Equivariant Schubert calculus and geometric Satake

Abstract: The main classical result of Schubert calculus is that multiplication rules for the basis of Schubert cycles inside the cohomology ring of the Grassmannian $G(n,m)$ are the same as multiplication rules for the basis of Schur polynomials in the ring of symmetric polynomials. In this paper, we explain how to recover this somewhat mysterious connection by using the geometric Satake correspondence to put the structure of a representation of $GL_m$ on $H^\bullet(G(n,m))$ and comparing it to the Fock space representation on symmetric polynomials. This proof also extends to equivariant Schubert calculus, and gives an explanation of the relationship between torus-equivariant cohomology of Grassmannians and double Schur polynomials.