An efficient algorithm for deciding vanishing of Schubert polynomial coefficients

Abstract

Schubert polynomials form a basis of all polynomials and appear in the study of cohomology rings of flag manifolds. The vanishing problem for Schubert polynomials asks if a coefficient of a Schubert polynomial is zero. We give a tableau criterion to solve this problem, from which we deduce the first polynomial time algorithm. These results are obtained from new characterizations of the Schubitope, a generalization of the permutahedron defined for any subset of the n x n grid. In contrast, we show that computing these coefficients explicitly is #P-complete.