Non-elliptic Webs and Convex Sets in the Affine Building

Abstract

We describe the $\mathfrak sl_3$ non-elliptic webs in terms of convex sets in the affine building. Kuperberg defined the non-elliptic web basis in his work on rank-$2$ spider categories. Fontaine, Kamnitzer, Kuperberg showed that the $\mathfrak sl_3$ non-elliptic webs are dual to CAT(0) triangulated diskoids in the affine building. We show that each such triangulated diskoid is the intersection of the min-convex and max-convex hulls of a generic polygon in the building. Choosing a generic polygon from each of the components of the Satake fiber produces the non-elliptic web basis. The convex hulls in the affine building were first introduced by Faltings and are related to tropical convexity, as discussed in work by Joswig, Sturmfels, Yu and by Zhang.