Exchange matrices of I-boxes

Admissible chains of i-boxes are important combinatorial tools in the monoidal categorification of cluster algebras, as they provide seeds of the cluster algebra. In this paper, we explore the properties of maximal commuting families of i-boxes in a more general setting, and define a certain matrix associated with such a family, which we call the exchange matrix. It turns out that, when considering the cluster algebra structure on the Grothendieck rings, this matrix is indeed the exchange matrix of the seed associated with the family, both in certain categories of modules over quantum affine algebras and over quiver Hecke algebras. We prove this by constructing explicit short exact sequences that represent the mutation relations.