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Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science |
Proceedings
Generalized Polarization Modules (extended abstract)
This work enrols the research line of M. Haiman on the Operator Theorem (the old operator conjecture). This theorem states that the smallest $\mathfrak{S}_n$-module closed under taking partial derivatives and closed under the action of polarization operators that contains the Vandermonde determinant is the space of diagonal harmonics polynomials. We start generalizing the context of this theorem to the context of polynomials in $\ell$ sets of $n$ variables $x_{ij}$ with $1\le i \le \ell$ and $1 \le j \le n$. Given a $\mathfrak{S}_n$-stable family of homogeneous polynomials in the variables $x_{ij}$ the smallest vector space closed under taking partial derivatives and closed under the action of polarization operators that contains $F$ is the polarization module generated by the family $F$. These polarization modules are all representation of the direct product $\mathfrak{S}_n \times GL_\ell(\mathbb{C})$. In order to study the decomposition into irreducible submodules, we compute the graded Frobenius characteristic of these modules. For several cases of $\mathfrak{S}_n$-stable families of homogeneous polynomials in n variables, for every $n \ge 1$, we show general formulas for this graded characteristic in a global manner, independent of the value of $\ell$.
Depth in Coxeter groups of type $B$
The depth statistic was defined for every Coxeter group in terms of factorizations of its elements into product of reflections. Essentially, the depth gives the minimal path cost in the Bruaht graph, where the edges have prescribed weights. We present an algorithm for calculating the depth of a signed permutation which yields a simple formula for this statistic. We use our algorithm to characterize signed permutations having depth equal to length. These are the fully commutative top-and-bottom elements defined by Stembridge. We finally give a characterization of the signed permutations in which the reflection length coincides with both the depth and the length.
Tableaux combinatorics for two-species PASEP probabilities
The goal of this paper is to provide a combinatorial expression for the steady state probabilities of the twospecies PASEP. In this model, there are two species of particles, one “heavy” and one “light”, on a one-dimensional finite lattice with open boundaries. Both particles can hop into adjacent holes to the right and left at rates 1 and $q$. Moreover, when the heavy and light particles are adjacent to each other, they can switch places as if the light particle were a hole. Additionally, the heavy particle can hop in and out at the boundary of the lattice. Our first result is a combinatorial interpretation for the stationary distribution at $q=0$ in terms of certain multi-Catalan tableaux. We provide an explicit determinantal formula for the steady state probabilities, as well as some general enumerative results for this case. We also describe a Markov process on these tableaux that projects to the two-species PASEP, and hence directly explains the connection between the two. Finally, we extend our formula for the stationary distribution to the $q=1$ case, using certain two-species alternative tableaux.
Weighted Tree-Numbers of Matroid Complexes
We give a new formula for the weighted high-dimensional tree-numbers of matroid complexes. This formula is derived from our result that the spectra of the weighted combinatorial Laplacians of matroid complexes consist of polynomials in the weights. In the formula, Crapo’s $\beta$-invariant appears as the key factor relating weighted combinatorial Laplacians and weighted tree-numbers for matroid complexes.
Lattice structure of Grassmann-Tamari orders
The Tamari order is a central object in algebraic combinatorics and many other areas. Defined as the transitive closure of an associativity law, the Tamari order possesses a surprisingly rich structure: it is a congruence-uniform lattice. In this work, we consider a larger class of posets, the Grassmann-Tamari orders, which arise as an ordering on the facets of the non-crossing complex introduced by Pylyavskyy, Petersen, and Speyer. We prove that the Grassmann-Tamari orders are congruence-uniform lattices, which resolves a conjecture of Santos, Stump, and Welker. Towards this goal, we define a closure operator on sets of paths inside a rectangle, and prove that the biclosed sets of paths, ordered by inclusion, form a congruence-uniform lattice. We then prove that the Grassmann-Tamari order is a quotient lattice of the corresponding lattice of biclosed sets.
Scaling Limits of Random Graphs from Subcritical Classes: Extended abstract
We study the uniform random graph $\mathsf{C}_n$ with $n$ vertices drawn from a subcritical class of connected graphs. Our main result is that the rescaled graph $\mathsf{C}_n / \sqrt{n}$ converges to the Brownian Continuum Random Tree $\mathcal{T}_{\mathsf{e}}$ multiplied by a constant scaling factor that depends on the class under consideration. In addition, we provide subgaussian tail bounds for the diameter $\text{D}(\mathsf{C}_n)$ and height $\text{H}(\mathsf{C}_n^\bullet)$ of the rooted random graph $\mathsf{C}_n^\bullet$. We give analytic expressions for the scaling factor of several classes, including for example the prominent class of outerplanar graphs. Our methods also enable us to study first passage percolation on $\mathsf{C}_n$, where we show the convergence to $\mathcal{T}_{\mathsf{e}}$ under an appropriate rescaling.
Combinatorial proofs of freeness of some P-algebras
We present new combinatorial methods for solving algebraic problems such as computing the Hilbert series of a free $P$-algebra over one generator, or proving the freeness of a $P$-algebra. In particular, we apply these methods to the cases of dendriform algebras, quadrialgebras and tridendriform algebras, which leads us to prove a conjecture of Aguiar and Loday about the freeness of the quadrialgebra generated by the permutation 12.
Dual filtered graphs
We define a $K$ -theoretic analogue of Fomin’s dual graded graphs, which we call dual filtered graphs. The key formula in the definition is $DU - UD = D + I$. Our major examples are $K$ -theoretic analogues of Young’s lattice, the binary tree, and the graph determined by the Poirier-Reutenauer Hopf algebra. Most of our examples arise via two constructions, which we call the Pieri construction and the Möbius construction. The Pieri construction is closely related to the construction of dual graded graphs from a graded Hopf algebra, as described in Bergeron-Lam-Li, Nzeutchap, and Lam-Shimozono. The Möbius construction is more mysterious but also potentially more important, as it corresponds to natural insertion algorithms.
Dyck path triangulations and extendability (extended abstract)
We introduce the Dyck path triangulation of the cartesian product of two simplices $\Delta_{n-1}\times\Delta_{n-1}$. The maximal simplices of this triangulation are given by Dyck paths, and its construction naturally generalizes to produce triangulations of $\Delta_{r\ n-1}\times\Delta_{n-1}$ using rational Dyck paths. Our study of the Dyck path triangulation is motivated by extendability problems of partial triangulations of products of two simplices. We show that whenever$m\geq k>n$, any triangulations of $\Delta_{m-1}^{(k-1)}\times\Delta_{n-1}$ extends to a unique triangulation of $\Delta_{m-1}\times\Delta_{n-1}$. Moreover, with an explicit construction, we prove that the bound $k>n$ is optimal. We also exhibit interpretations of our results in the language of tropical oriented matroids, which are analogous to classical results in oriented matroid theory.
Pieri rule for the affine flag variety
We prove the affine Pieri rule for the cohomology of the affine flag variety conjectured by Lam, Lapointe, Morse and Shimozono. We study the cap operator on the affine nilHecke ring that is motivated by Kostant and Kumar’s work on the equivariant cohomology of the affine flag variety. We show that the cap operators for Pieri elements are the same as Pieri operators defined by Berg, Saliola and Serrano. This establishes the affine Pieri rule.
Sign variation, the Grassmannian, and total positivity
The totally nonnegative Grassmannian is the set of $k$-dimensional subspaces $V$ of ℝ$n$ whose nonzero Plücker coordinates (i.e. $k × k$ minors of a $k × n$ matrix whose rows span $V$) all have the same sign. Total positivity has been much studied in the past two decades from an algebraic, combinatorial, and topological perspective, but first arose in the theory of oscillations in analysis. It was in the latter context that Gantmakher and Krein (1950) and Schoenberg and Whitney (1951) independently showed that a subspace $V$ is totally nonnegative iff every vector in $V$, when viewed as a sequence of $n$ numbers and ignoring any zeros, changes sign fewer than $k$ times. We generalize this result, showing that the vectors in $V$ change sign fewer than $l$ times iff certain sequences of the Plücker coordinates of some generic perturbation of $V$ change sign fewer than $l − k + 1$ times. We give an algorithm which constructs such a generic perturbation. Also, we determine the positroid cell of each totally nonnegative $V$ from sign patterns of vectors in $V$. These results generalize to oriented matroids.
Coxeter-biCatalan combinatorics
We consider several counting problems related to Coxeter-Catalan combinatorics and conjecture that the problems all have the same answer, which we call the $W$ -biCatalan number. We prove the conjecture in many cases.
$Y$ -meshes and generalized pentagram maps
We introduce a rich family of generalizations of the pentagram map sharing the property that each generates an infinite configuration of points and lines with four points on each line. These systems all have a description as $Y$ -mutations in a cluster algebra and hence establish new connections between cluster theory and projective geometry.
Universal geometric coefficients for the four-punctured sphere (Extended Abstract)
We construct universal geometric coefficients for the cluster algebra associated to the four-punctured sphere and obtain, as a by-product, the $g$ -vectors of cluster variables. We also construct the rational part of the mutation fan. These constructions rely on a classification of the allowable curves (the curves which can appear in quasi-laminations). The classification allows us to prove the Null Tangle Property for the four-punctured sphere, thus adding this surface to a short list of surfaces for which this property is known. The Null Tangle Property then implies that the shear coordinates of allowable curves are the universal coefficients. We compute these shear coordinates to obtain universal geometric coefficients.
Equivariant Giambelli formula for the symplectic Grassmannians — Pfaffian Sum Formula
We prove an explicit closed formula, written as a sum of Pfaffians, which describes each equivariant Schubert class for the Grassmannian of isotropic subspaces in a symplectic vector space
A lattice on decreasing trees : the metasylvester lattice
We introduce a new combinatorial structure: the metasylvester lattice on decreasing trees. It appears in the context of the $m$-Tamari lattices and other related $m$-generalizations. The metasylvester congruence has been recently introduced by Novelli and Thibon. We show that it defines a sublattice of the $m$-permutations where elements can be represented by decreasing labelled trees: the metasylvester lattice. We study the combinatorial properties of this new structure. In particular, we give different realizations of the lattice. The $m$-Tamari lattice is by definition a sublattice of our newly defined metasylvester lattice. It leads us to a new realization of the $m$-Tamari lattice, using certain chains of the classical Tamari lattice.
Atomic Bases and $T$-path Formula for Cluster Algebras of Type $D$
We extend a $T$-path expansion formula for arcs on an unpunctured surface to the case of arcs on a once-punctured polygon and use this formula to give a combinatorial proof that cluster monomials form the atomic basis of a cluster algebra of type $D$.
Stability of Kronecker coefficients via discrete tomography (Extended abstract)
In this paper we give a sufficient condition for a general stability of Kronecker coefficients, which we call additive stability. Its main ingredient is the property of a matrix of being additive. This notion seems to be an important one: it appears in Discrete Tomography as a sufficient condition to uniqueness; it also appears in Manivel’s study of asymptotic properties of plethysm through Borel-Weil theory. The proof sketched here combines several results of the author on integer matrices motivated by Discrete Tomography with a new idea of Stembridge, that permits to bound some sequences of Kronecker coefficients. The advantage of additivity with respect to the previous approach by Stembridge is that it is very easy to produce new examples of additive matrices and, therefore, to produce many new examples of stability of Kronecker coefficients. We also show that Murnaghan’s stability property and other instances of stability discovered previously by the author are special cases of additive stability. Besides, our approach permits us to disprove a recent conjecture of Stembridge and to give a new characterization of additivity.
Maximal increasing sequences in fillings of almost-moon polyominoes
It was proved by Rubey that the number of fillings with zeros and ones of a given moon polyomino thatdo not contain a northeast chain of a fixed size depends only on the set of column lengths of the polyomino. Rubey’sproof uses an adaption of jeu de taquin and promotion for arbitrary fillings of moon polyominoes and deduces theresult for 01-fillings via a variation of the pigeonhole principle. In this paper we present the first completely bijectiveproof of this result by considering fillings of almost-moon polyominoes, which are moon polyominoes after removingone of the rows. More precisely, we construct a simple bijection which preserves the size of the largest northeast chainof the fillings when two adjacent rows of the polyomino are exchanged. This bijection also preserves the column sumof the fillings. In addition, we also present a simple bijection that preserves the size of the largest northeast chains, therow sum and the column sum if every row of the filling has at most one 1. Thereby, we not only provide a bijectiveproof of Rubey’s result but also two refinements of it.
Factoring peak polynomials
Given a permutation $\pi=\pi_1\pi_2\cdots \pi_n \in S_n$, we say an index $i$ is a peak if $\pi_{i-1} < \pi_i > \pi_{i+1}$. Let $P(\pi)$ denote the set of peaks of $\pi$. Given any set $S$ of positive integers, define ${P_S(n)=\{\pi\in S_n:P(\pi)=S\}}$. Billey-Burdzy-Sagan showed that for all fixed subsets of positive integers $S$ and sufficiently large $n$, $|P_S(n)|=p_S(n)2^{n-|S|-1}$ for some polynomial $p_S(x)$ depending on $S$. They conjectured that the coefficients of $p_S(x)$ expanded in a binomial coefficient basis centered at $max(S)$ are all positive. We show that this is a consequence of a stronger conjecture that bounds the modulus of the roots of $p_S(x)$. Furthermore, we give an efficient explicit formula for peak polynomials in the binomial basis centered at $0$, which we use to identify many integer roots of peak polynomials along with certain inequalities and identities.
Generalised cluster algebras and $q$-characters at roots of unity
Shapiro and Chekhov (2011) have introduced the notion of generalised cluster algebra; we focus on an example in type $C_n$. On the other hand, Chari and Pressley (1997), as well as Frenkel and Mukhin (2002), have studied the restricted integral form $U^{\mathtt{res}}_ε (\widehat{\mathfrak{g}})$ of a quantum affine algebra $U_q(\widehat{\mathfrak{g}})$ where $q=ε$ is a root of unity. Our main result states that the Grothendieck ring of a tensor subcategory $C_{ε^\mathbb{z}}$ of representations of $U^{\mathtt{res}}_ε (L\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ is a generalised cluster algebra of type $C_{l−1}$, where $l$ is the order of $ε^2$. We also state a conjecture for $U^{\mathtt{res}}_ε (L\mathfrak{sl}_3)$, and sketch a proof for $l=2$.
On bijections between monotone rooted trees and the comb basis
Let $A$ be an $n$-element set. Let $\mathscr{L} ie_2(A)$ be the multilinear part of the free Lie algebra on $A$ with a pair of compatible Lie brackets, and $\mathscr{L} ie_2(A, i)$ the subspace of $\mathscr{L} ie_2(A)$ generated by all the monomials in $\mathscr{L} ie_2(A)$ with $i$ brackets of one type. The author and Dotsenko-Khoroshkin show that the dimension of $\mathscr{L} ie_2(A, i)$ is the size of $R_{A,i}$, the set of rooted trees on $A$ with $i$ decreasing edges. There are three families of bases known for $\mathscr{L} ie_2(A, i)$ the comb basis, the Lyndon basis, and the Liu-Lyndon basis. Recently, González D'León and Wachs, in their study of (co)homology of the poset of weighted partitions (which has close connection to $\mathscr{L} ie_2(A, i)$), asked whether there are nice bijections between $R_{A,i}$ and the comb basis or the Lyndon basis. We give a natural definition for " nice bijections " , and conjecture that there is a unique nice bijection between $R_{A,i}$ and the comb basis. We show the conjecture is true for the extreme cases where $i=0$, $n−1$.
Subwords and Plane Partitions
Using the powerful machinery available for reduced words of type $B$, we demonstrate a bijection between centrally symmetric $k$-triangulations of a $2(n + k)$-gon and plane partitions of height at most $k$ in a square of size $n$. This bijection can be viewed as the type $B$ analogue of a bijection for $k$-triangulations due to L. Serrano and C. Stump.
Genomic Tableaux and Combinatorial $K$-Theory
We introduce genomic tableaux, with applications to Schubert calculus. We report a combinatorial rule for structure coefficients in the torus-equivariant $K$-theory of Grassmannians for the basis of Schubert structure sheaves. This rule is positive in the sense of [Anderson-Griffeth-Miller ’11]. We thereby deduce an earlier conjecture of [Thomas-Yong ’13] for the coefficients. Moreover, our rule specializes to give a new Schubert calculus rule in the (non-equivariant) $K$-theory of Grassmannians. From this perspective, we also obtain a new rule for $K$-theoretic Schubert structure constants of maximal orthogonal Grassmannians, and give conjectural bounds on such constants for Lagrangian Grassmannians.
Kraśkiewicz-Pragacz modules and some positivity properties of Schubert polynomials
We use the modules introduced by Kraśkiewicz and Pragacz (1987, 2004) to show some positivity propertiesof Schubert polynomials. We give a new proof to the classical fact that the product of two Schubert polynomialsis Schubert-positive, and also show a new result that the plethystic composition of a Schur function with a Schubertpolynomial is Schubert-positive. The present submission is an extended abstract on these results and the full versionof this work will be published elsewhere.
Alignments, crossings, cycles, inversions, and weak Bruhat order in permutation tableaux of type $B$
Alignments, crossings and inversions of signed permutations are realized in the corresponding permutation tableaux of type $B$, and the cycles of signed permutations are understood in the corresponding bare tableaux of type $B$. We find the relation between the number of alignments, crossings and other statistics of signed permutations, and also characterize the covering relation in weak Bruhat order on Coxeter system of type $B$ in terms of permutation tableaux of type $B$.
The freeness of Ish arrangements
The Ish arrangement was introduced by Armstrong to give a new interpretation of the $q; t$-Catalan numbers of Garsia and Haiman. Armstrong and Rhoades showed that there are some striking similarities between the Shi arrangement and the Ish arrangement and posed some problems. One of them is whether the Ish arrangement is a free arrangement or not. In this paper, we verify that the Ish arrangement is supersolvable and hence free. Moreover, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the deleted Ish arrangement to be free
Upper bounds on the growth rates of hard squares and related models via corner transfer matrices
We study the growth rate of the hard squares lattice gas, equivalent to the number of independent sets on the square lattice, and two related models — non-attacking kings and read-write isolated memory. We use an assortment of techniques from combinatorics, statistical mechanics and linear algebra to prove upper bounds on these growth rates. We start from Calkin and Wilf’s transfer matrix eigenvalue bound, then bound that with the Collatz-Wielandt formula from linear algebra. To obtain an approximate eigenvector, we use an ansatz from Baxter’s corner transfer matrix formalism, optimised with Nishino and Okunishi’s corner transfer matrix renormalisation group method. This results in an upper bound algorithm which no longer requires exponential memory and so is much faster to calculate than a direct evaluation of the Calkin-Wilf bound. Furthermore, it is extremely parallelisable and so allows us to make dramatic improvements to the previous best known upper bounds. In all cases we reduce the gap between upper and lower bounds by 4-6 orders of magnitude.
Non-commutative Frobenius characteristic of generalized parking functions : Application to enumeration
We give a recursive definition of generalized parking functions that allows them to be viewed as a species. From there we compute a non-commutative characteristic of the generalized parking function module and deduce some enumeration formulas of structures and isomorphism types. We give as well an interpretation in several bases of non commutative symmetric functions. Finally, we investigate an inclusion-exclusion formula given by Kung and Yan.
Ehrhart Positivity for Generalized Permutohedra
There are few general results about the coefficients of Ehrhart polynomials. We present a conjecture about their positivity for a certain family of polytopes known as generalized permutohedra. We have verified the conjecture for small dimensions combining perturbation methods with a new valuation on the algebra of rational pointed polyhedral cones constructed by Berline and Vergne.
Combinatorial Hopf Algebras of Simplicial Complexes
We consider a Hopf algebra of simplicial complexes and provide a cancellation-free formula for its antipode. We then obtain a family of combinatorial Hopf algebras by defining a family of characters on this Hopf algebra. The characters of these Hopf algebras give rise to symmetric functions that encode information about colorings of simplicial complexes and their $f$-vectors. We also use characters to give a generalization of Stanley’s $(-1)$-color theorem.
Bruhat interval polytopes
Let $u$ and $v$ be permutations on $n$ letters, with $u$ ≤ $v$ in Bruhat order. A Bruhat interval polytope $Q_{u,v}$ is the convex hull of all permutation vectors $z=(z(1),z(2),...,z(n))$ with $u$ ≤ $z$ ≤ $v$. Note that when $u=e$ and $v=w_0$ are the shortest and longest elements of the symmetric group, $Q_{e,w_0}$ is the classical permutohedron. Bruhat interval polytopes were studied recently in the 2013 paper “The full Kostant-Toda hierarchy on the positive flag variety” by Kodama and the second author, in the context of the Toda lattice and the moment map on the flag variety. In this paper we study combinatorial aspects of Bruhat interval polytopes. For example, we give an inequality description and a dimension formula for Bruhat interval polytopes, and prove that every face of a Bruhat interval polytope is a Bruhat interval polytope. A key tool in the proof of the latter statement is a generalization of the well-known lifting property for Coxeter groups. Motivated by the relationship between the lifting property and $R$-polynomials, we also give a generalization of the standard recurrence for $R$-polynomials.
Combinatorics of symplectic invariant tensors
An important problem from invariant theory is to describe the subspace of a tensor power of a representation invariant under the action of the group. According to Weyl's classic, the first main (later: 'fundamental') theorem of invariant theory states that all invariants are expressible in terms of a finite number among them, whereas a second main theorem determines the relations between those basic invariants.Here we present a transparent, combinatorial proof of a second fundamental theorem for the defining representation of the symplectic group $Sp(2n)$. Our formulation is completely explicit and provides a very precise link to $(n+1)$-noncrossing perfect matchings, going beyond a dimension count. As a corollary, we obtain an instance of the cyclic sieving phenomenon.
Cyclic Sieving and Plethysm Coefficients
A combinatorial expression for the coefficient of the Schur function $s_{\lambda}$ in the expansion of the plethysm $p_{n/d}^d \circ s_{\mu}$ is given for all $d$ dividing $n$ for the cases in which $n=2$ or $\lambda$ is rectangular. In these cases, the coefficient $\langle p_{n/d}^d \circ s_{\mu}, s_{\lambda} \rangle$ is shown to count, up to sign, the number of fixed points of an $\langle s_{\mu}^n, s_{\lambda} \rangle$-element set under the $d^e$ power of an order $n$ cyclic action. If $n=2$, the action is the Schützenberger involution on semistandard Young tableaux (also known as evacuation), and, if $\lambda$ is rectangular, the action is a certain power of Schützenberger and Shimozono's jeu-de-taquin promotion.This work extends results of Stembridge and Rhoades linking fixed points of the Schützenberger actions to ribbon tableaux enumeration. The conclusion for the case $n=2$ is equivalent to the domino tableaux rule of Carré and Leclerc for discriminating between the symmetric and antisymmetric parts of the square of a Schur function.
The Real-rootedness of Eulerian Polynomials via the Hermite–Biehler Theorem
Based on the Hermite–Biehler theorem, we simultaneously prove the real-rootedness of Eulerian polynomials of type $D$ and the real-rootedness of affine Eulerian polynomials of type $B$, which were first obtained by Savage and Visontai by using the theory of $s$-Eulerian polynomials. We also confirm Hyatt’s conjectures on the inter-lacing property of half Eulerian polynomials. Borcea and Brändén’s work on the characterization of linear operators preserving Hurwitz stability is critical to this approach.
Card-Shuffling via Convolutions of Projections on Combinatorial Hopf Algebras
Recently, Diaconis, Ram and I created Markov chains out of the coproduct-then-product operator on combinatorial Hopf algebras. These chains model the breaking and recombining of combinatorial objects. Our motivating example was the riffle-shuffling of a deck of cards, for which this Hopf algebra connection allowed explicit computation of all the eigenfunctions. The present note replaces in this construction the coproduct-then-product map with convolutions of projections to the graded subspaces, effectively allowing us to dictate the distribution of sizes of the pieces in the breaking step of the previous chains. An important example is removing one “vertex” and reattaching it, in analogy with top-to-random shuffling. This larger family of Markov chains all admit analysis by Hopf-algebraic techniques. There are simple combinatorial expressions for their stationary distributions and for their eigenvalues and multiplicities and, in some cases, the eigenfunctions are also calculable.
Fan realizations of type $A$ subword complexes and multi-associahedra of rank 3
We present complete simplicial fan realizations of any spherical subword complex of type $A_n$ for $n\leq 3$. This provides complete simplicial fan realizations of simplicial multi-associahedra $\Delta_{2k+4,k}$, whose facets are in correspondence with $k$-triangulations of a convex $(2k+4)$-gon. This solves the first open case of the problem of finding fan realizations where polytopality is not known. The techniques presented in this paper work for all finite Coxeter groups and we hope that they will be useful to construct fans realizing subword complexes in general. In particular, we present fan realizations of two previously unknown cases of subword complexes of type $A_4$, namely the multi-associahedra $\Delta_{9,2}$ and $\Delta_{11,3}$.
A combinatorial model for exceptional sequences in type A
Exceptional sequences are certain ordered sequences of quiver representations. We use noncrossing edge-labeled trees in a disk with boundary vertices (expanding on T. Araya’s work) to classify exceptional sequences of representations of $Q$, the linearly ordered quiver with $n$ vertices. We also show how to use variations of this model to classify $c$-matrices of $Q$, to interpret exceptional sequences as linear extensions, and to give a simple bijection between exceptional sequences and certain chains in the lattice of noncrossing partitions. In the case of $c$-matrices, we also give an interpretation of $c$-matrix mutation in terms of our noncrossing trees with directed edges.
Stability properties of Plethysm: new approach with combinatorial proofs (Extended abstract)
Plethysm coefficients are important structural constants in the theory of symmetric functions and in the representations theory of symmetric groups and general linear groups. In 1950, Foulkes observed stability properties: some sequences of plethysm coefficients are eventually constants. Such stability properties were proven by Brion with geometric techniques and by Thibon and Carré by means of vertex operators. In this paper we present a newapproach to prove such stability properties. This new proofs are purely combinatorial and follow the same scheme. We decompose plethysm coefficients in terms of other plethysm coefficients (related to the complete homogeneous basis of symmetric functions). We show that these other plethysm coefficients count integer points in polytopes and we prove stability for them by exhibiting bijections between the corresponding sets of integer points of each polytope.
A categorification of the chromatic symmetric polynomial
The Stanley chromatic polynomial of a graph $G$ is a symmetric function generalization of the chromatic polynomial, and has interesting combinatorial properties. We apply the ideas of Khovanov homology to construct a homology $H$*($G$) of graded $S_n$-modules, whose graded Frobenius series $Frob_G(q,t)$ reduces to the chromatic symmetric function at $q=t=1$. We also obtain analogues of several familiar properties of the chromatic symmetric polynomials in terms of homology.
Statistics on Lattice Walks and q-Lassalle Numbers
This paper contains two results. First, I propose a $q$-generalization of a certain sequence of positive integers, related to Catalan numbers, introduced by Zeilberger, see Lassalle (2010). These $q$-integers are palindromic polynomials in $q$ with positive integer coefficients. The positivity depends on the positivity of a certain difference of products of $q$-binomial coefficients.To this end, I introduce a new inversion/major statistics on lattice walks. The difference in $q$-binomial coefficients is then seen as a generating function of weighted walks that remain in the upper half-plan.
A generalisation of two partition theorems of Andrews
In 1968 and 1969, Andrews proved two partition theorems of the Rogers-Ramanujan type which generalise Schur’s celebrated partition identity (1926). Andrews’ two generalisations of Schur’s theorem went on to become two of the most influential results in the theory of partitions, finding applications in combinatorics, representation theory and quantum algebra. In this paper we generalise both of Andrews’ theorems to overpartitions. The proofs use a new technique which consists in going back and forth from $q$-difference equations on generating functions to recurrence equations on their coefficients.
A Baxter class of a different kind, and other bijective results using tableau sequences ending with a row shape
Tableau sequences of bounded height have been central to the analysis of $k$-noncrossing set partitions and matchings. We show here that families of sequences that end with a row shape are particularly compelling and lead to some interesting connections. First, we prove that hesitating tableaux of height at most two ending with a row shape are counted by Baxter numbers. This permits us to define three new Baxter classes which, remarkably, do not obviously possess the antipodal symmetry of other known Baxter classes. Oscillating tableau of height bounded by $k$ ending in a row are in bijection with Young tableaux of bounded height 2$k$. We discuss this recent result, and somegenerating function implications. Many of our proofs are analytic in nature, so there are intriguing combinatorial bijections to be found.
Generating functions of bipartite maps on orientable surfaces (extended abstract)
We compute, for each genus $g$ ≥ 0, the generating function $L$$g$ ≡ $L$$g$($t$;$p$1,$p$2,...) of (labelled) bipartite maps on the orientable surface of genus $g$, with control on all face degrees. We exhibit an explicit change of variables such that for each $g$, $L$$g$ is a rational function in the new variables, computable by an explicit recursion on the genus. The same holds for the generating function $L$$g$ of rooted bipartite maps. The form of the result is strikingly similar to the Goulden/Jackson/Vakil and Goulden/Guay-Paquet/Novak formulas for the generating functions of classical and monotone Hurwitz numbers respectively, which suggests stronger links between these models. Our result strengthens recent results of Kazarian and Zograf, who studied the case where the number of faces is bounded, in the equivalent formalism of dessins d’enfants. Our proofs borrow some ideas from Eynard’s “topological recursion” that he applied in particular to even-faced maps (unconventionally called “bipartite maps” in his work). However, the present paper requires no previous knowledge of this topic and comes with elementary (complex-analysis-free) proofs written in the perspective of formal power series.
Semi-pointed partition posets
We present here a family of posets which generalizes both partition and pointed partition posets. After a short description of these new posets, we show that they are Cohen-Macaulay, compute their Moebius numbers and their characteristic polynomials. The characteristic polynomials are obtained using a combinatorial interpretation of the incidence Hopf algebra associated to these posets.
Triangular fully packed loop configurations of excess 2
Triangular fully packed loop configurations (TFPLs) came up in the study of fully packed loop configurations on a square (FPLs) corresponding to link patterns with a large number of nested arches. To a TFPL is assigned a triple $(u,v;w)$ of $01$-words encoding its boundary conditions. A necessary condition for the boundary $(u,v;w)$ of a TFPL is $\lvert \lambda(u) \rvert +\lvert \lambda(v) \rvert \leq \lvert \lambda(w) \rvert$, where $\lambda(u)$ denotes the Young diagram associated with the $01$-word $u$. Wieland gyration, on the other hand, was invented to show the rotational invariance of the numbers $A_\pi$ of FPLs corresponding to a given link pattern $\pi$. Later, Wieland drift was defined as the natural adaption of Wieland gyration to TFPLs. The main contribution of this article is a linear expression for the number of TFPLs with boundary $(u,v;w)$ where $\lvert \lambda (w) \rvert - \lvert\lambda (u) \rvert - \lvert \lambda (v)\rvert \leq 2$ in terms of numbers of stable TFPLs that is TFPLs invariant under Wieland drift. These stable TFPLs have boundary $(u^{+},v^{+};w)$ for words $u^{+}$ and $v^{+}$ such that $\lambda (u) \subseteq \lambda (u^{+})$ and $\lambda (v) \subseteq \lambda (v^{+})$.
Mixed volumes of hypersimplices
In this extended abstract we consider mixed volumes of combinations of hypersimplices. These numbers, called mixed Eulerian numbers, were first considered by A. Postnikov and were shown to satisfy many properties related to Eulerian numbers, Catalan numbers, binomial coefficients, etc. We give a general combinatorial interpretation for mixed Eulerian numbers and prove the above properties combinatorially. In particular, we show that each mixed Eulerian number enumerates a certain set of permutations in $S_n$. We also prove several new properties of mixed Eulerian numbers using our methods. Finally, we consider a type $B$ analogue of mixed Eulerian numbers and give an analogous combinatorial interpretation for these numbers.
Generalized Tesler matrices, virtual Hilbert series, and Macdonald polynomial operators
We generalize previous definitions of Tesler matrices to allow negative matrix entries and non-positive hook sums. Our main result is an algebraic interpretation of a certain weighted sum over these matrices. Our interpretation uses virtual Hilbert series, a new class of symmetric function specializations which are defined by their values on (modified) Macdonald polynomials. As a result of this interpretation, we obtain a Tesler matrix expression for the Hall inner product $\langle \Delta_f e_n, p_{1^{n}}\rangle$, where $\Delta_f$ is a symmetric function operator from the theory of diagonal harmonics. We use our Tesler matrix expression, along with various facts about Tesler matrices, to provide simple formulas for $\langle \Delta_{e_1} e_n, p_{1^{n}}\rangle$ and $\langle \Delta_{e_k} e_n, p_{1^{n}}\rangle \mid_{t=0}$ involving $q; t$-binomial coefficients and ordered set partitions, respectively.
Bridge Graphs and Deodhar Parametrizations for Positroid Varieties
A parametrization of a positroid variety $\Pi$ of dimension $d$ is a regular map $(\mathbb{C}^{\times})^{d} \rightarrow \Pi$ which is birational onto a dense subset of $\Pi$. There are several remarkable combinatorial constructions which yield parametrizations of positroid varieties. We investigate the relationship between two families of such parametrizations, and prove they are essentially the same. Our first family is defined in terms of Postnikov’s boundary measurement map, and the domain of each parametrization is the space of edge weights of a planar network. We focus on a special class of planar networks called bridge graphs, which have applications to particle physics. Our second family arises from Marsh and Rietsch’s parametrizations of Deodhar components of the flag variety, which are indexed by certain subexpressions of reduced words. Projecting to the Grassmannian gives a family of parametrizations for each positroid variety. We show that each Deodhar parametrization for a positroid variety corresponds to a bridge graph, while each parametrization from a bridge graph agrees with some projected Deodhar parametrization.
A uniform realization of the combinatorial $R$-matrix
Kirillov-Reshetikhin (KR) crystals are colored directed graphs encoding the structure of certain finite-dimensional representations of affine Lie algebras. A tensor product of column shape KR crystals has recently been realized in a uniform way, for all untwisted affine types, in terms of the quantum alcove model. We enhance this model by using it to give a uniform realization of the combinatorial $R$-matrix, i.e., the unique affine crystal isomorphism permuting factors in a tensor product of KR crystals. In other words, we are generalizing to all Lie types Schützenberger’s sliding game (jeu de taquin) for Young tableaux, which realizes the combinatorial $R$-matrix in type $A$. We also show that the quantum alcove model does not depend on the choice of a sequence of alcoves
Four Variations on Graded Posets
We explore the enumeration of some natural classes of graded posets, including $(2 + 2)$-avoiding graded posets, $(3 + 1)$-avoiding graded posets, $(2 + 2)$- and $(3 + 1)$-avoiding graded posets, and the set of all graded posets. As part of this story, we discuss a situation when we can switch between enumeration of labeled and unlabeled objects with ease, which helps us generalize a result by Postnikov and Stanley from the theory of hyperplane arrangements, answer a question posed by Stanley, and see an old result of Klarner in a new light.
A representation-theoretic proof of the branching rule for Macdonald polynomials
We give a new representation-theoretic proof of the branching rule for Macdonald polynomials using the Etingof-Kirillov Jr. expression for Macdonald polynomials as traces of intertwiners of $U_q(gl_n)$. In the Gelfand-Tsetlin basis, we show that diagonal matrix elements of such intertwiners are given by application of Macdonald's operators to a simple kernel. An essential ingredient in the proof is a map between spherical parts of double affine Hecke algebras of different ranks based upon the Dunkl-Kasatani conjecture.
Rigged configurations of type $D_4^{(3)}$ and the filling map
We give a statistic preserving bijection from rigged configurations to a tensor product of Kirillov–Reshetikhin crystals $\otimes_{i=1}^{N}B^{1,s_i}$ in type $D_4^{(3)}$ by using virtualization into type $D_4^{(1)}$. We consider a special case of this bijection with $B=B^{1,s}$, and we obtain the so-called Kirillov–Reshetikhin tableaux model for the Kirillov–Reshetikhin crystal.
Bijections of dominant regions in the $m$-Shi arrangements of type $A$, $B$ and $C$
In the present paper, the relation between the dominant regions in the $m$-Shi arrangement of types $B_n/C_n$, and those of the $m$-Shi arrangement of type $A_{n-1}$ is investigated. More precisely, it is shown explicitly how the sets $R^m(B_n)$ and $R^m(C_n)$, of dominant regions of the $m$-Shi arrangement of types $B_n$ and $C_n$ respectively, can be projected to the set $R^m(A_{n-1})$ of dominant regions of the $m$-Shi arrangement of type $A_{n-1}$. This is done by using two different viewpoints for the representative alcoves of these regions: the Shi tableaux and the abacus diagrams. Moreover, bijections between the sets $R^m(B_n)$, $R^m(C_n)$, and lattice paths inside a rectangle $n\times{mn}$ are provided.
Type C parking functions and a zeta map
We introduce type $C$ parking functions, encoded as vertically labelled lattice paths and endowed with a statistic dinv'. We define a bijection from type $C$ parking functions to regions of the Shi arrangement of type $C$, encoded as diagonally labelled ballot paths and endowed with a natural statistic area'. This bijection is a natural analogue of the zeta map of Haglund and Loehr and maps dinv' to area'. We give three different descriptions of it.
Pieri rules for Schur functions in superspace
The Schur functions in superspace $s_\Lambda$ and $\overline{s}_\Lambda$ are the limits $q=t= 0$ and $q=t=\infty$ respectively of the Macdonald polynomials in superspace. We present the elementary properties of the bases $s_\Lambda$ and $\overline{s}_\Lambda$ (which happen to be essentially dual) such as Pieri rules, dualities, monomial expansions, tableaux generating functions, and Cauchy identities.
A Nekrasov-Okounkov type formula for affine $\widetilde{C}$
In 2008, Han rediscovered an expansion of powers of Dedekind $\eta$ function due to Nekrasov and Okounkov by using Macdonald's identity in type $\widetilde{A}$. In this paper, we obtain new combinatorial expansions of powers of $\eta$, in terms of partition hook lengths, by using Macdonald's identity in type $\widetilde{C}$ and a new bijection. As applications, we derive a symplectic hook formula and a relation between Macdonald's identities in types $\widetilde{C}$, $\widetilde{B}$, and $\widetilde{BC}$.
Formal Group Laws and Chromatic Symmetric Functions of Hypergraphs
If $f(x)$ is an invertible power series we may form the symmetric function $f(f^{-1}(x_1)+f^{-1}(x_2)+...)$ which is called a formal group law. We give a number of examples of power series $f(x)$ that are ordinary generating functions for combinatorial objects with a recursive structure, each of which is associated with a certain hypergraph. In each case, we show that the corresponding formal group law is the sum of the chromatic symmetric functions of these hypergraphs by finding a combinatorial interpretation for $f^{-1}(x)$. We conjecture that the chromatic symmetric functions arising in this way are Schur-positive.
The $(m, n)$-rational $q, t$-Catalan polynomials for $m=3$ and their $q, t$-symmetry
We introduce a new statistic, skip, on rational $(3,n)$-Dyck paths and define a marked rank word for each path when $n$ is not a multiple of 3. If a triple of valid statistics (area; skip; dinv) are given, we have an algorithm to construct the marked rank word corresponding to the triple. By considering all valid triples we give an explicit formula for the $(m,n)$-rational $q; t$-Catalan polynomials when $m=3$. Then there is a natural bijection on the triples of statistics (area; skip; dinv) which exchanges the statistics area and dinv while fixing the skip. Thus we prove the $q; t$-symmetry of $(m,n)$-rational $q; t$-Catalan polynomials for $m=3$..
Enumeration and structure of inhomogeneous graphs
We analyze a general model of weighted graphs, introduced by de Panafieu and Ravelomanana (2014) and similar to the inhomogeneous graph model of Söderberg (2002). We investigate the sum of the weights of those graphs and their structure. Those results allow us to give a new proof in a more general setting of a theorem of Wright (1972) on the enumeration of properly colored graphs. We also discuss applications related to social networks
On Schubert calculus in elliptic cohomology
An important combinatorial result in equivariant cohomology and $K$-theory Schubert calculus is represented by the formulas of Billey and Graham-Willems for the localization of Schubert classes at torus fixed points. These formulas work uniformly in all Lie types, and are based on the concept of a root polynomial. We define formal root polynomials associated with an arbitrary formal group law (and thus a generalized cohomology theory). We usethese polynomials to simplify the approach of Billey and Graham-Willems, as well as to generalize it to connective $K$-theory and elliptic cohomology. Another result is concerned with defining a Schubert basis in elliptic cohomology (i.e., classes independent of a reduced word), using the Kazhdan-Lusztig basis of the corresponding Hecke algebra.
Negative $q$-Stirling numbers
The notion of the negative $q$-binomial was recently introduced by Fu, Reiner, Stanton and Thiem. Mirroring the negative $q$-binomial, we show the classical $q$ -Stirling numbers of the second kind can be expressed as a pair of statistics on a subset of restricted growth words. The resulting expressions are polynomials in $q$ and $(1+q)$. We extend this enumerative result via a decomposition of the Stirling poset, as well as a homological version of Stembridge’s $q=-1$ phenomenon. A parallel enumerative, poset theoretic and homological study for the $q$-Stirling numbers of the first kind is done beginning with de Médicis and Leroux’s rook placement formulation. Letting $t=1+q$ we give a bijective combinatorial argument à la Viennot showing the $(q; t)$-Stirling numbers of the first and second kind are orthogonal.
Cohomology classes of rank varieties and a counterexample to a conjecture of Liu
To each finite subset of a discrete grid $\mathbb{N}×\mathbb{N}$ (a diagram), one can associate a subvariety of a complex Grassmannian (a diagram variety), and a representation of a symmetric group (a Specht module). Liu has conjectured that the cohomology class of a diagram variety is represented by the Frobenius characteristic of the corresponding Specht module. We give a counterexample to this conjecture.However, we show that for the diagram variety of a permutation diagram, Liu's conjectured cohomology class $\sigma$ is at least an upper bound on the actual class $\tau$, in the sense that $\sigma - \tau$ is a nonnegative linear combination of Schubert classes. To do this, we consider a degeneration of Coskun's rank varieties which contains the appropriate diagram variety as a component. Rank varieties are instances of Knutson-Lam-Speyer's positroid varieties, whose cohomology classes are represented by affine Stanley symmetric functions. We show that the cohomology class of a rank variety is in fact represented by an ordinary Stanley symmetric function.
Walks in the Quarter Plane with Multiple Steps
We extend the classification of nearest neighbour walks in the quarter plane to models in which multiplicities are attached to each direction in the step set. Our study leads to a small number of infinite families that completely characterize all the models whose associated group is D4, D6, or D8. These families cover all the models with multiplicites 0, 1, 2, or 3, which were experimentally found to be D-finite — with three noteworthy exceptions.
Invariance properties for coefficients of symmetric functions
We show that several of the main structural constants for symmetric functions (Littlewood-Richardsoncoefficients, Kronecker coefficients, plethysm coefficients, and the Kostka–Foulkes polynomials) share invarianceproperties related to the operations of taking complements with respect to rectangles and adding rectangles.
The number of directed $k$-convex polyominoes
We present a new method to obtain the generating functions for directed convex polyominoes according to several different statistics including: width, height, size of last column/row and number of corners. This method can be used to study different families of directed convex polyominoes: symmetric polyominoes, parallelogram polyominoes. In this paper, we apply our method to determine the generating function for directed $k$-convex polyominoes.We show it is a rational function and we study its asymptotic behavior.
On non-conjugate Coxeter elements in well-generated reflection groups
Given an irreducible well-generated complex reflection group $W$ with Coxeter number $h$, we call a Coxeter element any regular element (in the sense of Springer) of order $h$ in $W$; this is a slight extension of the most common notion of Coxeter element. We show that the class of these Coxeter elements forms a single orbit in $W$ under the action of reflection automorphisms. For Coxeter and Shephard groups, this implies that an element $c$ is a Coxeter element if and only if there exists a simple system $S$ of reflections such that $c$ is the product of the generators in $S$. We moreover deduce multiple further implications of this property. In particular, we obtain that all noncrossing partition lattices of $W$ associated to different Coxeter elements are isomorphic. We also prove that there is a simply transitive action of the Galois group of the field of definition of $W$ on the set of conjugacy classes of Coxeter elements. Finally, we extend several of these properties to Springer's regular elements of arbitrary order.
Some combinatorial identities involving noncommuting variables
We derive combinatorial identities for variables satisfying specific sets of commutation relations. The identities thus obtained extend corresponding ones for $q$-commuting variables $x$ and $y$ satisfying $yx=qxy$. In particular, we obtain weight-dependent binomial theorems, functional equations for generalized exponential functions, we propose a derivative of noncommuting variables, and finally utilize one of the considered weight functions to extend rook theory. This leads us to an extension of the $q$-Stirling numbers of the second kind, and of the $q$-Lah numbers.
A Categorification of One-Variable Polynomials
We develop a diagrammatic categorification of the polynomial ring $\mathbb{Z} [x]$, based on a geometrically-defined graded algebra and show how to lift various operations on polynomials to the categorified setting. Our categorification satisfies a version of the Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand reciprocity property, with indecomposable projective modules corresponding to $x^n$ and standard modules to $(x -1)^n$ in the Grothendieck ring. This construction generalizes tocategorification of various orthogonal polynomials.
Arrangements Of Minors In The Positive Grassmannian And a Triangulation of The Hypersimplex
The structure of zero and nonzero minors in the Grassmannian leads to rich combinatorics of matroids. In this paper, we investigate an even richer structure of possible equalities and inequalities between the minors in the positive Grassmannian. It was previously shown that arrangements of equal minors of largest value are in bijection with the simplices in a certain triangulation of the hypersimplex that was studied by Stanley, Sturmfels, Lam and Postnikov. Here we investigate the entire set of arrangements and its relations with this triangulation. First, we show that second largest minors correspond to the facets of the simplices. We then introduce the notion of cubical distance on the dual graph of the triangulation, and study its relations with the arrangement of t-th largest minors. Finally, we show that arrangements of largest minors induce a structure of partially ordered sets on the entire collection of minors. We use the Lam and Postnikov circuit triangulation of the hypersimplex to describe a 2-dimensional grid structure of this poset.
Affine charge and the $k$-bounded Pieri rule
We provide a new description of the Pieri rule of the homology of the affine Grassmannian and an affineanalogue of the charge statistics in terms of bounded partitions. This makes it possible to extend the formulation ofthe Kostka–Foulkes polynomials in terms of solvable lattice models by Nakayashiki and Yamada to the affine setting.
Enumeration of minimal acyclic automata via generalized parking functions
We give an exact enumerative formula for the minimal acyclic deterministic finite automata. This formula is obtained from a bijection between a family of generalized parking functions and the transitions functions of acyclic automata.
