathrm{ker}t/(X\mathrm{ker}t)))`$.

A rigorous way to spell out the above argument is to say that one has the following chain of locally trivial fibrations

$$ptA_1A_2A_3A_4𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))$$

with fibers isomorphic to $`Gr_{rr^2}^r`$, $`Gr_{r^1}^{rr^2}`$, $`Gr_{w^1rr^1+r^2}^{w^1+w^22r}`$, $`\mathrm{Hom}(^{w^1rr^1+r^2},^{r^2})`$, and $`\mathrm{Hom}(^{r^1},^{w^2r+r^1})`$ respectively.

The proposition follows. ∎

The statement about the dimension of $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ is a special case of the Spaltenstein theorem (cf. 3.2).

Let $`𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ denote the set of irreducible components of the variety $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$. Thus

(2.4.4)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))=\hfill \\ \hfill =\{\begin{array}{cc}\{𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))\}\hfill & \text{if }rr^1+r^2\text{ and }\hfill \\ & r\mathrm{min}\{w^2r^2+r^1,w^1r^1+r^2\}\hfill \\ \mathrm{}\hfill & \text{otherwise }.\hfill \end{array}\end{array}$$

This description of the set of irreducible components of $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ as a one-element or the empty set is a special case of the Hall theorem (cf. 3.3).

Turning back to the variety $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ recall (2.4) that the fiber of the map

$$\delta _2:𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)𝔑_2(w^1+w^2)$$

over a point in $`O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}`$ is isomorphic to

$$𝔐_2(v,w^1+w^2,r)\times 𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r)).$$

Proposition Proposition and formulas (2.2.3) and (2.4.1) imply that $`\delta _2^1(O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)})`$ is a smooth connected quasi-projective variety of dimension

(2.4.5)
$$\begin{array}{c}dim\delta _2^1(O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)})=\hfill \\ \hfill =w^1w^2+v(w^1+w^2v)+\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(w^1r^1,r^1)}+dimO_{(w^2r^2,r^2)}).\end{array}$$

In particular the dimension does not depend on $`r`$ (or, in other words, on the stratum $`O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}`$). Therefore the variety $`𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ is of pure dimension,

(2.4.6)
$$\begin{array}{c}dim𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)=\hfill \\ \hfill =w^1w^2+v(w^1+w^2v)+\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(w^1r^1,r^1)}+dimO_{(w^2r^2,r^2)}),\end{array}$$

and the closures of $`\delta _2^1(O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)})`$ are irreducible components of the variety $`𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$. In this way one obtains bijections

(2.4.7)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝒯_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)\hfill \\ \hfill \underset{r_0}{}𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))\times _2(v,w^1+w^2,r),\end{array}$$

(2.4.8)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝒯_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)\hfill \\ \hfill \underset{r_0}{}𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))\times _2(w^1+w^2,r),\end{array}$$

where $`𝒯_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ (resp. $`𝒯_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$) is the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ (resp. $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$). These bijections represent the first way of labeling the set $`𝒯_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$. Another labeling of the same set is described in the next subsection.

### 2.5. The tensor product diagram

Consider the following commutative diagram:

(2.5.1)
Here the notation is as follows:

$`_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ is a variety of pairs $`(t,X)`$, where $`t𝔑_2(w^1+w^2)`$, and $`X`$ is a subspace of $`^{w^1+w^2}`$ such that $`dimX=w^1`$, $`tXX`$, $`\mathrm{rank}t|_X=r^1`$, $`\mathrm{rank}t|_{(^{w^1+w^2}/X)}=r^2`$;

$`𝔗_2^{}(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ (resp. $`_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$) is the set of triples $`(x,R,Q)`$, where $`x=(t,X,F)𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ (resp. $`x=(t,X)_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$), $`R`$ is an isomorphism $`X^{w^1}`$, $`Q`$ is an isomorphism $`^{w^1+w^2}/X^{w^2}`$;

$`𝔐_2^{}(w^i,r^i)=\pi _2^1(O_{(w^ir^i,r^i)})𝔐_2(w^i)`$ for $`i=1,2`$;

$`\eta _2((t,X,F))=(t,X)`$;

$`\eta _2^{}((x,R,Q))=(\eta _2(x),R,Q)`$;

$`\varkappa _2((t,X))=t`$;

$`a_2(((t,X,F),R,Q))=(t,X,F)`$;

$`c_2(((t,X),R,Q))=(t,X)`$;

$`b_2(((t,X,F),R,Q))=((Rt|_XR^1,R(FX)),(Qt|_{\left(^{w^1+w^2}/X\right)}Q^1,Q(F/(FX))))`$

$`d_2(((t,X),R,Q))=(Rt|_XR^1,Qt|_{\left(^{w^1+w^2}/X\right)}Q^1)`$.

Note that the map $`b_2`$ is not regular (this is why the dotted arrow is used in the diagram). However restricting $`a_2`$ and $`b_2`$ to

$$a_2^1(𝔗_2(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2))=b_2^1(𝔐_2^{}(v^1,w^1,r^1)\times 𝔐_2^{}(v^2,w^2,r^2))$$

one obtains a commutative diagram in which all maps are regular:

(2.5.2)
Here the notation is as follows

$`𝔗_2(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$ is a locally closed subset of the tensor product variety defined in subsection 2.3;

$`𝔗_2^{}(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)=a_2^1(𝔗_2(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2))`$;

$`𝔐_2^{}(v^i,w^i,r^i)=𝔐_2^{}(w^i,r^i)𝔐_2(v^i,w^i)`$ for $`i=1,2`$.

Let

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill _2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)& =\varkappa _2^1(O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}),\hfill \\ \hfill _2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)& =q_1^1(_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)).\hfill \end{array}$$

###### Proposition.

1. in (2.5.1) and (2.5.2) the map $`\varkappa _2`$ restricted to $`_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)`$ is a locally trivial fibration over $`O_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}`$ with a fiber isomorphic to the Spaltenstein variety $`𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$;
2. in (2.5.1) and (2.5.2) the maps $`a_2`$ and $`c_2`$ are principal $`GL(w^1)\times GL(w^2)`$\- bundles;
3. in (2.5.2) the map $`b_2`$ is a locally trivial fibration with a constant smooth connected fiber of dimension

$$dimGL(w^1)+dimGL(w^2)+w^1w^2+v^1(w^2v^2)+v^2(w^1v^1);$$
4. if $`r^1+r^2r\mathrm{min}(w^2r^2+r^1,w^1r^1+r^2)`$ then $`d_2`$ restricted to $`_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)`$ is a locally trivial fibration with a constant smooth connected fiber of dimension

(2.5.3)
$$\begin{array}{c}dimGL(w^1)+dimGL(w^2)+\hfill \\ \hfill +w^1w^2+\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}dimO_{(w^1r^1,r^1)}dimO_{(w^2r^2,r^2)}),\end{array}$$

otherwise $`_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)`$ is empty;
5. if $`r=\mathrm{min}\{w^2v^2+r^1,v^1+r^2\}`$ then $`\eta _2^1(_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r))`$ is an open dense subset of $`𝔗_2^{}(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$;
6. $`𝔗_2^{}(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$ is a smooth connected quasi-projective variety,

(2.5.4)
$$\begin{array}{c}dim𝔗_2^{}(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)=dimGL(w^1)+dimGL(w^2)+\hfill \\ \hfill +w^1w^2+v(w^1+w^2v)+\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(w^1r^1,r^1)}+dimO_{(w^2r^2,r^2)}),\end{array}$$

where $`v=v^1+v^2`$;
7. if $`r^1+r^2r\mathrm{min}(w^2r^2+r^1,w^1r^1+r^2)`$ then $`_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)`$ is a smooth connected quasi-projective variety,

(2.5.5)
$$\begin{array}{c}dim_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)=dimGL(w^1)+dimGL(w^2)+\hfill \\ \hfill +w^1w^2+\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}+dimO_{(w^1r^1,r^1)}+dimO_{(w^2r^2,r^2)}),\end{array}$$

otherwise $`_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)`$ is empty.

