Start with a permutation matrix π and consider all matrices that can be obtained from π by taking downward row operations and rightward column operations; the closure of this set gives the matrix Schubert variety Xπ. We characterize when the ideal defining Xπ is toric (with respect to a 2n − 1-dimensional torus) and study the associated polytope of its projectivization. We construct regular triangulations of these polytopes which we show are geometric realizations of a family of subword complexes. We also show that these complexes can be realized geometrically via regular triangulations of root polytopes. This implies that a family of β-Grothendieck polynomials are special cases of reduced forms in the subdivision algebra of root polytopes. We also write the volume and Ehrhart series of root polytopes in terms of β-Grothendieck polynomials. Subword complexes were introduced by Knutson and Miller in 2004, who showed that they are homeomorphic to balls or spheres and raised the question of their polytopal realizations.
Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science