The Bruhat order on conjugation-invariant sets of involutions in the symmetric group
Let $I_n$ be the set of involutions in the symmetric group $S_n$, and for $A \subseteq \{0,1,\ldots,n\}$, let \[ F_n^A=\{\sigma \in I_n \mid \text{$\sigma$ has $a$ fixed points for some $a \in A$}\}. \] We give a complete characterisation of the sets $A$ for which $F_n^A$, with the order induced by the Bruhat order on $S_n$, is a graded poset. In particular, we prove that $F_n^{\{1\}}$ (i.e., the set of involutions with exactly one fixed point) is graded, which settles a conjecture of Hultman in the affirmative. When $F_n^A$ is graded, we give its rank function. We also give a short new proof of the EL-shellability of $F_n^{\{0\}}$ (i.e., the set of fixed point-free involutions), which was recently proved by Can, Cherniavsky, and Twelbeck.
Enumerating some symmetry classes of rhombus tilings of holey hexagons
This extended abstract presents some recent (exact and asymptotic) enumerative results concerning rhombustilings of hexagons that have had symmetrically distributed inward pointing triangles of side length 2 removedfrom their interiors. These results form part of a larger article that is currently available online (arXiv:1501.05772).
Lozenge tilings with free boundary
We study tilings with lozenges of a domain with free boundary conditions on one side. These correspondto boxed symmetric plane partitions. We show that the positions of the horizontal lozenges near the left flatboundary, in the limit, have the same joint distribution as the eigenvalues from a Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (theGUE-corners/minors process). We also prove the existence of a limit shape of the height function (the symmetricplane partition). We also consider domains where the sides converge to $\infty$ at different rates and recover again theGUE-corners process.
The polytope of Tesler matrices
We introduce the Tesler polytope $Tes_n(a)$, whose integer points are the Tesler matrices of size n with hook sums $a_1,a_2,...,a_n in Z_{\geq 0}$. We show that $Tes_n(a)$ is a flow polytope and therefore the number of Tesler matrices is counted by the type $A_n$ Kostant partition function evaluated at $(a_1,a_2,...,a_n,-\sum_{i=1}^n a_i)$. We describe the faces of this polytope in terms of "Tesler tableaux" and characterize when the polytope is simple. We prove that the h-vector of $Tes_n(a)$ when all $a_i>0$ is given by the Mahonian numbers and calculate the volume of $Tes_n(1,1,...,1)$ to be a product of consecutive Catalan numbers multiplied by the number of standard Young tableaux of staircase shape.
The frequency of pattern occurrence in random walks
In the past decade, the use of ordinal patterns in the analysis of time series and dynamical systems has become an important tool. Ordinal patterns (otherwise known as a permutation patterns) are found in time series by taking $n$ data points at evenly-spaced time intervals and mapping them to a length-$n$ permutation determined by relative ordering. The frequency with which certain patterns occur is a useful statistic for such series. However, the behavior of the frequency of pattern occurrence is unstudied for most models. We look at the frequency of pattern occurrence in random walks in discrete time, and we define a natural equivalence relation on permutations under which equivalent patterns appear with equal frequency, regardless of probability distribution. We characterize these equivalence classes applying combinatorial methods.
The Cambrian Hopf Algebra
Cambrian trees are oriented and labeled trees which fulfill local conditions around each node generalizing the conditions for classical binary search trees. Based on the bijective correspondence between signed permutations and leveled Cambrian trees, we define the Cambrian Hopf algebra generalizing J.-L. Loday and M. Ronco’s algebra on binary trees. We describe combinatorially the products and coproducts of both the Cambrian algebra and its dual in terms of operations on Cambrian trees. Finally, we define multiplicative bases of the Cambrian algebra and study structural and combinatorial properties of their indecomposable elements.
Tamari Lattices for Parabolic Quotients of the Symmetric Group
We present a generalization of the Tamari lattice to parabolic quotients of the symmetric group. More precisely, we generalize the notions of 231-avoiding permutations, noncrossing set partitions, and nonnesting set partitions to parabolic quotients, and show bijectively that these sets are equinumerous. Furthermore, the restriction of weak order on the parabolic quotient to the parabolic 231-avoiding permutations is a lattice quotient. Lastly, we suggest how to extend these constructions to all Coxeter groups.
An extension of Tamari lattices
For any finite path $v$ on the square lattice consisting of north and east unit steps, we construct a poset Tam$(v)$ that consists of all the paths lying weakly above $v$ with the same endpoints as $v$. For particular choices of $v$, we recover the traditional Tamari lattice and the $m$-Tamari lattice. In particular this solves the problem of extending the $m$-Tamari lattice to any pair $(a; b)$ of relatively prime numbers in the context of the so-called rational Catalan combinatorics.For that purpose we introduce the notion of canopy of a binary tree and explicit a bijection between pairs $(u; v)$ of paths in Tam$(v)$ and binary trees with canopy $v$. Let $(\overleftarrow{v})$ be the path obtained from $v$ by reading the unit steps of $v$ in reverse order and exchanging east and north steps. We show that the poset Tam$(v)$ is isomorphic to the dual of the poset Tam$(\overleftarrow{v})$ and that Tam$(v)$ is isomorphic to the set of binary trees having the canopy $v$, which is an interval of the ordinary Tamari lattice. Thus the usual Tamari lattice is partitioned into (smaller) lattices Tam$(v)$, where the $v$’s are all the paths of length $n-1$ on the square lattice.We explain possible connections between the poset Tam$(v)$ and (the combinatorics of) the generalized diagonal coinvariant spaces of the symmetric group.
A bijection for rooted maps on general surfaces (extended abstract)
We extend the Marcus-Schaeffer bijection between orientable rooted bipartite quadrangulations (equivalently: rooted maps) and orientable labeled one-face maps to the case of all surfaces, orientable or non-orientable. This general construction requires new ideas and is more delicate than the special orientable case, but carries the same information. It thus gives a uniform combinatorial interpretation of the counting exponent $\frac{5(h-1)}{2}$ for both orientable and non-orientable maps of Euler characteristic $2-2h$ and of the algebraicity of their generating functions. It also shows the universality of the renormalization factor $n$¼ for the metric of maps, on all surfaces: the renormalized profile and radius in a uniform random pointed bipartite quadrangulation of size $n$ on any fixed surface converge in distribution. Finally, it also opens the way to the study of Brownian surfaces for any compact 2-dimensional manifold.
Some generalized juggling processes (extended abstract)
We consider generalizations of juggling Markov chains introduced by Ayyer, Bouttier, Corteel and Nunzi. We first study multispecies generalizations of all the finite models therein, namely the MJMC, the add-drop and the annihilation models. We then consider the case of several jugglers exchanging balls. In all cases, we give explicit product formulas for the stationary probability and closed-form expressions for the normalization factor if known.
How to get the weak order out of a digraph ?
We construct a poset from a simple acyclic digraph together with a valuation on its vertices, and we compute the values of its Möbius function. We show that the weak order on Coxeter groups $A$$n-1$, $B$$n$, $Ã$$n$, and the flag weak order on the wreath product ℤ$r$ ≀ $S$$n$ introduced by Adin, Brenti and Roichman (2012), are special instances of our construction. We conclude by briefly explaining how to use our work to define quasi-symmetric functions, with a special emphasis on the $A$$n-1$ case, in which case we obtain the classical Stanley symmetric function.
Matching Ensembles (Extended Abstract)
We introduce an axiom system for a collection of matchings that describes the triangulation of product of simplices.
Diameters and geodesic properties of generalizations of the associahedron
The $n$-dimensional associahedron is a polytope whose vertices correspond to triangulations of a convex $(n + 3)$-gon and whose edges are flips between them. It was recently shown that the diameter of this polytope is $2n - 4$ as soon as $n > 9$. We study the diameters of the graphs of relevant generalizations of the associahedron: on the one hand the generalized associahedra arising from cluster algebras, and on the other hand the graph associahedra and nestohedra. Related to the diameter, we investigate the non-leaving-face property for these polytopes, which asserts that every geodesic connecting two vertices in the graph of the polytope stays in the minimal face containing both.
$\ell$-restricted $Q$-systems and quantum affine algebras
Kuniba, Nakanishi, and Suzuki (1994) have formulated a general conjecture expressing the positive solution of an $\ell$-restricted $Q$-system in terms of quantum dimensions of Kirillov-Reshetikhin modules. After presenting this conjecture, we sketch a proof for the exceptional type $E_6$ following our preprint (2013). In types $E_7$ and $E_8$, we prove positivity for a subset of the nodes of the Dynkin diagram, and we reduce the positivity for the remaining nodes to the conjectural iterated log-concavity of certain explicit sequences of real algebraic numbers.
$0$-Hecke algebra action on the Stanley-Reisner ring of the Boolean algebra
We define an action of the $0$-Hecke algebra of type A on the Stanley-Reisner ring of the Boolean algebra. By studying this action we obtain a family of multivariate noncommutative symmetric functions, which specialize to the noncommutative Hall-Littlewood symmetric functions and their $(q,t)$-analogues introduced by Bergeron and Zabrocki. We also obtain multivariate quasisymmetric function identities, which specialize to a result of Garsia and Gessel on the generating function of the joint distribution of five permutation statistics.
An equivariant rim hook rule for quantum cohomology of Grassmannians
A driving question in (quantum) cohomology of flag varieties is to find non-recursive, positive combinatorial formulas for expressing the quantum product in a particularly nice basis, called the Schubert basis. Bertram, Ciocan-Fontanine and Fulton provide a way to compute quantum products of Schubert classes in the Grassmannian of $k$-planes in complex $n$-space by doing classical multiplication and then applying a combinatorial rimhook rule which yields the quantum parameter. In this paper, we provide a generalization of this rim hook rule to the setting in which there is also an action of the complex torus. Combining this result with Knutson and Tao's puzzle rule provides an effective algorithm for computing the equivariant quantum Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. Interestingly, this rule requires a specialization of torus weights that is tantalizingly similar to maps in affine Schubert calculus.
Number of cycles in the graph of $312$-avoiding permutations
The graph of overlapping permutations is defined in a way analogous to the De Bruijn graph on strings of symbols. However, instead of requiring the tail of one permutation to equal the head of another for them to be connected by an edge, we require that the head and tail in question have their letters appear in the same order of size. We give a formula for the number of cycles of length $d$ in the subgraph of overlapping $312$-avoiding permutations. Using this we also give a refinement of the enumeration of $312$-avoiding affine permutations.
Splines, lattice points, and (arithmetic) matroids
Let $X$ be a $(d \times N)$-matrix. We consider the variable polytope $\Pi_X(u) = \left\{ w \geq 0 : Xw = u \right\}$. It is known that the function $T_X$ that assigns to a parameter $u \in \mathbb{R}^N$ the volume of the polytope $\Pi_X(u)$ is piecewise polynomial. Formulas of Khovanskii-Pukhlikov and Brion-Vergne imply that the number of lattice points in $\Pi_X(u)$ can be obtained by applying a certain differential operator to the function $T_X$. In this extended abstract we slightly improve the formulas of Khovanskii-Pukhlikov and Brion-Vergne and we study the space of differential operators that are relevant for $T_X$ (ıe operators that do not annihilate $T_X$) and the space of nice differential operators (ıe operators that leave $T_X$ continuous). These two spaces are finite-dimensional homogeneous vector spaces and their Hilbert series are evaluations of the Tutte polynomial of the (arithmetic) matroid defined by $X$.
A generalization of the carries process
We consider a carries process which is a generalization of that by Holte in the sense that (i) we take various digit sets, and (ii) we also consider negative base. Our results are : (i) eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the transition probability matrices, and their connection to combinatorics and representation theory, (ii) an application to the computation of the distribution of the sum of i.i.d. uniform r.v.'s on [0,1], (iii) a relation to riffle shuffle.
Poset topology and homological invariants of algebras arising in algebraic combinatorics
We present a beautiful interplay between combinatorial topology and homological algebra for a class of monoids that arise naturally in algebraic combinatorics. We explore several applications of this interplay. For instance, we provide a new interpretation of the Leray number of a clique complex in terms of non-commutative algebra.
On the $H$-triangle of generalised nonnesting partitions
With a crystallographic root system $\Phi$ , there are associated two Catalan objects, the set of nonnesting partitions $NN(\Phi)$, and the cluster complex $\Delta (\Phi)$. These possess a number of enumerative coincidences, many of which are captured in a surprising identity, first conjectured by Chapoton. We prove this conjecture, and indicate its generalisation for the Fuß-Catalan objects $NN^{(k)}(\Phi)$ and $\Delta^{(k)}(\Phi)$, conjectured by Armstrong.
Supercharacters of Unipotent Groups
\textbfAbstract. We construct supercharacter theories of finite unipotent groups in the orthogonal, symplectic and unitary types. Our method utilizes group actions in a manner analogous to that of Diaconis and Isaacs in their construction of supercharacters of algebra groups. The resulting supercharacter theories agree with those of André and Neto in the case of the unipotent orthogonal and symplectic matrices and generalize to a large collection of subgroups. In the unitary group case, we describe the supercharacters and superclasses in terms of labeled set partitions and calculate the supercharacter table. \bigbreak
Boyd-Maxwell ball packings
In the recent study of infinite root systems, fractal patterns of ball packings were observed while visualizing roots in affine space. In fact, the observed fractals are exactly the ball packings described by Boyd and Maxwell. This correspondence is a corollary of a more fundamental result: given a geometric representation of a Coxeter group in Lorentz space, the set of limit directions of weights equals the set of limit roots.
Quasisymmetric Schur functions and modules of the $0$-Hecke algebra
We define a $0$-Hecke action on composition tableaux, and then use it to derive $0$-Hecke modules whose quasisymmetric characteristic is a quasisymmetric Schur function. We then relate the modules to the weak Bruhat order and use them to derive a new basis for quasisymmetric functions. We also classify those modules that are tableau-cyclic and likewise indecomposable. Finally, we develop a restriction rule that reflects the coproduct of quasisymmetric Schur functions.
Factorization of the Characteristic Polynomial
We introduce a new method for showing that the roots of the characteristic polynomial of a finite lattice are all nonnegative integers. Our method gives two simple conditions under which the characteristic polynomial factors. We will see that Stanley's Supersolvability Theorem is a corollary of this result. We can also use this method to demonstrate a new result in graph theory and give new proofs of some classic results concerning the Möbius function.
Newton Polytopes of Cluster Variables of Type $A_n$
We study Newton polytopes of cluster variables in type $A_n$ cluster algebras, whose cluster and coefficient variables are indexed by the diagonals and boundary segments of a polygon. Our main results include an explicit description of the affine hull and facets of the Newton polytope of the Laurent expansion of any cluster variable, with respect to any cluster. In particular, we show that every Laurent monomial in a Laurent expansion of a type $A$ cluster variable corresponds to a vertex of the Newton polytope. We also describe the face lattice of each Newton polytope via an isomorphism with the lattice of elementary subgraphs of the associated snake graph.
Kronecker coefficients: the tensor square conjecture and unimodality
We consider two aspects of Kronecker coefficients in the directions of representation theory and combinatorics. We consider a conjecture of Jan Saxl stating that the tensor square of the $S_n$-irreducible representation indexed by the staircase partition contains every irreducible representation of $S_n$. We present a sufficient condition allowing to determine whether an irreducible representation is a constituent of a tensor square and using this result together with some analytic statements on partitions we prove Saxl conjecture for several partition classes. We also use Kronecker coefficients to give a new proof and a generalization of the unimodality of Gaussian ($q$-binomial) coefficients as polynomials in $q$, and extend this to strict unimodality.
Many neighborly inscribed polytopes and Delaunay triangulations
We present a very simple explicit technique to generate a large family of point configurations with neighborly Delaunay triangulations. This proves that there are superexponentially many combinatorially distinct neighborly $d$-polytopes with $n$ vertices that admit realizations inscribed on the sphere. These are the first examples of inscribable neighborly polytopes that are not cyclic polytopes, and provide the current best lower bound for the number of combinatorial types of inscribable polytopes (and thus also of Delaunay triangulations). It coincides with the current best lower bound for the number of combinatorial types of polytopes.
Super quasi-symmetric functions via Young diagrams
We consider the multivariate generating series $F_P$ of $P-$partitions in infinitely many variables $x_1, x_2, \ldots$ . For some family of ranked posets $P$, it is natural to consider an analog $N_P$ with two infinite alphabets. When we collapse these two alphabets, we trivially recover $F_P$. Our main result is the converse, that is, the explicit construction of a map sending back $F_P$ onto $N_P$. We also give a noncommutative analog of the latter. An application is the construction of a basis of $\mathbf{WQSym}$ with a non-negative multiplication table, which lifts a basis of $\textit{QSym}$ introduced by K. Luoto.
Generalized Dyck tilings (Extended Abstract)
Recently, Kenyon and Wilson introduced Dyck tilings, which are certain tilings of the region between two Dyck paths. The enumeration of Dyck tilings is related with hook formulas for forests and the combinatorics of Hermite polynomials. The first goal of this work is to give an alternative point of view on Dyck tilings by making use of the weak order and the Bruhat order on permutations. Then we introduce two natural generalizations: $k$-Dyck tilings and symmetric Dyck tilings. We are led to consider Stirling permutations, and define an analogue of the Bruhat order on them. We show that certain families of $k$-Dyck tilings are in bijection with intervals in this order. We enumerate symmetric Dyck tilings and show that certain families of symmetric Dyck tilings are in bijection with intervals in the weak order on signed permutations.
The purity of set-systems related to Grassmann necklaces
Studying the problem of quasicommuting quantum minors, Leclerc and Zelevinsky introduced in 1998 the notion of weakly separated sets in $[n]:=\{1,\ldots, n\}$. Moreover, they raised several conjectures on the purity for this symmetric relation, in particular, on the Boolean cube $2^{[n]}$. In 0909.1423[math.CO] we proved these purity conjectures for the Boolean cube $2^{[n]}$, the discrete Grassmanian $\binom{[n]}{r}$, and some other set-systems. Oh, Postnikov, and Speyer in arxiv:1109.4434 proved the purity for weakly separated collections inside a positroid which contain a Grassmann necklace $\mathcal {N}$ defining the positroid. We denote such set-systems as $\mathcal{Int}(\mathcal {N} )$. In this paper we give an alternative (and shorter) proof of the purity of $\mathcal{Int}(\mathcal {N} )$ and present a stronger result. More precisely, we introduce a set-system $\mathcal{Out}(\mathcal {N} )$ complementary to $\mathcal{Int}(\mathcal {N })$, in a sense, and establish its purity. Moreover, we prove (Theorem~3) that these two set-systems are weakly separated from each other. As a consequence of Theorem~3, we obtain the purity of set-systems related to pairs of weakly separated necklaces (Proposition 4 and Corollaries 1 and 2). Finally, we raise a conjecture on the purity of both the interior and exterior of a generalized necklace.
Symmetry properties of the Novelli-Pak-Stoyanovskii algorithm
The number of standard Young tableaux of a fixed shape is famously given by the hook-length formula due to Frame, Robinson and Thrall. A bijective proof of Novelli, Pak and Stoyanovskii relies on a sorting algorithm akin to jeu-de-taquin which transforms an arbitrary filling of a partition into a standard Young tableau by exchanging adjacent entries. Recently, Krattenthaler and Müller defined the complexity of this algorithm as the average number of performed exchanges, and Neumann and the author proved it fulfils some nice symmetry properties. In this paper we recall and extend the previous results and provide new bijective proofs.
The Rearrangement Conjecture
The Rearrangement Conjecture states that if two words over $\mathbb{P}$ are Wilf-equivalent in the factor order on $\mathbb{P}^{\ast}$ then they are rearrangements of each other. We introduce the notion of strong Wilf-equivalence and prove that if two words over $\mathbb{P}$ are strongly Wilf-equivalent then they are rearrangements of each other. We further conjecture that Wilf-equivalence implies strong Wilf-equivalence.
Quasisymmetric (k,l)-hook Schur functions
We introduce a quasisymmetric generalization of Berele and Regev's hook Schur functions and prove that these new quasisymmetric hook Schur functions decompose the hook Schur functions in a natural way. In this paper we examine the combinatorics of the quasisymmetric hook Schur functions, providing analogues of the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth algorithm and a generalized Cauchy Identity.
Two bijections on Tamari Intervals
We use a recently introduced combinatorial object, the $\textit{interval-poset}$, to describe two bijections on intervals of the Tamari lattice. Both bijections give a combinatorial proof of some previously known results. The first one is an inner bijection between Tamari intervals that exchanges the $\textit{initial rise}$ and $\textit{lower contacts}$ statistics. Those were introduced by Bousquet-Mélou, Fusy, and Préville-Ratelle who proved they were symmetrically distributed but had no combinatorial explanation. The second bijection sends a Tamari interval to a closed flow of an ordered forest. These combinatorial objects were studied by Chapoton in the context of the Pre-Lie operad and the connection with the Tamari order was still unclear.
The topology of the permutation pattern poset
The set of all permutations, ordered by pattern containment, forms a poset. This extended abstract presents the first explicit major results on the topology of intervals in this poset. We show that almost all (open) intervals in this poset have a disconnected subinterval and are thus not shellable. Nevertheless, there seem to be large classes of intervals that are shellable and thus have the homotopy type of a wedge of spheres. We prove this to be the case for all intervals of layered permutations that have no disconnected subintervals of rank 3 or more. We also characterize in a simple way those intervals of layered permutations that are disconnected. These results carry over to the poset of generalized subword order when the ordering on the underlying alphabet is a rooted forest. We conjecture that the same applies to intervals of separable permutations, that is, that such an interval is shellable if and only if it has no disconnected subinterval of rank 3 or more. We also present a simplified version of the recursive formula for the Möbius function of decomposable permutations given by Burstein et al.
Bigraphical arrangements
We define the bigraphical arrangement of a graph and show that the Pak-Stanley labels of its regions are the parking functions of a closely related graph, thus proving conjectures of Duval, Klivans, and Martin and of Hopkins and Perkinson. A consequence is a new proof of a bijection between labeled graphs and regions of the Shi arrangement first given by Stanley. We also give bounds on the number of regions of a bigraphical arrangement. The full version of this paper is forthcoming in the $\textit{Transactions of the American Mathematical Society}$
Polytopes and $C^1$-convex bodies
The face numbers of simplicial polytopes that approximate $C^1$-convex bodies in the Hausdorff metric is studied. Several structural results about the skeleta of such polytopes are studied and used to derive a lower bound theorem for this class of polytopes. This partially resolves a conjecture made by Kalai in 1994: if a sequence $\{P_n\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ of simplicial polytopes converges to a $C^1$-convex body in the Hausdorff distance, then the entries of the $g$-vector of $P_n$ converge to infinity.
Bijective Proofs of Partition Identities of MacMahon, Andrews, and Subbarao
We revisit a classic partition theorem due to MacMahon that relates partitions with all parts repeated at least once and partitions with parts congruent to $2,3,4,6 \pmod{6}$, together with a generalization by Andrews and two others by Subbarao. Then we develop a unified bijective proof for all four theorems involved, and obtain a natural further generalization as a result.
Reflection factorizations of Singer cycles
The number of shortest factorizations into reflections for a Singer cycle in $GL_n(\mathbb{F}_q)$ is shown to be $(q^n-1)^{n-1}$. Formulas counting factorizations of any length, and counting those with reflections of fixed conjugacy classes are also given.
Signed tree associahedra
An associahedron is a polytope whose vertices correspond to the triangulations of a convex polygon and whose edges correspond to flips between them. J.-L. Loday gave a particularly elegant realization of the associahedron, which was then generalized in two directions: on the one hand to obtain realizations of graph associahedra, and on the other hand to obtain multiple realizations of the associahedron parametrized by a sequence of signs. The goal of this paper is to unify and extend these two constructions to signed tree associahedra.
Estimating deep Littlewood-Richardson Coefficients
Littlewood Richardson coefficients are structure constants appearing in the representation theory of the general linear groups $(GL_n)$. The main results of this paper are: 1. A strongly polynomial randomized approximation scheme for Littlewood-Richardson coefficients corresponding to indices sufficiently far from the boundary of the Littlewood Richardson cone. 2. A proof of approximate log-concavity of the above mentioned class of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients.
Genus one partitions
We prove the conjecture by M. Yip stating that counting genus one partitions by the number of their elements and parts yields, up to a shift of indices, the same array of numbers as counting genus one rooted hypermonopoles. Our proof involves representing each genus one permutation by a four-colored noncrossing partition. This representation may be selected in a unique way for permutations containing no trivial cycles. The conclusion follows from a general generating function formula that holds for any class of permutations that is closed under the removal and reinsertion of trivial cycles. Our method also provides another way to count rooted hypermonopoles of genus one, and puts the spotlight on a class of genus one permutations that is invariant under an obvious extension of the Kreweras duality map to genus one permutations.
An extension of MacMahon's Equidistribution Theorem to ordered multiset partitions
A classical result of MacMahon states that inversion number and major index have the same distribution over permutations of a given multiset. In this work we prove a strengthening of this theorem originally conjectured by Haglund. Our result can be seen as an equidistribution theorem over the ordered partitions of a multiset into sets, which we call ordered multiset partitions. Our proof is bijective and involves a new generalization of Carlitz's insertion method. As an application, we develop refined Macdonald polynomials for hook shapes. We show that these polynomials are symmetric and give their Schur expansion.
Tropical Graph Parameters
Connection matrices for graph parameters with values in a field have been introduced by M. Freedman, L. Lovász and A. Schrijver (2007). Graph parameters with connection matrices of finite rank can be computed in polynomial time on graph classes of bounded tree-width. We introduce join matrices, a generalization of connection matrices, and allow graph parameters to take values in the tropical rings (max-plus algebras) over the real numbers. We show that rank-finiteness of join matrices implies that these graph parameters can be computed in polynomial time on graph classes of bounded clique-width. In the case of graph parameters with values in arbitrary commutative semirings, this remains true for graph classes of bounded linear clique-width. B. Godlin, T. Kotek and J.A. Makowsky (2008) showed that definability of a graph parameter in Monadic Second Order Logic implies rank finiteness. We also show that there are uncountably many integer valued graph parameters with connection matrices or join matricesof fixed finite rank. This shows that rank finiteness is a much weaker assumption than any definability assumption.
Electrical network and Lie theory
Curtis-Ingerman-Morrow studied the space of circular planar electrical networks, and classified all possible response matrices for such networks. Lam and Pylyavskyy found a Lie group $EL_{2n}$ whose positive part $(EL_{2n})_{\geq 0}$ naturally acts on the circular planar electrical network via some combinatorial description, where the action is inspired by the star-triangle transformation of the electrical networks. The Lie algebra $el_{2n}$ is semisimple and isomorphic to the symplectic algebra. In the end of their paper, they suggest a generalization of electrical Lie algebras to all finite Dynkin types. We give the structure of the type $B$ electrical Lie algebra $e_{b_{2n}}$. The nonnegative part $(E_{B_{2n}})_{\geq 0}$ of the corresponding Lie group conjecturally acts on a class of "mirror symmetric circular planar electrical networks". This class of networks has interesting combinatorial properties. Finally, we mention some partial results for type $C$ and $D$ electrical Lie algebras, where an analogous story needs to be developed.
The Selberg integral and Young books
The Selberg integral is an important integral first evaluated by Selberg in 1944. Stanley found a combinatorial interpretation of the Selberg integral in terms of permutations. In this paper, new combinatorial objects "Young books'' are introduced and shown to have a connection with the Selberg integral. This connection gives an enumeration formula for Young books. It is shown that special cases of Young books become standard Young tableaux of various shapes: shifted staircases, squares, certain skew shapes, and certain truncated shapes. As a consequence, enumeration formulas for standard Young tableaux of these shapes are obtained.
The $m$-Cover Posets and the Strip-Decomposition of $m$-Dyck Paths
In the first part of this article we present a realization of the $m$-Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}_n^{(m)}$ in terms of $m$-tuples of Dyck paths of height $n$, equipped with componentwise rotation order. For that, we define the $m$-cover poset $\mathcal{P}^{\langle m \rangle}$ of an arbitrary bounded poset $\mathcal{P}$, and show that the smallest lattice completion of the $m$-cover poset of the Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}_n$ is isomorphic to the $m$-Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}_n^{(m)}$. A crucial tool for the proof of this isomorphism is a decomposition of $m$-Dyck paths into $m$-tuples of classical Dyck paths, which we call the strip-decomposition. Subsequently, we characterize the cases where the $m$-cover poset of an arbitrary poset is a lattice. Finally, we show that the $m$-cover poset of the Cambrian lattice of the dihedral group is a trim lattice with cardinality equal to the generalized Fuss-Catalan number of the dihedral group.
On Bruhat posets associated to compositions
The purpose of this work is to initiate a combinatorial study of the Bruhat-Chevalley ordering on certain sets of permutations obtained by omitting the parentheses from their standard cyclic notation. In particular, we show that these sets form bounded, graded, unimodal, rank-symmetric and EL-shellable posets. Moreover, we determine the homotopy types of the associated order complexes.
Descents of $\lambda$-unimodal cyclic permutations
We prove an identity conjectured by Adin and Roichman involving the descent set of $\lambda$-unimodal cyclic permutations. These permutations appear in the character formulas for certain representations of the symmetric group and these formulas are usually proven algebraically. Here, we give a combinatorial proof for one such formula and discuss the consequences for the distribution of the descent set on cyclic permutations.
Deformations of Weyl's Denominator Formula
We introduce a series of conjectured identities that deform Weyl's denominator formula and generalize Tokuyama's formula to other root systems. These conjectures generalize a number of well-known results due to Okada. We also prove a related result for $B'_n$ that generalizes a theorem of Simpson.
Yamanouchi toppling
We study an extension of the chip-firing game. A given set of admissible moves, called Yamanouchi moves, allows the player to pass from a starting configuration $\alpha$ to a further configuration $\beta$. This can be encoded via an action of a certain group, the toppling group, associated with each connected graph. This action gives rise to a generalization of Hall-Littlewood symmetric polynomials and a new combinatorial basis for them. Moreover, it provides a general method to construct all orthogonal systems associated with a given random variable.
Centralizers of the infinite symmetric group
We review and introduce several approaches to the study of centralizer algebras of the infinite symmetric group $S_{\infty}$. Our work is led by the double commutant relationship between finite symmetric groups and partition algebras; in the case of $S_{\infty}$, we obtain centralizer algebras that are contained in partition algebras. In view of the theory of symmetric functions in non-commuting variables, we consider representations of $S_{\infty}$ that are faithful and that contain invariant elements; namely, non-unitary representations on sequence spaces.
A bijection between irreducible k-shapes and surjective pistols of height $k-1$
This paper constructs a bijection between irreducible $k$-shapes and surjective pistols of height $k-1$, which carries the "free $k$-sites" to the fixed points of surjective pistols. The bijection confirms a conjecture of Hivert and Mallet (FPSAC 2011) that the number of irreducible $k$-shape is counted by the Genocchi number $G_{2k}$.
A diagrammatic approach to Kronecker squares
In this paper we improve a method of Robinson and Taulbee for computing Kronecker coefficients and show that for any partition $\overline{ν}$ of $d$ there is a polynomial $k_{\overline{ν}}$ with rational coefficients in variables $x_C$, where $C$ runs over the set of isomorphism classes of connected skew diagrams of size at most $d$, such that for all partitions $\lambda$ of $n$, the Kronecker coefficient $\mathsf{g}(\lambda, \lambda, (n-d, \overline{ν}))$ is obtained from $k_{\overline{ν}}(x_C)$ substituting each $x_C$ by the number of $\lambda$-removable diagrams in $C$. We present two applications. First we show that for $\rho_{k} = (k, k-1,\ldots, 2, 1)$ and any partition $\overline{ν}$ of size $d$ there is a piecewise polynomial function $s_{\overline{ν}}$ such that $\mathsf{g}(\rho_k, \rho_k, (|\rho_k| - d, \overline{ν})) = s_{\overline{ν}} (k)$ for all $k$ and that there is an interval of the form $[c, \infty)$ in which $s_{\overline{ν}}$ is polynomial of degree $d$ with leading coefficient the number of standard Young tableaux of shape $\overline{ν}$. The second application is new stability property for Kronecker coefficients.
Flag Gromov-Witten invariants via crystals
We apply ideas from crystal theory to affine Schubert calculus and flag Gromov-Witten invariants. By defining operators on certain decompositions of elements in the type-$A$ affine Weyl group, we produce a crystal reflecting the internal structure of Specht modules associated to permutation diagrams. We show how this crystal framework can be applied to study the product of a Schur function with a $k$-Schur function. Consequently, we prove that a subclass of 3-point Gromov-Witten invariants of complete flag varieties for $\mathbb{C}^n$ enumerate the highest weight elements under these operators.
The freeness of ideal subarrangements of Weyl arrangements
A Weyl arrangement is the arrangement defined by the root system of a finite Weyl group. When a set of positive roots is an ideal in the root poset, we call the corresponding arrangement an ideal subarrangement. Our main theorem asserts that any ideal subarrangement is a free arrangement and that its exponents are given by the dual partition of the height distribution, which was conjectured by Sommers-Tymoczko. In particular, when an ideal subarrangement is equal to the entire Weyl arrangement, our main theorem yields the celebrated formula by Shapiro, Steinberg, Kostant, and Macdonald. The proof of the main theorem is classification-free. It heavily depends on the theory of free arrangements and thus greatly differs from the earlier proofs of the formula.
Piecewise-linear and birational toggling
We define piecewise-linear and birational analogues of toggle-involutions, rowmotion, and promotion on order ideals of a poset $P$ as studied by Striker and Williams. Piecewise-linear rowmotion relates to Stanley's transfer map for order polytopes; piecewise-linear promotion relates to Schützenberger promotion for semistandard Young tableaux. When $P = [a] \times [b]$, a reciprocal symmetry property recently proved by Grinberg and Roby implies that birational rowmotion (and consequently piecewise-linear rowmotion) is of order $a+b$. We prove some homomesy results, showing that for certain functions $f$, the average of $f$ over each rowmotion/promotion orbit is independent of the orbit chosen.
A Murgnahan-Nakayama rule for Schubert polynomials
We expose a rule for multiplying a general Schubert polynomial with a power sum polynomial in $k$ variables. A signed sum over cyclic permutations replaces the signed sum over rim hooks in the classical Murgnahan-Nakayama rule. In the intersection theory of flag manifolds this computes all intersections of Schubert cycles with tautological classes coming from the Chern character. We also discuss extensions of this rule to small quantum cohomology.
Firing Patterns in the Parallel Chip-Firing Game
The $\textit{parallel chip-firing game}$ is an automaton on graphs in which vertices "fire'' chips to their neighbors. This simple model, analogous to sandpiles forming and collapsing, contains much emergent complexity and has connections to different areas of mathematics including self-organized criticality and the study of the sandpile group. In this work, we study $\textit{firing sequences}$, which describe each vertex's interaction with its neighbors in this game. Our main contribution is a complete characterization of the periodic firing sequences that can occur in a game, which have a surprisingly simple combinatorial description. We also obtain other results about local behavior of the game after introducing the concept of $\textit{motors}$.
Selberg integrals and Hankel determinants
In our previous works "Pfaffian decomposition and a Pfaffian analogue of $q$-Catalan Hankel determinants'' (by M.Ishikawa, H. Tagawa and J. Zeng, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A, 120, 2013, 1263-1284) we have proposed several ways to evaluate certain Catalan-Hankel Pffafians and also formulated several conjectures. In this work we propose a new approach to compute these Catalan-Hankel Pffafians using Selberg's integral as well as their $q$-analogues. In particular, this approach permits us to settle most of the conjectures in our previous paper.
Peak algebras, paths in the Bruhat graph and Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials
We obtain a nonrecursive combinatorial formula for the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials which holds in complete generality and which is simpler and more explicit than any existing one, and which cannot be linearly simplified. Our proof uses a new basis of the peak subalgebra of the algebra of quasisymmetric functions.
A simple recurrence formula for the number of rooted maps on surfaces by edges and genus
We establish a simple recurrence formula for the number $Q_g^n$ of rooted orientable maps counted by edges and genus. The formula is a consequence of the KP equation for the generating function of bipartite maps, coupled with a Tutte equation, and it was apparently unnoticed before. It gives by far the fastest known way of computing these numbers, or the fixed-genus generating functions, especially for large $g$. The formula is similar in look to the one discovered by Goulden and Jackson for triangulations (although the latter does not rely on an additional Tutte equation). Both of them have a very combinatorial flavour, but finding a bijective interpretation is currently unsolved - should such an interpretation exist, the history of bijective methods for maps would tend to show that the case treated here is easier to start with than the one of triangulations.
Sorting with two stacks in parallel
At the end of the 1960s, Knuth characterised in terms of forbidden patterns the permutations that can be sorted using a stack. He also showed that they are in bijection with Dyck paths and thus counted by the Catalan numbers. Subsequently, Pratt and Tarjan asked about permutations that can be sorted using two stacks in parallel. This question is significantly harder, and the associated counting question has remained open for 40 years. We solve it by giving a pair of equations that characterise the generating function of such permutations. The first component of this system describes the generating function $Q(a,u)$ of square lattice loops confined to the positive quadrant, counted by the length and the number of North-West and East-South factors. Our analysis of the asymptotic number of sortable permutations relies at the moment on two intriguing conjectures dealing with this series. Given the recent activity on walks confined to cones, we believe them to be attractive $\textit{per se}$. We prove these conjectures for closed walks confined to the upper half plane, or not confined at all.
Bijactions in Cataland
In this abstract, I will survey the story of two enumerative miracles that relate certain Coxeter-theoretic objects and other poset-theoretic objects. The first miracle relates reduced words and linear extensions, while the second may be thought of as relating group elements and order ideals. The purpose of this abstract is to use a conjecture from my thesis to present both miracles in the same light.
Noncrossing sets and a Graßmannian associahedron
We study a natural generalization of the noncrossing relation between pairs of elements in $[n]$ to $k$-tuples in $[n]$. We show that the flag simplicial complex on $\binom{[n]}{k}$ induced by this relation is a regular, unimodular and flag triangulation of the order polytope of the poset given by the product $[k] \times [n-k]$ of two chains, and it is the join of a simplex and a sphere (that is, it is a Gorenstein triangulation). This shows the existence of a flag simplicial polytope whose Stanley-Reisner ideal is an initial ideal of the Graßmann-Plücker ideal, while previous constructions of such a polytope did not guaranteed flagness. The simplicial complex and the polytope derived from it naturally reflect the relations between Graßmannians with different parameters, in particular the isomorphism $G_{k,n} \cong G_{n-k,n}$. This simplicial complex is closely related to the weak separability complex introduced by Zelevinsky and Leclerc.
Hopf Algebra of Sashes
A general lattice theoretic construction of Reading constructs Hopf subalgebras of the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra (MR) of permutations. The products and coproducts of these Hopf subalgebras are defined extrinsically in terms of the embedding in MR. The goal of this paper is to find an intrinsic combinatorial description of a particular one of these Hopf subalgebras. This Hopf algebra has a natural basis given by permutations that we call Pell permutations. The Pell permutations are in bijection with combinatorial objects that we call sashes, that is, tilings of a 1 by n rectangle with three types of tiles: black 1 by 1 squares, white 1 by 1 squares, and white 1 by 2 rectangles. The bijection induces a Hopf algebra structure on sashes. We describe the product and coproduct in terms of sashes, and the natural partial order on sashes. We also describe the dual coproduct and dual product of the dual Hopf algebra of sashes.
A product formula for the TASEP on a ring
For a random permutation sampled from the stationary distribution of the TASEP on a ring, we show that, conditioned on the event that the first entries are strictly larger than the last entries, the $\textit{order}$ of the first entries is independent of the $\textit{order}$ of the last entries. The proof uses multi-line queues as defined by Ferrari and Martin, and the theorem has an enumerative combinatorial interpretation in that setting. Finally, we present a conjecture for the case where the small and large entries are not separated.
Bijections on m-level Rook Placements
Partition the rows of a board into sets of $m$ rows called levels. An $m$-level rook placement is a subset of squares of the board with no two in the same column or the same level. We construct explicit bijections to prove three theorems about such placements. We start with two bijections between Ferrers boards having the same number of $m$-level rook placements. The first generalizes a map by Foata and Schützenberger and our proof applies to any Ferrers board. The second generalizes work of Loehr and Remmel. This construction only works for a special class of Ferrers boards but also yields a formula for calculating the rook numbers of these boards in terms of elementary symmetric functions. Finally we generalize another result of Loehr and Remmel giving a bijection between boards with the same hit numbers. The second and third bijections involve the Involution Principle of Garsia and Milne.
Positroids, non-crossing partitions, and positively oriented matroids
We investigate the role that non-crossing partitions play in the study of positroids, a class of matroids introduced by Postnikov. We prove that every positroid can be constructed uniquely by choosing a non-crossing partition on the ground set, and then freely placing the structure of a connected positroid on each of the blocks of the partition. We use this to enumerate connected positroids, and we prove that the probability that a positroid on [n] is connected equals $1/e^2$ asymptotically. We also prove da Silva's 1987 conjecture that any positively oriented matroid is a positroid; that is, it can be realized by a set of vectors in a real vector space. It follows from this result that the positive matroid Grassmannian (or positive MacPhersonian) is homeomorphic to a closed ball.
Sweep maps for lattice paths
Sweep maps are a family of maps on words that, while simple to define, are not yet known to be injective in general. This family subsumes many of the "zeta maps" that have arisen in the study of q,t-Catalan numbers in the course of relating the three statistics of area, bounce and dinv. A sweep map can be defined for words over arbitrary alphabets with arbitrary weights. The latter property makes them particularly suitable for the study of rational Catalan combinatorics.
A new generation tree for permutations, preserving the number of fixed points
We describe a new uniform generation tree for permutations with the specific property that, for most permutations, all of their descendants in the generation tree have the same number of fixed points. Our tree is optimal for the number of permutations having this property. We then use this tree to describe a new random generation algorithm for derangements, using an expected n+O(1) calls to a random number generator. Another application is a combinatorial algorithm for exact sampling from the Poisson distribution with parameter 1.
Coloring Rings in Species
We present a generalization of the chromatic polynomial, and chromatic symmetric function, arising in the study of combinatorial species. These invariants are defined for modules over lattice rings in species. The primary examples are graphs and set partitions. For these new invariants, we present analogues of results regarding stable partitions, the bond lattice, the deletion-contraction recurrence, and the subset expansion formula. We also present two detailed examples, one related to enumerating subgraphs by their blocks, and a second example related to enumerating subgraphs of a directed graph by their strongly connected components.
Combinatorics of diagrams of permutations
There are numerous combinatorial objects associated to a Grassmannian permutation $w_λ$ that index cells of the totally nonnegative Grassmannian. We study some of these objects (rook placements, acyclic orientations, various restricted fillings) and their q-analogues in the case of permutations $\mathcal{w}$ that are not necessarily Grassmannian.
Schubert varieties, inversion arrangements, and Peterson translation
We show that an element $\mathcal{w}$ of a finite Weyl group W is rationally smooth if and only if the hyperplane arrangement $\mathcal{I} (\mathcal{w})$ associated to the inversion set of \mathcal{w} is inductively free, and the product $(d_1+1) ...(d_l+1)$ of the coexponents $d_1,\ldots,d_l$ is equal to the size of the Bruhat interval [e,w]. We also use Peterson translation of coconvex sets to give a Shapiro-Steinberg-Kostant rule for the exponents of $\mathcal{w}$.
Hall-Littlewood Polynomials in terms of Yamanouchi words
This paper uses the theory of dual equivalence graphs to give explicit Schur expansions to several families of symmetric functions. We begin by giving a combinatorial definition of the modified Macdonald polynomials and modified Hall-Littlewood polynomials indexed by any diagram $δ ⊂ \mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}$, written as $\widetilde H_δ (X;q,t)$ and $\widetilde P_δ (X;t)$, respectively. We then give an explicit Schur expansion of $\widetilde P_δ (X;t)$ as a sum over a subset of the Yamanouchi words, as opposed to the expansion using the charge statistic given in 1978 by Lascoux and Schüztenberger. We further define the symmetric function $R_γ ,δ (X)$ as a refinement of $\widetilde P_δ$ and similarly describe its Schur expansion. We then analysize $R_γ ,δ (X)$ to determine the leading term of its Schur expansion. To gain these results, we associate each Macdonald polynomial with a signed colored graph $\mathcal{H}_δ$ . In the case where a subgraph of $\mathcal{H}_δ$ is a dual equivalence graph, we provide the Schur expansion of its associated symmetric function, yielding several corollaries.
Partial categorification of Hopf algebras and representation theory of towers of \mathcalJ-trivial monoids
This paper considers the representation theory of towers of algebras of $\mathcal{J} -trivial$ monoids. Using a very general lemma on induction, we derive a combinatorial description of the algebra and coalgebra structure on the Grothendieck rings $G_0$ and $K_0$. We then apply our theory to some examples. We first retrieve the classical Krob-Thibon's categorification of the pair of Hopf algebras QSym$/NCSF$ as representation theory of the tower of 0-Hecke algebras. Considering the towers of semilattices given by the permutohedron, associahedron, and Boolean lattices, we categorify the algebra and the coalgebra structure of the Hopf algebras $FQSym , PBT$ , and $NCSF$ respectively. Lastly we completely describe the representation theory of the tower of the monoids of Non Decreasing Parking Functions.
The order of birational rowmotion
Various authors have studied a natural operation (under various names) on the order ideals (equivalently antichains) of a finite poset, here called \emphrowmotion. For certain posets of interest, the order of this map is much smaller than one would naively expect, and the orbits exhibit unexpected properties. In very recent work (inspired by discussions with Berenstein) Einstein and Propp describe how rowmotion can be generalized: first to the piecewise-linear setting of order polytopes, then via detropicalization to the birational setting. In the latter setting, it is no longer \empha priori clear even that birational rowmotion has finite order, and for many posets the order is infinite. However, we are able to show that birational rowmotion has the same order, p+q, for the poset P=[p]×[q] (product of two chains), as ordinary rowmotion. We also show that birational (hence ordinary) rowmotion has finite order for some other classes of posets, e.g., the upper, lower, right and left halves of the poset above, and trees having all leaves on the same level. Our methods are based on those used by Volkov to resolve the type AA (rectangular) Zamolodchikov Periodicity Conjecture.
Some combinatorics of rhomboid-shaped fully packed loop configurations
The study of rhomboid-shaped fully packed loop configurations (RFPLs) is inspired by the work of Fischer and Nadeau on triangular fully packed loop configurations (TFPLs). By using the same techniques as they did some nice combinatorics for RFPLs arise. To each RFPL and to each oriented RFPL a quadruple of binary words (α ,β ;γ ,δ ) – its so-called boundary – is assigned. There are necessary conditions for the boundary of an RFPL respectively an oriented RFPL. For instance, it has to fulfill the inequality $d(γ )+d(δ )\geq(α )+d(β )+\vert α \vert _0\vert β \vert _1$, where $\vert α \vert _i $ denotes the number of occurrences of $i=0,1$ in α and d(α ) denotes the number of inversions of α . Furthermore, the number of ordinary RFPLs with boundary (α ,β ;γ ,δ ) can be expressed in terms of oriented RFPLs with the same boundary. Finally, oriented RFPLs with boundary (α ,β ;γ ,δ ) such that $d(γ )+d(δ )=d(α )+d(β )+\vert α \vert _0\vert β \vert _1$ are considered. They are in bijection with rhomboid-shaped Knutson-Tao puzzles. Also, Littlewood-Richardson tableaux of defect d are defined. They can be understood as a generalization of Littlewood-Richardson tableaux. Those tableaux are in bijection with rhomboid-shaped Knutson-Tao puzzles.