###### Proof.

Statements 2.5.3 and 2.5.4 follow from definitions. For 2.5.5 write $`b_2`$ as a composition of fibrations (cf. the proof of Proposition Proposition):

(2.5.10)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔗_2^{}(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)\stackrel{p_1}{}𝔗_2^{\prime \prime }(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)\stackrel{p_2}{}\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{p_2}{}𝔗_2^{\prime \prime \prime }(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)\stackrel{p_3}{}𝔗_2^{\prime \prime \prime \prime }(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)\stackrel{p_4}{}\\ \hfill \stackrel{p_4}{}𝔐_2^{}(v^1,w^1,r^1)\times 𝔐_2^{}(v^2,w^2,r^2).\end{array}$$

Here the notation is as follows:

$`𝔗_2^{\prime \prime \prime \prime }(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$ is a variety of tuples $`(X,t^1,F^1,t^2,F^2)`$, where

$$((t^1,F^1),(t^2,F^2))𝔐_2^{}(v^1,w^1,r^1)\times 𝔐_2^{}(v^2,w^2,r^2)$$

and $`X`$ is a subspace of $`^{w^1+w^2}`$ of dimension $`w^1`$;

$`𝔗_2^{\prime \prime \prime }(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$ is a variety of tuples $`(R,Q,X,t^1,F^1,t^2,F^2)`$, where

$$(X,t^1,F^1,t^2,F^2)𝔗_2^{\prime \prime \prime \prime }(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)$$

and $`R`$ (resp. $`Q`$) is an isomorphism $`X^{w^1}`$ (resp . $`^{w^1+w^2}/X^{w^2}`$);

$`𝔗_2^{\prime \prime }(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$ is a variety of tuples $`(F,R,Q,X,t^1,F^1,t^2,F^2)`$, where

$$(R,Q,X,t^1,F^1,t^2,F^2)𝔗_2^{\prime \prime \prime }(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)$$

and $`F`$ is a subspace of $`^{w^1+w^2}`$ such that $`R(FX)=F^1`$, $`Q(F/(FX))=F^2`$;

(2.5.11)
$$\begin{array}{c}p_1(((t,X,F),R,Q))=\hfill \\ \hfill =(F,R,Q,X,Rt|_XR^1,R(FX),Qt|_{(^{w^1+w^2}/X)}Q^1,Q(F/(FX)));\end{array}$$

$`p_2`$, $`p_3`$, $`p_4`$ are natural projections.

The fiber of $`p_4`$ is a Grassmannian of dimension $`w^1w^2`$, the fiber of $`p_3`$ is isomorphic to $`GL(w^1)\times GL(w^2)`$, the fiber of $`p_2`$ over $`(R,Q,X,t^1,F^1,t^2,F^2)`$ is isomorphic to the affine space $`\mathrm{Hom}(Q^1(F^2),X/(R^1(F^1)))`$, and one can describe the fiber of $`p_1`$ over $`(F,R,Q,X,t^1,F^1,t^2,F^2)`$ as follows. Choose a subspace $`(FX)^XX`$ (resp. $`(FX)^FF`$, $`(FX)^{^{w^1+w^2}}^{w^1+w^2}`$) complimentary to $`FX`$ in $`X`$ (resp. to $`FX`$ in $`F`$, to $`FX`$ in $`^{w^1+w^2}`$), and consider $`R`$ (resp. $`Q`$) as a map $`(FX)^X(FX)^{w^1}`$ (resp. $`(FX)^{^{w^1+w^2}}(FX)^F^{w^2}`$). Then

$$R^1t^1R=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ u^1& 0\end{array}\right),Q^1t^2Q=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ u^2& 0\end{array}\right),$$

for some matrices $`u^1`$, $`u^2`$, and the fiber of $`p_1`$ consists of operators $`t\mathrm{End}(^{w^1+w^2})`$ that have the following block form

(2.5.12)
$$t=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ u^2& 0& 0& 0\\ s& u^1& 0& 0\end{array}\right)$$

with respect to the presentation of $`^{w^1+w^2}`$ as a direct sum

$$^{w^1+w^2}=(FX)^{^{w^1+w^2}}(FX)^X(FX)^F(FX).$$

In (2.5.12) $`s`$ is an arbitrary $`v^1\times (w^2v^2)`$ matrix. The statement 2.5.5 follows. Proof of 2.5.6 is analogues. The crucial step is to describe the set of matrices of the form

$$t=\left(\begin{array}{cc}Q^1t^2Q& 0\\ & R^1t^1R\end{array}\right),$$

such that $`tO_{(w^1+w^2r,r)}`$.

Statement 2.5.7 follows from the fact that matrices of rank equal to $`\mathrm{min}(w^2v^2+r^1,v^1+r^2)`$ form an open dense subset in the set of matrices of the form (2.5.12).

Statement 2.5.8 follows from 2.5.5 and 2.2.

Statement 2.5.9 follows from 2.5.6 or 2.5.3 together with 2.5.4.

Statement 2.5.4 together with (2.4.6) implies that the variety $`𝔗_2^{}(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ is of pure dimension,

(2.5.13)
$$\begin{array}{c}dim𝔗_2^{}(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)=dimGL(w^1)+dimGL(w^2)+\hfill \\ \hfill +w^1w^2+v(w^1+w^2v)+\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(w^1r^1,r^1)}+dimO_{(w^2r^2,r^2)}),\end{array}$$

and the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_2^{}(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ is in a natural bijection with $`𝒯_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ (the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$.

The fiber of $`\eta _2^{}`$ (in the diagram (2.5.1)) over a point in $`_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)`$ is isomorphic to $`𝔐_2(v,w^1+w^2,r)`$. Since

$$dim_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)+dim𝔐_2(v,w^1+w^2,r)=dim𝔗_2^{}(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)$$

one obtains another description of the bijection (2.4.8)

(2.5.14)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝒯_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)\hfill \\ \hfill \underset{r_0}{}𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))\times _2(v,w^1+w^2,r),\end{array}$$

where now $`𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ represents the set of irreducible components of $`_2^{}(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2,r)`$ (cf. 2.5.9) or the set of irreducible components of a fiber of $`d_2`$ in the diagram (2.5.1) (cf. 2.5.6). This description the bijection (2.4.8) as coming from the double fibration $`d_2\eta _2^{}`$ is convenient for study of the $`gl(2)`$-restriction in $`gl_N`$ and Kac-Moody cases.

On the other hand $`𝔗_2^{}(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ is the total space of the double fibration $`(\pi _2\times \pi _2)b_2`$. To make sense of $`b_2`$ one should consider the diagram 2.5.2 instead of 2.5.1. Then 2.5.8 says that $`𝔗_2^{}(v_1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$ is smooth and have the same dimension as $`𝔗_2^{}(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$. Hence the closure of $`𝔗_2^{}(v_1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)`$ is an irreducible component of $`𝔗_2^{}(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$, and thus one obtains the following bijections

(2.5.15)
$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝒯_2(v^1,w^1,r^1,v^2,w^2,r^2)& _2(v^1,w^1,r^1)\times _2(v^2,w^2,r^2),\hfill \\ \hfill 𝒯_2(v,w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)& \underset{\begin{array}{c}v^1,v^2_0\\ v^1+v^2=v\end{array}}{}_2(v^1,w^1,r^1)\times _2(v^2,w^2,r^2),\hfill \\ \hfill 𝒯_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)& _2(w^1,r^1)\times _2(w^2,r^2).\hfill \end{array}$$

Combining (2.5.15) and (2.4.8) (which represent two ways of labeling of the set of irreducible components of the tensor product variety $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$) one obtains a bijection

(2.5.16)
$$\begin{array}{c}\tau _2:_2(w^1,r^1)\times _2(w^2,r^2)\stackrel{}{}\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{}{}\underset{r_0}{}𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))\times _2(w^1+w^2,r).\end{array}$$

It follows from the definition of $`\tau _2`$ and 2.5.7 that

(2.5.17)
$$\begin{array}{c}\tau _2\left((𝔐_2(v^1,w^1,r^1),𝔐_2(v^2,w^2,r^2))\right)=\hfill \\ \hfill =(𝔖_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r_0)),𝔐_2(v^1+v^2,w^1+w^2,r_0)),\end{array}$$

where $`r_0=\mathrm{min}\{w^2v^2+r^1,v^1+r^2\}`$.

