Interval positroid varieties and a deformation of the ring of symmetric functions

Define the <b>interval rank</b> $r_[i,j] : Gr_k(\mathbb C^n) →\mathbb{N}$ of a k-plane V as the dimension of the orthogonal projection $π _[i,j](V)$ of V to the $(j-i+1)$-dimensional subspace that uses the coordinates $i,i+1,\ldots,j$. By measuring all these ranks, we define the <b>interval rank stratification</b> of the Grassmannian $Gr_k(\mathbb C^n)$. It is finer than the Schubert and Richardson stratifications, and coarser than the positroid stratification studied by Lusztig, Postnikov, and others, so we call the closures of these strata <b>interval positroid varieties</b>. We connect Vakil's "geometric Littlewood-Richardson rule", in which he computed the homology classes of Richardson varieties (Schubert varieties intersected with opposite Schubert varieties), to Erd&odblac;s-Ko-Rado shifting, and show that all of Vakil's varieties are interval positroid varieties. We build on his work in three ways: (1) we extend it to arbitrary interval positroid varieties, (2) we use it to compute in equivariant K-theory, not just homology, and (3) we simplify Vakil's (2+1)-dimensional "checker games" to 2-dimensional diagrams we call "IP pipe dreams". The ring Symm of symmetric functions and its basis of Schur functions is well-known to be very closely related to the ring $\bigoplus_a,b H_*(Gr_a(\mathbb{C}^{(a+b)})$ and its basis of Schubert classes. We extend the latter ring to equivariant K-theory (with respect to a circle action on each $\mathbb{C}^{(a+b)}$, and compute the structure constants of this two-parameter deformation of Symm using the interval positroid technology above.