Arrangements of equal minors in the positive Grassmannian
We discuss arrangements of equal minors in totally positive matrices. More precisely, we would like to investigate the structure of possible equalities and inequalities between the minors. We show that arrangements of equals minors of largest value are in bijection with sorted sets, which earlier appeared in the context of alcoved polytopes and Gröbner bases. Maximal arrangements of this form correspond to simplices of the alcoved triangulation of the hypersimplex; and the number of such arrangements equals the Eulerian number. On the other hand, we conjecture and prove in many cases that arrangements of equal minors of smallest value are exactly the weakly separated sets. Weakly separated sets, originally introduced by Leclerc and Zelevinsky, are closely related to the \textitpositive Grassmannian and the associated cluster algebra.
Two special cases of the Rational Shuffle Conjecture
The Classical Shuffle Conjecture of Haglund et al. (2005) has a symmetric function side and a combinatorial side. The combinatorial side $q,t$-enumerates parking functions in the $n ×n$ lattice. The symmetric function side may be simply expressed as $∇ e_n$ , where $∇$ is the Macdonald eigen-operator introduced by Bergeron and Garsia (1999) and $e_n$ is the elementary symmetric function. The combinatorial side has been extended to parking functions in the $m ×n$ lattice for coprime $m,n$ by Hikita (2012). Recently, Gorsky and Negut have been able to extend the Shuffle Conjecture by combining their work (2012a, 2012b, 2013) (related to work of Schiffmann and Vasserot (2011, 2013)) with Hikita's combinatorial results. We prove this new conjecture for the cases $m=2$ and $n=2$ .
SIF Permutations and Chord-Connected Permutations
A stabilized-interval-free (SIF) permutation on [n], introduced by Callan, is a permutation that does not stabilize any proper interval of [n]. Such permutations are known to be the irreducibles in the decomposition of permutations along non-crossing partitions. That is, if $s_n$ denotes the number of SIF permutations on [n], $S(z)=1+\sum_{n\geq1} s_n z^n$, and $F(z)=1+\sum_{n\geq1} n! z^n$, then $F(z)= S(zF(z))$. This article presents, in turn, a decomposition of SIF permutations along non-crossing partitions. Specifically, by working with a convenient diagrammatic representation, given in terms of perfect matchings on alternating binary strings, we arrive at the \emphchord-connected permutations on [n], counted by $\{c_n\}_{n\geq1}$, whose generating function satisfies $S(z)= C(zS(z))$. The expressions at hand have immediate probabilistic interpretations, via the celebrated moment-cumulant formula of Speicher, in the context of the free probability theory of Voiculescu. The probability distributions that appear are the exponential and the complex Gaussian.
Gallery Posets of Supersolvable Arrangements
We introduce a poset structure on the reduced galleries in a supersolvable arrangement of hyperplanes. In particular, for Coxeter groups of type A or B, we construct a poset of reduced words for the longest element whose Hasse diagram is the graph of reduced words. Using Rambau's Suspension Lemma, we show that these posets are homotopy equivalent to spheres. We furthermore conjecture that its intervals are either homotopy equivalent to spheres or are contractible. One may view this as a analogue of a result of Edelman and Walker on the homotopy type of intervals of a poset of chambers of a hyperplane arrangement.
Weakly prudent self-avoiding bridges
We define and enumerate a new class of self-avoiding walks on the square lattice, which we call weakly prudent bridges. Their definition is inspired by two previously-considered classes of self-avoiding walks, and can be viewed as a combination of those two models. We consider several methods for recursively generating these objects, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and use these methods to solve the generating function, obtain very long series, and randomly generate walks of arbitrary size. We find that the growth constant of these walks is approximately 2.58, which is larger than that of any previously-solved class of self-avoiding walks.
Hopf algebra of permutation pattern functions
We study permutation patterns from an algebraic combinatorics point of view. Using analogues of the classical shuffle and infiltration products for word, we define two new Hopf algebras of permutations related to the notion of permutation pattern. We show several remarkable properties of permutation patterns functions, as well their occurrence in other domains.
The arithmetic Tutte polynomials of the classical root systems
Many combinatorial and topological invariants of a hyperplane arrangement can be computed in terms of its Tutte polynomial. Similarly, many invariants of a hypertoric arrangement can be computed in terms of its arithmetic Tutte polynomial. We compute the arithmetic Tutte polynomials of the classical root systems $A_n, B_n, C_n$, and $D_n$ with respect to their integer, root, and weight lattices. We do it in two ways: by introducing a \emphfinite field method for arithmetic Tutte polynomials, and by enumerating signed graphs with respect to six parameters.
Bott-Samelson Varieties, Subword Complexes and Brick Polytopes
Bott-Samelson varieties factor the flag variety $G/B$ into a product of $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1$'s with a map into $G/B$. These varieties are mostly studied in the case in which the map into $G/B$ is birational; however in this paper we study fibers of this map when it is not birational. We will see that in some cases this fiber is a toric variety. In order to do so we use the moment map of a Bott-Samelson variety to translate this problem into a purely combinatorial one in terms of a subword complex. These simplicial complexes, defined by Knutson and Miller, encode a lot of information about reduced words in a Coxeter system. Pilaud and Stump realized certain subword complexes as the dual to the boundary of a polytope which generalizes the brick polytope defined by Pilaud and Santos. For a nice family of words, the brick polytope is the generalized associahedron realized by Hohlweg and Lange. These stories connect in a nice way: the moment polytope of a fiber of the Bott-Samelson map is the Brick polytope. In particular, we give a nice description of the toric variety of the associahedron.
Chevalley-Monk and Giambelli formulas for Peterson Varieties
A Peterson variety is a subvariety of the flag variety $G/B$ defined by certain linear conditions. Peterson varieties appear in the construction of the quantum cohomology of partial flag varieties and in applications to the Toda flows. Each Peterson variety has a one-dimensional torus $S^1$ acting on it. We give a basis of Peterson Schubert classes for $H_{S^1}^*(Pet)$ and identify the ring generators. In type A Harada-Tymoczko gave a positive Monk formula, and Bayegan-Harada gave Giambelli's formula for multiplication in the cohomology ring. This paper gives a Chevalley-Monk rule and Giambelli's formula for all Lie types.
Affine permutations and rational slope parking functions
We introduce a new approach to the enumeration of rational slope parking functions with respect to thearea and a generalizeddinv statistics, and relate the combinatorics of parking functions to that of affine permutations. We relate our construction to two previously known combinatorial constructions: Haglund's bijection ζ exchanging the pairs of statistics (area ,dinv ) and (bounce ,area ) on Dyck paths, and Pak-Stanley labeling of the regions of k-Shi hyperplane arrangements by k-parking functions. Essentially, our approach can be viewed as a generalization and a unification of these two constructions.
Honeycombs from Hermitian Matrix Pairs
Knutson and Tao's work on the Horn conjectures used combinatorial invariants called hives and honeycombs to relate spectra of sums of Hermitian matrices to Littlewood-Richardson coefficients and problems in representation theory, but these relationships remained implicit. Here, let $M$ and $N$ be two $n ×n$ Hermitian matrices. We will show how to determine a hive $\mathcal{H}(M, N)={H_ijk}$ using linear algebra constructions from this matrix pair. With this construction, one may also define an explicit Littlewood-Richardson filling (enumerated by the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient $c_μν ^λ$ associated to the matrix pair). We then relate rotations of orthonormal bases of eigenvectors of $M$ and $N$ to deformations of honeycombs (and hives), which we interpret in terms of the structure of crystal graphs and Littelmann's path operators. We find that the crystal structure is determined \emphmore simply from the perspective of rotations than that of path operators.
Bucshbaum simplicial posets
The family of Buchsbaum simplicial posets generalizes the family of simplicial cell manifolds. The $h'-$vector of a simplicial complex or simplicial poset encodes the combinatorial and topological data of its face numbers and the reduced Betti numbers of its geometric realization. Novik and Swartz showed that the $h'-$vector of a Buchsbaum simplicial poset satisfies certain simple inequalities. In this paper we show that these necessary conditions are in fact sufficient to characterize the h'-vectors of Buchsbaum simplicial posets with prescribed Betti numbers.
Interval positroid varieties and a deformation of the ring of symmetric functions
Define the interval rank $r_[i,j] : Gr_k(\mathbb C^n) →\mathbb{N}$ of a k-plane V as the dimension of the orthogonal projection $π _[i,j](V)$ of V to the $(j-i+1)$-dimensional subspace that uses the coordinates $i,i+1,\ldots,j$. By measuring all these ranks, we define the interval rank stratification of the Grassmannian $Gr_k(\mathbb C^n)$. It is finer than the Schubert and Richardson stratifications, and coarser than the positroid stratification studied by Lusztig, Postnikov, and others, so we call the closures of these strata interval positroid varieties. We connect Vakil's "geometric Littlewood-Richardson rule", in which he computed the homology classes of Richardson varieties (Schubert varieties intersected with opposite Schubert varieties), to Erdős-Ko-Rado shifting, and show that all of Vakil's varieties are interval positroid varieties. We build on his work in three ways: (1) we extend it to arbitrary interval positroid varieties, (2) we use it to compute in equivariant K-theory, not just homology, and (3) we simplify Vakil's (2+1)-dimensional "checker games" to 2-dimensional diagrams we call "IP pipe dreams". The ring Symm of symmetric functions and its basis of Schur functions is well-known to be very closely related to the ring $\bigoplus_a,b H_*(Gr_a(\mathbb{C}^{(a+b)})$ and its basis of Schubert classes. We extend the latter ring to equivariant K-theory (with respect to a circle action on each $\mathbb{C}^{(a+b)}$, and compute the […]
A factorization formula for power series
Given an odd prime p, we give an explicit factorization over the ring of formal power series with integer coefficients for certain reducible polynomials whose constant term is of the form $p^w$ with $w>1$. Our formulas are given in terms of partial Bell polynomials and rely on the inversion formula of Lagrange.
Graph Orientations and Linear Extensions.
Given an underlying undirected simple graph, we consider the set of all acyclic orientations of its edges. Each of these orientations induces a partial order on the vertices of our graph, and therefore we can count the number of linear extensions of these posets. We want to know which choice of orientation maximizes the number of linear extensions of the corresponding poset, and this problem is solved essentially for comparability graphs and odd cycles, presenting several proofs. We then provide an inequality for general graphs and discuss further techniques.
A combinatorial method to find sharp lower bounds on flip distances
Consider the triangulations of a convex polygon with $n$ vertices. In 1988, Daniel Sleator, Robert Tarjan, and William Thurston have shown that the flip distance of two such triangulations is at most $2n-10$ when $n$ is greater than 12 and that this bound is sharp when $n$ is large enough. They also conjecture that `"large enough'' means greater than 12. A proof of this conjecture was recently announced by the author. A sketch of this proof is given here, with emphasis on the intuitions underlying the construction of lower bounds on the flip distance of two triangulations.
A generalization of the quadrangulation relation to constellations and hypermaps
Constellations and hypermaps generalize combinatorial maps, $\textit{i.e.}$ embedding of graphs in a surface, in terms of factorization of permutations. In this paper, we extend a result of Jackson and Visentin (1990) on an enumerative relation between quadrangulations and bipartite quadrangulations. We show a similar relation between hypermaps and constellations by generalizing a result in the original paper on factorization of characters. Using this enumerative relation, we recover a result on the asymptotic behavior of hypermaps of Chapuy (2009).
A uniform model for Kirillov―Reshetikhin crystals
We present a uniform construction of tensor products of one-column Kirillov–Reshetikhin (KR) crystals in all untwisted affine types, which uses a generalization of the Lakshmibai–Seshadri paths (in the theory of the Littelmann path model). This generalization is based on the graph on parabolic cosets of a Weyl group known as the parabolic quantum Bruhat graph. A related model is the so-called quantum alcove model. The proof is based on two lifts of the parabolic quantum Bruhat graph: to the Bruhat order on the affine Weyl group and to Littelmann's poset on level-zero weights. Our construction leads to a simple calculation of the energy function. It also implies the equality between a Macdonald polynomial specialized at $t=0$ and the graded character of a tensor product of KR modules.
Asymptotics of symmetric polynomials
We develop a new method for studying the asymptotics of symmetric polynomials of representation–theoretic origin as the number of variables tends to infinity. Several applications of our method are presented: We prove a number of theorems concerning characters of infinite–dimensional unitary group and their $q$–deformations. We study the behavior of uniformly random lozenge tilings of large polygonal domains and find the GUE–eigenvalues distribution in the limit. We also investigate similar behavior for Alternating Sign Matrices (equivalently, six–vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions). Finally, we compute the asymptotic expansion of certain observables in the $O(n=1)$ dense loop model.
Combinatorics of non-ambiguous trees
This article investigates combinatorial properties of non-ambiguous trees. These objects we define may be seen either as binary trees drawn on a grid with some constraints, or as a subset of the tree-like tableaux previously defined by Aval, Boussicault and Nadeau. The enumeration of non-ambiguous trees satisfying some additional constraints allows us to give elegant combinatorial proofs of identities due to Carlitz, and to Ehrenborg and Steingrímsson. We also provide a hook formula to count the number of non-ambiguous trees with a given underlying tree. Finally, we use non-ambiguous trees to describe a very natural bijection between parallelogram polyominoes and binary trees.
Network parameterizations for the Grassmannian
Deodhar introduced his decomposition of partial flag varieties as a tool for understanding Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials. The Deodhar decomposition of the Grassmannian is also useful in the context of soliton solutions to the KP equation, as shown by Kodama and the second author. Deodhar components $S_D$ of the Grassmannian are in bijection with certain tableaux $D$ called $\textit{Go-diagrams}$, and each component is isomorphic to $(\mathbb{K}^*)^a ×\mathbb{K})^b$ for some non-negative integers $a$ and $b$. Our main result is an explicit parameterization of each Deodhar component in the Grassmannian in terms of networks. More specifically, from a Go-diagram $D$ we construct a weighted network $N_D$ and its $\textit{weight matrix}$ $W_D$, whose entries enumerate directed paths in $N_D$. By letting the weights in the network vary over $\mathbb{K}$ or $\mathbb{K} ^*$ as appropriate, one gets a parametrization of the Deodhar component $S_D$. One application of such a parametrization is that one may immediately determine which Plücker coordinates are vanishing and nonvanishing, by using the Lindstrom-Gessel-Viennot Lemma. We also give a (minimal) characterization of each Deodhar component in terms of Plücker coordinates.
Cuts and Flows of Cell Complexes
We study the vector spaces and integer lattices of cuts and flows of an arbitrary finite CW complex, and their relationships to its critical group and related invariants. Our results extend the theory of cuts and flows in graphs, in particular the work of Bacher, de la Harpe and Nagnibeda. We construct explicit bases for the cut and flow spaces, interpret their coefficients topologically, and describe sufficient conditions for them to be integral bases of the cut and flow lattices. Second, we determine the precise relationships between the discriminant groups of the cut and flow lattices and the higher critical and cocritical groups; these are expressed as short exact sequences with error terms corresponding to torsion (co)homology. As an application, we generalize a result of Kotani and Sunada to give bounds for the complexity, girth, and connectivity of a complex in terms of Hermite's constant.
Denominator vectors and compatibility degrees in cluster algebras of finite type
We present two simple descriptions of the denominator vectors of the cluster variables of a cluster algebra of finite type, with respect to any initial cluster seed: one in terms of the compatibility degrees between almost positive roots defined by S. Fomin and A. Zelevinsky, and the other in terms of the root function of a certain subword complex. These descriptions only rely on linear algebra, and provide simple proofs of the known fact that the $d$-vector of any non-initial cluster variable with respect to any initial cluster seed has non-negative entries and is different from zero.
Descent sets for oscillating tableaux
The descent set of an oscillating (or up-down) tableau is introduced. This descent set plays the same role in the representation theory of the symplectic groups as the descent set of a standard tableau plays in the representation theory of the general linear groups. In particular, we show that the descent set is preserved by Sundaram's correspondence. This gives a direct combinatorial interpretation of the branching rules for the defining representations of the symplectic groups; equivalently, for the Frobenius character of the action of a symmetric group on an isotypic subspace in a tensor power of the defining representation of a symplectic group.
Double-dimers and the hexahedron recurrence
We define and study a recurrence relation in $\mathbb{Z}^3$, called the hexahedron recurrence, which is similar to the octahedron recurrence (Hirota bilinear difference equation) and cube recurrence (Miwa equation). Like these examples, solutions to the hexahedron recurrence are partition functions for configurations on a certain graph, and have a natural interpretation in terms of cluster algebras. We give an explicit correspondence between monomials in the Laurent expansions arising in the recurrence with certain double-dimer configurations of a graph. We compute limit shapes for the corresponding double-dimer configurations. The Kashaev difference equation arising in the Ising model star-triangle relation is a special case of the hexahedron recurrence. In particular this reveals the cluster nature underlying the Ising model. The above relation allows us to prove a Laurent phenomenon for the Kashaev difference equation.
Ehrhart $h^*$-vectors of hypersimplices
We consider the Ehrhart $h^*$-vector for the hypersimplex. It is well-known that the sum of the $h_i^*$ is the normalized volume which equals an Eulerian number. The main result is a proof of a conjecture by R. Stanley which gives an interpretation of the $h^*_i$ coefficients in terms of descents and excedances. Our proof is geometric using a careful book-keeping of a shelling of a unimodular triangulation. We generalize this result to other closely related polytopes.
Euler flag enumeration of Whitney stratified spaces
We show the $\mathrm{cd}$-index exists for Whitney stratified manifolds by extending the notion of a graded poset to that of a quasi-graded poset. This is a poset endowed with an order-preserving rank function and a weighted zeta function. This allows us to generalize the classical notion of Eulerianness, and obtain a $\mathrm{cd}$-index in the quasi-graded poset arena. We also extend the semi-suspension operation to that of embedding a complex in the boundary of a higher dimensional ball and study the shelling components of the simplex.
Fully commutative elements and lattice walks
An element of a Coxeter group $W$ is fully commutative if any two of its reduced decompositions are related by a series of transpositions of adjacent commuting generators. These elements were extensively studied by Stembridge in the finite case. In this work we deal with any finite or affine Coxeter group $W$, and we enumerate fully commutative elements according to their Coxeter length. Our approach consists in encoding these elements by various classes of lattice walks, and we then use recursive decompositions of these walks in order to obtain the desired generating functions. In type $A$, this reproves a theorem of Barcucci et al.; in type $\tilde{A}$, it simplifies and refines results of Hanusa and Jones. For all other finite and affine groups, our results are new.
Matroids over a ring
We introduce the notion of a matroid $M$ over a commutative ring $R$, assigning to every subset of the ground set an $R$-module according to some axioms. When $R$ is a field, we recover matroids. When $R=\mathbb{Z}$, and when $R$ is a DVR, we get (structures which contain all the data of) quasi-arithmetic matroids, and valuated matroids, respectively. More generally, whenever $R$ is a Dedekind domain, we extend the usual properties and operations holding for matroids (e.g., duality), and we compute the Tutte-Grothendieck group of matroids over $R$.
Moments of Askey-Wilson polynomials
New formulas for the $n^{\mathrm{th}}$ moment $\mu_n(a,b,c,d;q)$ of the Askey-Wilson polynomials are given. These are derived using analytic techniques, and by considering three combinatorial models for the moments: Motzkin paths, matchings, and staircase tableaux. A related positivity theorem is given and another one is conjectured.
On r-stacked triangulated manifolds
The notion of $r$-stackedness for simplicial polytopes was introduced by McMullen and Walkup in 1971 as a generalization of stacked polytopes. In this paper, we define the $r$-stackedness for triangulated homology manifolds and study their basic properties. In addition, we find a new necessary condition for face vectors of triangulated manifolds when all the vertex links are polytopal.
On Orbits of Order Ideals of Minuscule Posets
An action on order ideals of posets considered by Fon-Der-Flaass is analyzed in the case of posets arising from minuscule representations of complex simple Lie algebras. For these minuscule posets, it is shown that the Fon-Der-Flaass action exhibits the cyclic sieving phenomenon, as defined by Reiner, Stanton, and White. A uniform proof is given by investigation of a bijection due to Stembridge between order ideals of minuscule posets and fully commutative Weyl group elements. This bijection is proven to be equivariant with respect to a conjugate of the Fon-Der-Flaass action and an arbitrary Coxeter element. If $P$ is a minuscule poset, it is shown that the Fon-Der-Flaass action on order ideals of the Cartesian product $P \times [2]$ also exhibits the cyclic sieving phenomenon, only the proof is by appeal to the classification of minuscule posets and is not uniform.
Permutation patterns, Stanley symmetric functions, and the Edelman-Greene correspondence
Generalizing the notion of a vexillary permutation, we introduce a filtration of $S_{\infty}$ by the number of Edelman-Greene tableaux of a permutation, and show that each filtration level is characterized by avoiding a finite set of patterns. In doing so, we show that if $w$ is a permutation containing $v$ as a pattern, then there is an injection from the set of Edelman-Greene tableaux of $v$ to the set of Edelman-Greene tableaux of $w$ which respects inclusion of shapes. We also consider the set of permutations whose Edelman-Greene tableaux have distinct shapes, and show that it is closed under taking patterns.
Poset binomials and rainbow characters
This paper introduces a variation on the binomial coefficient that depends on a poset and interpolates between $q$-binomials and 1-binomials: a total order gives the usual $q$-binomial, and a poset with no relations gives the usual binomial coefficient. These coefficients arise naturally in the study of supercharacters of the finite groups of unipotent upper-triangular matrices, whose representation theory is dictated by the combinatorics of set partitions. In particular, we find a natural set of modules for these groups, whose characters have degrees given by $q$-binomials, and whose decomposition in terms of supercharacters are given by poset binomial coefficients. This results in a non-trivial family of formulas relating poset binomials to the usual $q$-binomials.
Relating Edelman-Greene insertion to the Little map
The Little map and the Edelman-Greene insertion algorithm, a generalization of the Robinson-Schensted correspondence, are both used for enumerating the reduced decompositions of an element of the symmetric group. We show the Little map factors through Edelman-Greene insertion and establish new results about each map as a consequence. In particular, we resolve some conjectures of Lam and Little.
Spanning forests in regular planar maps (conference version)
We address the enumeration of $p$-valent planar maps equipped with a spanning forest, with a weight $z$ per face and a weight $u$ per component of the forest. Equivalently, we count regular maps equipped with a spanning tree, with a weight $z$ per face and a weight $\mu:=u+1$ per internally active edge, in the sense of Tutte. This enumeration problem corresponds to the limit $q \rightarrow 0$ of the $q$-state Potts model on the (dual) $p$-angulations. Our approach is purely combinatorial. The generating function, denoted by $F(z,u)$, is expressed in terms of a pair of series defined by an implicit system involving doubly hypergeometric functions. We derive from this system that $F(z,u)$ is $\textit{differentially algebraic}$, that is, satisfies a differential equation (in $z$) with polynomial coefficients in $z$ and $u$. This has recently been proved for the more general Potts model on 3-valent maps, but via a much more involved and less combinatorial proof. For $u \geq -1$, we study the singularities of $F(z,u)$ and the corresponding asymptotic behaviour of its $n^{\mathrm{th}}$ coefficient. For $u > 0$, we find the standard asymptotic behaviour of planar maps, with a subexponential factor $n^{-5/2}$. At $u=0$ we witness a phase transition with a factor $n^{-3}$. When $u \in[-1,0)$, we obtain an extremely unusual behaviour in $n^{-3}/(\log n)^2$. To our knowledge, this is a new ''universality class'' of planar maps.
Structure and enumeration of $(3+1)$-free posets (extended abstract)
A poset is $(3+1)$-free if it does not contain the disjoint union of chains of length 3 and 1 as an induced subposet. These posets are the subject of the $(3+1)$-free conjecture of Stanley and Stembridge. Recently, Lewis and Zhang have enumerated $\textit{graded}$ $(3+1)$-free posets, but until now the general enumeration problem has remained open. We enumerate all $(3+1)$-free posets by giving a decomposition into bipartite graphs, and obtain generating functions for $(3+1)$-free posets with labelled or unlabelled vertices.
Immaculate basis of the non-commutative symmetric functions
We introduce a new basis of the non-commutative symmetric functions whose elements have Schur functions as their commutative images. Dually, we build a basis of the quasi-symmetric functions which expand positively in the fundamental quasi-symmetric functions and decompose Schur functions according to a signed combinatorial formula.
The module of affine descents
The goal of this paper is to introduce an algebraic structure on the space spanned by affine descent classes of a Weyl group, by analogy and in relation to the structure carried by ordinary descent classes. The latter classes span a subalgebra of the group algebra, Solomon's descent algebra. We show that the former span a left module over this algebra. The structure is obtained from geometric considerations involving hyperplane arrangements. We provide a combinatorial model for the case of the symmetric group.
Partition algebra and Kronecker product
We propose a new approach to study the Kronecker coefficients by using the Schur–Weyl duality between the symmetric group and the partition algebra.
Transition matrices for symmetric and quasisymmetric Hall-Littlewood polynomials
We introduce explicit combinatorial interpretations for the coefficients in some of the transition matrices relating to skew Hall-Littlewood polynomials $P_{\lambda / \mu}(x;t)$ and Hivert's quasisymmetric Hall-Littlewood polynomials $G_{\gamma}(x;t)$. More specifically, we provide the following: 1. $G_{\gamma}$-expansions of the $P_{\lambda}$, the monomial quasisymmetric functions, and Gessel's fundamental quasisymmetric functions $F_{\alpha}$, and 2. an expansion of the $P_{\lambda / \mu}$ in terms of the $F_{\alpha}$. The $F_{\alpha}$ expansion of the $P_{\lambda / \mu}$ is facilitated by introducing the set of $\textit{starred tableaux}$. In the full version of the article we also provide $G_{\gamma}$-expansions of the quasisymmetric Schur functions and the peak quasisymmetric functions of Stembridge.
Type $A$ molecules are Kazhdan-Lusztig
Let $(W, S)$ be a Coxeter system. A $W$-graph is an encoding of a representation of the corresponding Iwahori-Hecke algebra. Especially important examples include the $W$-graph corresponding to the action of the Iwahori-Hecke algebra on the Kazhdan-Lusztig basis as well as this graph's strongly connected components (cells). In 2008, Stembridge identified some common features of the Kazhdan-Lusztig graphs ("admissibility'') and gave combinatorial rules for detecting admissible $W$-graphs. He conjectured, and checked up to $n=9$, that all admissible $A_n$-cells are Kazhdan-Lusztig cells. The current paper provides a possible first step toward a proof of the conjecture. More concretely, we prove that the connected subgraphs of $A_n$-cells consisting of simple (i.e. directed both ways) edges do fit into the Kazhdan-Lusztig cells.
Cyclic Sieving of Increasing Tableaux
An $\textit{increasing tableau}$ is a semistandard tableau with strictly increasing rows and columns. It is well known that the Catalan numbers enumerate both rectangular standard Young tableaux of two rows and also Dyck paths. We generalize this to a bijection between rectangular 2-row increasing tableaux and small Schröder paths. Using the jeu de taquin for increasing tableaux of [Thomas–Yong '09], we then present a new instance of the cyclic sieving phenomenon of [Reiner–Stanton–White '04].
Schubert polynomials and $k$-Schur functions (Extended abstract)
The main purpose of this paper is to show that the multiplication of a Schubert polynomial of finite type $A$ by a Schur function can be understood from the multiplication in the space of dual $k$-Schur functions. Using earlier work by the second author, we encode both problems by means of quasisymmetric functions. On the Schubert vs. Schur side, we study the $r$-Bruhat order given by Bergeron-Sottile, along with certain operators associated to this order. On the other side, we connect this poset with a graph on dual $k$-Schur functions given by studying the affine grassmannian order of Lam-Lapointe-Morse-Shimozono. Also, we define operators associated to the graph on dual $k$-Schur functions which are analogous to the ones given for the Schubert vs. Schur problem.
Gog, Magog and Schützenberger II: left trapezoids
We are interested in finding an explicit bijection between two families of combinatorial objects: Gog and Magog triangles. These two families are particular classes of Gelfand-Tsetlin triangles and are respectively in bijection with alternating sign matrices (ASM) and totally symmetric self complementary plane partitions (TSSCPP). For this purpose, we introduce left Gog and GOGAm trapezoids. We conjecture that these two families of trapezoids are equienumerated and we give an explicit bijection between the trapezoids with one or two diagonals.
The explicit molecular expansion of the combinatorial logarithm
Just as the power series of $\log (1+X)$ is the analytical substitutional inverse of the series of $\exp (X)-1$, the (virtual) combinatorial species, $\mathrm{Lg} (1+X)$, is the combinatorial substitutional inverse of the combinatorial species, $E(X)-1$, of non-empty finite sets. This $\textit{combinatorial logarithm}$, $\mathrm{Lg} (1+X)$, has been introduced by A. Joyal in 1986 by making use of an iterative scheme. Given a species $F(X)$ (with $F(0)=1$), one of its main applications is to express the species, $F^{\mathrm{c}}(X)$, of $\textit{connected}$ $F$-structures through the formula $F{\mathrm{c}} = \mathrm{Lg} (F) = \mathrm{Lg} (1+F_+)$ where $F_+$ denotes the species of non-empty $F$-structures. Since its creation, equivalent descriptions of the combinatorial logarithm have been given by other combinatorialists (G. L., I. Gessel, J. Li), but its exact decomposition into irreducible components (molecular expansion) remained unclear. The main goal of the present work is to fill this gap by computing explicitly the molecular expansion of the combinatorial logarithm and of $-\mathrm{Lg}(1-X)$, a "cousin'' of the tensorial species, $\mathrm{Lie}(X)$, of free Lie algebras.
On the Spectra of Simplicial Rook Graphs
The $\textit{simplicial rook graph}$ $SR(d,n)$ is the graph whose vertices are the lattice points in the $n$th dilate of the standard simplex in $\mathbb{R}^d$, with two vertices adjacent if they differ in exactly two coordinates. We prove that the adjacency and Laplacian matrices of $SR(3,n)$ have integral spectra for every $n$. We conjecture that $SR(d,n)$ is integral for all $d$ and $n$, and give a geometric construction of almost all eigenvectors in terms of characteristic vectors of lattice permutohedra. For $n \leq \binom{d}{2}$, we give an explicit construction of smallest-weight eigenvectors in terms of rook placements on Ferrers diagrams. The number of these eigenvectors appears to satisfy a Mahonian distribution.
Interpolation, box splines, and lattice points in zonotopes
Given a finite list of vectors $X \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$, one can define the box spline $B_X$. Box splines are piecewise polynomial functions that are used in approximation theory. They are also interesting from a combinatorial point of view and many of their properties solely depend on the structure of the matroid defined by the list $X$. The support of the box spline is the zonotope $Z(X)$. We show that if the list $X$ is totally unimodular, any real-valued function defined on the set of lattice points in the interior of $Z(X)$ can be extended to a function on $Z(X)$ of the form $p(D)B_X$ in a unique way, where $p(D)$ is a differential operator that is contained in the so-called internal $\mathcal{P}$-space. This was conjectured by Olga Holtz and Amos Ron. We also point out connections between this interpolation problem and matroid theory, including a deletion-contraction decomposition.
Renormalization group-like proof of the universality of the Tutte polynomial for matroids
In this paper we give a new proof of the universality of the Tutte polynomial for matroids. This proof uses appropriate characters of Hopf algebra of matroids, algebra introduced by Schmitt (1994). We show that these Hopf algebra characters are solutions of some differential equations which are of the same type as the differential equations used to describe the renormalization group flow in quantum field theory. This approach allows us to also prove, in a different way, a matroid Tutte polynomial convolution formula published by Kook, Reiner and Stanton (1999). This FPSAC contribution is an extended abstract.
On some generalized $q$-Eulerian polynomials
The $(q,r)$-Eulerian polynomials are the $(\mathrm{maj-exc, fix, exc})$ enumerative polynomials of permutations. Using Shareshian and Wachs' exponential generating function of these Eulerian polynomials, Chung and Graham proved two symmetrical $q$-Eulerian identities and asked for bijective proofs. We provide such proofs using Foata and Han's three-variable statistic $(\mathrm{inv-lec, pix, lec})$. We also prove a new recurrence formula for the $(q,r)$-Eulerian polynomials and study a $q$-analogue of Chung and Graham's restricted Eulerian polynomials. In particular, we obtain a symmetrical identity for these restricted $q$-Eulerian polynomials with a combinatorial proof.
On a Classification of Smooth Fano Polytopes
The $d$-dimensional simplicial, terminal, and reflexive polytopes with at least $3d-2$ vertices are classified. In particular, it turns out that all of them are smooth Fano polytopes. This improves previous results of Casagrande (2006) and Øbro (2008). Smooth Fano polytopes play a role in algebraic geometry and mathematical physics. This text is an extended abstract of Assarf et al. (2012).
Counting smaller trees in the Tamari order
We introduce new combinatorial objects, the interval-posets, that encode intervals of the Tamari lattice. We then find a combinatorial interpretation of the bilinear form that appears in the functional equation of Tamari intervals described by Chapoton. Thus, we retrieve this functional equation and prove that the polynomial recursively computed from the bilinear form on each tree $T$ counts the number of trees smaller than $T$ in the Tamari order.
PreLie-decorated hypertrees
Weighted hypertrees have been used by C. Jensen, J. McCammond, and J. Meier to compute some Euler characteristics in group theory. We link them to decorated hypertrees and 2-coloured rooted trees. After the enumeration of pointed and non-pointed types of decorated hypertrees, we compute the character for the action of the symmetric group on these hypertrees.
Adinkras for Mathematicians
$\textit{Adinkras}$ are graphical tools created for the study of supersymmetry representations. Besides having inherent interest for physicists, the study of adinkras has already shown connections with coding theory and Clifford algebras. Furthermore, adinkras offer many natural and accessible mathematical problems of combinatorial nature. We present the foundations for a mathematical audience, make new connections to other fields (homological algebra, poset theory, and polytopes), and solve some of these problems. Original results include the enumeration of all hypercube adinkras through dimension 5, the enumeration of odd dashings of adinkras for any dimension, and a connection between rankings and the chromatic polynomial for certain graphs.
Generation modulo the action of a permutation group
Originally motivated by algebraic invariant theory, we present an algorithm to enumerate integer vectors modulo the action of a permutation group. This problem generalizes the generation of unlabeled graph up to an isomorphism. In this paper, we present the full development of a generation engine by describing the related theory, establishing a mathematical and practical complexity, and exposing some benchmarks. We next show two applications to effective invariant theory and effective Galois theory.
Balanced labellings of affine permutations
We study the $\textit{diagrams}$ of affine permutations and their $\textit{balanced}$ labellings. As in the finite case, which was investigated by Fomin, Greene, Reiner, and Shimozono, the balanced labellings give a natural encoding of reduced decompositions of affine permutations. In fact, we show that the sum of weight monomials of the $\textit{column strict}$ balanced labellings is the affine Stanley symmetric function defined by Lam and we give a simple algorithm to recover reduced words from balanced labellings. Applying this theory, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for a diagram to be an affine permutation diagram. Finally, we conjecture that if two affine permutations are $\textit{diagram equivalent}$ then their affine Stanley symmetric functions coincide.
The probability of planarity of a random graph near the critical point
Erdős and Rényi conjectured in 1960 that the limiting probability $p$ that a random graph with $n$ vertices and $M=n/2$ edges is planar exists. It has been shown that indeed p exists and is a constant strictly between 0 and 1. In this paper we answer completely this long standing question by finding an exact expression for this probability, whose approximate value turns out to be $p ≈0.99780$. More generally, we compute the probability of planarity at the critical window of width $n^{2/3}$ around the critical point $M=n/2$. We extend these results to some classes of graphs closed under taking minors. As an example, we show that the probability of being series-parallel converges to 0.98003. Our proofs rely on exploiting the structure of random graphs in the critical window, obtained previously by Janson, Łuczak and Wierman, by means of generating functions and analytic methods. This is a striking example of how analytic combinatorics can be applied to classical problems on random graphs.
A bijection between permutations and a subclass of TSSCPPs
We define a subclass of totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions (TSSCPPs) which we show is in direct bijection with permutation matrices. This bijection maps the inversion number of the permutation, the position of the 1 in the last column, and the position of the 1 in the last row to natural statistics on these TSSCPPs. We also discuss the possible extension of this approach to finding a bijection between alternating sign matrices and all TSSCPPs. Finally, we remark on a new poset structure on TSSCPPs arising from this perspective which is a distributive lattice when restricted to permutation TSSCPPs.
Algebraic properties for some permutation statistics
In this article, we study some quotient sets on permutations built from peaks, valleys, double rises and double descents. One part is dedicated to the enumeration of the cosets using the bijection of Francon-Viennot which is a bijection between permutations and the so-called Laguerre histories. Then we study the algebraic properties of these quotient sets. After having shown that some of them give rise to quotient algebras of $\mathbf{FQSym}$, we prove that they are also free.
Some simple varieties of trees arising in permutation analysis
After extending classical results on simple varieties of trees to trees counted by their number of leaves, we describe a filtration of the set of permutations based on their strong interval trees. For each subclass we provide asymptotic formulas for number of trees (by leaves), average number of nodes of fixed arity, average subtree size sum, and average number of internal nodes. The filtration is motivated by genome comparison of related species.
Gelfand Models for Diagram Algebras
A Gelfand model for a semisimple algebra $\mathsf{A}$ over $\mathbb{C}$ is a complex linear representation that contains each irreducible representation of $\mathsf{A}$ with multiplicity exactly one. We give a method of constructing these models that works uniformly for a large class of combinatorial diagram algebras including: the partition, Brauer, rook monoid, rook-Brauer, Temperley-Lieb, Motzkin, and planar rook monoid algebras. In each case, the model representation is given by diagrams acting via ``signed conjugation" on the linear span of their vertically symmetric diagrams. This representation is a generalization of the Saxl model for the symmetric group, and, in fact, our method is to use the Jones basic construction to lift the Saxl model from the symmetric group to each diagram algebra. In the case of the planar diagram algebras, our construction exactly produces the irreducible representations of the algebra.
The combinatorics of CAT(0) cubical complexes
Given a reconfigurable system $X$, such as a robot moving on a grid or a set of particles traversing a graph without colliding, the possible positions of $X$ naturally form a cubical complex $\mathcal{S}(X)$. When $\mathcal{S}(X)$ is a CAT(0) space, we can explicitly construct the shortest path between any two points, for any of the four most natural metrics: distance, time, number of moves, and number of steps of simultaneous moves. CAT(0) cubical complexes are in correspondence with posets with inconsistent pairs (PIPs), so we can prove that a state complex $\mathcal{S}(X)$ is CAT(0) by identifying the corresponding PIP. We illustrate this very general strategy with one known and one new example: Abrams and Ghrist's ``positive robotic arm" on a square grid, and the robotic arm in a strip. We then use the PIP as a combinatorial ``remote control" to move these robots efficiently from one position to another.
The Robinson―Schensted Correspondence and $A_2$-webs
The $A_2$-spider category encodes the representation theory of the $sl_3$ quantum group. Kuperberg (1996) introduced a combinatorial version of this category, wherein morphisms are represented by planar graphs called $\textit{webs}$ and the subset of $\textit{reduced webs}$ forms bases for morphism spaces. A great deal of recent interest has focused on the combinatorics of invariant webs for tensors powers of $V^+$, the standard representation of the quantum group. In particular, the invariant webs for the 3$n$th tensor power of $V^+$ correspond bijectively to $[n,n,n]$ standard Young tableaux. Kuperberg originally defined this map in terms of a graphical algorithm, and subsequent papers of Khovanov–Kuperberg (1999) and Tymoczko (2012) introduce algorithms for computing the inverse. The main result of this paper is a redefinition of Kuperberg's map through the representation theory of the symmetric group. In the classical limit, the space of invariant webs carries a symmetric group action. We use this structure in conjunction with Vogan's generalized tau-invariant and Kazhdan–Lusztig theory to show that Kuperberg's map is a direct analogue of the Robinson–Schensted correspondence.
Extending the parking space
The action of the symmetric group $S_n$ on the set $\mathrm{Park}_n$ of parking functions of size $n$ has received a great deal of attention in algebraic combinatorics. We prove that the action of $S_n$ on $\mathrm{Park}_n$ extends to an action of $S_{n+1}$. More precisely, we construct a graded $S_{n+1}$-module $V_n$ such that the restriction of $V_n$ to $S_n$ is isomorphic to $\mathrm{Park}_n$. We describe the $S_n$-Frobenius characters of the module $V_n$ in all degrees and describe the $S_{n+1}$-Frobenius characters of $V_n$ in extreme degrees. We give a bivariate generalization $V_n^{(\ell, m)}$ of our module $V_n$ whose representation theory is governed by a bivariate generalization of Dyck paths. A Fuss generalization of our results is a special case of this bivariate generalization.
Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials of boolean elements
We give closed combinatorial product formulas for Kazhdan–Lusztig poynomials and their parabolic analogue of type $q$ in the case of boolean elements, introduced in [M. Marietti, Boolean elements in Kazhdan–Lusztig theory, J. Algebra 295 (2006)], in Coxeter groups whose Coxeter graph is a tree. Such formulas involve Catalan numbers and use a combinatorial interpretation of the Coxeter graph of the group. In the case of classical Weyl groups, this combinatorial interpretation can be restated in terms of statistics of (signed) permutations. As an application of the formulas, we compute the intersection homology Poincaré polynomials of the Schubert varieties of boolean elements.
Asymptotic properties of some minor-closed classes of graphs (conference version)
Let $\mathcal{A}$ be a minor-closed class of labelled graphs, and let $G_n$ be a random graph sampled uniformly from the set of n-vertex graphs of $\mathcal{A}$. When $n$ is large, what is the probability that $G_n$ is connected? How many components does it have? How large is its biggest component? Thanks to the work of McDiarmid and his collaborators, these questions are now solved when all excluded minors are 2-connected. Using exact enumeration, we study a collection of classes $\mathcal{A}$ excluding non-2-connected minors, and show that their asymptotic behaviour is sometimes rather different from the 2-connected case. This behaviour largely depends on the nature of the dominant singularity of the generating function $C(z)$ that counts connected graphs of $\mathcal{A}$. We classify our examples accordingly, thus taking a first step towards a classification of minor-closed classes of graphs. Furthermore, we investigate a parameter that has not received any attention in this context yet: the size of the root component. This follows non-gaussian limit laws (beta and gamma), and clearly deserves a systematic investigation.
EL-labelings and canonical spanning trees for subword complexes
We describe edge labelings of the increasing flip graph of a subword complex on a finite Coxeter group, and study applications thereof. On the one hand, we show that they provide canonical spanning trees of the facet-ridge graph of the subword complex, describe inductively these trees, and present their close relations to greedy facets. Searching these trees yields an efficient algorithm to generate all facets of the subword complex, which extends the greedy flip algorithm for pointed pseudotriangulations. On the other hand, when the increasing flip graph is a Hasse diagram, we show that the edge labeling is indeed an EL-labeling and derive further combinatorial properties of paths in the increasing flip graph. These results apply in particular to Cambrian lattices, in which case a similar EL-labeling was recently studied by M. Kallipoliti and H. Mühle.
A $q,t-$analogue of Narayana numbers
We study the statistics $\mathsf{area}$, $\mathsf{bounce}$ and $\mathsf{dinv}$ associated to polyominoes in a rectangular box $m$ times $n$. We show that the bi-statistics ($\mathsf{area}$,$\mathsf{bounce}$) and ($\mathsf{area}$,$\mathsf{dinv}$) give rise to the same $q,t-$analogue of Narayana numbers, which was introduced by two of these authors in a recent paper. We prove the main conjectures of that same work, i.e. the symmetries in $q$ and $t$, and in $m$ and $n$ of these polynomials, by providing a symmetric functions interpretation which relates them to the famous diagonal harmonics.
The critical surface fugacity for self-avoiding walks on a rotated honeycomb lattice
In a recent paper with Bousquet-Mélou, de Gier, Duminil-Copin and Guttmann (2012), we proved that a model of self-avoiding walks on the honeycomb lattice, interacting with an impenetrable surface, undergoes an adsorption phase transition when the surface fugacity is 1+√2. Our proof used a generalisation of an identity obtained by Duminil-Copin and Smirnov (2012), and confirmed a conjecture of Batchelor and Yung (1995). Here we consider a similar model of self-avoiding walk adsorption on the honeycomb lattice, but with the impenetrable surface placed at a right angle to the previous orientation. For this model there also exists a conjecture for the critical surface fugacity, made by Batchelor, Bennett-Wood and Owczarek (1998). We adapt the methods of the earlier paper to this setting in order to prove the critical surface fugacity, but have to deal with several subtle complications which arise. This article is an abbreviated version of a paper of the same title, currently being prepared for submission.
Generalized monotone triangles
In a recent work, the combinatorial interpretation of the polynomial $\alpha (n; k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_n)$ counting the number of Monotone Triangles with bottom row $k_1 < k_2 < ⋯< k_n$ was extended to weakly decreasing sequences $k_1 ≥k_2 ≥⋯≥k_n$. In this case the evaluation of the polynomial is equal to a signed enumeration of objects called Decreasing Monotone Triangles. In this paper we define Generalized Monotone Triangles – a joint generalization of both ordinary Monotone Triangles and Decreasing Monotone Triangles. As main result of the paper we prove that the evaluation of $\alpha (n; k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_n)$ at arbitrary $(k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_n) ∈ \mathbb{Z}^n$ is a signed enumeration of Generalized Monotone Triangles with bottom row $(k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_n)$. Computational experiments indicate that certain evaluations of the polynomial at integral sequences yield well-known round numbers related to Alternating Sign Matrices. The main result provides a combinatorial interpretation of the conjectured identities and could turn out useful in giving bijective proofs.
On the ranks of configurations on the complete graph
We consider the parameter rank introduced for graph configurations by M. Baker and S. Norine. We focus on complete graphs and obtain an efficient algorithm to determine the rank for these graphs. The analysis of this algorithm leads to the definition of a parameter on Dyck words, which we call prerank. We prove that the distribution of area and prerank on Dyck words of given length $2n$ leads to a polynomial with variables $q,t$ which is symmetric in these variables. This polynomial is different from the $q,t-$Catalan polynomial studied by A. Garsia, J. Haglund and M. Haiman.
Operators of equivalent sorting power and related Wilf-equivalences
We study sorting operators $\textrm{A}$ on permutations that are obtained composing Knuth's stack sorting operator \textrmS and the reverse operator $\textrm{R}$, as many times as desired. For any such operator $\textrm{A}$, we provide a bijection between the set of permutations sorted by $\textrm{S} \circ \textrm{A}$ and the set of those sorted by $\textrm{S} \circ \textrm{R} \circ \textrm{A}$, proving that these sets are enumerated by the same sequence, but also that many classical permutation statistics are equidistributed across these two sets. The description of this family of bijections is based on an apparently novel bijection between the set of permutations avoiding the pattern $231$ and the set of those avoiding $132$ which preserves many permutation statistics. We also present other properties of this bijection, in particular for finding families of Wilf-equivalent permutation classes.