### 2.6. $`gl_2`$ theorem

The equality (2.5.17) together with definitions (1.2.1) and (2.2.4) imply the following theorem, which is the main theorem of this paper in $`gl_2`$ case.

###### Theorem.

The map $`\tau _2`$ (described in sections 2.42.5 using two labelings of the set of irreducible components of the tensor product variety $`𝔗_2(w^1,r^1,w^2,r^2)`$ is a crystal isomorphism

(2.6.1)
$$\begin{array}{c}\tau _2:_2(w^1,r^1)_2(w^2,r^2)\stackrel{}{}\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{}{}\underset{r_0}{}𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))_2(w^1+w^2,r),\end{array}$$

where $`𝒮_2(((w^1,r^1),(w^2,r^2)),(w^1+w^2,r))`$ is considered as a set with the trivial $`gl_2`$-crystal structure.

## 3. Spaltenstein varieties and $`gl_N`$-crystals

This section contains a geometric description of a closed family of $`gl_N`$-crystals. Throughout the section $`N`$ is a fixed positive integer.

### 3.1. Notation

Let $`𝒬_m`$ be the set of $`m`$-tuples of non-negative integers. Given $`𝐚𝒬_m`$ let $`𝐚_i`$ denote the $`i`$-th component of $`𝐚`$, and $`|𝐚|`$ denote the sum of all components of $`𝐚`$: $`|𝐚|=_{i=1}^m𝐚_i`$. Let $`𝒬_m(k)=\{𝐚𝒬_m||𝐚|=k\}`$.

In this paper representations of $`gl_N`$ are assumed integrable (polynomial). Therefore all weights are positive and one can identify the relevant part of the weight lattice of $`gl_N`$ with $`𝒬_N`$.

Let $`𝒬_m^+`$ (resp. $`𝒬_m^+(k)`$) be the set of $`𝐚𝒬_m`$ (resp. $`𝐚𝒬_m(k)`$) such that $`𝐚_1𝐚_2\mathrm{}𝐚_m`$. One can think of $`𝒬_m^+`$ as of the set of partitions, or Young diagrams, or highest weights of integrable representations of $`gl_m`$. Let $`L(\lambda )`$ be the irreducible highest weight representation with the highest weight $`\lambda 𝒬_N^+`$, $`s_\lambda `$ be its character (a Schur function), and $`(\lambda )`$ be the crystal of its canonical basis (a highest weight $`gl_N`$-crystal).

### 3.2. Nilpotent orbits and Spaltenstein varieties

Let $`m_{>0}`$, $`w_0`$, $`t\mathrm{End}(^w)`$, $`t^m=0`$. Denote by $`J(t)𝒬_m^+(w)`$ a partition given as follows: $`J(t)_i`$ is equal to the number of Jordan blocks of $`t`$ with size greater or equal to $`i`$ ($`J(t)`$ is called below the Jordan type of $`t`$). For $`\lambda 𝒬_m^+`$ let

$$O_\lambda =\{t\mathrm{End}(^{|\lambda |})|t^m=0,J(t)=\lambda \}.$$

The set $`O_\lambda \mathrm{End}(^{|\lambda |})`$ forms a single $`GL(|\lambda |)`$-orbit.

The stabilizer in $`GL(|\lambda |)`$ of any $`tO_\lambda `$ is connected because it is given by the compliment of a hypersurface $`detx=0`$ in the affine space $`\{x\mathrm{End}(^{|\lambda |})|xt=tx\}`$. Hence $`O_\lambda `$ is simply connected. It follows that given a locally trivial fibration over $`O_\lambda `$ with a constant fiber of pure dimension there is a canonical bijection between the sets of irreducible components of the fiber and of the total space of the fibration. Below these two sets are usually denoted by the same symbol.

Let $`m_{>0}`$, $`𝐰𝒬_m`$. Denote by $`𝔉_m(𝐰)`$ the partial flag variety

$$𝔉_m(𝐰)=\{𝐅=(\{0\}=𝐅_0𝐅_1\mathrm{}𝐅_m=^{|𝐰|})|dim(𝐅_i/𝐅_{i1})=𝐰_i\}.$$

and let $`𝔉_m(w)=_{𝐰𝒬_m(w)}𝔉_m(𝐰)`$ be the variety of all $`m`$-step partial flags in $`^w`$. Given $`𝐅𝔉_m(w)`$ let $`dim𝐅`$ denote the $`m`$-tuple of integers consisting of dimensions of subfactors of the flag $`𝐅`$. Thus $`𝐅𝔉_m(𝐰)`$ if and only if $`dim𝐅=𝐰`$.

Let $`l,m_{>0}`$, $`\mu 𝒬_m^+`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be an $`l`$-tuple $`(\lambda ^1,\mathrm{},\lambda ^l)`$, where $`\lambda ^i𝒬_m^+`$ and $`_{i=1}^l|\lambda ^i|=|\mu |`$. Let $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }|`$ denote an element of $`𝒬_l`$ given by $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }|=(|\lambda ^1|,\mathrm{},|\lambda ^l|)`$. Choose $`tO_\mu `$ and consider the following subvariety of $`𝔉_l(|\mathrm{\Lambda }|)`$:

$$𝔖_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )=\{𝐅𝔉_l(|\mathrm{\Lambda }|)|t𝐅_i𝐅_i,t|_{𝐅_i/𝐅_{i1}}O_{\lambda ^i}\}.$$

The variety $`𝔖_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )`$ does not depend (up to an isomorphism) on the choice of $`tO_\mu `$. However when the choice of $`t`$ is important the notation is $`𝔖_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },t)`$ instead of $`𝔖_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )`$.

###### Theorem.

\[Spa82, II.5\] The variety $`𝔖_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )`$ is of pure dimension,

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 2dim𝔖_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )& =|\mu |(|\mu |1)\underset{i=1}{\overset{l}{}}|\lambda ^i|(|\lambda ^i|1)dimO_\mu +\underset{i=1}{\overset{l}{}}dimO_{\lambda ^i}=\hfill \\ & =\underset{\begin{array}{c}i,j=1\\ ij\end{array}}{\overset{l}{}}|\lambda ^i||\lambda ^j|dimO_\mu +\underset{i=1}{\overset{l}{}}dimO_{\lambda ^i}.\hfill \end{array}$$

The variety $`𝔖_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )`$ is called ($`l`$-step) Spaltenstein variety. Let $`𝒮_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )`$ denote the set of irreducible components of $`𝔖_l(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )`$.

### 3.3. Hall Theorem

Let $`\mu ^1,\mu ^2𝒬_N^+`$. One has the following (tensor product) decompositions in the ring of symmetric functions, the category of integrable representations of $`gl_N`$, and the category of $`gl_N`$-crystals:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill s_{\mu ^1}s_{\mu ^2}& =\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}c_{\mu ^1\mu ^2}^\lambda s_\lambda ,\hfill \\ \hfill L(\mu ^1)L(\mu ^2)& =\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}C((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )L(\lambda ),\hfill \\ \hfill (\mu ^1)(\mu ^2)& =\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒞((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )(\lambda ),\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`c_{\mu ^1\mu ^2}^\lambda `$ is a non-negative integer, called the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient, $`C((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is a linear space of dimension $`c_{\mu ^1\mu ^2}^\lambda `$ with the trivial $`gl_N`$-action, and $`𝒞((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is a trivial $`gl_N`$-crystal (i.e. a set with the trivial crystal structure) of cardinality $`c_{\mu ^1\mu ^2}^\lambda `$.

