A Pieri rule for Demazure characters of the general linear group

Abstract: The Pieri rule is a nonnegative, multiplicity-free formula for the Schur function expansion of the product of an arbitrary Schur function with a single row Schur function. Key polynomials are characters of Demazure modules for the general linear group that generalize the Schur function basis of symmetric functions to a basis of the full polynomial ring. We prove a nonsymmetric generalization of the Pieri rule by giving a cancellation-free, multiplicity-free formula for the key polynomial expansion of the product of an arbitrary key polynomial with a single part key polynomial. Our proof is combinatorial, generalizing the Robinson--Schensted--Knuth insertion algorithm on tableaux to an insertion algorithm on Kohnert diagrams.