Nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials and a refinement of Kostka-Foulkes polynomials

Abstract: We study the specialization of the type A nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials at $t=0$ based on the combinatorial formula of Haglund, Haiman, and Loehr. We prove that this specialization expands nonnegatively into the fundamental slide polynomials, introduced by the author and Searles. Using this and weak dual equivalence, we prove combinatorially that this specialization is a positive graded sum of Demazure characters. We use stability results for fundamental slide polynomials to show that this specialization stabilizes and to show that the Demazure character coefficients give a refinement of the Kostka--Foulkes polynomials.