The following theorem is due to Hall \[Hal59\].

###### Theorem.

The number of irreducible components of the (2-step) Spaltenstein variety $`𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is equal to the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient $`c_{\mu ^1\mu ^2}^\lambda `$. In other words, the set $`𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is isomorphic to the set $`𝒞((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ as a trivial $`gl_N`$-crystal.

###### Remark.

Let $`𝔽_q`$ be a finite field with $`q`$ elements. The original Hall’s statement \[Hal59\] says that the number of $`𝔽_q`$-rational points of the variety $`𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is given by a polynomial in $`q`$ with the leading coefficient equal to $`c_{\mu ^1\mu ^2}^\lambda `$ (the variety $`𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is defined over any field). The above formulation of the theorem follows from this one by a weak form of the Weil conjectures (cf. \[LW54\]).

### 3.4. A special case

The following lemma is a special case of the Hall theorem.

###### Lemma.

If $`\lambda =\mu ^1+\mu ^2`$ (i.e. $`\lambda _i=\mu _i^1+\mu _i^2`$) then the variety $`𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is non-empty.

###### Proof.

Let $`t𝔑_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$, $`J(t)=\mu ^1+\mu ^2`$. Choose a basis $`\{e_i^j\}_{1iN}^{1j\mu _i^1+\mu _i^2}`$ in $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}`$ such that

$$te_i^j=\{\begin{array}{cc}e_{i1}^j\hfill & \text{ if }i>1,\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{ if }i=1,\hfill \end{array}$$

and consider a subspace $`X^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}`$ defined as the linear span of the set

(3.4.1)
$$\begin{array}{c}\{e_i^j|1iN,\hfill \\ \hfill j((0,\mu _N^1](\mu _N^1+\mu _N^2,\mu _{N1}^1+\mu _N^2]\mathrm{}(\mu _{i+1}^1+\mu _{i+1}^2,\mu _i^1+\mu _{i+1}^2])\},\end{array}$$

where it is assumed that $`\mu _{N+1}^1=\mu _{N+1}^2=0`$. Then the flag $`(\{0\}X^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|})`$ belongs to $`𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\mu ^1+\mu ^2)`$. ∎

One of the purposes of this paper is to explain appearance of the varieties $`𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ in the tensor product decomposition for $`gl_N`$. As an application the Hall theorem is deduced in 3.11 from the Lemma Lemma and the Theorem 1.4. The starting point is a geometric construction of the highest weight crystal $`(\lambda )`$ due to Ginzburg.

### 3.5. Ginzburg’s construction

\[Gin91\] Given $`w_0`$ and $`𝐯𝒬_N(w)`$ consider the following varieties

$`𝔑_N(w)=\{t\mathrm{End}(^w)|t^N=0\}`$,

$`𝔐_N(𝐯)=\{(t,𝐅)|t𝔑_N(w),𝐅𝔖_N(\mathrm{𝟎},t)\}`$, where $`\mathrm{𝟎}=(0,\mathrm{},0)`$, $`|\mathrm{𝟎}|=𝐯`$ (in other words, $`𝔐_N(𝐯)`$ is the variety of pairs $`(t,𝐅)`$, where $`t`$ is a nilpotent operator and $`𝐅`$ is an $`N`$–step partial flag of dimension $`𝐯`$, such that $`t𝐅_i𝐅_{i1}`$),

$`𝔐_N(w)=_{𝐯𝒬_N(w)}𝔐_N(𝐯)`$.

Consider a natural map

given by $`\pi _N((t,𝐅))=t`$, and put $`𝔐_N(w,t)=\pi _N^1(t)`$. One has

$$𝔐_N(w,t)=\underset{𝐯𝒬_N(w)}{}𝔐_N(𝐯,t),$$

where

$$𝔐_N(𝐯,t)=𝔐_N(w,t)𝔐_N(𝐯).$$

The variety $`𝔐_N(𝐯,t)`$ is isomorphic to the Spaltenstein variety $`𝔖_N(\mathrm{𝟎},t)`$. It depends (up to an isomorphism) only on $`\lambda =J(t)`$ (the Jordan form of $`t`$, cf. 3.2). Thus the notation $`𝔐_N(𝐯,\lambda )`$ is often used instead of $`𝔐_N(𝐯,t)`$. According to 3.2 the variety $`𝔐_N(𝐯,\lambda )`$ is of pure dimension and

(3.5.1)
$$dim𝔐_N(𝐯,\lambda )=\frac{1}{2}(\underset{ij}{}𝐯_i𝐯_jdimO_\lambda ).$$

Let $`_N(𝐯,\lambda )`$ be the set of irreducible components of $`𝔐_N(𝐯,\lambda )`$ and $`_N(\lambda )=_{𝐯𝒬_N(|\lambda |)}_N(𝐯,\lambda )`$ be the set of irreducible components of $`𝔐_N(|\lambda |,\lambda )`$.

The set $`_N(\lambda )`$ can be endowed with a structure of a normal $`gl_N`$-crystal as follows. The weight function is given by

(3.5.2)
$$wt(Z)=𝐯\text{ if }Z_N(𝐯,\lambda ).$$

The functions $`\epsilon _k`$ and $`\phi _k`$, and the action of the Kashiwara operators $`\stackrel{~}{e}_k`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{f}_k`$ on $`_N(\lambda )`$ are defined in the next subsection using $`gl_2`$-restriction.

### 3.6. Restriction to $`gl_2`$

Throughout this subsection $`k`$ denotes a fixed integer such that $`1kN1`$.

Let $`𝒬_N^k`$ be the set of $`(N1)`$–tuples of non-negative integers labeled as follows: $`(𝐮_1,\mathrm{},𝐮_{k1},𝐮_{k+1},\mathrm{},𝐮_N)`$. There is a natural map $`\rho _N^k:𝒬_N𝒬_N^k`$ given by

$$\rho _N^k(𝐯)=(𝐯_1,\mathrm{},𝐯_{k1},𝐯_k+𝐯_{k+1},\mathrm{},𝐯_N).$$

Let $`𝒬_N^k(w)=\rho _N^k(𝒬_N(w))=\{𝐮𝒬_N^k|𝐮_i=w\}`$.

Given $`𝐮𝒬_N^k`$ consider the following partial flag variety

(3.6.1)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔉_N^k(𝐮)=\{𝐅=(\{0\}=𝐅_0𝐅_1\mathrm{}𝐅_{k1}𝐅_{k+1}\mathrm{}𝐅_N=^{|𝐮|})|\hfill \\ \hfill dim(𝐅_i/𝐅_{i1})=𝐮_i\text{ for }i0,k,k+1\text{ },dim(𝐅_{k+1}/𝐅_{k1})=𝐮_{k+1}\},\end{array}$$

and, similarly, the following variants of the varieties $`𝔐_N(𝐯)`$ and $`𝔐_N(w)`$:

(3.6.2)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔐_N^k(𝐮)=\{(t,𝐅)|t𝔑_N(|𝐮|),𝐅𝔉_N^k(𝐮),\hfill \\ \hfill t𝐅_i𝐅_{i1}\text{ for }i0,k,k+1\text{ },t𝐅_{k+1}𝐅_{k+1},t^2𝐅_{k+1}𝐅_{k1}\},\end{array}$$

$$𝔐_N^k(w)=\underset{𝐮𝒬_N^k(w)}{}𝔐_N^k(𝐮).$$

One has the following commutative diagram:

(3.6.3)
Here $`\sigma _N^k`$ forgets the $`k`$-th subspace of the flag, and $`\pi _N^k`$ forgets the rest of the flag.

