Geometric Crystal and Tropical R for D^(1)_n

Abstract

We construct a geometric crystal for the affine Lie algebra D^{(1)}_n in the sense of Berenstein and Kazhdan. Based on a matrix realization including a spectral parameter, we prove uniqueness and explicit form of the tropical R, the birational map that intertwines products of the geometric crystals. The tropical R commutes with geometric Kashiwara operators and satisfies the Yang-Baxter equation. It is subtraction-free and yields a piecewise linear formula of the combinatorial R for crystals upon ultradiscretization.