Pattern-avoiding Dyck paths
We introduce the notion of $\textit{pattern}$ in the context of lattice paths, and investigate it in the specific case of Dyck paths. Similarly to the case of permutations, the pattern-containment relation defines a poset structure on the set of all Dyck paths, which we call the $\textit{Dyck pattern poset}$. Given a Dyck path $P$, we determine a formula for the number of Dyck paths covered by $P$, as well as for the number of Dyck paths covering $P$. We then address some typical pattern-avoidance issues, enumerating some classes of pattern-avoiding Dyck paths. Finally, we offer a conjecture concerning the asymptotic behavior of the sequence counting Dyck paths avoiding a generic pattern and we pose a series of open problems regarding the structure of the Dyck pattern poset.
The unreasonable ubiquitousness of quasi-polynomials
A function $g$, with domain the natural numbers, is a quasi-polynomial if there exists a period $m$ and polynomials $p_0,p_1,\ldots,p_m-1$ such that $g(t)=p_i(t)$ for $t\equiv i\bmod m$. Quasi-polynomials classically – and ``reasonably'' – appear in Ehrhart theory and in other contexts where one examines a family of polyhedra, parametrized by a variable t, and defined by linear inequalities of the form $a_1x_1+⋯+a_dx_d≤ b(t)$. Recent results of Chen, Li, Sam; Calegari, Walker; and Roune, Woods show a quasi-polynomial structure in several problems where the $a_i$ are also allowed to vary with $t$. We discuss these ``unreasonable'' results and conjecture a general class of sets that exhibit various (eventual) quasi-polynomial behaviors: sets $S_t$ that are defined with quantifiers $(\forall , ∃)$, boolean operations (and, or, not), and statements of the form $a_1(t)x_1+⋯+a_d(t)x_d ≤ b(t)$, where $a_i(t)$ and $b(t)$ are polynomials in $t$. These sets are a generalization of sets defined in the Presburger arithmetic. We prove several relationships between our conjectures, and we prove several special cases of the conjectures.
Gale-Robinson Sequences and Brane Tilings
We study variants of Gale-Robinson sequences, as motivated by cluster algebras with principal coefficients. For such cases, we give combinatorial interpretations of cluster variables using brane tilings, as from the physics literature.
A generalization of Mehta-Wang determinant and Askey-Wilson polynomials
Motivated by the Gaussian symplectic ensemble, Mehta and Wang evaluated the $n×n$ determinant $\det ((a+j-i)Γ (b+j+i))$ in 2000. When $a=0$, Ciucu and Krattenthaler computed the associated Pfaffian $\mathrm{Pf}((j-i)Γ (b+j+i))$ with an application to the two dimensional dimer system in 2011. Recently we have generalized the latter Pfaffian formula with a $q$-analogue by replacing the Gamma function by the moment sequence of the little $q$-Jacobi polynomials. On the other hand, Nishizawa has found a q-analogue of the Mehta–Wang formula. Our purpose is to generalize both the Mehta-Wang and Nishizawa formulae by using the moment sequence of the little $q$-Jacobi polynomials. It turns out that the corresponding determinant can be evaluated explicitly in terms of the Askey-Wilson polynomials.
Cycles and sorting index for matchings and restricted permutations
We prove that the Mahonian-Stirling pairs of permutation statistics $(sor, cyc)$ and $(∈v , \mathrm{rlmin})$ are equidistributed on the set of permutations that correspond to arrangements of $n$ non-atacking rooks on a fixed Ferrers board with $n$ rows and $n$ columns. The proofs are combinatorial and use bijections between matchings and Dyck paths and a new statistic, sorting index for matchings, that we define. We also prove a refinement of this equidistribution result which describes the minimal elements in the permutation cycles and the right-to-left minimum letters.
Arc-Coloured Permutations
The equidistribution of many crossing and nesting statistics exists in several combinatorial objects like matchings, set partitions, permutations, and embedded labelled graphs. The involutions switching nesting and crossing numbers for set partitions given by Krattenthaler, also by Chen, Deng, Du, Stanley, and Yan, and for permutations given by Burrill, Mishna, and Post involved passing through tableau-like objects. Recently, Chen and Guo for matchings, and Marberg for set partitions extended the result to coloured arc annotated diagrams. We prove that symmetric joint distribution continues to hold for arc-coloured permutations. As in Marberg's recent work, but through a different interpretation, we also conclude that the ordinary generating functions for all j-noncrossing, k-nonnesting, r-coloured permutations according to size n are rational functions. We use the interpretation to automate the generation of these rational series for both noncrossing and nonnesting coloured set partitions and permutations.otherlanguage* french L'équidistribution de plusieurs statistiques décrites en termes d'emboitements et de chevauchements d'arcs s'observes dans plusieurs familles d'objects combinatoires, tels que les couplages, partitions d'ensembles, permutations et graphes étiquetés. L'involution échangeant le nombre d'emboitements et de chevauchements dans les partitions d'ensemble due à Krattenthaler, et aussi Chen, Deng, Du, Stanley et Yan, et l'involution […]
Number of standard strong marked tableaux
Many results involving Schur functions have analogues involving $k-$Schur functions. Standard strong marked tableaux play a role for $k-$Schur functions similar to the role standard Young tableaux play for Schur functions. We discuss results and conjectures toward an analogue of the hook length formula.
Periodic Patterns of Signed Shifts
The periodic patterns of a map are the permutations realized by the relative order of the points in its periodic orbits. We give a combinatorial description of the periodic patterns of an arbitrary signed shift, in terms of the structure of the descent set of a certain transformation of the pattern. Signed shifts are an important family of one-dimensional dynamical systems. For particular types of signed shifts, namely shift maps, reverse shift maps, and the tent map, we give exact enumeration formulas for their periodic patterns. As a byproduct of our work, we recover some results of Gessel and Reutenauer and obtain new results on the enumeration of pattern-avoiding cycles.
Divisors on graphs, Connected flags, and Syzygies
We study the binomial and monomial ideals arising from linear equivalence of divisors on graphs from the point of view of Gröbner theory. We give an explicit description of a minimal Gröbner basis for each higher syzygy module. In each case the given minimal Gröbner basis is also a minimal generating set. The Betti numbers of $I_G$ and its initial ideal (with respect to a natural term order) coincide and they correspond to the number of ``connected flags'' in $G$. Moreover, the Betti numbers are independent of the characteristic of the base field.
Counting strings over $\mathbb{Z}2^d$ with Given Elementary Symmetric Function Evaluations
Let $\alpha$ be a string over $\mathbb{Z}_q$, where $q = 2^d$. The $j$-th elementary symmetric function evaluated at $\alpha$ is denoted $e_j(\alpha)$ . We study the cardinalities $S_q(m;\mathcal{T} _1,\mathcal{T} _2,\ldots,\mathcal{T} _t)$ of the set of length $m$ strings for which $e_j(\alpha) = \tau _i$. The $\textit{profile}$ k$(\alpha) = ⟨k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_(q-1) ⟩$ of a string $\alpha$ is the sequence of frequencies with which each letter occurs. The profile of $\alpha$ determines $e_j(\alpha)$ , and hence $S_q$. Let $h_n$ : $\mathbb{Z}_{2^{n+d-1}}^{(q-1)}$ $\mapsto \mathbb{Z}_{2^d} [z] $ mod $ z^{2^n}$ be the map that takes k$(\alpha)$ mod $2^{n+d-1}$ to the polynomial $1+ e_1(\alpha) z + e_2(\alpha) z^2 + ⋯+ e_{2^n-1}(\alpha)$ $z^{2^{n-1}}$. We show that $h_n$ is a group homomorphism and establish necessary conditions for membership in the kernel for fixed $d$. The kernel is determined for $d$ = 2,3. The range of $h_n$ is described for $d$ = 2. These results are used to efficiently compute $S_4(m;\mathcal{T} _1,\mathcal{T} _2,\ldots,\mathcal{T} _t)$ for $d$ = 2 and the number of complete factorizations of certain polynomials.
Patterns in matchings and rook placements
Extending the notion of pattern avoidance in permutations, we study matchings and set partitions whose arc diagram representation avoids a given configuration of three arcs. These configurations, which generalize 3-crossings and 3-nestings, have an interpretation, in the case of matchings, in terms of patterns in full rook placements on Ferrers boards. We enumerate 312-avoiding matchings and partitions, obtaining algebraic generating functions, unlike in the 321-avoiding (i.e., 3-noncrossing) case. Our approach also provides a more direct proof of a formula of Bóna for the number of 1342-avoiding permutations. Additionally, we give a bijection proving the shape-Wilf-equivalence of the patterns 321 and 213 which simplifies existing proofs by Backelin–West–Xin and Jelínek.
Dual Equivalence Graphs Revisited
In 2007 Sami Assaf introduced dual equivalence graphs as a method for demonstrating that a quasisymmetric function is Schur positive. The method involves the creation of a graph whose vertices are weighted by Ira Gessel's fundamental quasisymmetric functions so that the sum of the weights of a connected component is a single Schur function. In this paper, we improve on Assaf's axiomatization of such graphs, giving locally testable criteria that are more easily verified by computers. We then demonstrate the utility of this result by giving explicit Schur expansions for a family of Lascoux-Leclerc-Thibon polynomials. This family properly contains the previously known case of polynomials indexed by two skew shapes, as was described in a 1995 paper by Christophe Carré and Bernard Leclerc. As an immediate corollary, we gain an explicit Schur expansion for a family of modified Macdonald polynomials in terms of Yamanouchi words. This family includes all polynomials indexed by shapes with less than four cells in the first row and strictly less than three cells in the second row, a slight improvement over the known two column case described in 2005 by James Haglund, Mark Haiman, and Nick Loehr.
Rational Catalan Combinatorics: The Associahedron
Each positive rational number $x>0$ can be written $\textbf{uniquely}$ as $x=a/(b-a)$ for coprime positive integers 0<$a$<$b$. We will identify $x$ with the pair $(a,b)$. In this extended abstract we use $\textit{rational Dyck paths}$ to define for each positive rational $x>0$ a simplicial complex $\mathsf{Ass} (x)=\mathsf{Ass} (a,b)$ called the $\textit{rational associahedron}$. It is a pure simplicial complex of dimension $a-2$, and its maximal faces are counted by the $\textit{rational Catalan number}$ $\mathsf{Cat} (x)=\mathsf{Cat}(a,b):=\frac{(a+b-1)! }{ a! b!}.$ The cases $(a,b)=(n,n+1)$ and $(a,b)=(n,kn+1)$ recover the classical associahedron and its Fuss-Catalan generalization studied by Athanasiadis-Tzanaki and Fomin-Reading. We prove that $\mathsf{Ass} (a,b)$ is shellable and give nice product formulas for its $h$-vector (the $\textit{rational Narayana numbers}$) and $f$-vector (the $\textit{rational Kirkman numbers}$). We define $\mathsf{Ass} (a,b)$ .
Homomesy in products of two chains
Many cyclic actions $τ$ on a finite set $\mathcal{S}$ ; of combinatorial objects, along with a natural statistic $f$ on $\mathcal{S}$, exhibit ``homomesy'': the average of $f$ over each $τ$-orbit in $\mathcal{S} $ is the same as the average of $f$ over the whole set $\mathcal{S} $. This phenomenon was first noticed by Panyushev in 2007 in the context of antichains in root posets; Armstrong, Stump, and Thomas proved Panyushev's conjecture in 2011. We describe a theoretical framework for results of this kind and discuss old and new results for the actions of promotion and rowmotion on the poset that is the product of two chains.
A Hopf-power Markov chain on compositions
In a recent paper, Diaconis, Ram and I constructed Markov chains using the coproduct-then-product map of a combinatorial Hopf algebra. We presented an algorithm for diagonalising a large class of these "Hopf-power chains", including the Gilbert-Shannon-Reeds model of riffle-shuffling of a deck of cards and a rock-breaking model. A very restrictive condition from that paper is removed in my thesis, and this extended abstract focuses on one application of the improved theory. Here, I use a new technique of lumping Hopf-power chains to show that the Hopf-power chain on the algebra of quasisymmetric functions is the induced chain on descent sets under riffle-shuffling. Moreover, I relate its right and left eigenfunctions to Garsia-Reutenauer idempotents and ribbon characters respectively, from which I recover an analogous result of Diaconis and Fulman (2012) concerning the number of descents under riffle-shuffling.
Singularity analysis via the iterated kernel method
We provide exact and asymptotic counting formulas for five singular lattice path models in the quarter plane. Furthermore, we prove that these models have a non D-finite generating function.
Root-theoretic Young Diagrams, Schubert Calculus and Adjoint Varieties
Root-theoretic Young diagrams are a conceptual framework to discuss existence of a root-system uniform and manifestly non-negative combinatorial rule for Schubert calculus. Our main results use them to obtain formulas for (co)adjoint varieties of classical Lie type. This case is the simplest after the previously solved (co)minuscule family. Yet our formulas possess both uniform and non-uniform features.
Poset vectors and generalized permutohedra
We show that given a poset $P$ and and a subposet $Q$, the integer points obtained by restricting linear extensions of $P$ to $Q$ can be explained via integer lattice points of a generalized permutohedron.
On the Topology of the Cambrian Semilattices
For an arbitrary Coxeter group $W$, David Speyer and Nathan Reading defined Cambrian semilattices $C_{\gamma}$ as certain sub-semilattices of the weak order on $W$. In this article, we define an edge-labelling using the realization of Cambrian semilattices in terms of $\gamma$-sortable elements, and show that this is an EL-labelling for every closed interval of $C_{\gamma}$. In addition, we use our labelling to show that every finite open interval in a Cambrian semilattice is either contractible or spherical, and we characterize the spherical intervals, generalizing a result by Nathan Reading.
Eulerian polynomials of type $D$ have only real roots
We give an intrinsic proof of a conjecture of Brenti that all the roots of the Eulerian polynomial of type $D$ are real and a proof of a conjecture of Dilks, Petersen, and Stembridge that all the roots of the affine Eulerian polynomial of type $B$ are real, as well.
On Kerov polynomials for Jack characters (extended abstract)
We consider a deformation of Kerov character polynomials, linked to Jack symmetric functions. It has been introduced recently by M. Lassalle, who formulated several conjectures on these objects, suggesting some underlying combinatorics. We give a partial result in this direction, showing that some quantities are polynomials in the Jack parameter $\alpha$ with prescribed degree. Our result has several interesting consequences in various directions. Firstly, we give a new proof of the fact that the coefficients of Jack polynomials expanded in the monomial or power-sum basis depend polynomially in $\alpha$. Secondly, we describe asymptotically the shape of random Young diagrams under some deformation of Plancherel measure.
Structure coefficients of the Hecke algebra of $(\mathcal{S}_{2n}, \mathcal{B}_n)$
The Hecke algebra of the pair $(\mathcal{S}_{2n}, \mathcal{B}_n)$, where $\mathcal{B}_n$ is the hyperoctahedral subgroup of $\mathcal{S}_{2n}$, was introduced by James in 1961. It is a natural analogue of the center of the symmetric group algebra. In this paper, we give a polynomiality property of its structure coefficients. Our main tool is a combinatorial universal algebra which projects on the Hecke algebra of $(\mathcal{S}_{2n}, \mathcal{B}_n)$ for every $n$. To build it, we introduce new objects called partial bijections.
Redfield-Pólya theorem in $\mathrm{WSym}$
We give noncommutative versions of the Redfield-Pólya theorem in $\mathrm{WSym}$, the algebra of word symmetric functions, and in other related combinatorial Hopf algebras.
The height of the Lyndon tree
We consider the set $\mathcal{L}_n<$ of n-letters long Lyndon words on the alphabet $\mathcal{A}=\{0,1\}$. For a random uniform element ${L_n}$ of the set $\mathcal{L}_n$, the binary tree $\mathfrak{L} (L_n)$ obtained by successive standard factorization of $L_n$ and of the factors produced by these factorization is the $\textit{Lyndon tree}$ of $L_n$. We prove that the height $H_n$ of $\mathfrak{L} (L_n)$ satisfies $\lim \limits_n \frac{H_n}{\mathsf{ln}n}=\Delta$, in which the constant $\Delta$ is solution of an equation involving large deviation rate functions related to the asymptotics of Eulerian numbers ($\Delta ≃5.092\dots $). The convergence is the convergence in probability of random variables.
A Murnaghan-Nakayama Rule for Generalized Demazure Atoms
We prove an analogue of the Murnaghan-Nakayama rule to express the product of a power symmetric function and a generalized Demazure atom in terms of generalized Demazure atoms.
Non-symmetric Cauchy kernels
Using an analogue of the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth (RSK) algorithm for semi-skyline augmented fillings, due to Sarah Mason, we exhibit expansions of non-symmetric Cauchy kernels $∏_(i,j)∈\eta (1-x_iy_j)^-1$, where the product is over all cell-coordinates $(i,j)$ of the stair-type partition shape $\eta$ , consisting of the cells in a NW-SE diagonal of a rectangle diagram and below it, containing the biggest stair shape. In the spirit of the classical Cauchy kernel expansion for rectangle shapes, this RSK variation provides an interpretation of the kernel for stair-type shapes as a family of pairs of semi-skyline augmented fillings whose key tableaux, determined by their shapes, lead to expansions as a sum of products of two families of key polynomials, the basis of Demazure characters of type A, and the Demazure atoms. A previous expansion of the Cauchy kernel in type A, for the stair shape was given by Alain Lascoux, based on the structure of double crystal graphs, and by Amy M. Fu and Alain Lascoux, relying on Demazure operators, which was also used to recover expansions for Ferrers shapes.
A Divided Difference Operator
We construct a divided difference operator using GKM theory. This generalizes the classical divided difference operator for the cohomology of the complete flag variety. This construction proves a special case of a recent conjecture of Shareshian and Wachs. Our methods are entirely combinatorial and algebraic, and rely heavily on the combinatorics of root systems and Bruhat order.
A Parking Function Setting for Nabla Images of Schur Functions
In this article, we show how the compositional refinement of the ``Shuffle Conjecture'' due to Jim Haglund, Jennifer Morse, and Mike Zabrocki can be used to express the image of a Schur function under the Bergeron-Garsia Nabla operator as a weighted sum of a suitable collection of ``Parking Functions.'' The validity of these expressions is, of course, going to be conjectural until the compositional refinement of the Shuffle Conjecture is established.
q-Rook placements and Jordan forms of upper-triangular nilpotent matrices
The set of $n$ by $n$ upper-triangular nilpotent matrices with entries in a finite field $F_q$ has Jordan canonical forms indexed by partitions $λ \vdash n$. We study a connection between these matrices and non-attacking q-rook placements, which leads to a combinatorial formula for the number$ F_λ (q)$ of matrices of fixed Jordan type as a weighted sum over rook placements.
Weighted partitions
In this extended abstract we consider the poset of weighted partitions Π _n^w, introduced by Dotsenko and Khoroshkin in their study of a certain pair of dual operads. The maximal intervals of Π _n^w provide a generalization of the lattice Π _n of partitions, which we show possesses many of the well-known properties of Π _n. In particular, we prove these intervals are EL-shellable, we compute the Möbius invariant in terms of rooted trees, we find combinatorial bases for homology and cohomology, and we give an explicit sign twistedS _n-module isomorphism from cohomology to the multilinear component of the free Lie algebra with two compatible brackets. We also show that the characteristic polynomial of Π _n^w has a nice factorization analogous to that of Π _n.
The Gaussian free field and strict plane partitions
We study height fluctuations around the limit shape of a measure on strict plane partitions. It was shown in our earlier work that this measure is a Pfaffian process. We show that the height fluctuations converge to a pullback of the Green's function for the Laplace operator with Dirichlet boundary conditions on the first quadrant. We use a Pfaffian formula for higher moments to show that the height fluctuations are governed by the Gaussian free field. The results follow from the correlation kernel asymptotics which is obtained by the steepest descent method.
Convolution Powers of the Identity
We study convolution powers $\mathtt{id}^{\ast n}$ of the identity of graded connected Hopf algebras $H$. (The antipode corresponds to $n=-1$.) The chief result is a complete description of the characteristic polynomial - both eigenvalues and multiplicity - for the action of the operator $\mathtt{id}^{\ast n}$ on each homogeneous component $H_m$. The multiplicities are independent of $n$. This follows from considering the action of the (higher) Eulerian idempotents on a certain Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ associated to $H$. In case $H$ is cofree, we give an alternative (explicit and combinatorial) description in terms of palindromic words in free generators of $\mathfrak{g}$. We obtain identities involving partitions and compositions by specializing $H$ to some familiar combinatorial Hopf algebras.
Coefficients of algebraic functions: formulae and asymptotics
This paper studies the coefficients of algebraic functions. First, we recall the too-little-known fact that these coefficients $f_n$ have a closed form. Then, we study their asymptotics, known to be of the type $f_n \sim C A^n n^{\alpha}$. When the function is a power series associated to a context-free grammar, we solve a folklore conjecture: the appearing critical exponents $\alpha$ can not be $^1/_3$ or $^{-5}/_2$, they in fact belong to a subset of dyadic numbers. We extend what Philippe Flajolet called the Drmota-Lalley-Woods theorem (which is assuring $\alpha=^{-3}/_2$ as soon as a "dependency graph" associated to the algebraic system defining the function is strongly connected): We fully characterize the possible critical exponents in the non-strongly connected case. As a corollary, it shows that certain lattice paths and planar maps can not be generated by a context-free grammar (i.e., their generating function is not $\mathbb{N}-algebraic). We end by discussing some extensions of this work (limit laws, systems involving non-polynomial entire functions, algorithmic aspects).
Long Cycle Factorizations: Bijective Computation in the General Case
This paper is devoted to the computation of the number of ordered factorizations of a long cycle in the symmetric group where the number of factors is arbitrary and the cycle structure of the factors is given. Jackson (1988) derived the first closed form expression for the generating series of these numbers using the theory of the irreducible characters of the symmetric group. Thanks to a direct bijection we compute a similar formula and provide the first purely combinatorial evaluation of these generating series.
Evaluations of Hecke algebra traces at Kazhdan-Lusztig basis elements
For irreducible characters $\{ \chi_q^{\lambda} | \lambda \vdash n\}$ and induced sign characters $\{\epsilon_q^{\lambda} | \lambda \vdash n\}$ of the Hecke algebra $H_n(q)$, and Kazhdan-Lusztig basis elements $C'_w(q)$ with $w$ avoiding the pattern 312, we combinatorially interpret the polynomials $\chi_q^{\lambda}(q^{\frac{\ell(w)}{2}} C'_w(q))$ and $\epsilon_q^{\lambda}(q^{\frac{\ell(w)}{2}} C'_w(q))$. This gives a new algebraic interpretation of $q$-chromatic symmetric functions of Shareshian and Wachs. We conjecture similar interpretations and generating functions corresponding to other $H_n(q)$-traces.
Counting words with Laguerre polynomials
We develop a method for counting words subject to various restrictions by finding a combinatorial interpretation for a product of formal sums of Laguerre polynomials. We use this method to find the generating function for $k$-ary words avoiding any vincular pattern that has only ones. We also give generating functions for $k$-ary words cyclically avoiding vincular patterns with only ones whose runs of ones between dashes are all of equal length, as well as the analogous results for compositions.
The number of $k$-parallelogram polyominoes
A convex polyomino is $k$-$\textit{convex}$ if every pair of its cells can be connected by means of a $\textit{monotone path}$, internal to the polyomino, and having at most $k$ changes of direction. The number $k$-convex polyominoes of given semi-perimeter has been determined only for small values of $k$, precisely $k=1,2$. In this paper we consider the problem of enumerating a subclass of $k$-convex polyominoes, precisely the $k$-$\textit{convex parallelogram polyominoes}$ (briefly, $k$-$\textit{parallelogram polyominoes}$). For each $k \geq 1$, we give a recursive decomposition for the class of $k$-parallelogram polyominoes, and then use it to obtain the generating function of the class, which turns out to be a rational function. We are then able to express such a generating function in terms of the $\textit{Fibonacci polynomials}$.
A $t$-generalization for Schubert Representatives of the Affine Grassmannian
We introduce two families of symmetric functions with an extra parameter $t$ that specialize to Schubert representatives for cohomology and homology of the affine Grassmannian when $t=1$. The families are defined by a statistic on combinatorial objects associated to the type-$A$ affine Weyl group and their transition matrix with Hall-Littlewood polynomials is $t$-positive. We conjecture that one family is the set of $k$-atoms.
Lattice of combinatorial Hopf algebras: binary trees with multiplicities
In a first part, we formalize the construction of combinatorial Hopf algebras from plactic-like monoids using polynomial realizations. Thank to this construction we reveal a lattice structure on those combinatorial Hopf algebras. As an application, we construct a new combinatorial Hopf algebra on binary trees with multiplicities and use it to prove a hook length formula for those trees.
Top Coefficients of the Denumerant
For a given sequence $\alpha = [\alpha_1,\alpha_2,\ldots , \alpha_N, \alpha_{N+1}]$ of $N+1$ positive integers, we consider the combinatorial function $E(\alpha)(t)$ that counts the nonnegative integer solutions of the equation $\alpha_1x_1+\alpha_2 x_2+ \ldots+ \alpha_Nx_N+ \alpha_{N+1}x_{N+1}=t$, where the right-hand side $t$ is a varying nonnegative integer. It is well-known that $E(\alpha)(t)$ is a quasipolynomial function of $t$ of degree $N$. In combinatorial number theory this function is known as the $\textit{denumerant}$. Our main result is a new algorithm that, for every fixed number $k$, computes in polynomial time the highest $k+1$ coefficients of the quasi-polynomial $E(\alpha)(t)$ as step polynomials of $t$. Our algorithm is a consequence of a nice poset structure on the poles of the associated rational generating function for $E(\alpha)(t)$ and the geometric reinterpretation of some rational generating functions in terms of lattice points in polyhedral cones. Experiments using a $\texttt{MAPLE}$ implementation will be posted separately.
Combinatorial Topology of Toric arrangements
We prove that the complement of a complexified toric arrangement has the homotopy type of a minimal CW-complex, and thus its homology is torsion-free. To this end, we consider the toric Salvetti complex, a combinatorial model for the arrangement's complement. Using diagrams of acyclic categories we obtain a stratification of this combinatorial model that explicitly associates generators in homology to the "local no-broken-circuit sets'' defined in terms of the incidence relations of the arrangement. Then we apply a suitably generalized form of Discrete Morse Theory to describe a sequence of elementary collapses leading from the full model to a minimal complex.
Exact $L^2$-Distance from the Limit for QuickSort Key Comparisons (Extended Abstract)
Using a recursive approach, we obtain a simple exact expression for the $L^2$-distance from the limit in the classical limit theorem of Régnier (1989) for the number of key comparisons required by $\texttt{QuickSort}$. A previous study by Fill and Janson (2002) using a similar approach found that the $d_2$-distance is of order between $n^{-1} \log{n}$ and $n^{-1/2}$, and another by Neininger and Ruschendorf (2002) found that the Zolotarev $\zeta _3$-distance is of exact order $n^{-1} \log{n}$. Our expression reveals that the $L^2$-distance is asymptotically equivalent to $(2 n^{-1} \ln{n})^{1/2}$.
The Limiting Distribution for the Number of Symbol Comparisons Used by QuickSort is Nondegenerate (Extended Abstract)
In a continuous-time setting, Fill (2012) proved, for a large class of probabilistic sources, that the number of symbol comparisons used by $\texttt{QuickSort}$, when centered by subtracting the mean and scaled by dividing by time, has a limiting distribution, but proved little about that limiting random variable $Y$—not even that it is nondegenerate. We establish the nondegeneracy of $Y$. The proof is perhaps surprisingly difficult.
Stokes polyhedra for $X$-shaped polyminos
Consider a pair of $\textit{interlacing regular convex polygons}$, each with $2(n + 2)$ vertices, which we will be referring to as $\textit{red}$ and $\textit{black}$ ones. One can place these vertices on the unit circle $|z | = 1$ in the complex plane; the vertices of the red polygon at $\epsilon^{2k}, k = 0, \ldots , 2n − 1$, of the black polygon at $\epsilon^{2k+1}, k = 0, \ldots , 2n − 1$; here $\epsilon = \exp(i \pi /(2n + 2))$. We assign to the vertices of each polygon alternating (within each polygon) signs. Note that all the pairwise intersections of red and black sides are oriented consistently. We declare the corresponding orientation positive.
Mean field analysis for inhomogeneous bike sharing systems
In the paper, bike sharing systems with stations having a finite capacity are studied as stochastic networks. The inhomogeneity is modeled by clusters. We use a mean field limit to compute the limiting stationary distribution of the number of bikes at the stations. This method is an alternative to analytical methods. It can be used even if a closed form expression for the stationary distribution is out of reach as illustrated on a variant. Both models are compared. A practical conclusion is that avoiding empty or full stations does not improve overall performance.
On Greedy Trie Execution
In the paper "How to select a looser'' Prodinger was analyzing an algorithm where $n$ participants are selecting a leader by flippingfair coins, where recursively, the 0-party (those who i.e. have tossed heads) continues until the leader is chosen. We give an answer to the question stated in the Prodinger's paper – what happens if not a 0-party is recursively looking for a leader but always a party with a smaller cardinality. We show the lower bound on the number of rounds of the greedy algorithm (forfair coin).
On the Number of 2-Protected Nodes in Tries and Suffix Trees
We use probabilistic and combinatorial tools on strings to discover the average number of 2-protected nodes in tries and in suffix trees. Our analysis covers both the uniform and non-uniform cases. For instance, in a uniform trie with $n$ leaves, the number of 2-protected nodes is approximately 0.803$n$, plus small first-order fluctuations. The 2-protected nodes are an emerging way to distinguish the interior of a tree from the fringe.
Analysis of Digital Expansions of Minimal Weight
Extending an idea of Suppakitpaisarn, Edahiro and Imai, a dynamic programming approach for computing digital expansions of minimal weight is transformed into an asymptotic analysis of minimal weight expansions. The minimal weight of an optimal expansion of a random input of length $\ell$ is shown to be asymptotically normally distributed under suitable conditions. After discussing the general framework, we focus on expansions to the base of $\tau$, where $\tau$ is a root of the polynomial $X^2- \mu X + 2$ for $\mu \in \{ \pm 1\}$. As the Frobenius endomorphism on a binary Koblitz curve fulfils the same equation, digit expansions to the base of this $\tau$ can be used for scalar multiplication and linear combination in elliptic curve cryptosystems over these curves.
Mixing times of Markov chains on 3-Orientations of Planar Triangulations
Given a planar triangulation, a 3-orientation is an orientation of the internal edges so all internal vertices have out-degree three. Each 3-orientation gives rise to a unique edge coloring known as a $\textit{Schnyder wood}$ that has proven useful for various computing and combinatorics applications. We consider natural Markov chains for sampling uniformly from the set of 3-orientations. First, we study a "triangle-reversing'' chain on the space of 3-orientations of a fixed triangulation that reverses the orientation of the edges around a triangle in each move. We show that (i) when restricted to planar triangulations of maximum degree six, the Markov chain is rapidly mixing, and (ii) there exists a triangulation with high degree on which this Markov chain mixes slowly. Next, we consider an "edge-flipping'' chain on the larger state space consisting of 3-orientations of all planar triangulations on a fixed number of vertices. It was also shown previously that this chain connects the state space and we prove that the chain is always rapidly mixing.
Toward the asymptotic count of bi-modular hidden patterns under probabilistic dynamical sources: a case study
Consider a countable alphabet $\mathcal{A}$. A multi-modular hidden pattern is an $r$-tuple $(w_1,\ldots , w_r)$, where each $w_i$ is a word over $\mathcal{A}$ called a module. The hidden pattern is said to occur in a text $t$ when the later admits the decomposition $t = v_0 w_1v_1 \cdots v_{r−1}w_r v_r$, for arbitrary words $v_i$ over $\mathcal{A}$. Flajolet, Szpankowski and Vallée (2006) proved via the method of moments that the number of matches (or occurrences) with a multi-modular hidden pattern in a random text $X_1\cdots X_n$ is asymptotically Normal, when $(X_n)_{n\geq1}$ are independent and identically distributed $\mathcal{A}$-valued random variables. Bourdon and Vallée (2002) had conjectured however that asymptotic Normality holds more generally when $(X_n)_{n\geq1}$ is produced by an expansive dynamical source. Whereas memoryless and Markovian sequences are instances of dynamical sources with finite memory length, general dynamical sources may be non-Markovian i.e. convey an infinite memory length. The technical difficulty to count hidden patterns under sources with memory is the context-free nature of these patterns as well as the lack of logarithm-and exponential-type transformations to rewrite the product of non-commuting transfer operators. In this paper, we address a case study in which we have successfully overpassed the aforementioned difficulties and which may illuminate how to address more general cases via auto-correlation operators. Our main result […]
Infinite Systems of Functional Equations and Gaussian Limiting Distributions
In this paper infinite systems of functional equations in finitely or infinitely many random variables arising in combinatorial enumeration problems are studied. We prove sufficient conditions under which the combinatorial random variables encoded in the generating function of the system tend to a finite or infinite dimensional limiting distribution.
Simply generated trees, conditioned Galton―Watson trees, random allocations and condensation: Extended abstract
We give a unified treatment of the limit, as the size tends to infinity, of random simply generated trees, including both the well-known result in the standard case of critical Galton-Watson trees and similar but less well-known results in the other cases (i.e., when no equivalent critical Galton-Watson tree exists). There is a well-defined limit in the form of an infinite random tree in all cases; for critical Galton-Watson trees this tree is locally finite but for the other cases the random limit has exactly one node of infinite degree. The random infinite limit tree can in all cases be constructed by a modified Galton-Watson process. In the standard case of a critical Galton-Watson tree, the limit tree has an infinite "spine", where the offspring distribution is size-biased. In the other cases, the spine has finite length and ends with a vertex with infinite degree. A node of infinite degree in the limit corresponds to the existence of one node with very high degree in the finite random trees; in physics terminology, this is a type of condensation. In simple cases, there is one node with a degree that is roughly a constant times the number of nodes, while all other degrees are much smaller; however, more complicated behaviour is also possible. The proofs use a well-known connection to a random allocation model that we call balls-in-boxes, and we prove corresponding results for this model.
Multi-cluster complexes
We present a family of simplicial complexes called \emphmulti-cluster complexes. These complexes generalize the concept of cluster complexes, and extend the notion of multi-associahedra of types ${A}$ and ${B}$ to general finite Coxeter groups. We study combinatorial and geometric properties of these objects and, in particular, provide a simple combinatorial description of the compatibility relation among the set of almost positive roots in the cluster complex.
Crystal energy via charge
The Ram–Yip formula for Macdonald polynomials (at t=0) provides a statistic which we call charge. In types ${A}$ and ${C}$ it can be defined on tensor products of Kashiwara–Nakashima single column crystals. In this paper we show that the charge is equal to the (negative of the) energy function on affine crystals. The algorithm for computing charge is much simpler than the recursive definition of energy in terms of the combinatorial ${R}$-matrix.
The Möbius function of generalized subword order
Let $P$ be a poset and let $P^*$ be the set of all finite length words over $P$. Generalized subword order is the partial order on $P^*$ obtained by letting $u≤ w$ if and only if there is a subword $u'$ of $w$ having the same length as $u$ such that each element of $u$ is less than or equal to the corresponding element of $u'$ in the partial order on $P$. Classical subword order arises when $P$ is an antichain, while letting $P$ be a chain gives an order on compositions. For any finite poset $P$, we give a simple formula for the Möbius function of $P^*$ in terms of the Möbius function of $P$. This permits us to rederive in an easy and uniform manner previous results of Björner, Sagan and Vatter, and Tomie. We are also able to determine the homotopy type of all intervals in $P^*$ for any finite $P$ of rank at most 1.
Combinatorial Hopf algebra of supercharacters of type D
We provide a Hopf algebra structure on the supercharacter theory for the unipotent upper triangular group of type {D} over a finite field. Also, we make further comments with respect to types {B} and {C}. Type {A} was explored by M. Aguiar et. al (2010), thus this extended abstract is a contribution to understand combinatorially the supercharacter theory of the other classical Lie types.
Modified Growth Diagrams, Permutation Pivots, and the BWX Map $\phi^*$
In their paper on Wilf-equivalence for singleton classes, Backelin, West, and Xin introduced a transformation $\phi^*$, defined by an iterative process and operating on (all) full rook placements on Ferrers boards. Bousquet-Mélou and Steingrimsson proved the analogue of the main result of Backelin, West, and Xin in the context of involutions, and in so doing they needed to prove that $\phi^*$ commutes with the operation of taking inverses. The proof of this commutation result was long and difficult, and Bousquet-Mélou and Steingrimsson asked if $\phi^*$ might be reformulated in such a way as to make this result obvious. In the present paper we provide such a reformulation of $\phi^*$, by modifying the growth diagram algorithm of Fomin. This also answers a question of Krattenthaler, who noted that a bijection defined by the unmodified Fomin algorithm obviously commutes with inverses, and asked what the connection is between this bijection and $\phi^*$.
Enumeration of Graded (3 + 1)-Avoiding Posets
The notion of (3+1)-avoidance appears in many places in enumerative combinatorics, but the natural goal of enumerating all (3+1)-avoiding posets remains open. In this paper, we enumerate \emphgraded (3+1)-avoiding posets. Our proof consists of a number of structural theorems followed by some generating function magic.
On the degree-chromatic polynomial of a tree
The degree chromatic polynomial $P_m(G,k)$ of a graph $G$ counts the number of $k$ -colorings in which no vertex has m adjacent vertices of its same color. We prove Humpert and Martin's conjecture on the leading terms of the degree chromatic polynomial of a tree.
Generalized associahedra via brick polytopes
We generalize the brick polytope of V. Pilaud and F. Santos to spherical subword complexes for finite Coxeter groups. This construction provides polytopal realizations for a certain class of subword complexes containing all cluster complexes of finite types. For the latter, the brick polytopes turn out to coincide with the known realizations of generalized associahedra, thus opening new perspectives on these constructions. This new approach yields in particular the vertex description and a relevant Minkowski sum decomposition of generalized associahedra.
Integrality of hook ratios
We study integral ratios of hook products of quotient partitions. This question is motivated by an analogous question in number theory concerning integral factorial ratios. We prove an analogue of a theorem of Landau that already applied in the factorial case. Under the additional condition that the ratio has one more factor on the denominator than the numerator, we provide a complete classification. Ultimately this relies on Kneser's theorem in additive combinatorics.
Symmetries of the k-bounded partition lattice
We generalize the symmetry on Young's lattice, found by Suter, to a symmetry on the $k$-bounded partition lattice of Lapointe, Lascoux and Morse.
Polynomials and Parking Functions
In a 2010 paper Haglund, Morse, and Zabrocki studied the family of polynomials $\nabla C_{p1}\dots C_{pk}1$ , where $p=(p_1,\ldots,p_k)$ is a composition, $\nabla$ is the Bergeron-Garsia Macdonald operator and the $C_\alpha$ are certain slightly modified Hall-Littlewood vertex operators. They conjecture that these polynomials enumerate a composition indexed family of parking functions by area, dinv and an appropriate quasi-symmetric function. This refinement of the nearly decade old ``Shuffle Conjecture,'' when combined with properties of the Hall-Littlewood operators can be shown to imply the existence of certain bijections between these families of parking functions. In previous work to appear in her PhD thesis, the author has shown that the existence of these bijections follows from some relatively simple properties of a certain family of polynomials in one variable x with coefficients in $\mathbb{N}[q]$. In this paper we introduce those polynomials, explain their connection to the conjecture of Haglund, Morse, and Zabrocki, and explore some of their surprising properties, both proven and conjectured.
Explicit generating series for connection coefficients
This paper is devoted to the explicit computation of generating series for the connection coefficients of two commutative subalgebras of the group algebra of the symmetric group, the class algebra and the double coset algebra. As shown by Hanlon, Stanley and Stembridge (1992), these series gives the spectral distribution of some random matrices that are of interest to statisticians. Morales and Vassilieva (2009, 2011) found explicit formulas for these generating series in terms of monomial symmetric functions by introducing a bijection between partitioned hypermaps on (locally) orientable surfaces and some decorated forests and trees. Thanks to purely algebraic means, we recover the formula for the class algebra and provide a new simpler formula for the double coset algebra. As a salient ingredient, we compute an explicit formulation for zonal polynomials indexed by partitions of type $[a,b,1^{n-a-b}]$.
Tropical Oriented Matroids
Tropical oriented matroids were defined by Ardila and Develin in 2007. They are a tropical analogue of classical oriented matroids in the sense that they encode the properties of the types of points in an arrangement of tropical hyperplanes – in much the same way as the covectors of (classical) oriented matroids describe the types in arrangements of linear hyperplanes. Not every oriented matroid can be realised by an arrangement of linear hyperplanes though. The famous Topological Representation Theorem by Folkman and Lawrence, however, states that every oriented matroid can be represented as an arrangement of $\textit{pseudo}$hyperplanes. Ardila and Develin proved that tropical oriented matroids can be represented as mixed subdivisions of dilated simplices. In this paper I prove that this correspondence is a bijection. Moreover, I present a tropical analogue for the Topological Representation Theorem.
An explicit formula for ndinv, a new statistic for two-shuffle parking functions
In a recent paper, Duane, Garsia, and Zabrocki introduced a new statistic, "ndinv'', on a family of parking functions. The definition was guided by a recursion satisfied by the polynomial $\langle\Delta_{h_m}C_p1C_p2...C_{pk}1,e_n\rangle$, for $\Delta_{h_m}$ a Macdonald eigenoperator, $C_{p_i}$ a modified Hall-Littlewood operator and $(p_1,p_2,\dots ,p_k)$ a composition of n. Using their new statistics, they are able to give a new interpretation for the polynomial $\langle\nabla e_n, h_j h_n-j\rangle$ as a q,t numerator of parking functions by area and ndinv. We recall that in the shuffle conjecture, parking functions are q,t enumerated by area and diagonal inversion number (dinv). Since their definition is recursive, they pose the problem of obtaining a non recursive definition. We solved this problem by giving an explicit formula for ndinv similar to the classical definition of dinv. In this paper, we describe the work we did to construct this formula and to prove that the resulting ndinv is the same as the one recursively defined by Duane, Garsia, and Zabrocki.
On the Sperner property and Gorenstein Algebras Associated to Matroids
We introduce a certain class of algebras associated to matroids. We prove the Lefschetz property of the algebras for some special cases. Our result implies the Sperner property for the Boolean lattice and the vector space lattice.
Excedances in classical and affine Weyl groups
Based on the notion of colored and absolute excedances introduced by Bagno and Garber we give an analogue of the derangement polynomials. We obtain some basic properties of these polynomials. Moreover, we define an excedance statistic for the affine Weyl groups of type $\widetilde{B}_n, \widetilde {C}_n$ and $\widetilde {D}_n$ and determine the generating functions of their distributions. This paper is inspired by one of Clark and Ehrenborg (2011) in which the authors introduce the excedance statistic for the group of affine permutations and ask if this statistic can be defined for other affine groups.
New light on Bergman complexes by decomposing matroid types
Bergman complexes are polyhedral complexes associated to matroids. Faces of these complexes are certain matroids, called matroid types, too. In order to understand the structure of these faces we decompose matroid types into direct summands. Ardila/Klivans proved that the Bergman Complex of a matroid can be subdivided into the order complex of the proper part of its lattice of flats. Beyond that Feichtner/Sturmfels showed that the Bergman complex can even be subdivided to the even coarser nested set complex. We will give a much shorter and more general proof of this fact. Generalizing formulas proposed by Ardila/Klivans and Feichtner/Sturmfels for special cases, we present a decomposition into direct sums working for faces of any of these complexes. Additionally we show that it is the finest possible decomposition for faces of the Bergman complex.
A polynomial realization of the Hopf algebra of uniform block permutations
We investigate the combinatorial Hopf algebra based on uniform block permutations and we realize this algebra in terms of noncommutative polynomials in infinitely many bi-letters.
Constructing neighborly polytopes and oriented matroids
A $d$-polytope $P$ is neighborly if every subset of $\lfloor\frac{d}{2}\rfloor $vertices is a face of $P$. In 1982, Shemer introduced a sewing construction that allows to add a vertex to a neighborly polytope in such a way as to obtain a new neighborly polytope. With this, he constructed superexponentially many different neighborly polytopes. The concept of neighborliness extends naturally to oriented matroids. Duals of neighborly oriented matroids also have a nice characterization: balanced oriented matroids. In this paper, we generalize Shemer's sewing construction to oriented matroids, providing a simpler proof. Moreover we provide a new technique that allows to construct balanced oriented matroids. In the dual setting, it constructs a neighborly oriented matroid whose contraction at a particular vertex is a prescribed neighborly oriented matroid. We compare the families of polytopes that can be constructed with both methods, and show that the new construction allows to construct many new polytopes.
A simple model of trees for unicellular maps
We consider unicellular maps, or polygon gluings, of fixed genus. In FPSAC '09 the first author gave a recursive bijection transforming unicellular maps into trees, explaining the presence of Catalan numbers in counting formulas for these objects. In this paper, we give another bijection that explicitly describes the ``recursive part'' of the first bijection. As a result we obtain a very simple description of unicellular maps as pairs made by a plane tree and a permutation-like structure. All the previously known formulas follow as an immediate corollary or easy exercise, thus giving a bijective proof for each of them, in a unified way. For some of these formulas, this is the first bijective proof, e.g. the Harer-Zagier recurrence formula, or the Lehman-Walsh/Goupil-Schaeffer formulas. Thanks to previous work of the second author this also leads us to a new expression for Stanley character polynomials, which evaluate irreducible characters of the symmetric group.
Constructing combinatorial operads from monoids
We introduce a functorial construction which, from a monoid, produces a set-operad. We obtain new (symmetric or not) operads as suboperads or quotients of the operad obtained from the additive monoid. These involve various familiar combinatorial objects: parking functions, packed words, planar rooted trees, generalized Dyck paths, Schröder trees, Motzkin paths, integer compositions, directed animals, etc. We also retrieve some known operads: the magmatic operad, the commutative associative operad, and the diassociative operad.
On an algebraicity theorem of Kontsevich
We give in a particular case a combinatorial proof of a recent algebraicity result of Kontsevich; the proof uses generalized one-sided and two-sided Dyck words, or equivalently, excursions and bridges. We indicate a noncommutative version of these notions, which could lead to a full proof. We show also a relation with pointed planar maps.
Consecutive patterns in permutations: clusters and generating functions
We use the cluster method in order to enumerate permutations avoiding consecutive patterns. We reprove and generalize in a unified way several known results and obtain new ones, including some patterns of length 4 and 5, as well as some infinite families of patterns of a given shape. Our main tool is the cluster method of Goulden and Jackson. We also prove some that, for a large class of patterns, the inverse of the exponential generating function counting occurrences is an entire function, but we conjecture that it is not D-finite in general.