Given $`𝐮𝒬_N^k`$, $`\mu 𝒬_N^+(|𝐮|)`$, and $`r_0`$, choose $`tO_\mu `$ and let

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu )& =(\pi _N^k)^1(t),\hfill \\ \hfill 𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)& =\{(t,𝐅)𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu )|\mathrm{rank}(t|_{𝐅_{k+1}/𝐅_{k1}})=r\}.\hfill \end{array}$$

The varieties $`𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu )`$ and $`𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)`$ do not depend (up to an isomorphism) on $`tO_\mu `$. The latter one is an example of $`(N1)`$-step Spaltenstein variety. More exactly, $`𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)=𝔖_{N1}(\mathrm{\Lambda },\mu )`$, where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=(0,\mathrm{},0,\lambda ^k,0,\mathrm{}0)`$ with $`\lambda ^k=(𝐮_{k+1}r,r)`$. Hence $`𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)`$ is of pure dimension and

(3.6.4)
$$dim𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)=\frac{1}{2}(\underset{\begin{array}{c}i,j=1\\ i,jk\\ ij\end{array}}{\overset{N}{}}𝐮_i𝐮_jdimO_\mu +dimO_{(𝐮_{k+1}r,r)}).$$

Let $`_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)`$ be the set of irreducible components of $`𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)`$.

One has the following stratification

$$𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu )=\underset{r_0}{}𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)$$

with only finitely many non-empty strata. The map $`\sigma _N^k`$ (cf. (3.6.3)) restricted to a stratum $`𝔐_N^k(\rho _N^k(𝐯),\mu ,r)`$ is a locally trivial fibration with the fiber isomorphic to the fiber of the map

over a point in $`O_{(𝐯_{k+1}+𝐯_kr,r)}`$ (see (2.2) for the relevant definitions). In other words the fiber is a Grassmannian and

$$dim((\sigma _N^k)^1(x))=𝐯_k𝐯_{k+1}\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(𝐯_k+𝐯_{k+1}r,r)}),$$

where $`x𝔐_N^k(\rho _N^k(𝐯),\mu ,r)`$. Hence the dimension of $`𝔐_N^k(\rho _N^k(𝐯),\mu ,r)`$ plus the dimension of the fiber of $`\sigma _N^k`$ over a point in this stratum is equal to the dimension of $`𝔐_N(𝐯,\mu )`$ (cf. (3.5.1)) and one has a bijection of the sets of irreducible components

$$\theta _N^k:\underset{𝐯=(\rho _N^k)^1(𝐮)}{}_N(𝐯,\mu )\stackrel{}{}\underset{r}{}_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)\times _2(𝐮_{k+1},r),$$

or

(3.6.5)
$$\theta _N^k:_N(\mu )\stackrel{}{}\underset{\begin{array}{c}𝐮𝒬_N^k\\ r_0\end{array}}{}_N^k(𝐮,\mu ,r)\times _2(𝐮_{k+1},r).$$

### 3.7. The crystal structure

Now one can finish the definition of the crystal structure on the set $`_N(\mu )`$. Namely, consider the RHS of 3.6.5 as a $`gl_2`$-crystal with the crystal structure coming from the second multiple, and let

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \epsilon _k& =\epsilon \theta _N^k,\hfill \\ \hfill \phi _k& =\phi \theta _N^k,\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{~}{e}_k& =(\theta _N^k)^1(\stackrel{~}{e})(\theta _N^k),\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{~}{f}_k& =(\theta _N^k)^1(\stackrel{~}{f})(\theta _N^k).\hfill \end{array}$$

These formulas together with the weight function (3.5.2) provide a structure of $`gl_N`$-crystal on $`_N(\mu )`$. By abuse of notation this crystal is also denoted by $`_N(\mu )`$.

###### Proposition.

The crystal $`_N(\mu )`$ is a highest weight normal $`gl_N`$-crystal with highest weight $`\mu `$.

###### Proof.

The fact that $`_N(\mu )`$ is a normal crystal follows immediately from definitions. To prove that it is highest weight it is enough to show that it contains unique element $`Z`$ such that

(3.7.1)
$$\stackrel{~}{e}_kZ=0\text{ for }1kN1\text{ }.$$

Fix $`t𝔑_N(|\mu |)`$ such that $`J(t)=\mu `$, and let $`(t,𝐅)`$ be a generic point of a component $`Z`$ of $`𝔐_N(t)`$ satisfying (3.7.1) (“generic” here means “not lying in any other component”). By definition of the operators $`\stackrel{~}{e}_k`$ it implies that

$$\mathrm{ker}t|_{(𝐅_{k+1}/𝐅_{k1})}=𝐅_k/𝐅_{k1}\text{ for }1kN1\text{ }.$$

From this it follows by induction on $`k`$ that

$$\mathrm{ker}t^{k1}|_{𝐅_k}=𝐅_{k1}\text{ for }2kN\text{ },$$

and then using inverse induction on $`k`$ one obtains

$$𝐅_k=\mathrm{ker}t^k\text{ for }1kN\text{ }.$$

Hence the component $`Z`$ has one generic point $`(t,(\{0\}\mathrm{ker}t\mathrm{}\mathrm{ker}t^N=^{|\mu |}))`$. It means that there is unique highest weight component $`Z`$ of $`𝔐_N(|\mu |)`$, $`Z`$ is the point, and $`wt(Z)=\mu `$. The proposition follows. ∎

Actually the crystal $`_N(\mu )`$ is isomorphic to $`(\mu )`$ (the crystal of the canonical basis of the irreducible highest weight module with highest weight $`\mu `$). One can prove it using a slightly modified argument of \[Gin91\]. Another proof (based on the Theorem 1.4) is given in subsection 3.11.

The above description of the crystal structure via $`gl_2`$-restriction is essentially due to Lusztig \[Lus91, 12\] (in the more general case of quiver varieties), and was used later by Kashiwara and Saito \[KS97\], and Nakajima \[Nak98\].

### 3.8. The tensor product variety and the tensor product diagram

Let $`\mu ^1,\mu ^2𝒬_N^+`$. Consider the following variety:

(3.8.1)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=\hfill \\ \hfill =\{(t,X,𝐅)|t𝔑_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|),(t,𝐅)𝔐_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|),X𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),t)\}.\end{array}$$

In plain words a point of $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is a triple consisting of a nilpotent operator $`t\mathrm{End}(^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|})`$, an $`N`$-step partial flag $`𝐅`$ in $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}`$, and a subspace $`X^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}`$ of dimension $`|\mu ^1|`$, such that $`t`$ preserves both $`𝐅`$ and $`X`$, and when restricted to $`X`$ (resp. $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}/X`$, subfactors of $`𝐅`$) gives a nilpotent operator of Jordan type $`\mu ^1`$ (resp. nilpotent operator of Jordan type $`\mu ^2`$, $`0`$ operator).

The variety $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is called *the tensor product variety* (for $`gl_N`$). It plays an important role in geometric description of the tensor product. In particular using two different ways of labeling irreducible components of $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ one can describe the direct sum decomposition of the tensor product of $`gl_N`$-crystals $`_N(\mu ^1)`$ and $`_N(\mu ^2)`$. Details are given below.

