Splicing skew shaped positroids

Abstract: Skew shaped positroids (or skew shaped positroid varieties) are certain Richardson varieties in the flag variety that admit a realization as explicit subvarieties of the Grassmannian $\mathrm{Gr}(k,n)$. They are parametrized by a pair of Young diagrams $\mu \subseteq \lambda$ fitting inside a $k \times (n-k)$-rectangle. For every $a = 1, \dots, n-k$, we define an explicit open set $U_a$ inside the skew shaped positroid $S^{\circ}_{\lambda/\mu}$, and show that $U_a$ is isomorphic to the product of two smaller skew shaped positroids. Moreover, $U_a$ admits a natural cluster structure and the aforementioned isomorphism is quasi-cluster in the sense of Fraser. Our methods depend on realizing the skew shaped positroid as an explicit braid variety, and generalize the work of the first and third authors for open positroid cells in the Grassmannian.