Normality of Schubert varieties in affine Grassmannians

Abstract

We classify all normal Schubert varieties in the affine Grassmannian of a semisimple group over an arbitrary field with special attention to small positive characteristic. The proof is elementary and relies on tangent space calculations for quasi-minuscule Schubert varieties, a refined Levi lemma in positive characteristic and the classification of minimal degenerations.

Minor corrections, comments welcome!