Carolina Benedetti

Supercharacters, symmetric functions in noncommuting variables, and related Hopf algebras

We identify two seemingly disparate structures: supercharacters, a useful way of doing Fourier analysis on the group of unipotent uppertriangular matrices with coefficients in a finite field, and the ring of symmetric functions in noncommuting variables. Each is a Hopf algebra and the two are isomorphic as such. This allows developments in each to be transferred. The identification suggests a rich class of examples for the emerging field of combinatorial Hopf algebras.

Matroid Polytopes and their Volumes

We express the matroid polytope PM of a matroid M as a signed Minkowski sum of simplices, and obtain a formula for the volume of PM. This gives a combinatorial expression for the degree of an arbitrary torus orbit closure in the Grassmannian Grk,n. We then derive analogous results for the independent set polytope and the underlying flag matroid polytope of M. Our proofs are based on a natural extension of Postnikov’s theory of generalized permutohedra.