The variety $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is a disjoint union of subvarieties labeled by the dimensions of the subspaces of $`𝐅`$:

$$𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=\underset{𝐯𝒬_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝔗_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2),$$

where

$$𝔗_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=\{(t,X,𝐅)𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)|dim𝐅=𝐯\}.$$

There is a natural map:

given by $`\delta _N(t,X,𝐅)=t`$. Stratify $`𝔑_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$ by $`GL(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$-orbits. The map $`\delta _N`$ restricted to an orbit $`O_\lambda `$ is a fibration with a constant fiber isomorphic to the direct product of two Spaltenstein varieties (for $`2`$-step and $`N`$-step flags):

$$\delta _N^1(x)𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda ),\times 𝔐_N(𝐯,\lambda )$$

if $`xO_\lambda `$. Therefore

$$dim(\delta _N^1(O_\lambda ))=|\mu ^1||\mu ^2|+\frac{1}{2}(\underset{ij}{}𝐯_i𝐯_j+dimO_{\mu ^1}+dimO_{\mu ^2}).$$

Since the dimension of $`\delta _N^1(O_\lambda )`$ does not depend on $`\lambda `$, it follows that the variety $`𝔗_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is of pure dimension,

(3.8.2)
$$dim𝔗_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=|\mu ^1||\mu ^2|+\frac{1}{2}(\underset{ij}{}𝐯_i𝐯_j+dimO_{\mu ^1}+dimO_{\mu ^2}),$$

and one has the following bijection

(3.8.3)
$$𝒯_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )\times _N(𝐯,\lambda ),$$

where $`𝒯_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$.

Another way to label irreducible components of $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is as follows. Let $`𝐅X`$ (resp. $`𝐅/(𝐅X)`$) denote the flag in $`X`$ (resp. in $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}/X`$) obtained by taking intersections with $`X`$ (resp. quotients by intersections with $`X`$) of the subspaces of $`𝐅`$, and let

(3.8.4)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔗_N(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=\hfill \\ \hfill =\{(t,X,𝐅)𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)|dim(𝐅X)=𝐯^1,dim(𝐅/(𝐅X))=𝐯^2\}.\end{array}$$

Each subset $`𝔗_N(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is locally closed and one has

$$𝔗_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=\underset{\begin{array}{c}𝐯^1𝒬_N(|\mu ^1|)\\ 𝐯^2𝒬_N(|\mu ^2|)\\ 𝐯^1+𝐯^2=𝐯\end{array}}{}𝔗_N(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2).$$

Consider the following commutative diagram (cf. (2.5.1)):

(3.8.5)
Here the notation is as follows:

$`_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is the variety of pairs $`(t,X)`$, where $`t𝔑_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$, and $`X`$ is a subspace of $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}`$ such that $`dimX=|\mu ^1|`$, $`tXX`$, $`t|_X`$ has Jordan type $`\mu ^1`$, $`t|_{(^{w^1+w^2}/X)}`$ has Jordan type $`\mu ^2`$;

$`𝔗_N^{}(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ (resp. $`_N^{}(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$) is the variety of triples $`(x,R,Q)`$, where $`x=(t,X,𝐅)𝔗_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ (resp. $`x=(t,X)_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$), $`R`$ (resp. $`Q`$) is an isomorphism $`X^{|\mu ^1|}`$ (resp . $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}/X^{|\mu ^2|}`$);

$`𝔐_N^{}(\mu ^i)=\pi _N^1(O_{\mu ^i})𝔐_N(|\mu ^i|)`$ for $`i=1,2`$;

$`\eta _N((t,X,𝐅))=(t,X)`$;

$`\eta _N^{}((x,R,Q))=(\eta _N(x),R,Q)`$;

$`\varkappa _N((t,X))=t`$;

$`a_N(((t,X,𝐅),R,Q))=(t,X,𝐅)`$;

$`c_N(((t,X),R,Q))=(t,X)`$;

$`b_N(((t,X,𝐅),R,Q))=((Rt|_XR^1,R(𝐅X)),(Qt|_{(^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}/X)}Q^1,Q(𝐅/(𝐅X))))`$;

$`d_N(((t,X),R,Q))=(Rt|_XR^1,Qt|_{(^{w^1+w^2}/X)}Q^1)`$.

The map $`b_N`$ is not regular. To fix it one has to restrict $`a_N`$ and $`b_N`$ to the locally closed subset

$$𝔗_N^{}(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=a_N^1(𝔗_N(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2))=b_N^1(𝔐_N^{}(𝐯^1,\mu ^1)\times 𝔐_N^{}(𝐯^2,\mu ^2)).$$

The result is the following diagram (cf. (2.5.2):

(3.8.6)
The following proposition is an analogue of the Proposition 2.5.

###### Proposition.

1. in the diagrams (3.8.5) and (3.8.6) the maps $`a_N`$ and $`c_N`$ are principal $`GL(|\mu ^1|)\times GL(|\mu ^2|)`$-bundles;
2. in the diagram (3.8.6) the map $`b_N`$ is a locally trivial fibration with a constant smooth connected fiber of dimension

$$dim(GL(|\mu ^1|))+dim(GL(|\mu ^2|))+|\mu _1||\mu _2|+\underset{ij}{}𝐯_i^1𝐯_j^2.$$

###### Proof.

Statement 3.8.7 follows from definitions. To prove 3.8.8 write $`b_2`$ as a composition of fibrations (cf. the proof of 2.5.5):

(3.8.9)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔗_N^{}(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)\stackrel{q_1}{}𝔗_N^{\prime \prime }(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)\stackrel{q_2}{}𝔗_N^{\prime \prime \prime }(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)\stackrel{q_3}{}\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{q_3}{}𝔗_N^{\prime \prime \prime \prime }(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)\stackrel{q_4}{}𝔐_N^{}(𝐯^1,\mu ^1)\times 𝔐_N^{}(𝐯^2,\mu ^2).\end{array}$$

Here the notation is as follows:

$`𝔗_N^{\prime \prime \prime \prime }(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is a variety of tuples $`(X,𝐅^1,𝐅^2,t^1,t^2)`$, where

$$((𝐅^1,t^1),(𝐅^2,t^2))𝔐_N^{}(𝐯^1,\mu ^1)\times 𝔐_N^{}(𝐯^2,\mu ^2)$$

and $`X`$ is a subspace of $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}`$ of dimension $`|\mu ^1|`$;

$`𝔗_N^{\prime \prime \prime }(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is a variety of tuples $`(R,Q,X,𝐅^1,𝐅^2,t^1,t^2)`$, where

$$(X,𝐅^1,𝐅^2,t^1,t^2)𝔗_N^{\prime \prime \prime \prime }(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)$$

and $`R`$ (resp. $`Q`$) is an isomorphism $`X^{|\mu ^1|}`$ (resp . $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}/X^{|\mu ^2|}`$);

$`𝔗_N^{\prime \prime }(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is a variety of tuples $`(𝐅,R,Q,X,𝐅^1,𝐅^2,t^1,t^2)`$, where

$$(R,Q,X,𝐅^1,𝐅^2,t^1,t^2)𝔗_N^{\prime \prime \prime }(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)$$

and $`𝐅`$ is an $`N`$-step flag in $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}`$ such that $`R(𝐅X)=𝐅^1`$, $`Q(𝐅/(𝐅X))=𝐅^2`$;

(3.8.10)
$$\begin{array}{c}q_1(((t,X,𝐅),R,Q))=\hfill \\ \hfill =(𝐅,R,Q,X,R(𝐅X),Q(𝐅/(𝐅X)),Rt|_XR^1,Qt|_{(^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}/X)}Q^1),\end{array}$$

$`q_2`$, $`q_3`$, $`q_4`$ are natural projections.

The fiber of $`q_4`$ is a Grassmannian of dimension $`|\mu ^1||\mu ^2|`$, the fiber of $`q_3`$ is isomorphic to $`GL(|\mu ^1|)\times GL(|\mu _2|)`$, the fiber of $`q_2`$ is isomorphic to the affine space

$$\underset{i}{}\mathrm{Hom}(𝐅_i^2/𝐅_{i1}^2,^{|\mu ^1|}/𝐅_i^1),$$

and the fiber of $`q_1`$ is isomorphic to the affine space

$$\underset{i}{}\mathrm{Hom}(𝐅_i^2/𝐅_{i1}^2,𝐅_{i1}^1).$$

Statement 3.8.8 follows.