Enumeration of permutations sorted with two passes through a stack and D_8 symmetries
We examine the sets of permutations that are sorted by two passes through a stack with a $D_8$ operation performed in between. From a characterization of these in terms of generalized excluded patterns, we prove two conjectures on their enumeration, that can be refined with the distribution of some statistics. The results are obtained by generating trees.
Dyck tilings, linear extensions, descents, and inversions
Dyck tilings were introduced by Kenyon and Wilson in their study of double-dimer pairings. They are certain kinds of tilings of skew Young diagrams with ribbon tiles shaped like Dyck paths. We give two bijections between "cover-inclusive'' Dyck tilings and linear extensions of tree posets. The first bijection maps the statistic (area + tiles)/2 to inversions of the linear extension, and the second bijection maps the "discrepancy'' between the upper and lower boundary of the tiling to descents of the linear extension.
Combinatorial specification of permutation classes
This article presents a methodology that automatically derives a combinatorial specification for the permutation class $\mathcal{C} = Av(B)$, given its basis $B$ of excluded patterns and the set of simple permutations in $\mathcal{C}$, when these sets are both finite. This is achieved considering both pattern avoidance and pattern containment constraints in permutations.The obtained specification yields a system of equations satisfied by the generating function of $\mathcal{C}$, this system being always positive and algebraic. It also yields a uniform random sampler of permutations in $\mathcal{C}$. The method presented is fully algorithmic.
Enumeration of Cylindric Plane Partitions
Cylindric plane partitions may be thought of as a natural generalization of reverse plane partitions. A generating series for the enumeration of cylindric plane partitions was recently given by Borodin. As in the reverse plane partition case, the right hand side of this identity admits a simple factorization form in terms of the "hook lengths'' of the individual boxes in the underlying shape. The first result of this paper is a new bijective proof of Borodin's identity which makes use of Fomin's growth diagram framework for generalized RSK correspondences. The second result of this paper is a $(q,t)$-analog of Borodin's identity which extends previous work by Okada in the reverse plane partition case. The third result of this paper is an explicit combinatorial interpretation of the Macdonald weight occurring in the $(q,t)$-analog in terms of the non-intersecting lattice path model for cylindric plane partitions.
Constellations and multicontinued fractions: application to Eulerian triangulations
We consider the problem of enumerating planar constellations with two points at a prescribed distance. Our approach relies on a combinatorial correspondence between this family of constellations and the simpler family of rooted constellations, which we may formulate algebraically in terms of multicontinued fractions and generalized Hankel determinants. As an application, we provide a combinatorial derivation of the generating function of Eulerian triangulations with two points at a prescribed distance.
Flows on Simplicial Complexes
Given a graph $G$, the number of nowhere-zero $\mathbb{Z}_q$-flows $\phi _G(q)$ is known to be a polynomial in $q$. We extend the definition of nowhere-zero $\mathbb{Z} _q$-flows to simplicial complexes $\Delta$ of dimension greater than one, and prove the polynomiality of the corresponding function $\phi_{\Delta}(q)$ for certain $q$ and certain subclasses of simplicial complexes.
Bijections for lattice paths between two boundaries
We prove that on the set of lattice paths with steps $N=(0,1)$ and $E=(1,0)$ that lie between two boundaries $B$ and $T$, the two statistics `number of $E$ steps shared with $B$' and `number of $E$ steps shared with $T$' have a symmetric joint distribution. We give an involution that switches these statistics, preserves additional parameters, and generalizes to paths that contain steps $S=(0,-1)$ at prescribed $x$-coordinates. We also show that a similar equidistribution result for other path statistics follows from the fact that the Tutte polynomial of a matroid is independent of the order of its ground set. Finally, we extend the two theorems to $k$-tuples of paths between two boundaries, and we give some applications to Dyck paths, generalizing a result of Deutsch, and to pattern-avoiding permutations.
Computing Tutte Polynomials
We present a new edge selection heuristic and vertex ordering heuristic that together enable one to compute the Tutte polynomial of much larger sparse graphs than was previously doable. As a specific example, we are able to compute the Tutte polynomial of the truncated icosahedron graph using our Maple implementation in under 4 minutes on a single CPU. This compares with a recent result of Haggard, Pearce and Royle whose special purpose C++ software took one week on 150 computers.
Asymptotical behaviour of roots of infinite Coxeter groups I
Let $W$ be an infinite Coxeter group, and $\Phi$ be the root system constructed from its geometric representation. We study the set $E$ of limit points of "normalized'' roots (representing the directions of the roots). We show that $E$ is contained in the isotropic cone $Q$ of the bilinear form associated to $W$, and illustrate this property with numerous examples and pictures in rank $3$ and $4$. We also define a natural geometric action of $W$ on $E$, for which $E$ is stable. Then we exhibit a countable subset $E_2$ of $E$, formed by limit points for the dihedral reflection subgroups of $W$; we explain how $E_2$ can be built from the intersection with $Q$ of the lines passing through two roots, and we establish that $E_2$ is dense in $E$.
Universal Polynomials for Severi Degrees of Toric Surfaces
The Severi variety parametrizes plane curves of degree $d$ with $\delta$ nodes. Its degree is called the Severi degree. For large enough $d$, the Severi degrees coincide with the Gromov-Witten invariants of $\mathbb{CP}^2$. Fomin and Mikhalkin (2009) proved the 1995 conjecture that for fixed $\delta$, Severi degrees are eventually polynomial in $d$. In this paper, we study the Severi varieties corresponding to a large family of toric surfaces. We prove the analogous result that the Severi degrees are eventually polynomial as a function of the multidegree. More surprisingly, we show that the Severi degrees are also eventually polynomial "as a function of the surface". Our strategy is to use tropical geometry to express Severi degrees in terms of Brugallé and Mikhalkin's floor diagrams, and study those combinatorial objects in detail. An important ingredient in the proof is the polynomiality of the discrete volume of a variable facet-unimodular polytope.
A generalization of the alcove model and its applications
The alcove model of the first author and Postnikov describes highest weight crystals of semisimple Lie algebras. We present a generalization, called the quantum alcove model, and conjecture that it uniformly describes tensor products of column shape Kirillov-Reshetikhin crystals, for all untwisted affine types. We prove the conjecture in types $A$ and $C$. We also present evidence for the fact that a related statistic computes the energy function.
Proofs of two conjectures of Kenyon and Wilson on Dyck tilings
Recently, Kenyon and Wilson introduced a certain matrix M in order to compute pairing probabilities of what they call the double-dimer model. They showed that the absolute value of each entry of the inverse matrix $M^-1$ is equal to the number of certain Dyck tilings of a skew shape. They conjectured two formulas on the sum of the absolute values of the entries in a row or a column of $M^-1$. In this paper we prove the two conjectures. As a consequence we obtain that the sum of the absolute values of all entries of $M^-1$ is equal to the number of complete matchings. We also find a bijection between Dyck tilings and complete matchings.
Bases for modules of differential operators
It is well-known that the derivation modules of Coxeter arrangements are free. Holm began to study the freeness of modules of differential operators on hyperplane arrangements. In this paper, we study the cases of the Coxter arrangements of type A, B and D. In this case, we prove that the modules of differential operators of order 2 are free. We give examples of all the 3-dimensional classical Coxeter arrangements. Two keys for the proof are ``Cauchy–Sylvester's theorem on compound determinants'' and ``Saito–Holm's criterion''.
Fluctuations of central measures on partitions
We study the fluctuations of models of random partitions $(\mathbb{P}_n,ω )_n ∈\mathbb{N}$ stemming from the representation theory of the infinite symmetric group. Using the theory of polynomial functions on Young diagrams, we establish a central limit theorem for the values of the irreducible characters $χ ^λ$ of the symmetric groups, with $λ$ taken randomly according to the laws $\mathbb{P}_n,ω$ . This implies a central limit theorem for the rows and columns of the random partitions, and these ``geometric'' fluctuations of our models can be recovered by relating central measures on partitions, generalized riffle shuffles, and Brownian motions conditioned to stay in a Weyl chamber.
On singularity confinement for the pentagram map
The pentagram map, introduced by R. Schwartz, is a birational map on the configuration space of polygons in the projective plane. We study the singularities of the iterates of the pentagram map. We show that a ``typical'' singularity disappears after a finite number of iterations, a confinement phenomenon first discovered by Schwartz. We provide a method to bypass such a singular patch by directly constructing the first subsequent iterate that is well-defined on the singular locus under consideration. The key ingredient of this construction is the notion of a decorated (twisted) polygon, and the extension of the pentagram map to the corresponding decorated configuration space.
Generating trees for partitions and permutations with no k-nestings
We describe a generating tree approach to the enumeration and exhaustive generation of k-nonnesting set partitions and permutations. Unlike previous work in the literature using the connections of these objects to Young tableaux and restricted lattice walks, our approach deals directly with partition and permutation diagrams. We provide explicit functional equations for the generating functions, with k as a parameter.
Permutation Polytopes of Cyclic Groups
We investigate the combinatorics and geometry of permutation polytopes associated to cyclic permutation groups, i.e., the convex hulls of cyclic groups of permutation matrices. In the situation that the generator of the group consists of at most two orbits, we can give a complete combinatorial description of the associated permutation polytope. In the case of three orbits the facet structure is already quite complex. For a large class of examples we show that there exist exponentially many facets.
The down operator and expansions of near rectangular k-Schur functions
We prove that the Lam-Shimozono ``down operator'' on the affine Weyl group induces a derivation of the affine Fomin-Stanley subalgebra of the affine nilCoxeter algebra. We use this to verify a conjecture of Berg, Bergeron, Pon and Zabrocki describing the expansion of k-Schur functions of ``near rectangles'' in the affine nilCoxeter algebra. Consequently, we obtain a combinatorial interpretation of the corresponding k-Littlewood–Richardson coefficients.
Riffle shuffles with biased cuts
The well-known Gilbert-Shannon-Reeds model for riffle shuffles assumes that the cards are initially cut `about in half' and then riffled together. We analyze a natural variant where the initial cut is biased. Extending results of Fulman (1998), we show a sharp cutoff in separation and L-infinity distances. This analysis is possible due to the close connection between shuffling and quasisymmetric functions along with some complex analysis of a generating function.
Skew Pieri Rules for Hall-Littlewood Functions
We produce skew Pieri Rules for Hall–Littlewood functions in the spirit of Assaf and McNamara (FPSAC, 2010). The first two were conjectured by the first author (FPSAC, 2011). The key ingredients in the proofs are a q-binomial identity for skew partitions that are horizontal strips and a Hopf algebraic identity that expands products of skew elements in terms of the coproduct and antipode.
Cayley and Tutte polytopes
Cayley polytopes were defined recently as convex hulls of Cayley compositions introduced by Cayley in 1857. In this paper we resolve Braun's conjecture, which expresses the volume of Cayley polytopes in terms of the number of connected graphs. We extend this result to a two-variable deformations, which we call Tutte polytopes. The volume of the latter is given via an evaluation of the Tutte polynomial of the complete graph. Our approach is based on an explicit triangulation of the Cayley and Tutte polytope. We prove that simplices in the triangulations correspond to labeled trees and forests. The heart of the proof is a direct bijection based on the neighbors-first search graph traversal algorithm.
Coherent fans in the space of flows in framed graphs
Let $G=(V,E)$ be a finite acyclic directed graph. Being motivated by a study of certain aspects of cluster algebras, we are interested in a class of triangulations of the cone of non-negative flows in $G, \mathcal F_+(G)$. To construct a triangulation, we fix a raming at each inner vertex $v$ of $G$, which consists of two linear orders: one on the set of incoming edges, and the other on the set of outgoing edges of $v$. A digraph $G$ endowed with a framing at each inner vertex is called $framed$. Given a framing on $G$, we define a reflexive and symmetric binary relation on the set of extreme rays of $\mathcal F_+ (G)$. We prove that that the complex of cliques formed by this binary relation is a pure simplicial complex, and that the cones spanned by cliques constitute a unimodular simplicial regular fan $Σ (G)$ covering the entire $\mathcal F_+(G)$.
Arc Permutations (extended abstract)
Arc permutations and unimodal permutations were introduced in the study of triangulations and characters. In this paper we describe combinatorial properties of these permutations, including characterizations in terms of pattern avoidance, connections to Young tableaux, and an affine Weyl group action on them.
Promotion and Rowmotion
We present an equivariant bijection between two actions—promotion and rowmotion—on order ideals in certain posets. This bijection simultaneously generalizes a result of R. Stanley concerning promotion on the linear extensions of two disjoint chains and certain cases of recent work of D. Armstrong, C. Stump, and H. Thomas on noncrossing and nonnesting partitions. We apply this bijection to several classes of posets, obtaining equivariant bijections to various known objects under rotation. We extend the same idea to give an equivariant bijection between alternating sign matrices under rowmotion and under B. Wieland's gyration. Lastly, we define two actions with related orders on alternating sign matrices and totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions.
Invariants of vector configurations
We investigate the Zariski closure of the projective equivalence class of a matrix. New results are presented regarding the matrices in this variety and their matroids, and we give equations for the variety. We also discuss the K-polynomial of the closure of a projective equivalence class, and two other geometric invariants that can be obtained from this.
Les polynômes eul\IeC èriens stables de type B
We give a multivariate analog of the type B Eulerian polynomial introduced by Brenti. We prove that this multivariate polynomial is stable generalizing Brenti's result that every root of the type B Eulerian polynomial is real. Our proof combines a refinement of the descent statistic for signed permutations with the notion of real stability—a generalization of real-rootedness to polynomials in multiple variables. The key is that our refined multivariate Eulerian polynomials satisfy a recurrence given by a stability-preserving linear operator.
Smooth Fano polytopes whose Ehrhart polynomial has a root with large real part
The symmetric edge polytopes of odd cycles (del Pezzo polytopes) are known as smooth Fano polytopes. In this extended abstract, we show that if the length of the cycle is 127, then the Ehrhart polynomial has a root whose real part is greater than the dimension. As a result, we have a smooth Fano polytope that is a counterexample to the two conjectures on the roots of Ehrhart polynomials.
Combinatorial Reciprocity for Monotone Triangles
The number of Monotone Triangles with bottom row $k_1 < k_2 < ⋯< k_n$ is given by a polynomial $\alpha (n; k_1,\ldots,k_n)$ in $n$ variables. The evaluation of this polynomial at weakly decreasing sequences $k_1 ≥k_2 ≥⋯≥k_n $turns out to be interpretable as signed enumeration of new combinatorial objects called Decreasing Monotone Triangles. There exist surprising connections between the two classes of objects – in particular it is shown that $\alpha (n;1,2,\ldots,n) = \alpha (2n; n,n,n-1,n-1,\ldots,1,1)$. In perfect analogy to the correspondence between Monotone Triangles and Alternating Sign Matrices, the set of Decreasing Monotone Triangles with bottom row $(n,n,n-1,n-1,\ldots,1,1)$ is in one-to-one correspondence with a certain set of ASM-like matrices, which also play an important role in proving the claimed identity algebraically. Finding a bijective proof remains an open problem.
Arithmetic matroids and Tutte polynomials
We introduce the notion of arithmetic matroid, whose main example is provided by a list of elements in a finitely generated abelian group. We study the representability of its dual, and, guided by the geometry of toric arrangements, we give a combinatorial interpretation of the associated arithmetic Tutte polynomial, which can be seen as a generalization of Crapo's formula.
The sandpile model, polyominoes, and a $q,t$-Narayana polynomial
We give a polyomino characterisation of recurrent configurations of the sandpile model on the complete bipartite graph $K_{m,n}$ in which one designated vertex is the sink. We present a bijection from these recurrent configurations to decorated parallelogram polyominoes whose bounding box is a $m×n$ rectangle. Other combinatorial structures appear in special cases of this correspondence: for example bicomposition matrices (a matrix analogue of set partitions), and (2+2)-free posets. A canonical toppling process for recurrent configurations gives rise to a path within the associated parallelogram polyominoes. We define a collection of polynomials that we call $q,t$-Narayana polynomials, the generating functions of the bistatistic $(\mathsf{area ,parabounce} )$ on the set of parallelogram polyominoes, akin to Haglund's $(\mathsf{area ,hagbounce} )$ bistatistic on Dyck paths. In doing so, we have extended a bistatistic of Egge et al. to the set of parallelogram polyominoes. This is one answer to their question concerning extensions to other combinatorial objects. We conjecture the $q,t$-Narayana polynomials to be symmetric and discuss the proofs for numerous special cases. We also show a relationship between the $q,t$-Catalan polynomials and our bistatistic $(\mathsf{area ,parabounce}) $on a subset of parallelogram polyominoes.
The representation of the symmetric group on $m$-Tamari intervals (conference version)
An $m$-ballot path of size $n$ is a path on the square grid consisting of north and east unit steps, starting at (0,0), ending at $(mn,n)$, and never going below the line $\{x=my\}$. The set of these paths can be equipped with a lattice structure, called the $m$-Tamari lattice and denoted by $\mathcal{T}{_n}^{(m)}$, which generalizes the usual Tamari lattice $\mathcal{T}n$ obtained when $m=1$. This lattice was introduced by F. Bergeron in connection with the study of diagonally coinvariant spaces in three sets of $n$ variables. The representation of the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$ on these spaces is conjectured to be closely related to the natural representation of $\mathfrak{S}_n$ on (labelled) intervals of the $m$-Tamari lattice studied in this paper. An interval $[P,Q$] of $\mathcal{T}{_n}^{(m)}$ is labelled if the north steps of $Q$ are labelled from 1 to $n$ in such a way the labels increase along any sequence of consecutive north steps. The symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$ acts on labelled intervals of $\mathcal{T}{_n}^{(m)}$by permutation of the labels. We prove an explicit formula, conjectured by F. Bergeron and the third author, for the character of the associated representation of $\mathfrak{S}_n$. In particular, the dimension of the representation, that is, the number of labelled $m$-Tamari intervals of size $n$, is found to be $(m+1)^n(mn+1)^{n-2}$. These results are new, even when $m=1$. The form of these numbers suggests a connection with parking […]
Product of Stanley symmetric functions
We study the problem of expanding the product of two Stanley symmetric functions $F_w·F_u$ into Stanley symmetric functions in some natural way. Our approach is to consider a Stanley symmetric function as a stabilized Schubert polynomial $F_w=\lim _n→∞\mathfrak{S}_{1^n×w}$, and study the behavior of the expansion of $\mathfrak{S} _{1^n×w}·\mathfrak{S} _{1^n×u}$ into Schubert polynomials, as $n$ increases. We prove that this expansion stabilizes and thus we get a natural expansion for the product of two Stanley symmetric functions. In the case when one permutation is Grassmannian, we have a better understanding of this stability.
Classification of Ehrhart polynomials of integral simplices
Let $δ (\mathcal{P} )=(δ _0,δ _1,\ldots,δ _d)$ be the $δ$ -vector of an integral convex polytope $\mathcal{P}$ of dimension $d$. First, by using two well-known inequalities on $δ$ -vectors, we classify the possible $δ$ -vectors with $\sum_{i=0}^d δ _i ≤3$. Moreover, by means of Hermite normal forms of square matrices, we also classify the possible $δ$ -vectors with $\sum_{i=0}^d δ _i = 4$. In addition, for $\sum_{i=0}^d δ _i ≥5$, we characterize the $δ$ -vectors of integral simplices when $\sum_{i=0}^d δ _i$ is prime.
Sorting and preimages of pattern classes
We introduce an algorithm to determine when a sorting operation, such as stack-sort or bubble-sort, outputs a given pattern. The algorithm provides a new proof of the description of West-2-stack-sortable permutations, that is permutations that are completely sorted when passed twice through a stack, in terms of patterns. We also solve the long-standing problem of describing West-3-stack-sortable permutations. This requires a new type of generalized permutation pattern we call a decorated pattern.
A simple formula for bipartite and quasi-bipartite maps with boundaries
We obtain a very simple formula for the generating function of bipartite (resp. quasi-bipartite) planar maps with boundaries (holes) of prescribed lengths, which generalizes certain expressions obtained by Eynard in a book to appear. The formula is derived from a bijection due to Bouttier, Di Francesco and Guitter combined with a process (reminiscent of a construction of Pitman) of aggregating connected components of a forest into a single tree.
Triangulations of cyclic polytopes
We give a new description of the combinatorics of triangulations of even-dimensional cyclic polytopes, and of their bistellar flips. We show that the tropical exchange relation governing the number of intersections between diagonals of a polygon and a lamination (which generalizes to arbitrary surfaces) can also be generalized in a different way, to the setting of higher dimensional cyclic polytopes.
Extremal Statistics on Non-Crossing Configurations
We obtain several properties of extremal statistics in non-crossing configurations with n vertices. We prove that the maximum degree and the largest component are of logarithmic order, and the diameter is of order $\sqrt{n}$. The proofs are based on singularity analysis, an application of the first and second moment method and on the analysis of iterated functions.
Correlations for the Novak process
We study random lozenge tilings of a certain shape in the plane called the Novak half-hexagon, and compute the correlation functions for this process. This model was introduced by Nordenstam and Young (2011) and has many intriguing similarities with a more well-studied model, domino tilings of the Aztec diamond. The most difficult step in the present paper is to compute the inverse of the matrix whose (i,j)-entry is the binomial coefficient $C(A, B_j-i)$ for indeterminate variables $A$ and $B_1, \dots , B_n.$
An algorithm which generates linear extensions for a non-simply-laced d-complete poset with uniform probability
\textbfAbstract. The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm which generates linear extensions for a non-simply-laced d-complete poset with uniform probability. ≠wline
The multivariate arithmetic Tutte polynomial
We introduce an arithmetic version of the multivariate Tutte polynomial recently studied by Sokal, and a quasi-polynomial that interpolates between the two. We provide a generalized Fortuin-Kasteleyn representation for representable arithmetic matroids, with applications to arithmetic colorings and flows. We give a new proof of the positivity of the coefficients of the arithmetic Tutte polynomial in the more general framework of pseudo-arithmetic matroids. In the case of a representable arithmetic matroid, we provide a geometric interpretation of the coefficients of the arithmetic Tutte polynomial.
Minimal transitive factorizations of a permutation of type (p,q)
We give a combinatorial proof of Goulden and Jackson's formula for the number of minimal transitive factorizations of a permutation when the permutation has two cycles. We use the recent result of Goulden, Nica, and Oancea on the number of maximal chains of annular noncrossing partitions of type B.
Cumulants of the q-semicircular law, Tutte polynomials, and heaps
The q-semicircular law as introduced by Bożejko and Speicher interpolates between the Gaussian law and the semicircular law, and its moments have a combinatorial interpretation in terms of matchings and crossings. We prove that the cumulants of this law are, up to some factor, polynomials in q with nonnegative coefficients. This is done by showing that they are obtained by an enumeration of connected matchings, weighted by the evaluation at (1,q) of a Tutte polynomial. The two particular cases q=0 and q=2 have also alternative proofs, related with the fact that these particular evaluation of the Tutte polynomials count some orientations on graphs. Our methods also give a combinatorial model for the cumulants of the free Poisson law.
Moment graphs and KL-polynomials
Motivated by a result of Fiebig (2007), we categorify some properties of Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials via sheaves on Bruhat moment graphs. In order to do this, we develop new techniques and apply them to the combinatorial data encoded in these moment graphs.
Phylogenetic trees and the tropical geometry of flag varieties
We will discuss some recent theorems relating the space of weighted phylogenetic trees to the tropical varieties of each flag variety of type A. We will also discuss the tropicalizations of the functions corresponding to semi-standard tableaux, in particular we relate them to familiar functions from phylogenetics. We close with some remarks on the generalization of these results to the tropical geometry of arbitrary flag varieties. This involves the family of Bergman complexes derived from the hyperplane arrangements associated to simple Dynkin diagrams.
Noncommutative symmetric functions with matrix parameters
We define new families of noncommutative symmetric functions and quasi-symmetric functions depending on two matrices of parameters, and more generally on parameters associated with paths in a binary tree. Appropriate specializations of both matrices then give back the two-vector families of Hivert, Lascoux, and Thibon and the noncommutative Macdonald functions of Bergeron and Zabrocki.
EL-Shellability of Generalized Noncrossing Partitions
In this article we prove that the poset of m-divisible noncrossing partitions is EL-shellable for every well-generated complex reflection group. This was an open problem for type G(d,d,n) and for the exceptional types, for which a proof is given case-by-case.
Chromatic roots as algebraic integers
A chromatic root is a zero of the chromatic polynomial of a graph. At a Newton Institute workshop on Combinatorics and Statistical Mechanics in 2008, two conjectures were proposed on the subject of which algebraic integers can be chromatic roots, known as the ``$α +n$ conjecture'' and the ``$nα$ conjecture''. These say, respectively, that given any algebraic integer α there is a natural number $n$ such that $α +n$ is a chromatic root, and that any positive integer multiple of a chromatic root is also a chromatic root. By computing the chromatic polynomials of two large families of graphs, we prove the $α +n$ conjecture for quadratic and cubic integers, and show that the set of chromatic roots satisfying the nα conjecture is dense in the complex plane.
Hecke algebra and quantum chromatic symmetric functions
We evaluate induced sign characters of $H_n(q)$ at certain elements of $H_n(q)$ and conjecture an interpretation for the resulting polynomials as generating functions for $P$-tableaux by a certain statistic. Our conjecture relates the quantum chromatic symmetric functions of Shareshian and Wachs to $H_n(q)$ characters.
On a Subposet of the Tamari Lattice
We discuss some properties of a subposet of the Tamari lattice introduced by Pallo (1986), which we call the comb poset. We show that three binary functions that are not well-behaved in the Tamari lattice are remarkably well-behaved within an interval of the comb poset: rotation distance, meets and joins, and the common parse words function for a pair of trees. We relate this poset to a partial order on the symmetric group studied by Edelman (1989).
Standard fillings to parking functions
The Hilbert series of the Garsia-Haiman module can be written as a generating function of standard fillings of Ferrers diagrams. It is conjectured by Haglund and Loehr that the Hilbert series of the diagonal harmonics can be written as a generating function of parking functions. In this paper we present a weight-preserving injection from standard fillings to parking functions for certain cases.
$Star^1$-convex functions on tropical linear spaces of complete graphs
Given a fan $\Delta$ and a cone $\sigma \in \Delta$ let $star^1(\sigma )$ be the set of cones that contain $\sigma$ and are one dimension bigger than $\sigma$ . In this paper we study two cones of piecewise linear functions defined on $\delta$ : the cone of functions which are convex on $star^1(σ\sigma)$ for all cones, and the cone of functions which are convex on $star^1(σ\sigma)$ for all cones of codimension 1. We give nice combinatorial descriptions for these two cones given two different fan structures on the tropical linear space of complete graphs. For the complete graph $K_5$, we prove that with the finer fan subdivision the two cones are not equal, but with the coarser subdivision they are the same. This gives a negative answer to a question of Gibney-Maclagan that for the finer subdivision the two cones are the same.
Involutions on Baxter Objects
Baxter numbers are known to count several families of combinatorial objects, all of which come equipped with natural involutions. In this paper, we add a combinatorial family to the list, and show that the known bijections between these objects respect these involutions. We also give a formula for the number of objects fixed under this involution, showing that it is an instance of Stembridge's "$q=-1$ phenomenon''.
Fusion coefficients
Using the expansion of the inverse of the Kostka matrix in terms of tabloids as presented by Eğecioğlu and Remmel, we show that the fusion coefficients can be expressed as an alternating sum over cylindric tableaux. Cylindric tableaux are skew tableaux with a certain cyclic symmetry. When the skew shape of the tableau has a cutting point, meaning that the cylindric skew shape is not connected, or if its weight has at most two parts, we give a positive combinatorial formula for the fusion coefficients. The proof uses a slight modification of a sign-reversing involution introduced by Remmel and Shimozono. We discuss how this approach may work in general.
Which Schubert varieties are local complete intersections?
We characterize by pattern avoidance the Schubert varieties for $\mathrm{GL}_n$ which are local complete intersections (lci). For those Schubert varieties which are local complete intersections, we give an explicit minimal set of equations cutting out their neighbourhoods at the identity. Although the statement of our characterization only requires ordinary pattern avoidance, showing that the Schubert varieties not satisfying our conditions are not lci appears to require working with more general notions of pattern avoidance. The Schubert varieties defined by inclusions, originally introduced by Gasharov and Reiner, turn out to be an important subclass, and we further develop some of their combinatorics. One application is a new formula for certain specializations of Schubert polynomials.
Cartan invariant matrices for finite monoids
Let $M$ be a finite monoid. In this paper we describe how the Cartan invariant matrix of the monoid algebra of $M$ over a field $\mathbb{K}$ of characteristic zero can be expressed using characters and some simple combinatorial statistic. In particular, it can be computed efficiently from the composition factors of the left and right class modules of $M$. When $M$ is aperiodic, this approach works in any characteristic, and generalizes to $\mathbb{K}$ a principal ideal domain like $\mathbb{Z}$. When $M$ is $\mathcal{R}$-trivial, we retrieve the formerly known purely combinatorial description of the Cartan matrix.
Maximal Newton polygons via the quantum Bruhat graph
This paper discusses a surprising relationship between the quantum cohomology of the variety of complete flags and the partially ordered set of Newton polygons associated to an element in the affine Weyl group. One primary key to establishing this connection is the fact that paths in the quantum Bruhat graph, which is a weighted directed graph with vertices indexed by elements in the finite Weyl group, encode saturated chains in the strong Bruhat order on the affine Weyl group. This correspondence is also fundamental in the work of Lam and Shimozono establishing Peterson's isomorphism between the quantum cohomology of the finite flag variety and the homology of the affine Grassmannian. In addition, using some geometry associated to the poset of Newton polygons, one obtains independent proofs for several combinatorial statements about paths in the quantum Bruhat graph and its symmetries, which were originally proved by Postnikov using the tilted Bruhat order. An important geometric application of this work is an inequality which provides a necessary condition for non-emptiness of certain affine Deligne-Lusztig varieties in the affine flag variety.
$q$-Floor Diagrams computing Refined Severi Degrees for Plane Curves
The Severi degree is the degree of the Severi variety parametrizing plane curves of degree $d$ with $\delta$ nodes. Recently, Göttsche and Shende gave two refinements of Severi degrees, polynomials in a variable $q$, which are conjecturally equal, for large $d$. At $q=1$, one of the refinements, the relative Severi degree, specializes to the (non-relative) Severi degree. We give a combinatorial description of the refined Severi degrees, in terms of a $q$-analog count of Brugallé and Mikhalkin's floor diagrams. Our description implies that, for fixed $\delta$, the refined Severi degrees are polynomials in $d$ and $q$, for large $d$. As a consequence, we show that, for $\delta \leq 4$ and all $d$, both refinements of Göttsche and Shende agree and equal our $q$-count of floor diagrams.
Lifted generalized permutahedra and composition polynomials
We introduce a "lifting'' construction for generalized permutohedra, which turns an $n$-dimensional generalized permutahedron into an $(n+1)$-dimensional one. We prove that this construction gives rise to Stasheff's multiplihedron from homotopy theory, and to the more general "nestomultiplihedra,'' answering two questions of Devadoss and Forcey. We construct a subdivision of any lifted generalized permutahedron whose pieces are indexed by compositions. The volume of each piece is given by a polynomial whose combinatorial properties we investigate. We show how this "composition polynomial'' arises naturally in the polynomial interpolation of an exponential function. We prove that its coefficients are positive integers, and conjecture that they are unimodal.
The ABC's of affine Grassmannians and Hall-Littlewood polynomials
We give a new description of the Pieri rule for $k$-Schur functions using the Bruhat order on the affine type-$A$ Weyl group. In doing so, we prove a new combinatorial formula for representatives of the Schubert classes for the cohomology of affine Grassmannians. We show how new combinatorics involved in our formulas gives the Kostka-Foulkes polynomials and discuss how this can be applied to study the transition matrices between Hall-Littlewood and $k$-Schur functions.
Flow polytopes and the Kostant partition function
We establish the relationship between volumes of flow polytopes associated to signed graphs and the Kostant partition function. A special case of this relationship, namely, when the graphs are signless, has been studied in detail by Baldoni and Vergne using techniques of residues. In contrast with their approach, we provide combinatorial proofs inspired by the work of Postnikov and Stanley on flow polytopes. As an application of our results we study a distinguished family of flow polytopes: the Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytopes. Inspired by their beautiful volume formula $\prod_{k=0}^{n-2} Cat(k)$ for the type $A_n$ case, where $Cat(k)$ is the $k^{th}$ Catalan number, we introduce type $C_{n+1}$ and $D_{n+1}$ Chan-Robbins-Yuen polytopes along with intriguing conjectures about their volumes.
Perturbation of transportation polytopes
We describe a perturbation method that can be used to compute the multivariate generating function (MGF) of a non-simple polyhedron, and then construct a perturbation that works for any transportation polytope. Applying this perturbation to the family of central transportation polytopes of order $kn \times n$, we obtain formulas for the MGF of the polytope. The formulas we obtain are enumerated by combinatorial objects. A special case of the formulas recovers the results on Birkhoff polytopes given by the author and De Loera and Yoshida. We also recover the formula for the number of maximum vertices of transportation polytopes of order $kn \times n$.
Extending from bijections between marked occurrences of patterns to all occurrences of patterns
We consider two recent open problems stating that certain statistics on various sets of combinatorial objects are equidistributed. The first, posed by Anders Claesson and Svante Linusson, relates nestings in matchings on $\{1,2,\ldots,2n\}$ to occurrences of a certain pattern in permutations in $S_n$. The second, posed by Miles Jones and Jeffrey Remmel, relates occurrences of a large class of consecutive permutation patterns to occurrences of the same pattern in the cycles of permutations. We develop a general method that solves both of these problems and many more. We further employ the Garsia-Milne involution principle to obtain purely bijective proofs of these results.
An inequality of Kostka numbers and Galois groups of Schubert problems
We show that the Galois group of any Schubert problem involving lines in projective space contains the alternating group. Using a criterion of Vakil and a special position argument due to Schubert, this follows from a particular inequality among Kostka numbers of two-rowed tableaux. In most cases, an easy combinatorial injection proves the inequality. For the remaining cases, we use that these Kostka numbers appear in tensor product decompositions of $\mathfrak{sl}_2\mathbb{C}$ -modules. Interpreting the tensor product as the action of certain commuting Toeplitz matrices and using a spectral analysis and Fourier series rewrites the inequality as the positivity of an integral. We establish the inequality by estimating this integral.
A New Binomial Recurrence Arising in a Graphical Compression Algorithm
In a recently proposed graphical compression algorithm by Choi and Szpankowski (2009), the following tree arose in the course of the analysis. The root contains n balls that are consequently distributed between two subtrees according to a simple rule: In each step, all balls independently move down to the left subtree (say with probability $p$) or the right subtree (with probability 1-$p$). A new node is created as long as there is at least one ball in that node. Furthermore, a nonnegative integer $d$ is given, and at level $d$ or greater one ball is removed from the leftmost node before the balls move down to the next level. These steps are repeated until all balls are removed (i.e., after $n+d$ steps). Observe that when $d=∞$ the above tree can be modeled as a $\textit{trie}$ that stores $n$ independent sequences generated by a memoryless source with parameter $p$. Therefore, we coin the name $(n,d)$-tries for the tree just described, and to which we often refer simply as $d$-tries. Parameters of such a tree (e.g., path length, depth, size) are described by an interesting two-dimensional recurrence (in terms of $n$ and $d$) that – to the best of our knowledge – was not analyzed before. We study it, and show how much parameters of such a $(n,d)$-trie differ from the corresponding parameters of regular tries. We use methods of analytic algorithmics, from Mellin transforms to analytic poissonization.
Approximate Counting via the Poisson-Laplace-Mellin Method
Approximate counting is an algorithm that provides a count of a huge number of objects within an error tolerance. The first detailed analysis of this algorithm was given by Flajolet. In this paper, we propose a new analysis via the Poisson-Laplace-Mellin approach, a method devised for analyzing shape parameters of digital search trees in a recent paper of Hwang et al. Our approach yields a different and more compact expression for the periodic function from the asymptotic expansion of the variance. We show directly that our expression coincides with the one obtained by Flajolet. Moreover, we apply our method to variations of approximate counting, too.
On death processes and urn models
We use death processes and embeddings into continuous time in order to analyze several urn models with a diminishing content. In particular we discuss generalizations of the pill's problem, originally introduced by Knuth and McCarthy, and generalizations of the well known sampling without replacement urn models, and OK Corral urn models.
Asymptotic behavior of some statistics in Ewens random permutations
The purpose of this article is to present a general method to find limiting laws for some renormalized statistics on random permutations. The model considered here is Ewens sampling model, which generalizes uniform random permutations. We describe the asymptotic behavior of a large family of statistics, including the number of occurrences of any given dashed pattern. Our approach is based on the method of moments and relies on the following intuition: two events involving the images of different integers are almost independent.
Asymptotics of Divide-And-Conquer Recurrences Via Iterated Function Systems
Let $k≥2$ be a fixed integer. Given a bounded sequence of real numbers $(a_n:n≥k)$, then for any sequence $(f_n:n≥1)$ of real numbers satisfying the divide-and-conquer recurrence $f_n = (k-mod(n,k))f_⌊n/k⌋+mod(n,k)f_⌈n/k⌉ + a_n, n ≥k$, there is a unique continuous periodic function $f^*:\mathbb{R}→\mathbb{R}$ with period 1 such that $f_n = nf^*(\log _kn)+o(n)$. If $(a_n)$ is periodic with period $k, a_k=0$, and the initial conditions $(f_i:1 ≤i ≤k-1)$ are all zero, we obtain a specific iterated function system $S$, consisting of $k$ continuous functions from $[0,1]×\mathbb{R}$ into itself, such that the attractor of $S$ is $\{(x,f^*(x)): 0 ≤x ≤1\}$. Using the system $S$, an accurate plot of $f^*$ can be rapidly obtained.
Additive tree functionals with small toll functions and subtrees of random trees
Many parameters of trees are additive in the sense that they can be computed recursively from the sum of the branches plus a certain toll function. For instance, such parameters occur very frequently in the analysis of divide-and-conquer algorithms. Here we are interested in the situation that the toll function is small (the average over all trees of a given size $n$ decreases exponentially with $n$). We prove a general central limit theorem for random labelled trees and apply it to a number of examples. The main motivation is the study of the number of subtrees in a random labelled tree, but it also applies to classical instances such as the number of leaves.
Domination analysis for scheduling on non preemptive uniformly related machines
no abstract
Enumeration and Random Generation of Concurrent Computations
In this paper, we study the shuffle operator on concurrent processes (represented as trees) using analytic combinatorics tools. As a first result, we show that the mean width of shuffle trees is exponentially smaller than the worst case upper-bound. We also study the expected size (in total number of nodes) of shuffle trees. We notice, rather unexpectedly, that only a small ratio of all nodes do not belong to the last two levels. We also provide a precise characterization of what ``exponential growth'' means in the case of the shuffle on trees. Two practical outcomes of our quantitative study are presented: (1) a linear-time algorithm to compute the probability of a concurrent run prefix, and (2) an efficient algorithm for uniform random generation of concurrent runs.
On total variation approximations for random assemblies
We prove a total variation approximation for the distribution of component vector of a weakly logarithmic random assembly. The proof demonstrates an analytic approach based on a comparative analysis of the coefficients of two power series.
Some exact asymptotics in the counting of walks in the quarter plane
Enumeration of planar lattice walks is a classical topic in combinatorics, at the cross-roads of several domains (e.g., probability, statistical physics, computer science). The aim of this paper is to propose a new approach to obtain some exact asymptotics for walks confined to the quarter plane.
Biased Boltzmann samplers and generation of extended linear languages with shuffle
This paper is devoted to the construction of Boltzmann samplers according to various distributions, and uses stochastic bias on the parameter of a Boltzmann sampler, to produce a sampler with a different distribution for the size of the output. As a significant application, we produce Boltzmann samplers for words defined by regular specifications containing shuffle operators and linear recursions. This sampler has linear complexity in the size of the output, where the complexity is measured in terms of real-arithmetic operations and evaluations of generating functions.
On the number of transversals in random trees
We study transversals in random trees with n vertices asymptotically as n tends to infinity. Our investigation treats the average number of transversals of fixed size, the size of a random transversal as well as the probability that a random subset of the vertex set of a tree is a transversal for the class of simply generated trees and for Pólya trees. The last parameter was already studied by Devroye for simply generated trees. We offer an alternative proof based on generating functions and singularity analysis and extend the result to Pólya trees.
Generic properties of random subgroups of a free group for general distributions
We consider a generalization of the uniform word-based distribution for finitely generated subgroups of a free group. In our setting, the number of generators is not fixed, the length of each generator is determined by a random variable with some simple constraints and the distribution of words of a fixed length is specified by a Markov process. We show by probabilistic arguments that under rather relaxed assumptions, the good properties of the uniform word-based distribution are preserved: generically (but maybe not exponentially generically), the tuple we pick is a basis of the subgroup it generates, this subgroup is malnormal and the group presentation defined by this tuple satisfies a small cancellation condition.
Matching solid shapes in arbitrary dimension via random sampling
We give simple probabilistic algorithms that approximately maximize the volume of overlap of two solid, i.e. full-dimensional, shapes under translations and rigid motions. The shapes are subsets of $ℝ^d$ where $d≥ 2$. The algorithms approximate with respect to an pre-specified additive error and succeed with high probability. Apart from measurability assumptions, we only require that points from the shapes can be generated uniformly at random. An important example are shapes given as finite unions of simplices that have pairwise disjoint interiors.
On Bernoulli Sums and Bernstein Polynomials
In the paper we discuss a technology based on Bernstein polynomials of asymptotic analysis of a class of binomial sums that arise in information theory. Our method gives a quick derivation of required sums and can be generalized to multinomial distributions. As an example we derive a formula for the entropy of multinomial distributions. Our method simplifies previous work of Jacquet, Szpankowski and Flajolet from 1999.
Support and density of the limit $m$-ary search trees distribution
The space requirements of an $m$-ary search tree satisfies a well-known phase transition: when $m\leq 26$, the second order asymptotics is Gaussian. When $m\geq 27$, it is not Gaussian any longer and a limit $W$ of a complex-valued martingale arises. We show that the distribution of $W$ has a square integrable density on the complex plane, that its support is the whole complex plane, and that it has finite exponential moments. The proofs are based on the study of the distributional equation $ W \overset{\mathcal{L}}{=} \sum_{k=1}^mV_k^{\lambda}W_k$, where $V_1, ..., V_m$ are the spacings of $(m-1)$ independent random variables uniformly distributed on $[0,1]$, $W_1, ..., W_m$ are independent copies of W which are also independent of $(V_1, ..., V_m)$ and $\lambda$ is a complex number.
Adaptive compression against a countable alphabet
This paper sheds light on universal coding with respect to classes of memoryless sources over a countable alphabet defined by an envelope function with finite and non-decreasing hazard rate. We prove that the auto-censuring (AC) code introduced by Bontemps (2011) is adaptive with respect to the collection of such classes. The analysis builds on the tight characterization of universal redundancy rate in terms of metric entropy by Haussler and Opper (1997) and on a careful analysis of the performance of the AC-coding algorithm. The latter relies on non-asymptotic bounds for maxima of samples from discrete distributions with finite and non-decreasing hazard rate.
Exactly Solvable Balanced Tenable Urns with Random Entries via the Analytic Methodology
This paper develops an analytic theory for the study of some Pólya urns with random rules. The idea is to extend the isomorphism theorem in Flajolet et al. (2006), which connects deterministic balanced urns to a differential system for the generating function. The methodology is based upon adaptation of operators and use of a weighted probability generating function. Systems of differential equations are developed, and when they can be solved, they lead to characterization of the exact distributions underlying the urn evolution. We give a few illustrative examples.
Locally Restricted Compositions IV. Nearly Free Large Parts and Gap-Freeness
We define the notion of $t$-free for locally restricted compositions, which means roughly that if such a composition contains a part $c_i$ and nearby parts are at least $t$ smaller, then $c_i$ can be replaced by any larger part. Two well-known examples are Carlitz and alternating compositions. We show that large parts have asymptotically geometric distributions. This leads to asymptotically independent Poisson variables for numbers of various large parts. Based on this we obtain asymptotic formulas for the probability of being gap free and for the expected values of the largest part and number distinct parts, all accurate to $o(1)$.
The weighted words collector
We consider the word collector problem, i.e. the expected number of calls to a random weighted generator before all the words of a given length in a language are generated. The originality of this instance of the non-uniform coupon collector lies in the, potentially large, multiplicity of the words/coupons of a given probability/composition. We obtain a general theorem that gives an asymptotic equivalent for the expected waiting time of a general version of the Coupon Collector. This theorem is especially well-suited for classes of coupons featuring high multiplicities. Its application to a given language essentially necessitates knowledge on the number of words of a given composition/probability. We illustrate the application of our theorem, in a step-by-step fashion, on four exemplary languages, whose analyses reveal a large diversity of asymptotic waiting times, generally expressible as $\kappa \cdot m^p \cdot (\log{m})^q \cdot (\log \log{m})^r$, for $m$ the number of words, and $p, q, r$ some positive real numbers.
A phase transition in the distribution of the length of integer partitions
We assign a uniform probability to the set consisting of partitions of a positive integer $n$ such that the multiplicity of each summand is less than a given number $d$ and we study the limiting distribution of the number of summands in a random partition. It is known from a result by Erdős and Lehner published in 1941 that the distributions of the length in random restricted $(d=2)$ and random unrestricted $(d \geq n+1)$ partitions behave very differently. In this paper we show that as the bound $d$ increases we observe a phase transition in which the distribution goes from the Gaussian distribution of the restricted case to the Gumbel distribution of the unrestricted case.
The Euclid Algorithm is totally gaussian
We consider Euclid’s gcd algorithm for two integers $(p, q)$ with $1 \leq p \leq q \leq N$, with the uniform distribution on input pairs. We study the distribution of the total cost of execution of the algorithm for an additive cost function $d$ on the set of possible digits, asymptotically for $N \to \infty$. For any additive cost of moderate growth $d$, Baladi and Vallée obtained a central limit theorem, and –in the case when the cost $d$ is lattice– a local limit theorem. In both cases, the optimal speed was attained. When the cost is non lattice, the problem was later considered by Baladi and Hachemi, who obtained a local limit theorem under an intertwined diophantine condition which involves the cost $d$ together with the “canonical” cost $c$ of the underlying dynamical system. The speed depends on the irrationality exponent that intervenes in the diophantine condition. We show here how to replace this diophantine condition by another diophantine condition, much more natural, which already intervenes in simpler problems of the same vein, and only involves the cost $d$. This “replacement” is made possible by using the additivity of cost $d$, together with a strong property satisfied by the Euclidean Dynamical System, which states that the cost $c$ is both “strongly” non additive and diophantine in a precise sense. We thus obtain a local limit theorem, whose speed is related to the irrationality exponent which intervenes in the new diophantine condition. […]
Joint String Complexity for Markov Sources
String complexity is defined as the cardinality of a set of all distinct words (factors) of a given string. For two strings, we define $\textit{joint string complexity}$ as the set of words that are common to both strings. We also relax this definition and introduce $\textit{joint semi-complexity}$ restricted to the common words appearing at least twice in both strings. String complexity finds a number of applications from capturing the richness of a language to finding similarities between two genome sequences. In this paper we analyze joint complexity and joint semi-complexity when both strings are generated by a Markov source. The problem turns out to be quite challenging requiring subtle singularity analysis and saddle point method over infinity many saddle points leading to novel oscillatory phenomena with single and double periodicities.
