In mathematics, the Plücker embedding is a method to realize the Grassmannian of all r-dimensional subspaces of an n-dimensional vector space V as a subvariety of the projective space of the rth exterior power of that vector space, P(∧r V).
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The Plücker embedding was first defined, in the case r = 2, n = 4, in coordinates by Julius Plücker as a way of describing the lines in three-dimensional space (which, as projective lines in real projective space, correspond to two-dimensional subspaces of a four-dimensional vector space). That embedding is to the Klein quadric in RP5
Hermann Grassmann generalized Plucker's embedding to arbitrary r and n; the coordinate generalization is sometimes called Grassmann coordinates.
Definition
The Plücker embedding (over the field K) is the map ι defined by
where Gr(r, Kn) is the Grassmannian, i.e., the space of all r-dimensional subspaces of the n-dimensional vector space, Kn.
This is an isomorphism from the Grassmannian to the image of ι, which is a projective variety. This variety can be completely characterized as an intersection of quadrics, each coming from a relation on the Plücker (or Grassmann) coordinates that derives from linear algebra.
The bracket ring appears as the ring of polynomial functions on the exterior power.
Plücker relations
The embedding of the Grassmannian satisfies some very simple quadratic polynomials called the Plücker relations. These show that the Grassmannian embeds as an algebraic subvariety of P(∧rV) and give another method of constructing the Grassmannian. To state the Plücker relations, choose two r-dimensional subspaces W and Z of V with bases {w1, ..., wr}, and {z1, ..., zr}, respectively. Then, for any integer k ≥ 0, the following equation is true in the homogeneous coordinate ring of P(∧rV):
When dim(V) = 4, and r = 2, the simplest Grassmannian which is not a projective space, the above reduces to a single equation. Denoting the coordinates of P(∧rV) by X1,2, X1,3, X1,4, X2,3, X2,4, X3,4, we have that Gr(2, V) is defined by the equation
X1,2X3,4 − X1,3X2,4 + X2,3X1,4 = 0.In general, however, many more equations are needed to define the Plücker embedding of a Grassmannian in projective space.