Statement 3.8.7 implies that the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^{}(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ is in a natural bijection with $`𝒯_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ ( the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^{}(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$). On the other hand 3.8.8 provides a bijection between the product of the sets of irreducible components of $`𝔐_N(𝐯^1,\mu ^1)`$ and $`𝔐_N(𝐯^2,\mu ^2)`$, and the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^{}(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$. Moreover it follows from 3.8.7, 3.8.8, 3.5.1, and 3.8.2 that

$$dim𝔗_N^{}(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=dim𝔗_N^{}(𝐯^1+𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2).$$

Hence the closures of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^{}(𝐯^1,𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ are irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^{}(𝐯^1+𝐯^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ and one obtains a bijection

$$𝒯_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)\underset{\begin{array}{c}𝐯^1𝒬_N(|\mu ^1|)\\ 𝐯^2𝒬_N(|\mu ^2|)\\ 𝐯^1+𝐯^2=𝐯\end{array}}{}_N(𝐯^1,\mu ^1)\times _N(𝐯^2,\mu ^2).$$

Together with (3.8.3) it provides a bijection

(3.8.11)
$$\begin{array}{c}\tau _N:\underset{\begin{array}{c}𝐯^1𝒬_N(|\mu ^1|)\\ 𝐯^2𝒬_N(|\mu ^2|)\\ 𝐯^1+𝐯^2=𝐯\end{array}}{}_N(𝐯^1,\mu ^1)\times _N(𝐯^2,\mu ^2)\stackrel{}{}\hfill \\ \hfill \stackrel{}{}\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )\times _N(𝐯,\lambda ),\end{array}$$

or, taking union over $`𝐯𝒬_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$,

$$\tau _N:_N(\mu ^1)\times _N(\mu ^2)\stackrel{}{}\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )\times _N(\lambda ).$$

### 3.9. The main theorem for $`gl_N`$

Here is the main theorem of this paper in the $`gl_N`$ case.

###### Theorem.

The map $`\tau _N`$ is a crystal isomorphism

$$\tau _N:_N(\mu ^1)_N(\mu ^2)\stackrel{}{}\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )_N(\lambda ),$$

where $`𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is considered as a set with the trivial crystal structure.

The proof of this theorem occupies the next subsection.

### 3.10. $`gl_2`$-restriction in the tensor product or the proof of Theorem Theorem

By definition the bijection $`\tau _N`$ preserves the weight function. So in order to prove that $`\tau _N`$ is a crystal morphism

$$\tau _N:_N(\mu ^1)_N(\mu ^2)\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )_N(\lambda )$$

it remains to compare the action of the Kashiwara operators $`\stackrel{~}{f}_k`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{e}_k`$ on the domain and the range of $`\tau _N`$ (recall that both sides are normal crystals, and thus one does not need to care about the functions $`\epsilon _k`$ and $`\phi _k`$). The idea of the proof is to reduce the problem to $`gl_2`$ case and then use the corresponding result for $`gl_2`$ (Theorem Theorem).

Let $`\mu ^1,\mu ^2𝒬_N^+`$, and $`k`$ be an integer such that $`1kN1`$. Consider the following variety (cf. 3.6):

(3.10.1)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔗_N^k(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=\hfill \\ \hfill =\{(t,X,𝐅)|t𝔑_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|),(t,𝐅)𝔐_N^k(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|),X𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),t)\}.\end{array}$$

See 3.6 for the definition of $`𝔐_N^k`$. The variety $`𝔗_N^k(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ represents $`gl_2`$ restriction for the tensor product variety $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$. One has the following commutative diagram (cf. (3.6.3)):

where $`\xi _N^k`$ forgets the $`k`$-th subspace in the flag $`𝐅`$ and $`\delta _N^k`$ forgets the rest of the flag. Given $`𝐮𝒬_N^k(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$, and $`r_0`$ consider the following strata in $`𝔗_N^k(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$:

$$𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)=\{(t,X,𝐅)𝔗_N^k(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)|dim𝐅=𝐮,\mathrm{rank}(t|_{𝐅_{k+1}/𝐅_{k1}})=r\}.$$

The fiber of $`\xi _N^k`$ over a point in $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ is isomorphic to $`𝔐_2(𝐮_{k+1},r)`$ (cf. 2.2). Consider stratification of $`𝔑_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$ by $`GL(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$-orbits $`\{O_\lambda \}`$, The map $`\delta _N^k`$ restricted to $`O_\lambda `$ is a locally trivial fibration with a fiber isomorphic to the product of two Spaltenstein varieties $`𝔖_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ and $`𝔐_N^k(𝐮,\lambda ,r)`$ (cf. 3.6). Hence $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ is of pure dimension,

(3.10.2)
$$\begin{array}{c}dim𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)=|\mu ^1||\mu ^2|+\hfill \\ \hfill +\frac{1}{2}(\underset{ij}{}𝐮_i𝐮_j+dimO_{\mu ^1}+dimO_{\mu ^2}+dimO_{(𝐮_{k+1}r,r)}),\end{array}$$

and one has the following bijection

(3.10.3)
$$𝒯_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )\times _N^k(𝐮,\lambda ,r),$$

where $`𝒯_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ is the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$.

Recall that the fiber of $`\xi _N^k`$ over a point in $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ is isomorphic to $`𝔐_2(𝐮_{k+1},r)`$. Since

$$dim𝔗_N^k(\rho _N^k(𝐯),\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)+dim𝔐_2(𝐯_k,𝐯_k+𝐯_{k+1},r)=dim𝔗_N(𝐯,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)$$

one has a bijection:

(3.10.4)
$$𝒯_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)\underset{\begin{array}{c}𝐮𝒬_N^k(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)\\ r_0\end{array}}{}𝒯_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)\times _2(𝐮_{k+1},r).$$

Combining (3.10.3) with (3.10.4) one obtains a bijection

(3.10.5)
$$𝒯_N(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)\underset{\begin{array}{c}\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)\\ 𝐮𝒬_N^k(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)\\ r_0\end{array}}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )\times _N^k(𝐮,\lambda ,r)\times _2(𝐮_{k+1},r).$$

This bijection is the result of $`gl_2`$-restriction on the range of $`\tau _N`$. In particular, the operators $`\stackrel{~}{e}_k`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{f}_k`$ act on the last multiple in the RHS of (3.10.5).

To carry out $`gl_2`$-restriction on the domain of $`\tau _N`$ one has to forget the $`k`$-th subspace of the flag $`𝐅`$ in all varieties in the diagrams 3.8.5 and 3.8.6. The results are the following commutative diagrams

(3.10.6)
and

(3.10.7)
where $`𝐮^1=\rho _N^k(𝐯^1)`$, $`𝐮^2=\rho _N^k(𝐯^2)`$. In the above two diagrams the top rows are copies of the diagrams 3.8.5 and 3.8.6;

$`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)=\{(t,X,𝐅)𝔗_N^k(\mu ^1,\mu ^2)|dim(𝐅X)=𝐮^1,dim(𝐅/(𝐅X))=𝐮^2\}`$;

$`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ (resp. $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$) is the variety of triples $`(x,R,Q)`$, where $`x=(t,X,𝐅)𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$ (resp. $`x=(t,X,𝐅)𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)`$), and $`R`$ (resp. $`Q`$) is an isomorphism $`X^{|\mu ^1|}`$ (resp. $`^{|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|}/X^{|\mu ^2|}`$);

the vertical maps are natural projections (forgetting the $`k`$-th subspace of the flag $`𝐅`$);

the maps $`c_N^k`$ and $`d_N^k`$ are uniquely defined to make the diagrams commutative.

The maps $`c_N^k`$ and $`d_N^k`$ are regular only in the diagram (3.10.7).

Let

(3.10.8)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)=\hfill \\ \hfill =\{(t,X,𝐅)𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2)|\mathrm{rank}(t|_{𝐅_{k+1}/𝐅_{k1}})=r,\\ \hfill \mathrm{rank}(t|_{(X𝐅_{k+1})/(X𝐅_{k1})})=r^1,\mathrm{rank}(t|_{(𝐅_{k+1}/((𝐅_{k+1}X)+𝐅_{k1})})=r^2\},\end{array}$$

and

$$𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)=(c_N^k)^1(𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)).$$

The set $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)`$ (resp. $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)`$) is a locally closed subset in $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1+𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ (resp. $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1+𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$).

