Abstract

Fulton's universal Schubert polynomials [F3] represent degeneracy loci for morphisms of vector bundles with rank conditions coming from a permutation. The quiver formula of Buch and Fulton [BF] expresses these polynomials as an integer linear combination of products of Schur determinants. We present a positive, nonrecursive combinatorial formula for the coefficients. Our result is applied to obtain new expansions for the Schubert polynomials of Lascoux and Schützenberger [LS1] and explicit Giambelli formulas in the classical and quantum cohomology ring of any partial flag variety.