TITLE: On the cohomology ring of the Grassmannian
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: The basis of Schubert classes for the cohomology ring $H^*(\text{Gr}(m,N))$ of the Grassmannian of $m$-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{C}^N$ is indexed by $L(m,N-m)$, the poset of all partitions fitting inside a $m \times (N-m)$ box.  This is the quotient of the powerset $2^{m(N-m)}$ by the action of the wreath product $S(m) \wr S(N-m)$.  How does this come from the fact that $\text{Gr}(m,N) \cong U(N) / \big (U(m) \times U(N-m) \big )$?  Can this be extended to other homogeneous spaces?

REPLY [4 votes]: The Schubert classes on $G/P$ are the classes of the Schubert varieties, which are the closures of the Schubert cells, each of which contains a unique $T$-fixed point. The $T$-fixed points on $G/P$ are the images of $T$-fixed points on $G/B$ (since $T$ acts on the fiber, which is a projective variety, hence itself has a $T$-fixed point by Borel's theorem).
Up on $G/B$, the $T$-fixed points are exactly of the form $N_G(T)B/B$, so indexed by the Weyl group $W_G = N_G(T)/T$. Down on $G/P$, they group together by the Weyl group $W_P = N_P(T)/T$, so they're indexed by $W_G/W_P$. Which is exactly what you observed in the $G/P =$ Grassmannian case.
(Actually you asked about compact groups, so $K/L$ where $K$ is compact and $L$ is compact of the same rank, which includes some cases like $S^4 = SO(5)/SO(4)$ that is not of the form $G/P$ for $G$ complex and $P$ parabolic. Then there's still a basis of "Schubert classes", indexed by $W_K/W_L$ similarly.)