Data Streams as Random Permutations: the Distinct Element Problem
In this paper, we show that data streams can sometimes usefully be studied as random permutations. This simple observation allows a wealth of classical and recent results from combinatorics to be recycled, with minimal effort, as estimators for various statistics over data streams. We illustrate this by introducing RECORDINALITY, an algorithm which estimates the number of distinct elements in a stream by counting the number of $k$-records occurring in it. The algorithm has a score of interesting properties, such as providing a random sample of the set underlying the stream. To the best of our knowledge, a modified version of RECORDINALITY is the first cardinality estimation algorithm which, in the random-order model, uses neither sampling nor hashing.
A Littlewood-Richardson type rule for row-strict quasisymmetric Schur functions
We establish several properties of an algorithm defined by Mason and Remmel (2010) which inserts a positive integer into a row-strict composition tableau. These properties lead to a Littlewood-Richardson type rule for expanding the product of a row-strict quasisymmetric Schur function and a symmetric Schur function in terms of row-strict quasisymmetric Schur functions.
K-classes for matroids and equivariant localization
To every matroid, we associate a class in the K-theory of the Grassmannian. We study this class using the method of equivariant localization. In particular, we provide a geometric interpretation of the Tutte polynomial. We also extend results of the second author concerning the behavior of such classes under direct sum, series and parallel connection and two-sum; these results were previously only established for realizable matroids, and their earlier proofs were more difficult.
Counting Shi regions with a fixed separating wall
Athanasiadis introduced separating walls for a region in the extended Shi arrangement and used them to generalize the Narayana numbers. In this paper, we fix a hyperplane in the extended Shi arrangement for type A and calculate the number of dominant regions which have the fixed hyperplane as a separating wall; that is, regions where the hyperplane supports a facet of the region and separates the region from the origin.
Cofree compositions of coalgebras
We develop the notion of the composition of two coalgebras, which arises naturally in higher category theory and the theory of species. We prove that the composition of two cofree coalgebras is cofree and give conditions which imply that the composition is a one-sided Hopf algebra. These conditions hold when one coalgebra is a graded Hopf operad $\mathcal{D}$ and the other is a connected graded coalgebra with coalgebra map to $\mathcal{D}$. We conclude with examples of these structures, where the factor coalgebras have bases indexed by the vertices of multiplihedra, composihedra, and hypercubes.
Dissimilarity Vectors of Trees and Their Tropical Linear Spaces (Extended Abstract)
We study the combinatorics of weighted trees from the point of view of tropical algebraic geometry and tropical linear spaces. The set of dissimilarity vectors of weighted trees is contained in the tropical Grassmannian, so we describe here the tropical linear space of a dissimilarity vector and its associated family of matroids. This gives a family of complete flags of tropical linear spaces, where each flag is described by a weighted tree.
Algebraic and combinatorial structures on Baxter permutations
We give a new construction of a Hopf subalgebra of the Hopf algebra of Free quasi-symmetric functions whose bases are indexed by objects belonging to the Baxter combinatorial family (\emphi.e. Baxter permutations, pairs of twin binary trees, \emphetc.). This construction relies on the definition of the Baxter monoid, analog of the plactic monoid and the sylvester monoid, and on a Robinson-Schensted-like insertion algorithm. The algebraic properties of this Hopf algebra are studied. This Hopf algebra appeared for the first time in the work of Reading [Lattice congruences, fans and Hopf algebras, \textitJournal of Combinatorial Theory Series A, 110:237–273, 2005].
The pentagram map and Y-patterns
The pentagram map, introduced by R. Schwartz, is defined by the following construction: given a polygon as input, draw all of its ``shortest'' diagonals, and output the smaller polygon which they cut out. We employ the machinery of cluster algebras to obtain explicit formulas for the iterates of the pentagram map.
On the evaluation of the Tutte polynomial at the points (1,-1) and (2,-1)
C. Merino [Electron. J. Combin. 15 (2008)] showed that the Tutte polynomial of a complete graph satisfies $t(K_{n+2};2,-1)=t(K_n;1,-1)$. We first give a bijective proof of this identity based on the relationship between the Tutte polynomial and the inversion polynomial for trees. Next we move to our main result, a sufficient condition for a graph G to have two vertices u and v such that $t(G;2,-1)=t(G-\{u,v\};1,-1)$; the condition is satisfied in particular by the class of threshold graphs. Finally, we give a formula for the evaluation of $t(K_{n,m};2,-1)$ involving up-down permutations.
Enumeration of minimal 3D polyominoes inscribed in a rectangular prism
We consider the family of 3D minimal polyominoes inscribed in a rectanglar prism. These objects are polyominos and so they are connected sets of unitary cubic cells inscribed in a given rectangular prism of size $b\times k \times h$ and of minimal volume equal to $b+k+h-2$. They extend the concept of minimal 2D polyominoes inscribed in a rectangle studied in a previous work. Using their geometric structure and elementary combinatorial principles, we construct rational generating functions of minimal 3D polyominoes. We also obtain a number of exact formulas and recurrences for sub-families of these polyominoes.
Cyclic sieving phenomenon in non-crossing connected graphs
A non-crossing connected graph is a connected graph on vertices arranged in a circle such that its edges do not cross. The count for such graphs can be made naturally into a q-binomial generating function. We prove that this generating function exhibits the cyclic sieving phenomenon, as conjectured by S.-P. Eu.
A polynomial expression for the Hilbert series of the quotient ring of diagonal coinvariants (condensed version)
A special case of Haiman's identity [Invent. Math. 149 (2002), pp. 371–407] for the character of the quotient ring of diagonal coinvariants under the diagonal action of the symmetric group yields a formula for the bigraded Hilbert series as a sum of rational functions in $q,t$. In this paper we show how a summation identity of Garsia and Zabrocki for Macdonald polynomial Pieri coefficients can be used to transform Haiman's formula for the Hilbert series into an explicit polynomial in $q,t$ with integer coefficients. We also provide an equivalent formula for the Hilbert series as the constant term in a multivariate Laurent series.
The enumeration of fully commutative affine permutations
We give a generating function for the fully commutative affine permutations enumerated by rank and Coxeter length, extending formulas due to Stembridge and Barcucci–Del Lungo–Pergola–Pinzani. For fixed rank, the length generating functions have coefficients that are periodic with period dividing the rank. In the course of proving these formulas, we obtain results that elucidate the structure of the fully commutative affine permutations. This is a summary of the results; the full version appears elsewhere.
Meander Graphs
We consider a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach to the uniform sampling of meanders. Combinatorially, a meander $M = [A:B]$ is formed by two noncrossing perfect matchings, above $A$ and below $B$ the same endpoints, which form a single closed loop. We prove that meanders are connected under appropriate pairs of balanced local moves, one operating on $A$ and the other on $B$. We also prove that the subset of meanders with a fixed $B$ is connected under a suitable local move operating on an appropriately defined meandric triple in $A$. We provide diameter bounds under such moves, tight up to a (worst case) factor of two. The mixing times of the Markov chains remain open.
The short toric polynomial
We introduce the short toric polynomial associated to a graded Eulerian poset. This polynomial contains the same information as Stanley's pair of toric polynomials, but allows different algebraic manipulations. Stanley's intertwined recurrence may be replaced by a single recurrence, in which the degree of the discarded terms is independent of the rank. A short toric variant of the formula by Bayer and Ehrenborg, expressing the toric h-vector in terms of the cd-index, may be stated in a rank-independent form, and it may be shown using weighted lattice path enumeration and the reflection principle. We use our techniques to derive a formula expressing the toric h-vector of a dual simplicial Eulerian poset in terms of its f-vector. This formula implies Gessel's formula for the toric h-vector of a cube, and may be used to prove that the nonnegativity of the toric h-vector of a simple polytope is a consequence of the Generalized Lower Bound Theorem holding for simplicial polytopes.
Combinatorics of k-shapes and Genocchi numbers
In this paper we present a work in progress on a conjectural new combinatorial model for the Genocchi numbers. This new model called irreducible k-shapes has a strong algebraic background in the theory of symmetric functions and leads to seemingly new features on the theory of Genocchi numbers. In particular, the natural q-analogue coming from the degree of symmetric functions seems to be unknown so far.
0-Hecke algebra actions on coinvariants and flags
By investigating the action of the 0-Hecke algebra on the coinvariant algebra and the complete flag variety, we interpret generating functions counting the permutations with fixed inverse descent set by their inversion number and major index.
The Incidence Hopf Algebra of Graphs
The graph algebra is a commutative, cocommutative, graded, connected incidence Hopf algebra, whose basis elements correspond to finite simple graphs and whose Hopf product and coproduct admit simple combinatorial descriptions. We give a new formula for the antipode in the graph algebra in terms of acyclic orientations; our formula contains many fewer terms than Schmitt's more general formula for the antipode in an incidence Hopf algebra. Applications include several formulas (some old and some new) for evaluations of the Tutte polynomial.
Bumping algorithm for set-valued shifted tableaux
We present an insertion algorithm of Robinson–Schensted type that applies to set-valued shifted Young tableaux. Our algorithm is a generalization of both set-valued non-shifted tableaux by Buch and non set-valued shifted tableaux by Worley and Sagan. As an application, we obtain a Pieri rule for a K-theoretic analogue of the Schur Q-functions.
Relative Node Polynomials for Plane Curves
We generalize the recent work of Fomin and Mikhalkin on polynomial formulas for Severi degrees. The degree of the Severi variety of plane curves of degree d and δ nodes is given by a polynomial in d, provided δ is fixed and d is large enough. We extend this result to generalized Severi varieties parametrizing plane curves which, in addition, satisfy tangency conditions of given orders with respect to a given line. We show that the degrees of these varieties, appropriately rescaled, are given by a combinatorially defined ``relative node polynomial'' in the tangency orders, provided the latter are large enough. We describe a method to compute these polynomials for arbitrary δ , and use it to present explicit formulas for δ ≤ 6. We also give a threshold for polynomiality, and compute the first few leading terms for any δ .
Arc Spaces and Rogers-Ramanujan Identities
Arc spaces have been introduced in algebraic geometry as a tool to study singularities but they show strong connections with combinatorics as well. Exploiting these relations we obtain a new approach to the classical Rogers-Ramanujan Identities. The linking object is the Hilbert-Poincaré series of the arc space over a point of the base variety. In the case of the double point this is precisely the generating series for the integer partitions without equal or consecutive parts.
Partition and composition matrices: two matrix analogues of set partitions
This paper introduces two matrix analogues for set partitions; partition and composition matrices. These two analogues are the natural result of lifting the mapping between ascent sequences and integer matrices given in Dukes & Parviainen (2010). We prove that partition matrices are in one-to-one correspondence with inversion tables. Non-decreasing inversion tables are shown to correspond to partition matrices with a row ordering relation. Partition matrices which are s-diagonal are classified in terms of inversion tables. Bidiagonal partition matrices are enumerated using the transfer-matrix method and are equinumerous with permutations which are sortable by two pop-stacks in parallel. We show that composition matrices on the set $X$ are in one-to-one correspondence with (2+2)-free posets on $X$.We show that pairs of ascent sequences and permutations are in one-to-one correspondence with (2+2)-free posets whose elements are the cycles of a permutation, and use this relation to give an expression for the number of (2+2)-free posets on $\{1,\ldots,n\}$.
Path tableaux and combinatorial interpretations of immanants for class functions on $S_n$
Let $χ ^λ$ be the irreducible $S_n$-character corresponding to the partition $λ$ of $n$, equivalently, the preimage of the Schur function $s_λ$ under the Frobenius characteristic map. Let $\phi ^λ$ be the function $S_n →ℂ$ which is the preimage of the monomial symmetric function $m_λ$ under the Frobenius characteristic map. The irreducible character immanant $Imm_λ {(x)} = ∑_w ∈S_n χ ^λ (w) x_1,w_1 ⋯x_n,w_n$ evaluates nonnegatively on each totally nonnegative matrix $A$. We provide a combinatorial interpretation for the value $Imm_λ (A)$ in the case that $λ$ is a hook partition. The monomial immanant $Imm_{{\phi} ^λ} (x) = ∑_w ∈S_n φ ^λ (w) x_1,w_1 ⋯x_n,w_n$ is conjectured to evaluate nonnegatively on each totally nonnegative matrix $A$. We confirm this conjecture in the case that $λ$ is a two-column partition by providing a combinatorial interpretation for the value $Imm_{{\phi} ^λ} (A)$.
Statistics on staircase tableaux, eulerian and mahonian statistics
We give a simple bijection between some staircase tableaux and tables of inversion. Some nice properties of the bijection allows us to define some q-Eulerian polynomials related to the staircase tableaux. We also give a combinatorial interpretation of these q-Eulerian polynomials in terms of permutations.
Polynomial functions on Young diagrams arising from bipartite graphs
We study the class of functions on the set of (generalized) Young diagrams arising as the number of embeddings of bipartite graphs. We give a criterion for checking when such a function is a polynomial function on Young diagrams (in the sense of Kerov and Olshanski) in terms of combinatorial properties of the corresponding bipartite graphs. Our method involves development of a differential calculus of functions on the set of generalized Young diagrams.
Critical Groups of Simplicial Complexes
We generalize the theory of critical groups from graphs to simplicial complexes. Specifically, given a simplicial complex, we define a family of abelian groups in terms of combinatorial Laplacian operators, generalizing the construction of the critical group of a graph. We show how to realize these critical groups explicitly as cokernels of reduced Laplacians, and prove that they are finite, with orders given by weighted enumerators of simplicial spanning trees. We describe how the critical groups of a complex represent flow along its faces, and sketch another potential interpretation as analogues of Chow groups.
The topology of restricted partition posets
For each composition $\vec{c}$ we show that the order complex of the poset of pointed set partitions $Π ^• _{\vec{c}}$ is a wedge of $β\vec{c}$ spheres of the same dimensions, where $β\vec{c}$ is the number of permutations with descent composition ^$\vec{c}$. Furthermore, the action of the symmetric group on the top homology is isomorphic to the Specht module $S^B$ where $B$ is a border strip associated to the composition $\vec{c}$. We also study the filter of pointed set partitions generated by a knapsack integer partitions and show the analogous results on homotopy type and action on the top homology.
Allowed patterns of β -shifts
For a real number $β >1$, we say that a permutation $π$ of length $n$ is allowed (or realized) by the $β$-shift if there is some $x∈[0,1]$ such that the relative order of the sequence $x,f(x),\ldots,f^n-1(x)$, where $f(x)$ is the fractional part of $βx$, is the same as that of the entries of $π$ . Widely studied from such diverse fields as number theory and automata theory, $β$-shifts are prototypical examples of one-dimensional chaotic dynamical systems. When $β$ is an integer, permutations realized by shifts have been recently characterized. In this paper we generalize some of the results to arbitrary $β$-shifts. We describe a method to compute, for any given permutation $π$ , the smallest $β$ such that $π$ is realized by the $β$-shift.
Polytopes from Subgraph Statistics
We study polytopes that are convex hulls of vectors of subgraph densities. Many graph theoretical questions can be expressed in terms of these polytopes, and statisticians use them to understand exponential random graph models. Relations among their Ehrhart polynomials are described, their duals are applied to certify that polynomials are non-negative, and we find some of their faces. For the general picture we inscribe cyclic polytopes in them and calculate volumes. From the volume calculations we conjecture that a variation of the Selberg integral indexed by Schur polynomials has a combinatorial formula. We inscribe polynomially parametrized sets, called curvy zonotopes, in the polytopes and show that they approximate the polytopes arbitrarily close.
Dual combinatorics of zonal polynomials
In this paper we establish a new combinatorial formula for zonal polynomials in terms of power-sums. The proof relies on the sign-reversing involution principle. We deduce from it formulas for zonal characters, which are defined as suitably normalized coefficients in the expansion of zonal polynomials in terms of power-sum symmetric functions. These formulas are analogs of recent developments on irreducible character values of symmetric groups. The existence of such formulas could have been predicted from the work of M. Lassalle who formulated two positivity conjectures for Jack characters, which we prove in the special case of zonal polynomials.
Tree-like tableaux
In this work we introduce and study tree-like tableaux, which are certain fillings of Ferrers diagrams in simple bijection with permutation tableaux and alternative tableaux. We exhibit an elementary insertion procedure on our tableaux which gives a clear proof that tableaux of size n are counted by n!, and which moreover respects most of the well-known statistics studied originally on alternative and permutation tableaux. Our insertion procedure allows to define in particular two simple new bijections between tree-like tableaux and permutations: the first one is conceived specifically to respect the generalized pattern 2-31, while the second one respects the underlying tree of a tree-like tableau.
The # product in combinatorial Hopf algebras
We show that the # product of binary trees introduced by Aval and Viennot (2008) is in fact defined at the level of the free associative algebra, and can be extended to most of the classical combinatorial Hopf algebras.
Powers of the Vandermonde determinant, Schur functions, and the dimension game
Since every even power of the Vandermonde determinant is a symmetric polynomial, we want to understand its decomposition in terms of the basis of Schur functions. We investigate several combinatorial properties of the coefficients in the decomposition. In particular, I will give a recursive approach for computing the coefficient of the Schur function $s_μ$ in the decomposition of an even power of the Vandermonde determinant in $n+1$ variables in terms of the coefficient of the Schur function $s_λ$ in the decomposition of the same even power of the Vandermonde determinant in $n$ variables if the Young diagram of $μ$ is obtained from the Young diagram of $λ$ by adding a tetris type shape to the top or to the left.
The Murnaghan―Nakayama rule for k-Schur functions
We prove a Murnaghan–Nakayama rule for k-Schur functions of Lapointe and Morse. That is, we give an explicit formula for the expansion of the product of a power sum symmetric function and a k-Schur function in terms of k-Schur functions. This is proved using the noncommutative k-Schur functions in terms of the nilCoxeter algebra introduced by Lam and the affine analogue of noncommutative symmetric functions of Fomin and Greene.
On the enumeration of column-convex permutominoes
We study the enumeration of \emphcolumn-convex permutominoes, i.e. column-convex polyominoes defined by a pair of permutations. We provide a direct recursive construction for the column-convex permutominoes of a given size, based on the application of the ECO method and generating trees, which leads to a functional equation. Then we obtain some upper and lower bounds for the number of column-convex permutominoes, and conjecture its asymptotic behavior using numerical analysis.
Primitive orthogonal idempotents for R-trivial monoids
We construct a recursive formula for a complete system of primitive orthogonal idempotents for any R-trivial monoid. This uses the newly proved equivalence between the notions of R-trivial monoid and weakly ordered monoid.
Deformed diagonal harmonic polynomials for complex reflection groups
We introduce deformations of the space of (multi-diagonal) harmonic polynomials for any finite complex reflection group of the form W=G(m,p,n), and give supporting evidence that this space seems to always be isomorphic, as a graded W-module, to the undeformed version.
Enumerating projective reflection groups
Projective reflection groups have been recently defined by the second author. They include a special class of groups denoted G(r,p,s,n) which contains all classical Weyl groups and more generally all the complex reflection groups of type G(r,p,n). In this paper we define some statistics analogous to descent number and major index over the projective reflection groups G(r,p,s,n), and we compute several generating functions concerning these parameters. Some aspects of the representation theory of G(r,p,s,n), as distribution of one-dimensional characters and computation of Hilbert series of some invariant algebras, are also treated.
Finite Eulerian posets which are binomial or Sheffer
In this paper we study finite Eulerian posets which are binomial or Sheffer. These important classes of posets are related to the theory of generating functions and to geometry. The results of this paper are organized as follows: (1) We completely determine the structure of Eulerian binomial posets and, as a conclusion, we are able to classify factorial functions of Eulerian binomial posets; (2) We give an almost complete classification of factorial functions of Eulerian Sheffer posets by dividing the original question into several cases; (3) In most cases above, we completely determine the structure of Eulerian Sheffer posets, a result stronger than just classifying factorial functions of these Eulerian Sheffer posets. We also study Eulerian triangular posets. This paper answers questions posed by R. Ehrenborg and M. Readdy. This research is also motivated by the work of R. Stanley about recognizing the \emphboolean lattice by looking at smaller intervals.
Rational smoothness and affine Schubert varieties of type A
The study of Schubert varieties in G/B has led to numerous advances in algebraic combinatorics and algebraic geometry. These varieties are indexed by elements of the corresponding Weyl group, an affine Weyl group, or one of their parabolic quotients. Often times, the goal is to determine which of the algebraic and topological properties of the Schubert variety can be described in terms of the combinatorics of its corresponding Weyl group element. A celebrated example of this occurs when G/B is of type A, due to Lakshmibai and Sandhya. They showed that the smooth Schubert varieties are precisely those indexed by permutations that avoid the patterns 3412 and 4231. Our main result is a characterization of the rationally smooth Schubert varieties corresponding to affine permutations in terms of the patterns 4231 and 3412 and the twisted spiral permutations.
A tight colored Tverberg theorem for maps to manifolds (extended abstract)
Any continuous map of an $N$-dimensional simplex $Δ _N$ with colored vertices to a $d$-dimensional manifold $M$ must map $r$ points from disjoint rainbow faces of $Δ _N$ to the same point in $M$, assuming that $N≥(r-1)(d+1)$, no $r$ vertices of $Δ _N$ get the same color, and our proof needs that $r$ is a prime. A face of $Δ _N$ is called a rainbow face if all vertices have different colors. This result is an extension of our recent "new colored Tverberg theorem'', the special case of $M=ℝ^d$. It is also a generalization of Volovikov's 1996 topological Tverberg theorem for maps to manifolds, which arises when all color classes have size 1 (i.e., without color constraints); for this special case Volovikov's proofs, as well as ours, work when r is a prime power.
Shortest path poset of Bruhat intervals
Let $[u,v]$ be a Bruhat interval and $B(u,v)$ be its corresponding Bruhat graph. The combinatorial and topological structure of the longest $u-v$ paths of $B(u,v)$ has been extensively studied and is well-known. Nevertheless, not much is known of the remaining paths. Here we describe combinatorial properties of the shortest $u-v$ paths of $B(u,v)$. We also derive the non-negativity of some coefficients of the complete mcd-index of $[u,v]$.
Lagrange's Theorem for Hopf Monoids in Species
We prove Lagrange's theorem for Hopf monoids in the category of connected species. We deduce necessary conditions for a given subspecies $\textrm{k}$ of a Hopf monoid $\textrm{h}$ to be a Hopf submonoid: each of the generating series of $\textrm{k}$ must divide the corresponding generating series of $\textrm{k}$ in ℕ〚x〛. Among other corollaries we obtain necessary inequalities for a sequence of nonnegative integers to be the sequence of dimensions of a Hopf monoid. In the set-theoretic case the inequalities are linear and demand the non negativity of the binomial transform of the sequence.
Gelfand―Tsetlin Polytopes and Feigin―Fourier―Littelmann―Vinberg Polytopes as Marked Poset Polytopes
Stanley (1986) showed how a finite partially ordered set gives rise to two polytopes, called the order polytope and chain polytope, which have the same Ehrhart polynomial despite being quite different combinatorially. We generalize his result to a wider family of polytopes constructed from a poset P with integers assigned to some of its elements. Through this construction, we explain combinatorially the relationship between the Gelfand–Tsetlin polytopes (1950) and the Feigin–Fourier–Littelmann–Vinberg polytopes (2010, 2005), which arise in the representation theory of the special linear Lie algebra. We then use the generalized Gelfand–Tsetlin polytopes of Berenstein and Zelevinsky (1989) to propose conjectural analogues of the Feigin–Fourier–Littelmann–Vinberg polytopes corresponding to the symplectic and odd orthogonal Lie algebras.
Hyperplane Arrangements and Diagonal Harmonics
In 2003, Haglund's bounce statistic gave the first combinatorial interpretation of the q,t-Catalan numbers and the Hilbert series of diagonal harmonics. In this paper we propose a new combinatorial interpretation in terms of the affine Weyl group of type A. In particular, we define two statistics on affine permutations; one in terms of the Shi hyperplane arrangement, and one in terms of a new arrangement — which we call the Ish arrangement. We prove that our statistics are equivalent to the area' and bounce statistics of Haglund and Loehr. In this setting, we observe that bounce is naturally expressed as a statistic on the root lattice. We extend our statistics in two directions: to "extended'' Shi arrangements and to the bounded chambers of these arrangements. This leads to a (conjectural) combinatorial interpretation for all integral powers of the Bergeron-Garsia nabla operator applied to elementary symmetric functions.
The Shi arrangement and the Ish arrangement
This paper is about two arrangements of hyperplanes. The first — the Shi arrangement — was introduced by Jian-Yi Shi to describe the Kazhdan-Lusztig cells in the affine Weyl group of type A. The second — the Ish arrangement — was recently defined by the first author who used the two arrangements together to give a new interpretation of the q,t-Catalan numbers of Garsia and Haiman. In the present paper we will define a mysterious "combinatorial symmetry'' between the two arrangements and show that this symmetry preserves a great deal of information. For example, the Shi and Ish arrangements share the same characteristic polynomial, the same numbers of regions, bounded regions, dominant regions, regions with c "ceilings'' and d "degrees of freedom'', etc. Moreover, all of these results hold in the greater generality of "deleted'' Shi and Ish arrangements corresponding to an arbitrary subgraph of the complete graph. Our proofs are based on nice combinatorial labellings of Shi and Ish regions and a new set partition-valued statistic on these regions.
Counting self-dual interval orders
In this paper, we first derive an explicit formula for the generating function that counts unlabeled interval orders (a.k.a. (2+2)-free posets) with respect to several natural statistics, including their size, magnitude, and the number of minimal and maximal elements. In the second part of the paper, we derive a generating function for the number of self-dual unlabeled interval orders, with respect to the same statistics. Our method is based on a bijective correspondence between interval orders and upper-triangular matrices in which each row and column has a positive entry.
A reciprocity approach to computing generating functions for permutations with no pattern matches
In this paper, we develop a new method to compute generating functions of the form $NM_τ (t,x,y) = \sum\limits_{n ≥0} {\frac{t^n} {n!}}∑_{σ ∈\mathcal{lNM_{n}(τ )}} x^{LRMin(σ)} y^{1+des(σ )}$ where $τ$ is a permutation that starts with $1, \mathcal{NM_n}(τ )$ is the set of permutations in the symmetric group $S_n$ with no $τ$ -matches, and for any permutation $σ ∈S_n$, $LRMin(σ )$ is the number of left-to-right minima of $σ$ and $des(σ )$ is the number of descents of $σ$ . Our method does not compute $NM_τ (t,x,y)$ directly, but assumes that $NM_τ (t,x,y) = \frac{1}{/ (U_τ (t,y))^x}$ where $U_τ (t,y) = \sum_{n ≥0} U_τ ,n(y) \frac{t^n}{ n!}$ so that $U_τ (t,y) = \frac{1}{ NM_τ (t,1,y)}$. We then use the so-called homomorphism method and the combinatorial interpretation of $NM_τ (t,1,y)$ to develop recursions for the coefficient of $U_τ (t,y)$.
Touchard-Riordan formulas, T-fractions, and Jacobi's triple product identity
We give a combinatorial proof of a Touchard-Riordan-like formula discovered by the first author. As a consequence we find a connection between his formula and Jacobi's triple product identity. We then give a combinatorial analog of Jacobi's triple product identity by showing that a finite sum can be interpreted as a generating function of weighted Schröder paths, so that the triple product identity is recovered by taking the limit. This can be stated in terms of some continued fractions called T-fractions, whose important property is the fact that they satisfy some functional equation. We show that this result permits to explain and generalize some Touchard-Riordan-like formulas appearing in enumerative problems.
Double homotopy Cohen-Macaulayness for the poset of injective words and the classical NC-partition lattice
In this paper we study topological properties of the poset of injective words and the lattice of classical non-crossing partitions. Specifically, it is shown that after the removal of the bottom and top elements (if existent) these posets are doubly Cohen-Macaulay. This extends the well-known result that those posets are shellable. Both results rely on a new poset fiber theorem, for doubly homotopy Cohen-Macaulay posets, which can be considered as an extension of the classical poset fiber theorem for homotopy Cohen-Macaulay posets.
Skew quantum Murnaghan-Nakayama rule
In this extended abstract, we extend recent results of Assaf and McNamara, the skew Pieri rule and the skew Murnaghan-Nakayama rule, to a more general identity, which gives an elegant expansion of the product of a skew Schur function with a quantum power sum function in terms of skew Schur functions. We give two proofs, one completely bijective in the spirit of Assaf-McNamara's original proof, and one via Lam-Lauve-Sotille's skew Littlewood-Richardson rule.
Closed paths whose steps are roots of unity
We give explicit formulas for the number $U_n(N)$ of closed polygonal paths of length $N$ (starting from the origin) whose steps are $n^{\textrm{th}}$ roots of unity, as well as asymptotic expressions for these numbers when $N \rightarrow \infty$. We also prove that the sequences $(U_n(N))_{N \geq 0}$ are $P$-recursive for each fixed $n \geq 1$ and leave open the problem of determining the values of $N$ for which the $\textit{dual}$ sequences $(U_n(N))_{n \geq 1}$ are $P$-recursive.
Minkowski decompositions of associahedra
Realisations of associahedra can be obtained from the classical permutahedron by removing some of its facets and the set of facets is determined by the diagonals of certain labeled convex planar $n$-gons as shown by Hohlweg and Lange (2007). Ardila, Benedetti, and Doker (2010) expressed polytopes of this type as Minkowski sums and differences of scaled faces of a standard simplex and computed the corresponding coefficients $y_I$ by Möbius inversion from the $z_I$ if tight right-hand sides $z_I$ for all inequalities of the permutahedron are assumed. Given an associahedron of Hohlweg and Lange, we first characterise all tight values $z_I$ in terms of non-crossing diagonals of the associated labeled $n$-gon, simplify the formula of Ardila et al., and characterise the remaining terms combinatorially.
Hierarchical Zonotopal Power Ideals
Zonotopal algebra deals with ideals and vector spaces of polynomials that are related to several combinatorial and geometric structures defined by a finite sequence of vectors. Given such a sequence $X$, an integer $k \geq -1$ and an upper set in the lattice of flats of the matroid defined by $X$, we define and study the associated $\textit{hierarchical zonotopal power ideal}$. This ideal is generated by powers of linear forms. Its Hilbert series depends only on the matroid structure of $X$. It is related to various other matroid invariants, $\textit{e. g.}$ the shelling polynomial and the characteristic polynomial. This work unifies and generalizes results by Ardila-Postnikov on power ideals and by Holtz-Ron and Holtz-Ron-Xu on (hierarchical) zonotopal algebra. We also generalize a result on zonotopal Cox modules due to Sturmfels-Xu.
Special Cases of the Parking Functions Conjecture and Upper-Triangular Matrices
We examine the $q=1$ and $t=0$ special cases of the parking functions conjecture. The parking functions conjecture states that the Hilbert series for the space of diagonal harmonics is equal to the bivariate generating function of $area$ and $dinv$ over the set of parking functions. Haglund recently proved that the Hilbert series for the space of diagonal harmonics is equal to a bivariate generating function over the set of Tesler matrices–upper-triangular matrices with every hook sum equal to one. We give a combinatorial interpretation of the Haglund generating function at $q=1$ and prove the corresponding case of the parking functions conjecture (first proven by Garsia and Haiman). We also discuss a possible proof of the $t = 0$ case consistent with this combinatorial interpretation. We conclude by briefly discussing possible refinements of the parking functions conjecture arising from this research and point of view. $\textbf{Note added in proof}$: We have since found such a proof of the $t = 0$ case and conjectured more detailed refinements. This research will most likely be presented in full in a forthcoming article.
Matrices with restricted entries and q-analogues of permutations (extended abstract)
We study the functions that count matrices of given rank over a finite field with specified positions equal to zero. We show that these matrices are $q$-analogues of permutations with certain restricted values. We obtain a simple closed formula for the number of invertible matrices with zero diagonal, a $q$-analogue of derangements, and a curious relationship between invertible skew-symmetric matrices and invertible symmetric matrices with zero diagonal. In addition, we provide recursions to enumerate matrices and symmetric matrices with zero diagonal by rank. Finally, we provide a brief exposition of polynomiality results for enumeration questions related to those mentioned, and give several open questions.
Row-strict quasisymmetric Schur functions
Haglund, Luoto, Mason, and van Willigenburg introduced a basis for quasisymmetric functions called the $\textit{quasisymmetric Schur function basis}$ which are generated combinatorially through fillings of composition diagrams in much the same way as Schur functions are generated through reverse column-strict tableaux. We introduce a new basis for quasisymmetric functions called the $\textit{row-strict quasisymmetric Schur function basis}$ which are generated combinatorially through fillings of composition diagrams in much the same way as Schur functions are generated through row-strict tableaux. We describe the relationship between this new basis and other known bases for quasisymmetric functions, as well as its relationship to Schur polynomials. We obtain a refinement of the omega transform operator as a result of these relationships.
Kerov's central limit theorem for Schur-Weyl and Gelfand measures (extended abstract)
We show that the shapes of integer partitions chosen randomly according to Schur-Weyl measures of parameter $\alpha =1/2$ and Gelfand measures satisfy Kerov's central limit theorem. Thus, there is a gaussian process $\Delta$ such that under Plancherel, Schur-Weyl or Gelfand measures, the deviations $\Delta_n(s)=\lambda _n(\sqrt{n} s)-\sqrt{n} \lambda _{\infty}^{\ast}(s)$ converge in law towards $\Delta (s)$, up to a translation along the $x$-axis in the case of Schur-Weyl measures, and up to a factor $\sqrt{2}$ and a deterministic remainder in the case of Gelfand measures. The proofs of these results follow the one given by Ivanov and Olshanski for Plancherel measures; hence, one uses a "method of noncommutative moments''.
Bijective evaluation of the connection coefficients of the double coset algebra
This paper is devoted to the evaluation of the generating series of the connection coefficients of the double cosets of the hyperoctahedral group. Hanlon, Stanley, Stembridge (1992) showed that this series, indexed by a partition $ν$, gives the spectral distribution of some random matrices that are of interest in random matrix theory. We provide an explicit evaluation of this series when $ν =(n)$ in terms of monomial symmetric functions. Our development relies on an interpretation of the connection coefficients in terms of locally orientable hypermaps and a new bijective construction between partitioned locally orientable hypermaps and some permuted forests.
A topological interpretation of the cyclotomic polynomial
We interpret the coefficients of the cyclotomic polynomial in terms of simplicial homology.
Generalized permutohedra, h-vectors of cotransversal matroids and pure O-sequences (extended abstract)
Stanley has conjectured that the h-vector of a matroid complex is a pure O-sequence. We will prove this for cotransversal matroids by using generalized permutohedra. We construct a bijection between lattice points inside a $r$-dimensional convex polytope and bases of a rank $r$ transversal matroid.
Triangulations of $\Delta_{n-1} \times \Delta_{d-1}$ and Tropical Oriented Matroids
Develin and Sturmfels showed that regular triangulations of $\Delta_{n-1} \times \Delta_{d-1}$ can be thought of as tropical polytopes. Tropical oriented matroids were defined by Ardila and Develin, and were conjectured to be in bijection with all subdivisions of $\Delta_{n-1} \times \Delta_{d-1}$. In this paper, we show that any triangulation of $\Delta_{n-1} \times \Delta_{d-1}$ encodes a tropical oriented matroid. We also suggest a new class of combinatorial objects that may describe all subdivisions of a bigger class of polytopes.
Stable rigged configurations and Littlewood―Richardson tableaux
For an affine algebra of nonexceptional type in the large rank we show the fermionic formula depends only on the attachment of the node 0 of the Dynkin diagram to the rest, and the fermionic formula of not type $A$ can be expressed as a sum of that of type $A$ with Littlewood–Richardson coefficients. Combining this result with theorems of Kirillov–Schilling–Shimozono and Lecouvey–Okado–Shimozono, we settle the $X=M$ conjecture under the large rank hypothesis.
How often do we reject a superior value? (Extended abstract)
Words $a_1 a_2 \ldots a_n$ with independent letters $a_k$ taken from the set of natural numbers, and a weight (probability) attached via the geometric distribution $pq^{i-1}(p+q=1)$ are considered. A consecutive record (motivated by the analysis of a skip list structure) can only advance from $k$ to $k+1$, thus ignoring perhaps some larger (=superior) values. We investigate the number of these rejected superior values. Further, we study the probability that there is a single consecutive maximum and show that (apart from fluctuations) it tends to a constant.
Tableaux and plane partitions of truncated shapes (extended abstract)
We consider a new kind of straight and shifted plane partitions/Young tableaux — ones whose diagrams are no longer of partition shape, but rather Young diagrams with boxes erased from their upper right ends. We find formulas for the number of standard tableaux in certain cases, namely a shifted staircase without the box in its upper right corner, i.e. truncated by a box, a rectangle truncated by a staircase and a rectangle truncated by a square minus a box. The proofs involve finding the generating function of the corresponding plane partitions using interpretations and formulas for sums of restricted Schur functions and their specializations. The number of standard tableaux is then found as a certain limit of this function.
Adjacent transformations in permutations
We continue a study of the equivalence class induced on $S_n$ when one is permitted to replace a consecutive set of elements in a permutation with the same elements in a different order. For each possible set of allowed replacements, we characterise and/or enumerate the set of permutations reachable from the identity. In some cases we also count the number of equivalence classes.
The brick polytope of a sorting network
The associahedron is a polytope whose graph is the graph of flips on triangulations of a convex polygon. Pseudotriangulations and multitriangulations generalize triangulations in two different ways, which have been unified by Pilaud and Pocchiola in their study of pseudoline arrangements with contacts supported by a given network. In this paper, we construct the "brick polytope'' of a network, obtained as the convex hull of the "brick vectors'' associated to each pseudoline arrangement supported by the network. We characterize its vertices, describe its faces, and decompose it as a Minkowski sum of simpler polytopes. Our brick polytopes include Hohlweg and Lange's many realizations of the associahedron, which arise as brick polytopes of certain well-chosen networks.
Cyclic sieving for two families of non-crossing graphs
We prove the cyclic sieving phenomenon for non-crossing forests and non-crossing graphs. More precisely, the cyclic group acts on these graphs naturally by rotation and we show that the orbit structure of this action is encoded by certain polynomials. Our results confirm two conjectures of Alan Guo.
Isotropical Linear Spaces and Valuated Delta-Matroids
The spinor variety is cut out by the quadratic Wick relations among the principal Pfaffians of an $n \times n$ skew-symmetric matrix. Its points correspond to $n$-dimensional isotropic subspaces of a $2n$-dimensional vector space. In this paper we tropicalize this picture, and we develop a combinatorial theory of tropical Wick vectors and tropical linear spaces that are tropically isotropic. We characterize tropical Wick vectors in terms of subdivisions of Delta-matroid polytopes, and we examine to what extent the Wick relations form a tropical basis. Our theory generalizes several results for tropical linear spaces and valuated matroids to the class of Coxeter matroids of type $D$.
Submaximal factorizations of a Coxeter element in complex reflection groups
When $W$ is a finite reflection group, the noncrossing partition lattice $NC(W)$ of type $W$ is a very rich combinatorial object, extending the notion of noncrossing partitions of an $n$-gon. A formula (for which the only known proofs are case-by-case) expresses the number of multichains of a given length in $NC(W)$ as a generalized Fuß-Catalan number, depending on the invariant degrees of $W$. We describe how to understand some specifications of this formula in a case-free way, using an interpretation of the chains of $NC(W)$ as fibers of a "Lyashko-Looijenga covering''. This covering is constructed from the geometry of the discriminant hypersurface of $W$. We deduce new enumeration formulas for certain factorizations of a Coxeter element of $W$.
Local extrema in random permutations and the structure of longest alternating subsequences
Let $\textbf{as}_n$ denote the length of a longest alternating subsequence in a uniformly random permutation of order $n$. Stanley studied the distribution of $\textbf{as}_n$ using algebraic methods, and showed in particular that $\mathbb{E}(\textbf{as}_n) = (4n+1)/6$ and $\textrm{Var}(\textbf{as}_n) = (32n-13)/180$. From Stanley's result it can be shown that after rescaling, $\textbf{as}_n$ converges in the limit to the Gaussian distribution. In this extended abstract we present a new approach to the study of $\textbf{as}_n$ by relating it to the sequence of local extrema of a random permutation, which is shown to form a "canonical'' longest alternating subsequence. Using this connection we reprove the abovementioned results in a more probabilistic and transparent way. We also study the distribution of the values of the local minima and maxima, and prove that in the limit the joint distribution of successive minimum-maximum pairs converges to the two-dimensional distribution whose density function is given by $f(s,t) = 3(1-s)t e^{t-s}$.
Maximal 0-1-fillings of moon polyominoes with restricted chain lengths and rc-graphs
We show that maximal 0-1-fillings of moon polynomials, with restricted chain lengths, can be identified with certain rc-graphs, also known as pipe dreams. In particular, this exhibits a connection between maximal 0-1-fillings of Ferrers shapes and Schubert polynomials. Moreover, it entails a bijective proof showing that the number of maximal fillings of a stack polyomino $S$ with no north-east chains longer than $k$ depends only on $k$ and the multiset of column heights of $S$. Our main contribution is a slightly stronger theorem, which in turn leads us to conjecture that the poset of rc-graphs with covering relation given by generalised chute moves is in fact a lattice.
Asymptotics of several-partition Hurwitz numbers
We derive in this paper the asymptotics of several-partition Hurwitz numbers, relying on a theorem of Kazarian for the one-partition case and on an induction carried on by Zvonkine. Essentially, the asymptotics for several partitions is the same as the one-partition asymptotics obtained by concatenating the partitions.
Demazure crystals and the energy function
There is a close connection between Demazure crystals and tensor products of Kirillov–Reshetikhin crystals. For example, certain Demazure crystals are isomorphic as classical crystals to tensor products of Kirillov–Reshetikhin crystals via a canonically chosen isomorphism. Here we show that this isomorphism intertwines the natural affine grading on Demazure crystals with a combinatorially defined energy function. As a consequence, we obtain a formula of the Demazure character in terms of the energy function, which has applications to nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials and $q$-deformed Whittaker functions.
The equivariant topology of stable Kneser graphs
Schrijver introduced the stable Kneser graph $SG_{n,k}, n \geq 1, k \geq 0$. This graph is a vertex critical graph with chromatic number $k+2$, its vertices are certain subsets of a set of cardinality $m=2n+k$. Björner and de Longueville have shown that its box complex is homotopy equivalent to a sphere, $\mathrm{Hom}(K_2,SG_{n,k}) \simeq \mathbb{S}^k$. The dihedral group $D_{2m}$ acts canonically on $SG_{n,k}$. We study the $D_{2m}$ action on $\mathrm{Hom}(K_2,SG_{n,k})$ and define a corresponding orthogonal action on $\mathbb{R}^{k+1} \supset \mathbb{S}^k$. We establish a close equivariant relationship between the graphs $SG_{n,k}$ and Borsuk graphs of the $k$-sphere and use this together with calculations in the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-cohomology ring of $D_{2m}$ to tell which stable Kneser graphs are test graphs in the sense of Babson and Kozlov. The graphs $SG_{2s,4}$ are test graphs, i.e. for every graph $H$ and $r \geq 0$ such that $\mathrm{Hom}(SG_{2s,4},H)$ is $(r-1)$-connected, the chromatic number $\chi (H)$ is at least $r+6$. On the other hand, if $k \notin \{0,1,2,4,8\}$ and $n \geq N(k)$ then $SG_{n,k}$ is not a homotopy test graph, i.e. there are a graph $G$ and an $r \geq 1$ such that $\mathrm{Hom}(SG_{n,k}, G)$ is $(r-1)$-connected and $\chi (G) < r+k+2$. The latter result also depends on a new necessary criterion for being a test graph, which involves the automorphism group of the graph.
Generalized triangulations, pipe dreams, and simplicial spheres
We exhibit a canonical connection between maximal $(0,1)$-fillings of a moon polyomino avoiding north-east chains of a given length and reduced pipe dreams of a certain permutation. Following this approach we show that the simplicial complex of such maximal fillings is a vertex-decomposable and thus a shellable sphere. In particular, this implies a positivity result for Schubert polynomials. For Ferrers shapes, we moreover construct a bijection to maximal fillings avoiding south-east chains of the same length which specializes to a bijection between $k$-triangulations of the $n$-gon and $k$-fans of Dyck paths. Using this, we translate a conjectured cyclic sieving phenomenon for $k$-triangulations with rotation to $k$-flagged tableaux with promotion.
A $q$-analog of Ljunggren's binomial congruence
We prove a $q$-analog of a classical binomial congruence due to Ljunggren which states that $\binom{ap}{bp} \equiv \binom{a}{b}$ modulo $p^3$ for primes $p \geq 5$. This congruence subsumes and builds on earlier congruences by Babbage, Wolstenholme and Glaisher for which we recall existing $q$-analogs. Our congruence generalizes an earlier result of Clark.
Representations on Hessenberg Varieties and Young's Rule
We combinatorially construct the complex cohomology (equivariant and ordinary) of a family of algebraic varieties called regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties. This construction is purely in terms of the Bruhat order on the symmetric group. From this a representation of the symmetric group on the cohomology is defined. This representation generalizes work of Procesi, Stembridge and Tymoczko. Here a partial answer to an open question of Tymoczko is provided in our two main result. The first states, when the variety has multiple connected components, this representation is made up by inducing through a parabolic subgroup of the symmetric group. Using this, our second result obtains, for a special family of varieties, an explicit formula for this representation via Young's rule, giving the multiplicity of the irreducible representations in terms of the classical Kostka numbers.
Noncommutative Symmetric Hall-Littlewood Polynomials
Noncommutative symmetric functions have many properties analogous to those of classical (commutative) symmetric functions. For instance, ribbon Schur functions (analogs of the classical Schur basis) expand positively in noncommutative monomial basis. More of the classical properties extend to noncommutative setting as I will demonstrate introducing a new family of noncommutative symmetric functions, depending on one parameter. It seems to be an appropriate noncommutative analog of the Hall-Littlewood polynomials.
On the monotone hook hafnian conjecture
We investigate a conjecture of Haglund that asserts that certain graph polynomials have only real roots. We prove a multivariate generalization of this conjecture for the special case of threshold graphs.
