Standard Extension Algebras I: Perverse Sheaves and Fukaya Calculus

In this first of a series of articles on standard extension algebras we study standard perverse sheaves on varieties with $\mathbb{G}_m$-actions. Based on Braden's hyperbolic localisation, we describe their extension algebra geometrically via a convolution structure on the intersections of attracting with repelling cells. We introduce a multiplicative structure on open Richardson varieties which provides a practical way to compose these extensions in case of flag varieties. For open Richardson varieties in Grassmannians we construct two explicit cell decompositions, of Gauss- and of Deodhar-type. It is shown that the latter is a stratification with the same combinatorics as Deodhar's decomposition. We introduce a calculus of Fukaya diagrams to encode the geometry of the decompositions. It provides a model for the cohomology of open Richardson varieties and thus for standard extensions. The calculus is motivated by the Mak-Smith Fukaya-Seidel category of a natural Lefschetz fibration and should allow to compute morphism spaces in there. We finally discuss the relation of our work to extensions of (parabolic) Verma modules in category O as well as to the computation of R- and R'-polynomials.