The proof of the following proposition is similar to the proofs of Propositions 2.5 and 3.8.

###### Proposition.

1. in the diagrams (3.10.6) and (3.10.7) the maps $`a_N^k`$ and $`c_N^k`$ are principal $`GL(|\mu ^1|)\times GL(|\mu ^2|)`$\- bundles;
2. if $`r^1+r^2r\mathrm{min}(𝐮_{k+1}^2r^2+r^1,𝐮_{k+1}^1r^1+r^2)`$ then $`d_N^k`$ restricted to $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)`$ is a locally trivial fibration over $`𝔐_N^k(𝐮^1,\mu ^1,r^1)\times 𝔐_N^k(𝐮^2,\mu ^2,r^2)`$ with a constant smooth connected fiber of dimension

(3.10.9)
$$\begin{array}{c}dimGL(|\mu ^1|)+dimGL(|\mu ^2|)+|\mu ^1||\mu ^2|+\underset{ij}{}𝐮_i^1𝐮_j^2+\hfill \\ \hfill +\frac{1}{2}(dimO_{(𝐮_{k+1}^1+𝐮_{k+1}^2r,r)}dimO_{(𝐮_{k+1}^1r^1,r^1)}dimO_{(𝐮_{k+1}^2r^2,r^2)}),\end{array}$$

otherwise $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)`$ is empty.

It follows from 3.10.9 and 3.10.2 that $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ is of pure dimension,

(3.10.11)
$$\begin{array}{c}dim𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)=dimGL(|\mu ^1|)+dimGL(|\mu ^2|)+|\mu ^1||\mu ^2|+\hfill \\ \hfill +\frac{1}{2}(\underset{ij}{}𝐮_i𝐮_j+dimO_{\mu ^1}+dimO_{\mu ^2}+dimO_{(𝐮_{k+1}r,r)}),\end{array}$$

and the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ is in a natural bijection with $`𝒯_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ (the set of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$).

On the other hand it follows from 3.10.10, (3.6.4), and (3.10.11) that the variety $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)`$ has the same dimension as $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1+𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ (in particular, the dimension does not depend on $`r^1`$, $`r^2`$, and $`𝐮^1𝐮^2`$). Hence irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1+𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)`$ are closures of irreducible components of $`𝔗_N^k(𝐮^1,𝐮^2,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r^1,r^2,r)`$ and using 3.10.10 one obtains the following bijection:

(3.10.12)
$$\begin{array}{c}𝒯_N^k(𝐮,\mu ^1,\mu ^2,r)\underset{\begin{array}{c}𝐮^1𝒬_N^k(|\mu ^1|)\\ 𝐮^2𝒬_N^k(|\mu ^2|)\\ 𝐮^1+𝐮^2=𝐮\\ r^1,r^2_0\end{array}}{}𝒮_2(((𝐮_{k+1}^1,r^1),(𝐮_{k+1}^2,r^2)),(𝐮_{k+1},r))\times \hfill \\ \hfill \times _N^k(𝐮^1,\mu ^1,r^1)\times _N^k(𝐮^2,\mu ^2,r^2)\end{array}$$

where $`𝒮_2(((𝐮_{k+1}^1,r^1),(𝐮_{k+1}^2,r^2)),(𝐮_{k+1},r))`$ comes from the fiber of $`d_N^k`$ (cf. the inequality in 3.10.10).

Combining (3.10.12) with (3.10.3) one obtains a bijection

(3.10.13)
$$\begin{array}{c}\tau _N^k:\underset{\begin{array}{c}𝐮^1𝒬_N^k(|\mu ^1|)\\ 𝐮^2𝒬_N^k(|\mu ^2|)\\ 𝐮^1+𝐮^2=𝐮\\ r^1,r^2_0\end{array}}{}𝒮_2(((𝐮_{k+1}^1,r^1),(𝐮_{k+1}^2,r^2)),(𝐮_{k+1},r))\times \hfill \\ \hfill \times _N^k(𝐮^1,\mu ^1,r^1)\times _N^k(𝐮^2,\mu ^2,r^2)\stackrel{}{}\\ \\ \hfill \stackrel{}{}\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )\times _N^k(𝐮,\lambda ,r).\end{array}$$

Let $`\mu ^1`$, $`\mu ^2𝒬_N^+`$, and $`𝐯𝒬_N(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)`$. Consider a diagram

(3.10.14)
where $`P_{23}`$ is the permutation of the second and the third multiples in the direct product. It follows from constructions of the bijections $`\tau `$ and $`\theta `$ (or, more precisely, from comparison of the right squares in the diagrams (3.10.7) and (2.5.2)) that the diagram (3.10.14) is commutative.

The commutativity of the diagram (3.10.14) together with Theorem Theorem implies that the bijection $`\tau _N`$ commutes with the action of the Kashiwara’s operators $`\stackrel{~}{e}_k`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{f}_k`$. Therefore $`\tau _N`$ is a morphism of crystals

$$\tau _N:_N(\mu ^1)_N(\mu ^2)\stackrel{}{}\underset{\lambda 𝒬_N^+(|\mu ^1|+|\mu ^2|)}{}𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )_N(\lambda ).$$

This concludes the proof of Theorem Theorem.

### 3.11. Corollary

The following proposition is a corollary of Theorem Theorem.

###### Proposition.

Let $`\mu `$, $`\mu ^1`$, and $`\mu ^2𝒬_N^+`$. Then

1. the $`gl_N`$-crystal $`_N(\mu )`$ is isomorphic to $`(\mu )`$ (the crystal of the canonical basis of the highest weight irreducible representation with highest weight $`\mu `$);
2. the cardinal of the set $`𝒮_2((\mu ^1,\mu ^2),\lambda )`$ is equal to the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient $`c_{\mu ^1\mu ^2}^\lambda `$.

###### Proof.

The proposition follows from Theorem Theorem, Theorem 1.4, Proposition Proposition, and Lemma Lemma. ∎

###### Remark.

Note that 3.11.2 is the Hall Theorem (cf .3.3). Statement 3.11.1 could be deduced from the results of Ginzburg concerning $`gl_N`$-action in the top homology of the variety $`𝔐_N(\mu )`$ (cf. \[Gin91\]).

### 3.12. Multiple tensor product and Levi restriction

There are two straightforward generalizations of the constructions of this section.

First, one can consider more general tensor product variety $`𝔗_N(\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l)`$, which corresponds to a product of $`l`$ polynomial representations of $`gl_N`$. A point of this variety is a triple $`(t,𝐗,𝐅)`$ consisting of a nilpotent operator $`t`$, an $`l`$-step partial flag $`𝐗`$, and an $`N`$-step partial flag $`𝐅`$, such that $`t`$ preserves both $`𝐗`$ and $`𝐅`$ and when restricted to the subfactors of $`𝐗`$ (resp. $`𝐅`$) gives operators with Jordan forms $`\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l`$ (resp. $`0`$ operators). In this way one can prove a generalization of the Hall Theorem, saying that the number of irreducible components of the Spaltenstein variety $`𝔖_l((\mu ^1,\mathrm{},\mu ^l),\lambda )`$ is equal to the multiplicity of the representation $`L(\lambda )`$ in $`L(\mu ^1)\mathrm{}L(\mu ^l)`$.

Second, one can generalize the notion of $`gl_2`$-restriction. Namely forgetting several subspaces in the flag $`𝐅`$ one can define restriction to a Levi subalgebra of a parabolic subalgebra of $`gl_N`$. In this way one would obtain a bijection similar to $`\tau _N^k`$ (cf. (3.10.13)) relating tensor products for $`gl_N`$ and for the Levi subalgebra.