Philippe Flajolet, the Father of Analytic Combinatorics
Philippe Flajolet, mathematician and computer scientist extraordinaire, suddenly passed away on March 22, 2011, at the prime of his career. He is celebrated for opening new lines of research in analysis of algo- rithms, developing powerful new methods, and solving difficult open problems. His research contributions will have impact for generations, and his approach to research, based on curiosity, a discriminating taste, broad knowledge and interest, intellectual integrity, and a genuine sense of camaraderie, will serve as an inspiration to those who knew him for years to come
Supercharacters, symmetric functions in noncommuting variables (extended abstract)
We identify two seemingly disparate structures: supercharacters, a useful way of doing Fourier analysis on the group of unipotent uppertriangular matrices with coefficients in a finite field, and the ring of symmetric functions in noncommuting variables. Each is a Hopf algebra and the two are isomorphic as such. This allows developments in each to be transferred. The identification suggests a rich class of examples for the emerging field of combinatorial Hopf algebras.
Conservation Laws and Invariant Measures in Surjective Cellular Automata
We discuss a close link between two seemingly different topics studied in the cellular automata literature: additive conservation laws and invariant probability measures. We provide an elementary proof of a simple correspondence between invariant full-support Bernoulli measures and interaction-free conserved quantities in the case of one-dimensional surjective cellular automata. We also discuss a generalization of this fact to Markov measures and higher-range conservation laws in arbitrary dimension. As a corollary, we show that the uniform Bernoulli measure is the only shift-invariant, full-support Markov measure that is invariant under a strongly transitive cellular automaton.
Projective subdynamics and universal shifts
We study the projective subdynamics of two-dimensional shifts of finite type, which is the set of one-dimensional configurations that appear as columns in them. We prove that a large class of one-dimensional shifts can be obtained as such, namely the effective subshifts which contain positive-entropy sofic subshifts. The proof involves some simple notions of simulation that may be of interest for other constructions. As an example, it allows us to prove the undecidability of all non-trivial properties of projective subdynamics.
NOCAS : A Nonlinear Cellular Automata Based Stream Cipher
LFSR and NFSR are the basic building blocks in almost all the state of the art stream ciphers like Trivium and Grain-128. However, a number of attacks are mounted on these type of ciphers. Cellular Automata (CA) has recently been chosen as a suitable structure for crypto-primitives. In this work, a stream cipher is presented based on hybrid CA. The stream cipher takes 128 bit key and 128 bit initialization vector (IV) as input. It is designed to produce $\mathrm{2^{128}}$ random keystream bits and initialization phase is made faster 4 times than that of Grain-128. We also analyze the cryptographic strength of this cipher. Finally, the proposed cipher is shown to be resistant against known existing attacks.
Product decomposition for surjective 2-block NCCA
In this paper we define products of one-dimensional Number Conserving Cellular Automata (NCCA) and show that surjective NCCA with 2 blocks (i.e radius 1/2) can always be represented as products of shifts and identites. In particular, this shows that surjective 2-block NCCA are injective.
Orbits of the Bernoulli measure in single-transition asynchronous cellular automata
We study iterations of the Bernoulli measure under nearest-neighbour asynchronous binary cellular automata (CA) with a single transition. For these CA, we show that a coarse-level description of the orbit of the Bernoulli measure can be obtained, that is, one can explicitly compute measures of short cylinder sets after arbitrary number of iterations of the CA. In particular, we give expressions for probabilities of ones for all three minimal single-transition rules, as well as expressions for probabilities of blocks of length 3 for some of them. These expressions can be interpreted as "response curves'', that is, curves describing the dependence of the final density of ones on the initial density of ones.
Selfsimilarity, Simulation and Spacetime Symmetries
We study intrinsic simulations between cellular automata and introduce a new necessary condition for a CA to simulate another one. Although expressed for general CA, this condition is targeted towards surjective CA and especially linear ones. Following the approach introduced by the first author in an earlier paper, we develop proof techniques to tell whether some linear CA can simulate another linear CA. Besides rigorous proofs, the necessary condition for the simulation to occur can be heuristically checked via simple observations of typical space-time diagrams generated from finite configurations. As an illustration, we give an example of linear reversible CA which cannot simulate the identity and which is 'time-asymmetric', i.e. which can neither simulate its own inverse, nor the mirror of its own inverse.
On the set of Fixed Points of the Parallel Symmetric Sand Pile Model
Sand Pile Models are discrete dynamical systems emphasizing the phenomenon of $\textit{Self-Organized Criticality}$. From a configuration composed of a finite number of stacked grains, we apply on every possible positions (in parallel) two grain moving transition rules. The transition rules permit one grain to fall to its right or left (symmetric) neighboring column if the difference of height between those columns is larger than 2. The model is nondeterministic and grains always fall downward. We propose a study of the set of fixed points reachable in the Parallel Symmetric Sand Pile Model (PSSPM). Using a comparison with the Symmetric Sand Pile Model (SSPM) on which rules are applied once at each iteration, we get a continuity property. This property states that within PSSPM we can't reach every fixed points of SSPM, but a continuous subset according to the lexicographic order. Moreover we define a successor relation to browse exhaustively the sets of fixed points of those models.
Bifurcations in Boolean Networks
This paper characterizes the attractor structure of synchronous and asynchronous Boolean networks induced by bi-threshold functions. Bi-threshold functions are generalizations of standard threshold functions and have separate threshold values for the transitions $0 \rightarrow $1 (up-threshold) and $1 \rightarrow 0$ (down-threshold). We show that synchronous bi-threshold systems may, just like standard threshold systems, only have fixed points and 2-cycles as attractors. Asynchronous bi-threshold systems (fixed permutation update sequence), on the other hand, undergo a bifurcation. When the difference $\Delta$ of the down- and up-threshold is less than 2 they only have fixed points as limit sets. However, for $\Delta \geq 2$ they may have long periodic orbits. The limiting case of $\Delta = 2$ is identified using a potential function argument. Finally, we present a series of results on the dynamics of bi-threshold systems for families of graphs.
Asymptotic distribution of entry times in a cellular automaton with annihilating particles
This work considers a cellular automaton (CA) with two particles: a stationary particle $1$ and left-going one $\overline{1}$. When a $\overline{1}$ encounters a $1$, both particles annihilate. We derive asymptotic distribution of appearence of particles at a given site when the CA is initialized with the Bernoulli measure with the probabilities of both particles equal to $1/2$.
The structure of communication problems in cellular automata
Studying cellular automata with methods from communication complexity appears to be a promising approach. In the past, interesting connections between communication complexity and intrinsic universality in cellular automata were shown. One of the last extensions of this theory was its generalization to various "communication problems'', or "questions'' one might ask about the dynamics of cellular automata. In this article, we aim at structuring these problems, and find what makes them interesting for the study of intrinsic universality and quasi-orders induced by simulation relations.
A fixed point theorem for Boolean networks expressed in terms of forbidden subnetworks
We are interested in fixed points in Boolean networks, $\textit{i.e.}$ functions $f$ from $\{0,1\}^n$ to itself. We define the subnetworks of $f$ as the restrictions of $f$ to the hypercubes contained in $\{0,1\}^n$, and we exhibit a class $\mathcal{F}$ of Boolean networks, called even or odd self-dual networks, satisfying the following property: if a network $f$ has no subnetwork in $\mathcal{F}$, then it has a unique fixed point. We then discuss this "forbidden subnetworks theorem''. We show that it generalizes the following fixed point theorem of Shih and Dong: if, for every $x$ in $\{0,1\}^n$, there is no directed cycle in the directed graph whose the adjacency matrix is the discrete Jacobian matrix of $f$ evaluated at point $x$, then $f$ has a unique fixed point. We also show that $\mathcal{F}$ contains the class $\mathcal{F'}$ of networks whose the interaction graph is a directed cycle, but that the absence of subnetwork in $\mathcal{F'}$ does not imply the existence and the uniqueness of a fixed point.
Combinatorial aspects of Escher tilings
In the late 30's, Maurits Cornelis Escher astonished the artistic world by producing some puzzling drawings. In particular, the tesselations of the plane obtained by using a single tile appear to be a major concern in his work, drawing attention from the mathematical community. Since a tile in the continuous world can be approximated by a path on a sufficiently small square grid - a widely used method in applications using computer displays - the natural combinatorial object that models the tiles is the polyomino. As polyominoes are encoded by paths on a four letter alphabet coding their contours, the use of combinatorics on words for the study of tiling properties becomes relevant. In this paper we present several results, ranging from recognition of these tiles to their generation, leading also to some surprising links with the well-known sequences of Fibonacci and Pell.
A unified bijective method for maps: application to two classes with boundaries
Based on a construction of the first author, we present a general bijection between certain decorated plane trees and certain orientations of planar maps with no counterclockwise circuit. Many natural classes of maps (e.g. Eulerian maps, simple triangulations,...) are in bijection with a subset of these orientations, and our construction restricts in a simple way on the subset. This gives a general bijective strategy for classes of maps. As a non-trivial application of our method we give the first bijective proofs for counting (rooted) simple triangulations and quadrangulations with a boundary of arbitrary size, recovering enumeration results found by Brown using Tutte's recursive method.
Words and Noncommutative Invariants of the Hyperoctahedral Group
Let $\mathcal{B}_n$ be the hyperoctahedral group acting on a complex vector space $\mathcal{V}$. We present a combinatorial method to decompose the tensor algebra $T(\mathcal{V})$ on $\mathcal{V}$ into simple modules via certain words in a particular Cayley graph of $\mathcal{B}_n$. We then give combinatorial interpretations for the graded dimension and the number of free generators of the subalgebra $T(\mathcal{V})^{\mathcal{B}_n}$ of invariants of $\mathcal{B}_n$, in terms of these words, and make explicit the case of the signed permutation module. To this end, we require a morphism from the Mantaci-Reutenauer algebra onto the algebra of characters due to Bonnafé and Hohlweg.
Viewing counting polynomials as Hilbert functions via Ehrhart theory
Steingrímsson (2001) showed that the chromatic polynomial of a graph is the Hilbert function of a relative Stanley-Reisner ideal. We approach this result from the point of view of Ehrhart theory and give a sufficient criterion for when the Ehrhart polynomial of a given relative polytopal complex is a Hilbert function in Steingrímsson's sense. We use this result to establish that the modular and integral flow and tension polynomials of a graph are Hilbert functions.
The stability of the Kronecker product of Schur functions
In the late 1930's Murnaghan discovered the existence of a stabilization phenomenon for the Kronecker product of Schur functions. For $n$ large enough, the values of the Kronecker coefficients appearing in the product of two Schur functions of degree $n$ do not depend on the first part of the indexing partitions, but only on the values of their remaining parts. We compute the exact value of n when this stable expansion is reached. We also compute two new bounds for the stabilization of a particular coefficient of such a product. Given partitions $\alpha$ and $\beta$, we give bounds for all the parts of any partition $\gamma$ such that the corresponding Kronecker coefficient is nonzero. Finally, we also show that the reduced Kronecker coefficients are structure coefficients for the Heisenberg product introduced by Aguiar, Ferrer and Moreira.
On $k$-crossings and $k$-nestings of permutations
We introduce $k$-crossings and $k$-nestings of permutations. We show that the crossing number and the nesting number of permutations have a symmetric joint distribution. As a corollary, the number of $k$-noncrossing permutations is equal to the number of $k$-nonnesting permutations. We also provide some enumerative results for $k$-noncrossing permutations for some values of $k$.
A preorder-free construction of the Kazhdan-Lusztig representations of Hecke algebras $H_n(q)$ of symmetric groups
We use a quantum analog of the polynomial ring $\mathbb{Z}[x_{1,1},\ldots, x_{n,n}]$ to modify the Kazhdan-Lusztig construction of irreducible $H_n(q)$-modules. This modified construction produces exactly the same matrices as the original construction in [$\textit{Invent. Math.}$ $\textbf{53}$ (1979)], but does not employ the Kazhdan-Lusztig preorders. Our main result is dependent on new vanishing results for immanants in the quantum polynomial ring.
The Geometry of Lecture Hall Partitions and Quadratic Permutation Statistics
We take a geometric view of lecture hall partitions and anti-lecture hall compositions in order to settle some open questions about their enumeration. In the process, we discover an intrinsic connection between these families of partitions and certain quadratic permutation statistics. We define some unusual quadratic permutation statistics and derive results about their joint distributions with linear statistics. We show that certain specializations are equivalent to the lecture hall and anti-lecture hall theorems and another leads back to a special case of a Weyl group generating function that "ought to be better known.''
Harmonics for deformed Steenrod operators (Extended Abstract)
We explore in this paper the spaces of common zeros of several deformations of Steenrod operators. Proofs are omitted in view of pages limitation for the extended abstract. \par
Involutions of the Symmetric Group and Congruence B-Orbits (Extended Abstract)
We study the poset of Borel congruence classes of symmetric matrices ordered by containment of closures. We give a combinatorial description of this poset and calculate its rank function. We discuss the relation between this poset and the Bruhat poset of involutions of the symmetric group. Also we present the poset of Borel congruence classes of anti-symmetric matrices ordered by containment of closures. We show that there exists a bijection between the set of these classes and the set of involutions of the symmetric group. We give two formulas for the rank function of this poset.
Zonotopes, toric arrangements, and generalized Tutte polynomials
We introduce a multiplicity Tutte polynomial $M(x,y)$, which generalizes the ordinary one and has applications to zonotopes and toric arrangements. We prove that $M(x,y)$ satisfies a deletion-restriction recurrence and has positive coefficients. The characteristic polynomial and the Poincaré polynomial of a toric arrangement are shown to be specializations of the associated polynomial $M(x,y)$, likewise the corresponding polynomials for a hyperplane arrangement are specializations of the ordinary Tutte polynomial. Furthermore, $M(1,y)$ is the Hilbert series of the related discrete Dahmen-Micchelli space, while $M(x,1)$ computes the volume and the number of integral points of the associated zonotope.
Unitary Matrix Integrals, Primitive Factorizations, and Jucys-Murphy Elements
A factorization of a permutation into transpositions is called "primitive'' if its factors are weakly ordered.We discuss the problem of enumerating primitive factorizations of permutations, and its place in the hierarchy of previously studied factorization problems. Several formulas enumerating minimal primitive and possibly non-minimal primitive factorizations are presented, and interesting connections with Jucys-Murphy elements, symmetric group characters, and matrix models are described.
Pattern avoidance in alternating permutations and tableaux (extended abstract)
We give bijective proofs of pattern-avoidance results for a class of permutations generalizing alternating permutations. The bijections employed include a modified form of the RSK insertion algorithm and recursive bijections based on generating trees. As special cases, we show that the sets $A_{2n}(1234)$ and $A_{2n}(2143)$ are in bijection with standard Young tableaux of shape $\langle 3^n \rangle$. Alternating permutations may be viewed as the reading words of standard Young tableaux of a certain skew shape. In the last section of the paper, we study pattern avoidance in the reading words of standard Young tableaux of any skew shape. We show bijectively that the number of standard Young tableaux of shape $\lambda / \mu$ whose reading words avoid $213$ is a natural $\mu$-analogue of the Catalan numbers. Similar results for the patterns $132$, $231$ and $312$.
Fully Packed Loop configurations in a triangle and Littlewood Richardson coefficients
We are interested in Fully Packed Loops in a triangle (TFPLs), as introduced by Caselli at al. and studied by Thapper. We show that for Fully Packed Loops with a fixed link pattern (refined FPL), there exist linear recurrence relations with coefficients computed from TFPL configurations. We then give constraints and enumeration results for certain classes of TFPL configurations. For special boundary conditions, we show that TFPLs are counted by the famous Littlewood Richardson coefficients.
Combinatorics of the PASEP partition function
We consider a three-parameter PASEP model on $N$ sites. A closed formula for the partition function was obtained analytically by Blythe et al. We give a new formula which generalizes the one of Blythe et al, and is proved in two combinatorial ways. Moreover the first proof can be adapted to give the moments of Al-Salam-Chihara polynomials.
Descent polynomials for permutations with bounded drop size
Motivated by juggling sequences and bubble sort, we examine permutations on the set${1, 2, \ldots, n}$ with $d$ descents and maximum drop size $k$. We give explicit formulas for enumerating such permutations for given integers $k$ and $d$. We also derive the related generating functions and prove unimodality and symmetry of the coefficients.
Generalized Ehrhart polynomials
Let $P$ be a polytope with rational vertices. A classical theorem of Ehrhart states that the number of lattice points in the dilations $P(n) = nP$ is a quasi-polynomial in $n$. We generalize this theorem by allowing the vertices of $P(n)$ to be arbitrary rational functions in $n$. In this case we prove that the number of lattice points in $P(n)$ is a quasi-polynomial for $n$ sufficiently large. Our work was motivated by a conjecture of Ehrhart on the number of solutions to parametrized linear Diophantine equations whose coefficients are polynomials in $n$, and we explain how these two problems are related.
A canonical basis for Garsia-Procesi modules
We identify a subalgebra $\widehat{\mathscr{H}}^+_n$ of the extended affine Hecke algebra $\widehat{\mathscr{H}}_n$ of type $A$. The subalgebra $\widehat{\mathscr{H}}^+_n$ is a u-analogue of the monoid algebra of $\mathcal{S}_n ⋉ℤ_≥0^n$ and inherits a canonical basis from that of $\widehat{\mathscr{H}}_n$. We show that its left cells are naturally labeled by tableaux filled with positive integer entries having distinct residues mod $n$, which we term positive affine tableaux (PAT). We then exhibit a cellular subquotient $\mathscr{R}_1^n$ of $\widehat{\mathscr{H}}^+_n$ that is a $u$-analogue of the ring of coinvariants $ℂ[y_1,\ldots,y_n]/(e_1, \ldots,e_n)$ with left cells labeled by PAT that are essentially standard Young tableaux with cocharge labels. Multiplying canonical basis elements by a certain element $*π ∈ \widehat{\mathscr{H}}^+_n$ corresponds to rotations of words, and on cells corresponds to cocyclage. We further show that $\mathscr{R}_1^n$ has cellular quotients $\mathscr{R}_λ$ that are $u$-analogues of the Garsia-Procesi modules $R_λ$ with left cells labeled by (a PAT version of) the $λ$ -catabolizable tableaux.
Counting unicellular maps on non-orientable surfaces
A unicellular map is the embedding of a connected graph in a surface in such a way that the complement of the graph is a topological disk. In this paper we give a bijective operation that relates unicellular maps on a non-orientable surface to unicellular maps of a lower topological type, with distinguished vertices. From that we obtain a recurrence equation that leads to (new) explicit counting formulas for non-orientable precubic (all vertices of degree 1 or 3) unicellular maps of fixed topology. We also determine asymptotic formulas for the number of all unicellular maps of fixed topology, when the number of edges goes to infinity. Our strategy is inspired by recent results obtained for the orientable case [Chapuy, PTRF 2010], but significant novelties are introduced: in particular we construct an involution which, in some sense, ``averages'' the effects of non-orientability. \par
The expansion of Hall-Littlewood functions in the dual Grothendieck polynomial basis
A combinatorial expansion of the Hall-Littlewood functions into the Schur basis of symmetric functions was first given by Lascoux and Schützenberger, with their discovery of the charge statistic. A combinatorial expansion of stable Grassmannian Grothendieck polynomials into monomials was first given by Buch, using set-valued tableaux. The dual basis of the stable Grothendieck polynomials was given a combinatorial expansion into monomials by Lam and Pylyavskyy using reverse plane partitions. We generalize charge to set-valued tableaux and use all of these combinatorial ideas to give a nice expansion of Hall-Littlewood polynomials into the dual Grothendieck basis. \par
Computing Node Polynomials for Plane Curves
According to the Göttsche conjecture (now a theorem), the degree $N^{d, \delta}$ of the Severi variety of plane curves of degree $d$ with $\delta$ nodes is given by a polynomial in $d$, provided $d$ is large enough. These "node polynomials'' $N_{\delta} (d)$ were determined by Vainsencher and Kleiman―Piene for $\delta \leq 6$ and $\delta \leq 8$, respectively. Building on ideas of Fomin and Mikhalkin, we develop an explicit algorithm for computing all node polynomials, and use it to compute $N_{\delta} (d)$ for $\delta \leq 14$. Furthermore, we improve the threshold of polynomiality and verify Göttsche's conjecture on the optimal threshold up to $\delta \leq 14$. We also determine the first 9 coefficients of $N_{\delta} (d)$, for general $\delta$, settling and extending a 1994 conjecture of Di Francesco and Itzykson.
Random Walks in the Plane
We study the expected distance of a two-dimensional walk in the plane with unit steps in random directions. A series evaluation and recursions are obtained making it possible to explicitly formulate this distance for small number of steps. Formulae for all the moments of a 2-step and a 3-step walk are given, and an expression is conjectured for the 4-step walk. The paper makes use of the combinatorical features exhibited by the even moments which, for instance, lead to analytic continuations of the underlying integral.
Chamber Structure For Double Hurwitz Numbers
Double Hurwitz numbers count covers of the sphere by genus $g$ curves with assigned ramification profiles over $0$ and $\infty$, and simple ramification over a fixed branch divisor. Goulden, Jackson and Vakil (2005) have shown double Hurwitz numbers are piecewise polynomial in the orders of ramification, and Shadrin, Shapiro and Vainshtein (2008) have determined the chamber structure and wall crossing formulas for $g=0$. We provide new proofs of these results, and extend them in several directions. Most importantly we prove wall crossing formulas for all genera. The main tool is the authors' previous work expressing double Hurwitz number as a sum over labelled graphs. We identify the labels of the graphs with lattice points in the chambers of certain hyperplane arrangements, which give rise to piecewise polynomial functions. Our understanding of the wall crossing for these functions builds on the work of Varchenko (1987). This approach to wall crossing appears novel, and may be of broader interest. This extended abstract is based on a new preprint by the authors.
Models and refined models for involutory reflection groups and classical Weyl groups
A finite subgroup $G$ of $GL(n,\mathbb{C})$ is involutory if the sum of the dimensions of its irreducible complex representations is given by the number of absolute involutions in the group, i.e. elements $g \in G$ such that $g \bar{g}=1$, where the bar denotes complex conjugation. A uniform combinatorial model is constructed for all non-exceptional irreducible complex reflection groups which are involutory including, in particular, all infinite families of finite irreducible Coxeter groups. If $G$ is a classical Weyl group this result is much refined in a way which is compatible with the Robinson-Schensted correspondence on involutions.
Three notions of tropical rank for symmetric matrices
We introduce and study three different notions of tropical rank for symmetric matrices and dissimilarity matrices in terms of minimal decompositions into rank 1 symmetric matrices, star tree matrices, and tree matrices. Our results provide a close study of the tropical secant sets of certain nice tropical varieties, including the tropical Grassmannian. In particular, we determine the dimension of each secant set, the convex hull of the variety, and in most cases, the smallest secant set which is equal to the convex hull.
QSym over Sym has a stable basis
We prove that the subset of quasisymmetric polynomials conjectured by Bergeron and Reutenauer to be a basis for the coinvariant space of quasisymmetric polynomials is indeed a basis. This provides the first constructive proof of the Garsia―Wallach result stating that quasisymmetric polynomials form a free module over symmetric polynomials and that the dimension of this module is $n!$.
An Algebraic Analogue of a Formula of Knuth
We generalize a theorem of Knuth relating the oriented spanning trees of a directed graph $G$ and its directed line graph $\mathcal{L} G$. The sandpile group is an abelian group associated to a directed graph, whose order is the number of oriented spanning trees rooted at a fixed vertex. In the case when $G$ is regular of degree $k$, we show that the sandpile group of $G$ is isomorphic to the quotient of the sandpile group of $\mathcal{L} G$ by its $k$-torsion subgroup. As a corollary we compute the sandpile groups of two families of graphs widely studied in computer science, the de Bruijn graphs and Kautz graphs.
The Homology of the Real Complement of a $k$-parabolic Subspace Arrangement
The $k$-parabolic subspace arrangement, introduced by Barcelo, Severs and White, is a generalization of the well known $k$-equal arrangements of type-$A$ and type-$B$. In this paper we use the discrete Morse theory of Forman to study the homology of the complements of $k$-parabolic subspace arrangements. In doing so, we recover some known results of Björner et al. and provide a combinatorial interpretation of the Betti numbers for any $k$-parabolic subspace arrangement. The paper provides results for any $k$-parabolic subspace arrangement, however we also include an extended example of our methods applied to the $k$-equal arrangements of type-$A$ and type-$B$. In these cases, we obtain new formulas for the Betti numbers.
Weakly directed self-avoiding walks
We define a new family of self-avoiding walks (SAW) on the square lattice, called $\textit{weakly directed walks}$. These walks have a simple characterization in terms of the irreducible bridges that compose them. We determine their generating function. This series has a complex singularity structure and in particular, is not D-finite. The growth constant is approximately 2.54 and is thus larger than that of all natural families of SAW enumerated so far (but smaller than that of general SAW, which is about 2.64). We also prove that the end-to-end distance of weakly directed walks grows linearly. Finally, we study a diagonal variant of this model.
The spectrum of an asymmetric annihilation process
In recent work on nonequilibrium statistical physics, a certain Markovian exclusion model called an asymmetric annihilation process was studied by Ayyer and Mallick. In it they gave a precise conjecture for the eigenvalues (along with the multiplicities) of the transition matrix. They further conjectured that to each eigenvalue, there corresponds only one eigenvector. We prove the first of these conjectures by generalizing the original Markov matrix by introducing extra parameters, explicitly calculating its eigenvalues, and showing that the new matrix reduces to the original one by a suitable specialization. In addition, we outline a derivation of the partition function in the generalized model, which also reduces to the one obtained by Ayyer and Mallick in the original model.
Compositions and samples of geometric random variables with constrained multiplicities
We investigate the probability that a random composition (ordered partition) of the positive integer $n$ has no parts occurring exactly $j$ times, where $j$ belongs to a specified finite $\textit{`forbidden set'}$ $A$ of multiplicities. This probability is also studied in the related case of samples $\Gamma =(\Gamma_1,\Gamma_2,\ldots, \Gamma_n)$ of independent, identically distributed random variables with a geometric distribution.
A Pieri rule for skew shapes
The Pieri rule expresses the product of a Schur function and a single row Schur function in terms of Schur functions. We extend the classical Pieri rule by expressing the product of a skew Schur function and a single row Schur function in terms of skew Schur functions. Like the classical rule, our rule involves simple additions of boxes to the original skew shape. Our proof is purely combinatorial and extends the combinatorial proof of the classical case.
Counting RNA pseudoknotted structures (extended abstract)
In 2004, Condon and coauthors gave a hierarchical classification of exact RNA structure prediction algorithms according to the generality of structure classes that they handle. We complete this classification by adding two recent prediction algorithms. More importantly, we precisely quantify the hierarchy by giving closed or asymptotic formulas for the theoretical number of structures of given size n in all the classes but one. This allows to assess the tradeoff between the expressiveness and the computational complexity of RNA structure prediction algorithms. \par
Bruhat order, rationally smooth Schubert varieties, and hyperplane arrangements
We link Schubert varieties in the generalized flag manifolds with hyperplane arrangements. For an element of a Weyl group, we construct a certain graphical hyperplane arrangement. We show that the generating function for regions of this arrangement coincides with the Poincaré polynomial of the corresponding Schubert variety if and only if the Schubert variety is rationally smooth.
On formulas for moments of the Wishart distributions as weighted generating functions of matchings
We consider the real and complex noncentral Wishart distributions. The moments of these distributions are shown to be expressed as weighted generating functions of graphs associated with the Wishart distributions. We give some bijections between sets of graphs related to moments of the real Wishart distribution and the complex noncentral Wishart distribution. By means of the bijections, we see that calculating these moments of a certain class the real Wishart distribution boils down to calculations for the case of complex Wishart distributions.
Toric Ideals of Flow Polytopes
We show that toric ideals of flow polytopes are generated in degree $3$. This was conjectured by Diaconis and Eriksson for the special case of the Birkhoff polytope. Our proof uses a hyperplane subdivision method developed by Haase and Paffenholz. It is known that reduced revlex Gröbner bases of the toric ideal of the Birkhoff polytope $B_n$ have at most degree $n$. We show that this bound is sharp for some revlex term orders. For $(m \times n)$-transportation polytopes, a similar result holds: they have Gröbner bases of at most degree $\lfloor mn/2 \rfloor$. We construct a family of examples, where this bound is sharp.
On the diagonal ideal of $(\mathbb{C}^2)^n$ and $q,t$-Catalan numbers
Let $I_n$ be the (big) diagonal ideal of $(\mathbb{C}^2)^n$. Haiman proved that the $q,t$-Catalan number is the Hilbert series of the graded vector space $M_n=\bigoplus_{d_1,d_2}(M_n)_{d_1,d_2}$ spanned by a minimal set of generators for $I_n$. We give simple upper bounds on $\textrm{dim} (M_n)_{d_1, d_2}$ in terms of partition numbers, and find all bi-degrees $(d_1,d_2)$ such that $\textrm{dim} (M_n)_{d_1, d_2}$ achieve the upper bounds. For such bi-degrees, we also find explicit bases for $(M_n)_{d_1, d_2}$.
Crystals from categorified quantum groups
We study the crystal structure on categories of graded modules over algebras which categorify the negative half of the quantum Kac-Moody algebra associated to a symmetrizable Cartan data. We identify this crystal with Kashiwara's crystal for the corresponding negative half of the quantum Kac-Moody algebra. As a consequence, we show the simple graded modules for certain cyclotomic quotients carry the structure of highest weight crystals, and hence compute the rank of the corresponding Grothendieck group.
Nonzero coefficients in restrictions and tensor products of supercharacters of $U_n(q)$ (extended abstract)
The standard supercharacter theory of the finite unipotent upper-triangular matrices $U_n(q)$ gives rise to a beautiful combinatorics based on set partitions. As with the representation theory of the symmetric group, embeddings of $U_m(q) \subseteq U_n(q)$ for $m \leq n$ lead to branching rules. Diaconis and Isaacs established that the restriction of a supercharacter of $U_n(q)$ is a nonnegative integer linear combination of supercharacters of $U_m(q)$ (in fact, it is polynomial in $q$). In a first step towards understanding the combinatorics of coefficients in the branching rules of the supercharacters of $U_n(q)$, this paper characterizes when a given coefficient is nonzero in the restriction of a supercharacter and the tensor product of two supercharacters. These conditions are given uniformly in terms of complete matchings in bipartite graphs.
Equivalence Relations of Permutations Generated by Constrained Transpositions
We consider a large family of equivalence relations on permutations in $S_n$ that generalise those discovered by Knuth in his study of the Robinson-Schensted correspondence. In our most general setting, two permutations are equivalent if one can be obtained from the other by a sequence of pattern-replacing moves of prescribed form; however, we limit our focus to patterns where two elements are transposed, conditional upon the presence of a third element of suitable value and location. For some relations of this type, we compute the number of equivalence classes, determine how many $n$-permutations are equivalent to the identity permutation, or characterise this equivalence class. Although our results include familiar integer sequences (e.g., Catalan, Fibonacci, and Tribonacci numbers) and special classes of permutations (layered, connected, and $123$-avoiding), some of the sequences that arise appear to be new.
On $\gamma$-vectors satisfying the Kruskal-Katona inequalities
We present examples of flag homology spheres whose $\gamma$-vectors satisfy the Kruskal-Katona inequalities. This includes several families of well-studied simplicial complexes, including Coxeter complexes and the simplicial complexes dual to the associahedron and to the cyclohedron. In these cases, we construct explicit flag simplicial complexes whose $f$-vectors are the $\gamma$-vectors in question, and so a result of Frohmader shows that the $\gamma$-vectors satisfy not only the Kruskal-Katona inequalities but also the stronger Frankl-Füredi-Kalai inequalities. In another direction, we show that if a flag $(d-1)$-sphere has at most $2d+3$ vertices its $\gamma$-vector satisfies the Frankl-Füredi-Kalai inequalities. We conjecture that if $\Delta$ is a flag homology sphere then $\gamma (\Delta)$ satisfies the Kruskal-Katona, and further, the Frankl-Füredi-Kalai inequalities. This conjecture is a significant refinement of Gal's conjecture, which asserts that such $\gamma$-vectors are nonnegative.
An algorithm which generates linear extensions for a generalized Young diagram with uniform probability
The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm which generates linear extensions for a generalized Young diagram, in the sense of D. Peterson and R. A. Proctor, with uniform probability. This gives a proof of a D. Peterson's hook formula for the number of reduced decompositions of a given minuscule elements. \par
Products of Geck-Rouquier conjugacy classes and the Hecke algebra of composed permutations
We show the $q$-analog of a well-known result of Farahat and Higman: in the center of the Iwahori-Hecke algebra $\mathscr{H}_{n,q}$, if $(a_{\lambda \mu}^ν (n,q))_ν$ is the set of structure constants involved in the product of two Geck-Rouquier conjugacy classes $\Gamma_{\lambda, n}$ and $\Gamma_{\mu,n}$, then each coefficient $a_{\lambda \mu}^ν (n,q)$ depend on $n$ and $q$ in a polynomial way. Our proof relies on the construction of a projective limit of the Hecke algebras; this projective limit is inspired by the Ivanov-Kerov algebra of partial permutations.
Mixed Statistics on $01$-Fillings of Moon Polyominoes
We establish a stronger symmetry between the numbers of northeast and southeast chains in the context of $01$-fillings of moon polyominoes. Let $\mathcal{M}$ be a moon polyomino. Consider all the $01$-fillings of $\mathcal{M}$ in which every row has at most one $1$. We introduce four mixed statistics with respect to a bipartition of rows or columns of $\mathcal{M}$. More precisely, let $S$ be a subset of rows of $\mathcal{M}$. For any filling $M$, the top-mixed (resp. bottom-mixed) statistic $\alpha (S; M)$ (resp. $\beta (S; M)$) is the sum of the number of northeast chains whose top (resp. bottom) cell is in $S$, together with the number of southeast chains whose top (resp. bottom) cell is in the complement of $S$. Similarly, we define the left-mixed and right-mixed statistics $\gamma (T; M)$ and $\delta (T; M)$, where $T$ is a subset of the columns. Let $\lambda (A; M)$ be any of these four statistics $\alpha (S; M)$, $\beta (S; M)$, $\gamma (T; M)$ and $\delta (T; M)$. We show that the joint distribution of the pair $(\lambda (A; M), \lambda (M/A; M))$ is symmetric and independent of the subsets $S, T$. In particular, the pair of statistics $(\lambda (A;M), \lambda (M/A; M))$ is equidistributed with $(\mathrm{se}(M), \mathrm{ne}(M))$, where $\mathrm{se}(M)$ and $\mathrm{ne}(M)$ are the numbers of southeast chains and northeast chains of $M$, respectively.
On joint distribution of adjacencies, descents and some Mahonian statistics
We prove several conjectures of Eriksen regarding the joint distribution on permutations of the number of adjacencies (descents with consecutive values in consecutive positions), descents and some Mahonian statistics. We also prove Eriksen's conjecture that a certain bistatistic on Viennot's alternative tableaux is Euler-Mahonian.
Linear Systems on Tropical Curves
A tropical curve $\Gamma$ is a metric graph with possibly unbounded edges, and tropical rational functions are continuous piecewise linear functions with integer slopes. We define the complete linear system $|D|$ of a divisor $D$ on a tropical curve $\Gamma$ analogously to the classical counterpart. We investigate the structure of $|D|$ as a cell complex and show that linear systems are quotients of tropical modules, finitely generated by vertices of the cell complex. Using a finite set of generators, $|D|$ defines a map from $\Gamma$ to a tropical projective space, and the image can be modified to a tropical curve of degree equal to $\mathrm{deg}(D)$. The tropical convex hull of the image realizes the linear system $|D|$ as a polyhedral complex.
A bijection between (bounded) dominant Shi regions and core partitions
It is well-known that Catalan numbers $C_n = \frac{1}{ n+1} \binom{2n}{n}$ count the number of dominant regions in the Shi arrangement of type $A$, and that they also count partitions which are both n-cores as well as $(n+1)$-cores. These concepts have natural extensions, which we call here the $m$-Catalan numbers and $m$-Shi arrangement. In this paper, we construct a bijection between dominant regions of the $m$-Shi arrangement and partitions which are both $n$-cores as well as $(mn+1)$-cores. We also modify our construction to produce a bijection between bounded dominant regions of the $m$-Shi arrangement and partitions which are both $n$-cores as well as $(mn-1)$-cores. The bijections are natural in the sense that they commute with the action of the affine symmetric group.
Valuative invariants for polymatroids
Many important invariants for matroids and polymatroids, such as the Tutte polynomial, the Billera-Jia-Reiner quasi-symmetric function, and the invariant $\mathcal{G}$ introduced by the first author, are valuative. In this paper we construct the $\mathbb{Z}$-modules of all $\mathbb{Z}$-valued valuative functions for labelled matroids and polymatroids on a fixed ground set, and their unlabelled counterparts, the $\mathbb{Z}$-modules of valuative invariants. We give explicit bases for these modules and for their dual modules generated by indicator functions of polytopes, and explicit formulas for their ranks. Our results confirm a conjecture of the first author that $\mathcal{G}$ is universal for valuative invariants.
Weighted branching formulas for the hook lengths
The famous hook-length formula is a simple consequence of the branching rule for the hook lengths. While the Greene-Nijenhuis-Wilf probabilistic proof is the most famous proof of the rule, it is not completely combinatorial, and a simple bijection was an open problem for a long time. In this extended abstract, we show an elegant bijective argument that proves a stronger, weighted analogue of the branching rule. Variants of the bijection prove seven other interesting formulas. Another important approach to the formulas is via weighted hook walks; we discuss some results in this area. We present another motivation for our work: $J$-functions of the Hilbert scheme of points.
The biHecke monoid of a finite Coxeter group
For any finite Coxeter group $W$, we introduce two new objects: its cutting poset and its biHecke monoid. The cutting poset, constructed using a generalization of the notion of blocks in permutation matrices, almost forms a lattice on $W$. The construction of the biHecke monoid relies on the usual combinatorial model for the $0-Hecke$ algebra $H_0(W)$, that is, for the symmetric group, the algebra (or monoid) generated by the elementary bubble sort operators. The authors previously introduced the Hecke group algebra, constructed as the algebra generated simultaneously by the bubble sort and antisort operators, and described its representation theory. In this paper, we consider instead the monoid generated by these operators. We prove that it admits |W| simple and projective modules. In order to construct the simple modules, we introduce for each $w∈W$ a combinatorial module $T_w$ whose support is the interval $[1,w]_R$ in right weak order. This module yields an algebra, whose representation theory generalizes that of the Hecke group algebra, with the combinatorics of descents replaced by that of blocks and of the cutting poset.
Criteria for rational smoothness of some symmetric orbit closures
Let $G$ be a connected reductive linear algebraic group over $ℂ$ with an involution $θ$ . Denote by $K$ the subgroup of fixed points. In certain cases, the $K-orbits$ in the flag variety $G/B$ are indexed by the twisted identities $ι (θ ) = {θ (w^{-1})w | w∈W}$ in the Weyl group $W$. Under this assumption, we establish a criterion for rational smoothness of orbit closures which generalises classical results of Carrell and Peterson for Schubert varieties. That is, whether an orbit closure is rationally smooth at a given point can be determined by examining the degrees in a "Bruhat graph'' whose vertices form a subset of $ι (θ )$. Moreover, an orbit closure is rationally smooth everywhere if and only if its corresponding interval in the Bruhat order on $ι (θ )$ is rank symmetric. In the special case $K=\mathrm{Sp}_{2n}(ℂ), G=\mathrm{SL}_{2n}(ℂ)$, we strengthen our criterion by showing that only the degree of a single vertex, the "bottom one'', needs to be examined. This generalises a result of Deodhar for type A Schubert varieties.
Skew Littlewood―Richardson rules from Hopf algebras
We use Hopf algebras to prove a version of the Littlewood―Richardson rule for skew Schur functions, which implies a conjecture of Assaf and McNamara. We also establish skew Littlewood―Richardson rules for Schur $P-$ and $Q-$functions and noncommutative ribbon Schur functions, as well as skew Pieri rules for k-Schur functions, dual k-Schur functions, and for the homology of the affine Grassmannian of the symplectic group.
Generalized Energy Statistics and Kostka―Macdonald Polynomials
We give an interpretation of the $t=1$ specialization of the modified Macdonald polynomial as a generating function of the energy statistics defined on the set of paths arising in the context of Box-Ball Systems (BBS-paths for short). We also introduce one parameter generalizations of the energy statistics on the set of BBS-paths which all, conjecturally, have the same distribution.
A weakly universal cellular automaton in the hyperbolic $3D$ space with three states
In this paper, we significantly improve a previous result by the same author showing the existence of a weakly universal cellular automaton with five states living in the hyperbolic $3D$-space. Here, we get such a cellular automaton with three states only.
Minimal Recurrent Configurations of Chip Firing Games and Directed Acyclic Graphs
We discuss a very close relation between minimal recurrent configurations of Chip Firing Games and Directed Acyclic Graphs and demonstrate the usefulness of this relation by giving a lower bound for the number of minimal recurrent configurations of the Abelian Sandpile Model as well as a lower bound for the number of firings which are caused by the addition of two recurrent configurations on particular graphs.
On the complexity of enumerating possible dynamics of sparsely connected Boolean network automata with simple update rules
We study how hard is to determine some fundamental properties of dynamics of certain types of network automata. We address the computational complexity of determining how many different possible dynamic evolutions can arise from some structurally very simple, deterministic and sparsely connected network automata. In this as well as our prior, related work, we try to push the limits on the underlying simplicity of two structural aspects of such network automata: (i) the uniform sparseness of their topologies, and (ii) severely restricted local behaviors of the individual agents (that is, the local update rules of the network nodes). In this endeavor, we prove that counting the Fixed Point (FP) configurations and the predecessor and ancestor configurations in two classes of network automata, called Sequential and Synchronous Dynamical Systems (SDSs and SyDSs, respectively), are computationally intractable problems. Moreover, this intractability is shown to hold when each node in such a network is required to update according to (i) a monotone Boolean function, (ii) a symmetric Boolean function, or even (iii) a simple threshold function that is both monotone and symmetric. Furthermore, the hardness of the exact enumeration of FPs and other types of configurations of interest remains to hold even in some severely restricted cases with respect to both the network topology and the diversity (or lack thereof) of individual node's local update rules. Namely, we show that the counting […]
The Size of One-Way Cellular Automata
We investigate the descriptional complexity of basic operations on real-time one-way cellular automata with an unbounded as well well as a fixed number of cells. The size of the automata is measured by their number of states. Most of the bounds shown are tight in the order of magnitude, that is, the sizes resulting from the effective constructions given are optimal with respect to worst case complexity. Conversely, these bounds also show the maximal savings of size that can be achieved when a given minimal real-time OCA is decomposed into smaller ones with respect to a given operation. From this point of view the natural problem of whether a decomposition can algorithmically be solved is studied. It turns out that all decomposition problems considered are algorithmically unsolvable. Therefore, a very restricted cellular model is studied in the second part of the paper, namely, real-time one-way cellular automata with a fixed number of cells. These devices are known to capture the regular languages and, thus, all the problems being undecidable for general one-way cellular automata become decidable. It is shown that these decision problems are $\textsf{NLOGSPACE}$-complete and thus share the attractive computational complexity of deterministic finite automata. Furthermore, the state complexity of basic operations for these devices is studied and upper and lower bounds are given.
The fractal structure of cellular automata on abelian groups
It is a well-known fact that the spacetime diagrams of some cellular automata have a fractal structure: for instance Pascal's triangle modulo $2$ generates a Sierpinski triangle. Explaining the fractal structure of the spacetime diagrams of cellular automata is a much explored topic, but virtually all of the results revolve around a special class of automata, whose main features include irreversibility, an alphabet with a ring structure and a rule respecting this structure, and a property known as being (weakly) $p$-Fermat. The class of automata that we study in this article fulfills none of these properties. Their cell structure is weaker and they are far from being $p$-Fermat, even weakly. However, they do produce fractal spacetime diagrams, and we will explain why and how. These automata emerge naturally from the field of quantum cellular automata, as they include the classical equivalent of the Clifford quantum cellular automata, which have been studied by the quantum community for several reasons. They are a basic building block of a universal model of quantum computation, and they can be used to generate highly entangled states, which are a primary resource for measurement-based models of quantum computing.
60/102 Null Boundary Cellular Automata based expander graphs
Expander graphs are useful in the design and analysis of communication networks. Mukhopadhyay et al. introduced a method to generate a family of expander graphs based on nongroup two predecessor single attractor Cellular Automata(CA). In this paper we propose a method to generate a family of expander graphs based on 60/102 Null Boundary CA(NBCA) which is a group CA. The spectral gap generated by our method is maximal. Moreover, the spectral gap is larger than that of Mukhopadhyay et al.
Probabilistic initial value problem for cellular automaton rule 172
We present a method of solving of the probabilistic initial value problem for cellular automata (CA) using CA rule 172 as an example. For a disordered initial condition on an infinite lattice, we derive exact expressions for the density of ones at arbitrary time step. In order to do this, we analyze topological structure of preimage trees of finite strings of length 3. Level sets of these trees can be enumerated directly using classical combinatorial methods, yielding expressions for the number of $n$-step preimages of all strings of length 3, and, subsequently, probabilities of occurrence of these strings in a configuration obtained from the initial one after $n$ iterations of rule 172. The density of ones can be expressed in terms of Fibonacci numbers, while expressions for probabilities of other strings involve Lucas numbers. Applicability of this method to other CA rules is briefly discussed.
Block-sequential update schedules and Boolean automata circuits
Our work is set in the framework of complex dynamical systems and, more precisely, that of Boolean automata networks modeling regulation networks. We study how the choice of an update schedule impacts on the dynamics of such a network. To do this, we explain how studying the dynamics of any network updated with an arbitrary block-sequential update schedule can be reduced to the study of the dynamics of a different network updated in parallel. We give special attention to networks whose underlying structure is a circuit, that is, Boolean automata circuits. These particular and simple networks are known to serve as the "engines'' of the dynamics of arbitrary regulation networks containing them as sub-networks in that they are responsible for their variety of dynamical behaviours. We give both the number of attractors of period $p$, $\forall p\in \mathbb{N}$ and the total number of attractors in the dynamics of Boolean automata circuits updated with any block-sequential update schedule. We also detail the variety of dynamical behaviours that such networks may exhibit according to the update schedule.
Faster Methods for Identifying Nontrivial Energy Conservation Functions for Cellular Automata
The biggest obstacle to the efficient discovery of conserved energy functions for cellular auotmata is the elimination of the trivial functions from the solution space. Once this is accomplished, the identification of nontrivial conserved functions can be accomplished computationally through appropriate linear algebra. As a means to this end, we introduce a general theory of trivial conserved functions. We consider the existence of nontrivial additive conserved energy functions ("nontrivials") for cellular automata in any number of dimensions, with any size of neighborhood, and with any number of cell states. We give the first known basis set for all trivial conserved functions in the general case, and use this to derive a number of optimizations for reducing time and memory for the discovery of nontrivials. We report that the Game of Life has no nontrivials with energy windows of size 13 or smaller. Other $2D$ automata, however, do have nontrivials. We give the complete list of those functions for binary outer-totalistic automata with energy windows of size 9 or smaller, and discuss patterns we have observed.
