Combinatorial frameworks for cluster algebras

Abstract

We develop a general approach to finding combinatorial models for cluster algebras. The approach is to construct a labeled graph called a framework. When a framework is constructed with certain properties, the result is a model incorporating information about exchange matrices, principal coefficients, g-vectors, and g-vector fans. The idea behind frameworks arises from Cambrian combinatorics and sortable elements, and in this paper, we use sortable elements to construct a framework for any cluster algebra with an acyclic initial exchange matrix. This Cambrian framework yields a model of the entire exchange graph when the cluster algebra is of finite type. Outside of finite type, the Cambrian framework models only part of the exchange graph. In a forthcoming paper, we extend the Cambrian construction to produce a complete framework for a cluster algebra whose associated Cartan matrix is of affine type.