Positivity in Weighted Flag Varieties

Abstract: We study the torus-equivariant cohomology of weighted flag varieties, and prove a positivity property in the equivariant cohomology and Chow groups of weighted flag varieties, analogous to the non-weighted positivity proved in [Graham 2001]. Our result strengthens and generalizes the positivity proved for weighted Grassmannians by [Abe-Matsumura 2015]. The positivity property is expressed in terms of weighted roots, which are used to describe weights of torus equivariant curves in weighted flag varieties. This provides a geometric interpretation of the parameters used in [Abe-Matsumura 2015]. We approach weighted flag varieties from a uniform Lie-theoretic point of view, providing a more general definition than has appeared previously, and prove other general results about weighted flag varieties in this setting, including a Borel presentation of the equivariant cohomology. In addition, we generalize some results obtained for weighted Grassmannians or more generally type $A$ ([Abe-Matsumura 2015], [Azam-Nazir-Qureshi 2020]); in particular, we obtain a weighted Chevalley formula, descriptions of restrictions to fixed points, the GKM description of the cohomology, and a weighted Chevalley formula.