Gromov-Witten invariants on Grassmannians

Abstract

We prove that any three-point genus zero Gromov-Witten invariant on a type <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper A"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">A</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> Grassmannian is equal to a classical intersection number on a two-step flag variety. We also give symplectic and orthogonal analogues of this result; in these cases the two-step flag variety is replaced by a sub-maximal isotropic Grassmannian. Our theorems are applied, in type <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper A"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">A</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> , to formulate a conjectural quantum Littlewood-Richardson rule, and in the other classical Lie types, to obtain new proofs of the main structure theorems for the quantum cohomology of Lagrangian and orthogonal Grassmannians.