Geometric Bucket Trees: Analysis of Linear Bucket Tree
We analyse the average number of buckets in a Linear Bucket tree created by $n$ points uniformly dispatched on an interval of length $y$. A new bucket is created when a point does not fall in an existing bucket. The bucket is the interval of length 2 centered on the point. We illustrate this concept by an interesting tale of how the moon's surface took on its present form. Thanks to an explicit Laplace transform of the Poissonized sequence, and the use of dePoissonization tools, we obtain the explicit asymptotic expansions of the average number of buckets in most of the asymptotic regimes relative to $n$ and $y$.
Renewal theory in analysis of tries and strings: Extended abstract
We give a survey of a number of simple applications of renewal theory to problems on random strings, in particular to tries and Khodak and Tunstall codes.
The maximum of Brownian motion with parabolic drift (Extended abstract)
We study the maximum of a Brownian motion with a parabolic drift; this is a random variable that often occurs as a limit of the maximum of discrete processes whose expectations have a maximum at an interior point. This has some applications in algorithmic and data structures analysis. We give series expansions and integral formulas for the distribution and the first two moments, together with numerical values to high precision.
Dynamic Threshold Strategy for Universal Best Choice Problem
We propose a new strategy for universal best choice problem for partially ordered sets. We present its partial analysis which is sufficient to prove that the probability of success with this strategy is asymptotically strictly greater than 1/4, which is the value of the best universal strategy known so far.
Counting Markov Types
The method of types is one of the most popular techniques in information theory and combinatorics. Two sequences of equal length have the same type if they have identical empirical distributions. In this paper, we focus on Markov types, that is, sequences generated by a Markov source (of order one). We note that sequences having the same Markov type share the same so called $\textit{balanced frequency matrix}$ that counts the number of distinct pairs of symbols. We enumerate the number of Markov types for sequences of length $n$ over an alphabet of size $m$. This turns out to coincide with the number of the balanced frequency matrices as well as with the number of special $\textit{linear diophantine equations}$, and also balanced directed multigraphs. For fixed $m$ we prove that the number of Markov types is asymptotically equal to $d(m) \frac{n^{m^{2-m}}}{(m^2-m)!}$, where $d(m)$ is a constant for which we give an integral representation. For $m \to \infty$ we conclude that asymptotically the number of types is equivalent to $\frac{\sqrt{2}m^{3m/2} e^{m^2}}{m^{2m^2} 2^m \pi^{m/2}} n^{m^2-m}$ provided that $m=o(n^{1/4})$ (however, our techniques work for $m=o(\sqrt{n})$). These findings are derived by analytical techniques ranging from multidimensional generating functions to the saddle point method.
The analysis of a prioritised probabilistic algorithm to find large induced forests in regular graphs with large girth
The analysis of probabilistic algorithms has proved to be very successful for finding asymptotic bounds on parameters of random regular graphs. In this paper, we show that similar ideas may be used to obtain deterministic bounds for one such parameter in the case of regular graphs with large girth. More precisely, we address the problem of finding a large induced forest in a graph $G$, by which we mean an acyclic induced subgraph of $G$ with a lot of vertices. For a fixed integer $r \geq 3$, we obtain new lower bounds on the size of a maximum induced forest in graphs with maximum degree $r$ and large girth. These bounds are derived from the solution of a system of differential equations that arises naturally in the analysis of an iterative probabilistic procedure to generate an induced forest in a graph. Numerical approximations suggest that these bounds improve substantially the best previous bounds. Moreover, they improve previous asymptotic lower bounds on the size of a maximum induced forest in a random regular graph.
The Bernoulli sieve: an overview
The Bernoulli sieve is a version of the classical balls-in-boxes occupancy scheme, in which random frequencies of infinitely many boxes are produced by a multiplicative random walk, also known as the residual allocation model or stick-breaking. We give an overview of the limit theorems concerning the number of boxes occupied by some balls out of the first $n$ balls thrown, and present some new results concerning the number of empty boxes within the occupancy range.
Phase transitions in Proof Theory
Using standard methods of analytic combinatorics we elaborate critical points (thresholds) of phase transitions from provability to unprovability of arithmetical well-partial-ordering assertions in several familiar theories occurring in the reverse mathematics program.
Random Generation Using Binomial Approximations
Generalizing an idea used by Alonso to generate uniformly at random Motzkin words, we outline an approach to build efficient random generators using binomial distributions and rejection algorithms. As an application of this method, we present random generators, both efficient and easy to implement, for partial injections and colored unary-binary trees.
The degree distribution in unlabelled $2$-connected graph families
We study the random variable $X_n^k$, counting the number of vertices of degree $k$ in a randomly chosen $2$-connected graph of given families. We prove a central limit theorem for $X_n^k$ with expected value $\mathbb{E}X_n^k \sim \mu_kn$ and variance $\mathbb{V}X_n^k \sim \sigma_k^2n$, both asymptotically linear in $n$, for both rooted and unrooted unlabelled $2$-connected outerplanar or series-parallel graphs.
A symbolic method to compute the probability distribution of the number of pattern occurences in random texts generated by stochastic 0L-systems
The analysis of pattern occurrences has numerous applications, in particular in biology. In this article, a symbolic method is proposed to compute the distribution associated to the number of occurences of a specific pattern in a random text generated by a stochastic 0L-system. To that purpose, a semiring structure is set for combinatorial classes composed of weighted words. This algebraic structure relies on new union and concatenation operators which, under some assumptions, are admissible constructions. Decomposing the combinatorial classes of interest by using these binary operators enables the direct translation of specifications into a set of functional equations relating generating functions thanks to transformation rules. The article ends with two examples. The first one deals with unary patterns and the connection with multitype branching process is established. The second one is about a pattern composed of two letters and underlines the importance of writing a proper specification.
Almost sure asymptotics for the random binary search tree
We consider a (random permutation model) binary search tree with $n$ nodes and give asymptotics on the $\log$ $\log$ scale for the height $H_n$ and saturation level $h_n$ of the tree as $n \to \infty$, both almost surely and in probability. We then consider the number $F_n$ of particles at level $H_n$ at time $n$, and show that $F_n$ is unbounded almost surely.
On unary nodes in tries
The difference between ordinary tries and Patricia tries lies in the fact that all unary nodes are removed in the latter. Their average number is thus easily determined from earlier results on the size of tries/Patricia tries. In a well-known contention resolution algorithm, whose probabilistic model is essentially equivalent to tries, unary nodes correspond to repetitions, i.e., steps in the algorithm that do not resolve anything at all. In this paper, we take an individual's view on such repetitions: we consider the distribution of the number of repetitions a certain contender encounters in the course of the algorithm―-which is equivalent to the number of unary nodes on the path from the root to a random string in a trie. We encounter an example of a sequence of distributions that does not actually converge to a limit distribution, but rather oscillates around a (discrete) limit distribution.
Asymptotic Rational Approximation To Pi: Solution of an "Unsolved Problem'' Posed By Herbert Wilf
The webpage of Herbert Wilf describes eight Unsolved Problems. Here, we completely resolve the third of these eight problems. The task seems innocent: find the first term of the asymptotic behavior of the coefficients of an ordinary generating function, whose coefficients naturally yield rational approximations to $\pi$. Upon closer examination, however, the analysis is fraught with difficulties. For instance, the function is the composition of three functions, but the innermost function has a non-zero constant term, so many standard techniques for analyzing function compositions will completely fail. Additionally, the signs of the coefficients are neither all positive, nor alternating in a regular manner. The generating function involves both a square root and an arctangent. The complex-valued square root and arctangent functions each rely on complex logarithms, which are multivalued and fundamentally depend on branch cuts. These multiple values and branch cuts make the function extremely tedious to visualize using Maple. We provide a complete asymptotic analysis of the coefficients of Wilf's generating function. The asymptotic expansion is naturally additive (not multiplicative); each term of the expansion contains oscillations, which we precisely characterize. The proofs rely on complex analysis, in particular, singularity analysis (which, in turn, rely on a Hankel contour and transfer theorems).
Ordered increasing $k$-trees: Introduction and analysis of a preferential attachment network model
We introduce a random graph model based on $k$-trees, which can be generated by applying a probabilistic preferential attachment rule, but which also has a simple combinatorial description. We carry out a precise distributional analysis of important parameters for the network model such as the degree, the local clustering coefficient and the number of descendants of the nodes and root-to-node distances. We do not only obtain results for random nodes, but in particular we also get a precise description of the behaviour of parameters for the $j$-th inserted node in a random $k$-tree of size $n$, where $j=j(n)$ might grow with $n$. The approach presented is not restricted to this specific $k$-tree model, but can also be applied to other evolving $k$-tree models.
The total Steiner $k$-distance for $b$-ary recursive trees and linear recursive trees
We prove a limit theorem for the total Steiner $k$-distance of a random $b$-ary recursive tree with weighted edges. The total Steiner $k$-distance is the sum of all Steiner $k$-distances in a tree and it generalises the Wiener index. The limit theorem is obtained by using a limit theorem in the general setting of the contraction method. In order to use the contraction method we prove a recursion formula and determine the asymptotic expansion of the expectation using the so-called Master Theorem by Roura (2001). In a second step we prove a transformation of the total Steiner $k$-distance of $b$-ary trees with weighted edges to arbitrary recursive trees. This transformation yields the limit theorem for the total Steiner $k$-distance of the linear recursive trees when the parameter of these trees is a non-negative integer.
An optimal cardinality estimation algorithm based on order statistics and its full analysis
Building on the ideas of Flajolet and Martin (1985), Alon et al. (1987), Bar-Yossef et al. (2002), Giroire (2005), we develop a new algorithm for cardinality estimation, based on order statistics which, according to Chassaing and Gerin (2006), is optimal among similar algorithms. This algorithm has a remarkably simple analysis that allows us to take its $\textit{fine-tuning}$ and the $\textit{characterization of its properties}$ further than has been done until now. We prove that, asymptotically, it is $\textit{strictly unbiased}$ (contrarily to Probabilistic Counting, Loglog, Hyperloglog), we verify that its relative precision is about $1/\sqrt{m-2}$ when $m$ words of storage are used, and we fully characterize the limit law of the estimates it provides, in terms of gamma distribution―-this is the first such algorithm for which the limit law has been established. We also develop a Poisson analysis for the pre-asymptotic regime. In this way, we are able to devise a complete algorithm, covering all cardinalities ranges from $0$ to very large.
Partial Quicksort and Quickpartitionsort
Partial Quicksort sorts the $l$ smallest elements in a list of length $n$. We provide a complete running time analysis for this combination of Find and Quicksort. Further we give some optimal adapted versions, called Partition Quicksort, with an asymptotic running time $c_1l\ln l+c_2l+n+o(n)$. The constant $c_1$ can be as small as the information theoretic lower bound $\log_2 e$.
Square root singularities of infinite systems of functional equations
Infinite systems of equations appear naturally in combinatorial counting problems. Formally, we consider functional equations of the form $\mathbf{y} (x)=F(x,\mathbf{y} (x))$, where $F(x,\mathbf{y} ):\mathbb{C} \times \ell^p \to \ell^p$ is a positive and nonlinear function, and analyze the behavior of the solution $\mathbf{y} (x)$ at the boundary of the domain of convergence. In contrast to the finite dimensional case different types of singularities are possible. We show that if the Jacobian operator of the function $F$ is compact, then the occurring singularities are of square root type, as it is in the finite dimensional setting. This leads to asymptotic expansions of the Taylor coefficients of $\mathbf{y} (x)$.
Random sampling of lattice paths with constraints, via transportation
We build and analyze in this paper Markov chains for the random sampling of some one-dimensional lattice paths with constraints, for various constraints. These chains are easy to implement, and sample an "almost" uniform path of length $n$ in $n^{3+\epsilon}$ steps. This bound makes use of a certain $\textit{contraction property}$ of the Markov chain, and is proved with an approach inspired by optimal transport.
No Shannon effect on probability distributions on Boolean functions induced by random expressions
The Shannon effect states that "almost all'' Boolean functions have a complexity close to the maximal possible for the uniform probability distribution. In this paper we use some probability distributions on functions, induced by random expressions, and prove that this model does not exhibit the Shannon effect.
Analyzing a Weighted Digital Sum Variant
Consider the following weighted digital sum (WDS) variant: write integer $n$ as $n=2^{i_1} + 2^{i_2} + \cdots + 2^{i_k}$ with $i_1 > i_2 > \cdots > i_k \geq 0$ and set $W_M(n) := \sum_{t=1}^k t^M 2^{i_t}$. This type of weighted digital sum arises (when $M=1$) in the analysis of bottom-up mergesort but is not "smooth'' enough to permit a clean analysis. We therefore analyze its average $TW_M(n) := \frac{1}{n}\sum_{j \gt n} W_M(j)$. We show that $TW_M(n)$ has a solution of the form $n G_M(\lg n) + d_M \lg ^M n + \sum\limits_{d=0}^{M-1}(\lg ^d n)G_{M,d}(\lg n)$, where $d_M$ is a constant and $G_M(u), G_{M,d}(u)$'s are periodic functions with period one (given by absolutely convergent Fourier series).
A Note on Invariant Random Variables
In this paper we present a simple theory, based on the notion of group action on a set, which explains why processes of throwing random sets of points and throwing random lines are similar up to the second moment of counting functions connected with them. We also discuss other applications of this method and show how to calculate higher moments using the group acting on a set.
The number of Euler tours of a random $d$-in/$d$-out graph
In this paper we obtain the expectation and variance of the number of Euler tours of a random $d$-in/$d$-out directed graph, for $d \geq 2$. We use this to obtain the asymptotic distribution and prove a concentration result. We are then able to show that a very simple approach for uniform sampling or approximately counting Euler tours yields algorithms running in expected polynomial time for almost every $d$-in/$d$-out graph. We make use of the BEST theorem of de Bruijn, van Aardenne-Ehrenfest, Smith and Tutte, which shows that the number of Euler tours of a $d$-in/$d$-out graph is the product of the number of arborescences and the term $[(d-1)!]^n/n$. Therefore most of our effort is towards estimating the asymptotic distribution of the number of arborescences of a random $d$-in/$d$-out graph.
The height of scaled attachment random recursive trees
We study depth properties of a general class of random recursive trees where each node $n$ attaches to the random node $\lfloor nX_n \rfloor$ and $X_0, \ldots , X_n$ is a sequence of i.i.d. random variables taking values in $[0,1)$. We call such trees scaled attachment random recursive trees (SARRT). We prove that the height $H_n$ of a SARRT is asymptotically given by $H_n \sim \alpha_{\max} \log n$ where $\alpha_{\max}$ is a constant depending only on the distribution of $X_0$ whenever $X_0$ has a bounded density. This gives a new elementary proof for the height of uniform random recursive trees $H_n \sim e \log n$ that does not use branching random walks.
Occupancy distributions in Markov chains via Doeblin's ergodicity coefficient
We state and prove new properties about Doeblin's ergodicity coefficient for finite Markov chains. We show that this coefficient satisfies a sub-multiplicative type inequality (analogous to the Markov-Dobrushin's ergodicity coefficient), and provide a novel but elementary proof of Doeblin's characterization of weak-ergodicity for non-homogeneous chains. Using Doeblin's coefficient, we illustrate how to approximate a homogeneous but possibly non-stationary Markov chain of duration $n$ by independent and short-lived realizations of an auxiliary chain of duration of order $\ln (n)$. This leads to approximations of occupancy distributions in homogeneous chains, which may be particularly useful when exact calculations via one-step methods or transfer matrices are impractical, and when asymptotic approximations may not be yet reliable. Our findings may find applications to pattern problems in Markovian and non-Markovian sequences that are treatable via embedding techniques.
On the diameter of random planar graphs
We show that the diameter $D(G_n)$ of a random (unembedded) labelled connected planar graph with $n$ vertices is asymptotically almost surely of order $n^{1/4}$, in the sense that there exists a constant $c>0$ such that $P(D(G_n) \in (n^{1/4-\epsilon} ,n^{1/4+\epsilon})) \geq 1-\exp (-n^{c\epsilon})$ for $\epsilon$ small enough and $n$ large enough $(n \geq n_0(\epsilon))$. We prove similar statements for rooted $2$-connected and $3$-connected embedded (maps) and unembedded planar graphs.
Stochastic Analysis of the $k$-Server Problem on the Circle
We consider a stochastic version of the $k$-server problem in which $k$ servers move on a circle to satisfy stochastically generated requests. The requests are independent and identically distributed according to an arbitrary distribution on a circle, which is either discrete or continuous. The cost of serving a request is the distance that a server needs to move to reach the request. The goal is to minimize the steady-state expected cost induced by the requests. We study the performance of a greedy strategy, focusing, in particular, on its convergence properties and the interplay between the discrete and continuous versions of the process.
Bounded discrete walks
This article tackles the enumeration and asymptotics of directed lattice paths (that are isomorphic to unidimensional paths) of bounded height (walks below one wall, or between two walls, for $\textit{any}$ finite set of jumps). Thus, for any lattice paths, we give the generating functions of bridges ("discrete'' Brownian bridges) and reflected bridges ("discrete'' reflected Brownian bridges) of a given height. It is a new success of the "kernel method'' that the generating functions of such walks have some nice expressions as symmetric functions in terms of the roots of the kernel. These formulae also lead to fast algorithms for computing the $n$-th Taylor coefficients of the corresponding generating functions. For a large class of walks, we give the discrete distribution of the height of bridges, and show the convergence to a Rayleigh limit law. For the family of walks consisting of a $-1$ jump and many positive jumps, we give more precise bounds for the speed of convergence. We end our article with a heuristic application to bioinformatics that has a high speed-up relative to previous work.
Multi-dimensional Boltzmann Sampling of Languages
We address the uniform random generation of words from a context-free language (over an alphabet of size $k$), while constraining every letter to a targeted frequency of occurrence. Our approach consists in a multidimensional extension of Boltzmann samplers. We show that, under mostly $\textit{strong-connectivity}$ hypotheses, our samplers return a word of size in $[(1- \epsilon)n, (1+ \epsilon)n]$ and exact frequency in $\mathcal{O}(n^{1+k/2})$ expected time. Moreover, if we accept tolerance intervals of width in $\Omega (\sqrt{n})$ for the number of occurrences of each letters, our samplers perform an approximate-size generation of words in expected $\mathcal{O}(n)$ time. We illustrate our approach on the generation of Tetris tessellations with uniform statistics in the different types of tetraminoes.
Combinatorial aspects of pyramids of one-dimensional pieces of fixed integer length
We consider pyramids made of one-dimensional pieces of fixed integer length $a$ and which may have pairwise overlaps of integer length from $1$ to $a$. We give a combinatorial proof that the number of pyramids of size $m$, i.e., consisting of $m$ pieces, equals $\binom{am-1}{m-1}$ for each $a \geq 2$. This generalises a well known result for $a=2$. A bijective correspondence between so-called right (or left) pyramids and $a$-ary trees is pointed out, and it is shown that asymptotically the average width of pyramids equals $\sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2} a(a-1)m}$.
Induced acyclic subgraphs in random digraphs: Improved bounds
Given a simple directed graph $D = (V,A)$, let the size of the largest induced directed acyclic graph $\textit{(dag)}$ be denoted by $mas(D)$. Let $D \in \mathcal{D}(n,p)$ be a $\textit{random}$ instance, obtained by choosing each of the $\binom{n}{2}$ possible undirected edges independently with probability $2p$ and then orienting each chosen edge independently in one of two possible directions with probabibility $1/2$. We obtain improved bounds on the range of concentration, upper and lower bounds of $mas(D)$. Our main result is that $mas(D) \geq \lfloor 2\log_q np - X \rfloor$ where $q = (1-p)^{-1}, X=W$ if $p \geq n^{-1/3+\epsilon}$ ($\epsilon > 0$ is any constant), $X=W/(\ln q)$ if $p \geq n^{-1/2}(\ln n)^2$, and $W$ is a suitably large constant. where we have an $O(\ln \ln np/\ln q)$ term instead of $W$. This improves the previously known lower bound with an $O(\ln \ln np/\ln q)$ term instead of $W$. We also obtain a slight improvement on the upper bound, using an upper bound on the number of acyclic orientations of an undirected graph. We also analyze a polynomial-time heuristic to find a large induced dag and show that it produces a solution whose size is at least $\log _q np + \Theta (\sqrt{\log_q np})$.
The variance for partial match retrievals in $k$-dimensional bucket digital trees
The variance of partial match queries in $k$-dimensional tries was investigated in a couple of papers in the mid-nineties, the resulting analysis being long and complicated. In this paper, we are going to re-derive these results with a much easier approach. Moreover, our approach works for $k$-dimensional PATRICIA tries, $k$-dimensional digital search trees and bucket versions as well.
The distribution of the number of small cuts in a random planar triangulation
We enumerate rooted 3-connected (2-connected) planar triangulations with respect to the vertices and 3-cuts (2-cuts). Consequently, we show that the distribution of the number of 3-cuts in a random rooted 3-connected planar triangulation with $n+3$ vertices is asymptotically normal with mean $(10/27)n$ and variance $(320/729)n$, and the distribution of the number of 2-cuts in a random 2-connected planar triangulation with $n+2$ vertices is asymptotically normal with mean $(8/27)n$ and variance $(152/729)n$. We also show that the distribution of the number of 3-connected components in a random 2-connected triangulation with $n+2$ vertices is asymptotically normal with mean $n/3$ and variance $\frac{8}{ 27}n$ .
Asymptotics of Decomposable Combinatorial Structures of Alg-Log Type With Positive Log Exponent
We consider the multiset construction of decomposable structures with component generating function $C(z)$ of alg-log type, $\textit{i.e.}$, $C(z) = (1-z)^{-\alpha} (\log \frac{1}{ 1-z})^{\beta}$. We provide asymptotic results for the number of labeled objects of size $n$ in the case when $\alpha$ is positive and $\beta$ is positive and in the case $\alpha = 0$ and $\beta \geq 2$. The case $0<-\alpha <1$ and any $\beta$ and the case $\alpha > 0$ and $\beta = 0$ have been treated in previous papers. Our results extend previous work of Wright.
Digital Trees and Memoryless Sources: from Arithmetics to Analysis
Digital trees, also known as $\textit{"tries''}$, are fundamental to a number of algorithmic schemes, including radix-based searching and sorting, lossless text compression, dynamic hashing algorithms, communication protocols of the tree or stack type, distributed leader election, and so on. This extended abstract develops the asymptotic form of expectations of the main parameters of interest, such as tree size and path length. The analysis is conducted under the simplest of all probabilistic models; namely, the $\textit{memoryless source}$, under which letters that data items are comprised of are drawn independently from a fixed (finite) probability distribution. The precise asymptotic structure of the parameters' expectations is shown to depend on fine singular properties in the complex plane of a ubiquitous $\textit{Dirichlet series}$. Consequences include the characterization of a broad range of asymptotic regimes for error terms associated with trie parameters, as well as a classification that depends on specific $\textit{arithmetic properties}$, especially irrationality measures, of the sources under consideration.
Distributional Convergence for the Number of Symbol Comparisons Used by QuickSort (Extended Abstract)
Most previous studies of the sorting algorithm $\mathtt{QuickSort}$ have used the number of key comparisons as a measure of the cost of executing the algorithm. Here we suppose that the $n$ independent and identically distributed (iid) keys are each represented as a sequence of symbols from a probabilistic source and that $\mathtt{QuickSort}$ operates on individual symbols, and we measure the execution cost as the number of symbol comparisons. Assuming only a mild "tameness'' condition on the source, we show that there is a limiting distribution for the number of symbol comparisons after normalization: first centering by the mean and then dividing by $n$. Additionally, under a condition that grows more restrictive as $p$ increases, we have convergence of moments of orders $p$ and smaller. In particular, we have convergence in distribution and convergence of moments of every order whenever the source is memoryless, i.e., whenever each key is generated as an infinite string of iid symbols. This is somewhat surprising: Even for the classical model that each key is an iid string of unbiased ("fair'') bits, the mean exhibits periodic fluctuations of order $n$.
Asymptotics for Walks in a Weyl chamber of Type $B$ (extended abstract)
We consider lattice walks in $\mathbb{R}^k$ confined to the region $0 < x_1 < x_2 \ldots < x_k$ with fixed (but arbitrary) starting and end points. The walks are required to be "reflectable", that is, we assume that the number of paths can be counted using the reflection principle. The main result is an asymptotic formula for the total number of walks of length $n$ with fixed but arbitrary starting and end point for a general class of walks as the number $n$ of steps tends to infinity. As applications, we find the asymptotics for the number of $k$-non-crossing tangled diagrams on the set $\{1,2, \ldots,n\}$ as $n$ tends to infinity, and asymptotics for the number of $k$-vicious walkers subject to a wall restriction in the random turns model as well as in the lock step model. Asymptotics for all of these objects were either known only for certain special cases, or have only been partially determined.
Finding hidden cliques in linear time
In the hidden clique problem, one needs to find the maximum clique in an $n$-vertex graph that has a clique of size $k$ but is otherwise random. An algorithm of Alon, Krivelevich and Sudakov that is based on spectral techniques is known to solve this problem (with high probability over the random choice of input graph) when $k \geq c \sqrt{n}$ for a sufficiently large constant $c$. In this manuscript we present a new algorithm for finding hidden cliques. It too provably works when $k > c \sqrt{n}$ for a sufficiently large constant $c$. However, our algorithm has the advantage of being much simpler (no use of spectral techniques), running faster (linear time), and experiments show that the leading constant $c$ is smaller than in the spectral approach. We also present linear time algorithms that experimentally find even smaller hidden cliques, though it remains open whether any of these algorithms finds hidden cliques of size $o(\sqrt{n})$.
Stochastic Flips on Dimer Tilings
This paper introduces a Markov process inspired by the problem of quasicrystal growth. It acts over dimer tilings of the triangular grid by randomly performing local transformations, called $\textit{flips}$, which do not increase the number of identical adjacent tiles (this number can be thought as the tiling energy). Fixed-points of such a process play the role of quasicrystals. We are here interested in the worst-case expected number of flips to converge towards a fixed-point. Numerical experiments suggest a $\Theta (n^2)$ bound, where $n$ is the number of tiles of the tiling. We prove a $O(n^{2.5})$ upper bound and discuss the gap between this bound and the previous one. We also briefly discuss the average-case.
Cover time of a random graph with given degree sequence
In this paper we establish the cover time of a random graph $G(\textbf{d})$ chosen uniformly at random from the set of graphs with vertex set $[n]$ and degree sequence $\textbf{d}$. We show that under certain restrictions on $\textbf{d}$, the cover time of $G(\textbf{d})$ is with high probability asymptotic to $\frac{d-1}{ d-2} \frac{\theta}{ d}n \log n$. Here $\theta$ is the average degree and $d$ is the $\textit{effective minimum degree}$. The effective minimum degree is the first entry in the sorted degree sequence which occurs order $n$ times.
The Möbius function of separable permutations (extended abstract)
A permutation is separable if it can be generated from the permutation 1 by successive sums and skew sums or, equivalently, if it avoids the patterns 2413 and 3142. Using the notion of separating tree, we give a computationally efficient formula for the Möbius function of an interval $(q,p)$ in the poset of separable permutations ordered by pattern containment. A consequence of the formula is that the Möbius function of such an interval $(q,p)$ is bounded by the number of occurrences of $q$ as a pattern in $p$. The formula also implies that for any separable permutation $p$ the Möbius function of $(1,p)$ is either 0, 1 or -1.
Constant term evaluation for summation of C-finite sequences
Based on constant term evaluation, we present a new method to compute a closed form of the summation $∑_k=0^n-1 ∏_j=1^r F_j(a_jn+b_jk+c_j)$, where ${F_j(k)} are $C$-finite sequences and $a_j$ and $a_j+b_j$ are nonnegative integers. Our algorithm is much faster than that of Greene and Wilf.
Word equations in a uniquely divisible group
We study equations in groups $G$ with unique $m$-th roots for each positive integer $m$. A word equation in two letters is an expression of the form$ w(X,A) = B$, where $w$ is a finite word in the alphabet ${X,A}$. We think of $A,B ∈G$ as fixed coefficients, and $X ∈G$ as the unknown. Certain word equations, such as $XAXAX=B$, have solutions in terms of radicals: $X = A^-1/2(A^1/2BA^1/2)^1/3A^-1/2$, while others such as $X^2 A X = B$ do not. We obtain the first known infinite families of word equations not solvable by radicals, and conjecture a complete classification. To a word w we associate a polynomial $P_w ∈ℤ[x,y]$ in two commuting variables, which factors whenever $w$ is a composition of smaller words. We prove that if $P_w(x^2,y^2)$ has an absolutely irreducible factor in $ℤ[x,y]$, then the equation $w(X,A)=B$ is not solvable in terms of radicals.
Enumeration of inscribed polyominos
We introduce a new family of polyominos that are inscribed in a rectangle of given size for which we establish a number of exact formulas and generating functions. In particular, we study polyominos inscribed in a rectangle with minimum area and minimum area plus one. These results are then used for the enumeration of lattice trees inscribed in a rectangle with minimum area plus one.
Affine structures and a tableau model for $E_6$ crystals
We provide the unique affine crystal structure for type $E_6^{(1)}$ Kirillov―Reshetikhin crystals corresponding to the multiples of fundamental weights $s\Lambda _1, s\Lambda _2$, and $s\Lambda _6$ for all $s≥ 1$ (in Bourbaki's labeling of the Dynkin nodes, where 2 is the adjoint node). Our methods introduce a generalized tableaux model for classical highest weight crystals of type $E$ and use the order three automorphism of the affine $E_6^{(1)}$ Dynkin diagram. In addition, we provide a conjecture for the affine crystal structure of type $E_7^{(1)}$ Kirillov―Reshetikhin crystals corresponding to the adjoint node.
Denominator formulas for Lie superalgebras (extended abstract)
We provide formulas for the Weyl-Kac denominator and superdenominator of a basic classical Lie superalgebra for a distinguished set of positive roots. \par
A Closed Character Formula for Symmetric Powers of Irreducible Representations
We prove a closed character formula for the symmetric powers $S^N V(λ )$ of a fixed irreducible representation $V(λ )$ of a complex semi-simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ by means of partial fraction decomposition. The formula involves rational functions in rank of $\mathfrak{g}$ many variables which are easier to determine than the weight multiplicities of $S^N V(λ )$ themselves. We compute those rational functions in some interesting cases. Furthermore, we introduce a residue-type generating function for the weight multiplicities of $S^N V(λ )$ and explain the connections between our character formula, vector partition functions and iterated partial fraction decomposition.
Enumerating (2+2)-free posets by the number of minimal elements and other statistics
A poset is said to be (2+2)-free if it does not contain an induced subposet that is isomorphic to 2+2, the union of two disjoint 2-element chains. In a recent paper, Bousquet-Mélou et al. found, using so called ascent sequences, the generating function for the number of (2+2)-free posets: $P(t)=∑_n≥ 0 ∏_i=1^n ( 1-(1-t)^i)$. We extend this result by finding the generating function for (2+2)-free posets when four statistics are taken into account, one of which is the number of minimal elements in a poset. We also show that in a special case when only minimal elements are of interest, our rather involved generating function can be rewritten in the form $P(t,z)=∑_n,k ≥0 p_n,k t^n z^k = 1+ ∑_n ≥0\frac{zt}{(1-zt)^n+1}∏_i=1^n (1-(1-t)^i)$ where $p_n,k$ equals the number of (2+2)-free posets of size $n$ with $k$ minimal elements.
Chain enumeration of k-divisible noncrossing partitions of classical types
We give combinatorial proofs of the formulas for the number of multichains in the $k-divisible$ noncrossing partitions of classical types with certain conditions on the rank and the block size due to Krattenthaler and Müller. We also prove Armstrong's conjecture on the zeta polynomial of the poset of k-divisible noncrossing partitions of type A invariant under the 180° rotation in the cyclic representation.
Balanced binary trees in the Tamari lattice
We show that the set of balanced binary trees is closed by interval in the Tamari lattice. We establish that the intervals $[T_0, T_1]$ where $T_0$ and $T_1$ are balanced trees are isomorphic as posets to a hypercube. We introduce tree patterns and synchronous grammars to get a functional equation of the generating series enumerating balanced tree intervals.
Linear coefficients of Kerov's polynomials: bijective proof and refinement of Zagier's result
We look at the number of permutations $\beta$ of $[N]$ with $m$ cycles such that $(1 2 \ldots N) \beta^{-1}$ is a long cycle. These numbers appear as coefficients of linear monomials in Kerov's and Stanley's character polynomials. D. Zagier, using algebraic methods, found an unexpected connection with Stirling numbers of size $N+1$. We present the first combinatorial proof of his result, introducing a new bijection between partitioned maps and thorn trees. Moreover, we obtain a finer result, which takes the type of the permutations into account.
The Frobenius Complex
Motivated by the classical Frobenius problem, we introduce the Frobenius poset on the integers $\mathbb{Z}$, that is, for a sub-semigroup $\Lambda$ of the non-negative integers $(\mathbb{N},+)$, we define the order by $n \leq_{\Lambda} m$ if $m-n \in \Lambda$. When $\Lambda$ is generated by two relatively prime integers $a$ and $b$, we show that the order complex of an interval in the Frobenius poset is either contractible or homotopy equivalent to a sphere. We also show that when $\Lambda$ is generated by the integers $\{a,a+d,a+2d,\ldots,a+(a-1)d\}$, the order complex is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres.
$n!$ matchings, $n!$ posets (extended abstract)
We show that there are $n!$ matchings on $2n$ points without, so called, left (neighbor) nestings. We also define a set of naturally labelled $(2+2)$-free posets, and show that there are $n!$ such posets on $n$ elements. Our work was inspired by Bousquet-Mélou, Claesson, Dukes and Kitaev [J. Combin. Theory Ser. A. 117 (2010) 884―909]. They gave bijections between four classes of combinatorial objects: matchings with no neighbor nestings (due to Stoimenow), unlabelled $(2+2)$-free posets, permutations avoiding a specific pattern, and so called ascent sequences. We believe that certain statistics on our matchings and posets could generalize the work of Bousquet-Mélou et al. and we make a conjecture to that effect. We also identify natural subsets of matchings and posets that are equinumerous to the class of unlabeled $(2+2)$-free posets. We give bijections that show the equivalence of (neighbor) restrictions on nesting arcs with (neighbor) restrictions on crossing arcs. These bijections are thought to be of independent interest. One of the bijections maps via certain upper-triangular integer matrices that have recently been studied by Dukes and Parviainen [Electron. J. Combin. 17 (2010) #R53].
Pattern avoidance in partial permutations (extended abstract)
Motivated by the concept of partial words, we introduce an analogous concept of partial permutations. A $\textit{partial permutation of length n with k holes}$ is a sequence of symbols $\pi = \pi_1 \pi_2 \cdots \pi_n$ in which each of the symbols from the set $\{1,2,\ldots,n-k\}$ appears exactly once, while the remaining $k$ symbols of $\pi$ are "holes''. We introduce pattern-avoidance in partial permutations and prove that most of the previous results on Wilf equivalence of permutation patterns can be extended to partial permutations with an arbitrary number of holes. We also show that Baxter permutations of a given length $k$ correspond to a Wilf-type equivalence class with respect to partial permutations with $(k-2)$ holes. Lastly, we enumerate the partial permutations of length $n$ with $k$ holes avoiding a given pattern of length at most four, for each $n \geq k \geq 1$.
Extended Abstract for Enumerating Pattern Avoidance for Affine Permutations
In this paper we study pattern avoidance for affine permutations. In particular, we show that for a given pattern $p$, there are only finitely many affine permutations in $\widetilde{S}_n$ that avoid $p$ if and only if $p$ avoids the pattern $321$. We then count the number of affine permutations that avoid a given pattern $p$ for each $p$ in $S_3$, as well as give some conjectures for the patterns in $S_4$. This paper is just an outline; the full version will appear elsewhere.
Tropical secant graphs of monomial curves
We construct and study an embedded weighted balanced graph in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ parametrized by a strictly increasing sequence of $n$ coprime numbers $\{ i_1, \ldots, i_n\}$, called the $\textit{tropical secant surface graph}$. We identify it with the tropicalization of a surface in $\mathbb{C}^{n+1}$ parametrized by binomials. Using this graph, we construct the tropicalization of the first secant variety of a monomial projective curve with exponent vector $(0, i_1, \ldots, i_n)$, which can be described by a balanced graph called the $\textit{tropical secant graph}$. The combinatorics involved in computing the degree of this classical secant variety is non-trivial. One earlier approach to this is due to K. Ranestad. Using techniques from tropical geometry, we give algorithms to effectively compute this degree (as well as its multidegree) and the Newton polytope of the first secant variety of any given monomial curve in $\mathbb{P}^4$.
A Combinatorial Formula for Orthogonal Idempotents in the $0$-Hecke Algebra of $S_N$
Building on the work of P.N. Norton, we give combinatorial formulae for two maximal decompositions of the identity into orthogonal idempotents in the $0$-Hecke algebra of the symmetric group, $\mathbb{C}H_0(S_N)$. This construction is compatible with the branching from $H_0(S_{N-1})$ to $H_0(S_N)$.
$f$-vectors of subdivided simplicial complexes (extended abstract)
We take a geometric point of view on the recent result by Brenti and Welker, who showed that the roots of the $f$-polynomials of successive barycentric subdivisions of a finite simplicial complex $X$ converge to fixed values depending only on the dimension of $X$. We show that these numbers are roots of a certain polynomial whose coefficients can be computed explicitly. We observe and prove an interesting symmetry of these roots about the real number $-2$. This symmetry can be seen via a nice realization of barycentric subdivision as a simple map on formal power series. We then examine how such a symmetry extends to more general types of subdivisions. The generalization is formulated in terms of an operator on the (formal) ring on the set of simplices of the complex.
A note on moments of derivatives of characteristic polynomials
We present a simple technique to compute moments of derivatives of unitary characteristic polynomials. The first part of the technique relies on an idea of Bump and Gamburd: it uses orthonormality of Schur functions over unitary groups to compute matrix averages of characteristic polynomials. In order to consider derivatives of those polynomials, we here need the added strength of the Generalized Binomial Theorem of Okounkov and Olshanski. This result is very natural as it provides coefficients for the Taylor expansions of Schur functions, in terms of shifted Schur functions. The answer is finally given as a sum over partitions of functions of the contents. One can also obtain alternative expressions involving hypergeometric functions of matrix arguments.
On extensions of the Newton-Raphson iterative scheme to arbitrary orders
The classical quadratically convergent Newton-Raphson iterative scheme for successive approximations of a root of an equation $f(t)=0$ has been extended in various ways by different authors, going from cubical convergence to convergence of arbitrary orders. We introduce two such extensions, using appropriate differential operators as well as combinatorial arguments. We conclude with some applications including special series expansions for functions of the root and enumeration of classes of tree-like structures according to their number of leaves.
Combinatorial formulas for double parabolic R-polynomials
The well-known R-polynomials in ℤ[q], which appear in Hecke algebra computations, are closely related to certain modified R-polynomials in ℕ[q] whose coefficients have simple combinatorial interpretations. We generalize this second family of polynomials, providing combinatorial interpretations for expressions arising in a much broader class of computations. In particular, we extend results of Brenti, Deodhar, and Dyer to new settings which include parabolic Hecke algebra modules and the quantum polynomial ring.
Crossings and nestings in set partitions of classical types
In this extended abstract, we investigate bijections on various classes of set partitions of classical types that preserve openers and closers. On the one hand we present bijections for types $B$ and $C$ that interchange crossings and nestings, which generalize a construction by Kasraoui and Zeng for type $A$. On the other hand we generalize a bijection to type $B$ and $C$ that interchanges the cardinality of a maximal crossing with the cardinality of a maximal nesting, as given by Chen, Deng, Du, Stanley and Yan for type $A$. For type $D$, we were only able to construct a bijection between non-crossing and non-nesting set partitions. For all classical types we show that the set of openers and the set of closers determine a non-crossing or non-nesting set partition essentially uniquely.
The cluster and dual canonical bases of Z [x_11, ..., x_33] are equal
The polynomial ring $\mathbb{Z}[x_{11}, . . . , x_{33}]$ has a basis called the dual canonical basis whose quantization facilitates the study of representations of the quantum group $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}3(\mathbb{C}))$. On the other hand, $\mathbb{Z}[x_{11}, . . . , x_{33}]$ inherits a basis from the cluster monomial basis of a geometric model of the type $D_4$ cluster algebra. We prove that these two bases are equal. This extends work of Skandera and proves a conjecture of Fomin and Zelevinsky. This also provides an explicit factorization of the dual canonical basis elements of $\mathbb{Z}[x_{11}, . . . , x_{33}]$ into irreducible polynomials.
Cyclic sieving for longest reduced words in the hyperoctahedral group
We show that the set $R(w_0)$ of reduced expressions for the longest element in the hyperoctahedral group exhibits the cyclic sieving phenomenon. More specifically, $R(w_0)$ possesses a natural cyclic action given by moving the first letter of a word to the end, and we show that the orbit structure of this action is encoded by the generating function for the major index on $R(w_0)$.
Bijective enumeration of permutations starting with a longest increasing subsequence
We prove a formula for the number of permutations in $S_n$ such that their first $n-k$ entries are increasing and their longest increasing subsequence has length $n-k$. This formula first appeared as a consequence of character polynomial calculations in recent work of Adriano Garsia and Alain Goupil. We give two "elementary' bijective proofs of this result and of its q-analogue, one proof using the RSK correspondence and one only permutations.
The Hodge Structure of the Coloring Complex of a Hypergraph (Extended Abstract)
Let $G$ be a simple graph with $n$ vertices. The coloring complex$ Δ (G)$ was defined by Steingrímsson, and the homology of $Δ (G)$ was shown to be nonzero only in dimension $n-3$ by Jonsson. Hanlon recently showed that the Eulerian idempotents provide a decomposition of the homology group $H_{n-3}(Δ (G))$ where the dimension of the $j^th$ component in the decomposition, $H_{n-3}^{(j)}(Δ (G))$, equals the absolute value of the coefficient of $λ ^j$ in the chromatic polynomial of $G, _{\mathcal{χg}}(λ )$. Let $H$ be a hypergraph with $n$ vertices. In this paper, we define the coloring complex of a hypergraph, $Δ (H)$, and show that the coefficient of $λ ^j$ in $χ _H(λ )$ gives the Euler Characteristic of the $j^{th}$ Hodge subcomplex of the Hodge decomposition of $Δ (H)$. We also examine conditions on a hypergraph, $H$, for which its Hodge subcomplexes are Cohen-Macaulay, and thus where the absolute value of the coefficient of $λ ^j$ in $χ _H(λ )$ equals the dimension of the $j^{th}$ Hodge piece of the Hodge decomposition of $Δ (H)$.
Schubert complexes and degeneracy loci
The classical Thom―Porteous formula expresses the homology class of the degeneracy locus of a generic map between two vector bundles as an alternating sum of Schur polynomials. A proof of this formula was given by Pragacz by expressing this alternating sum as the Euler characteristic of a Schur complex, which gives an explanation for the signs. Fulton later generalized this formula to the situation of flags of vector bundles by using alternating sums of Schubert polynomials. Building on the Schubert functors of Kraśkiewicz and Pragacz, we introduce Schubert complexes and show that Fulton's alternating sum can be realized as the Euler characteristic of this complex, thereby providing a conceptual proof for why an alternating sum appears. \par
A unification of permutation patterns related to Schubert varieties
We prove new connections between permutation patterns and singularities of Schubert varieties, by giving a new characterization of factorial and Gorenstein varieties in terms of so called bivincular patterns. These are generalizations of classical patterns where conditions are placed on the location of an occurrence in a permutation, as well as on the values in the occurrence. This clarifies what happens when the requirement of smoothness is weakened to factoriality and further to Gorensteinness, extending work of Bousquet-Mélou and Butler (2007), and Woo and Yong (2006). We also prove results that translate some known patterns in the literature into bivincular patterns.
Boolean complexes and boolean numbers
The Bruhat order gives a poset structure to any Coxeter group. The ideal of elements in this poset having boolean principal order ideals forms a simplicial poset. This simplicial poset defines the boolean complex for the group. In a Coxeter system of rank n, we show that the boolean complex is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of (n-1)-dimensional spheres. The number of these spheres is the boolean number, which can be computed inductively from the unlabeled Coxeter system, thus defining a graph invariant. For certain families of graphs, the boolean numbers have intriguing combinatorial properties. This work involves joint efforts with Claesson, Kitaev, and Ragnarsson. \par
Infinite log-concavity: developments and conjectures
Given a sequence $(a_k)=a_0,a_1,a_2,\ldots$ of real numbers, define a new sequence $\mathcal{L}(a_k)=(b_k)$ where $b_k=a_k^2-a_{k-1}a_{k+1}$. So $(a_k)$ is log-concave if and only if $(b_k)$ is a nonnegative sequence. Call $(a_k)$ $\textit{infinitely log-concave}$ if $\mathcal{L}^i(a_k)$ is nonnegative for all $i \geq 1$. Boros and Moll conjectured that the rows of Pascal's triangle are infinitely log-concave. Using a computer and a stronger version of log-concavity, we prove their conjecture for the $n$th row for all $n \leq 1450$. We can also use our methods to give a simple proof of a recent result of Uminsky and Yeats about regions of infinite log-concavity. We investigate related questions about the columns of Pascal's triangle, $q$-analogues, symmetric functions, real-rooted polynomials, and Toeplitz matrices. In addition, we offer several conjectures.
Hopf algebras and the logarithm of the S-transform in free probability ― Extended abstract
This document is an extended abstract of the paper `Hopf algebras and the logarithm of the S-transform in free probability' in which we introduce a Hopf algebraic approach to the study of the operation $\boxtimes$ (free multiplicative convolution) from free probability.
Election algorithms with random delays in trees
The election is a classical problem in distributed algorithmic. It aims to design and to analyze a distributed algorithm choosing a node in a graph, here, in a tree. In this paper, a class of randomized algorithms for the election is studied. The election amounts to removing leaves one by one until the tree is reduced to a unique node which is then elected. The algorithm assigns to each leaf a probability distribution (that may depends on the information transmitted by the eliminated nodes) used by the leaf to generate its remaining random lifetime. In the general case, the probability of each node to be elected is given. For two categories of algorithms, close formulas are provided.
Triangulations of root polytopes and reduced forms (Extended abstract)
The type $A_n$ root polytope $\mathcal{P}(A_n^+)$ is the convex hull in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ of the origin and the points $e_i-e_j$ for $1 \leq i < j \leq n+1$. Given a tree $T$ on vertex set $[n+1]$, the associated root polytope $\mathcal{P}(T)$ is the intersection of $\mathcal{P}(A_n^+)$ with the cone generated by the vectors $e_i-e_j$, where $(i, j) \in E(T)$, $i < j$. The reduced forms of a certain monomial $m[T]$ in commuting variables $x_{ij}$ under the reduction $x_{ij} x_{jk} \to x_{ik} x_{ij} + x_{jk} x_{ik} + \beta x_{ik}$, can be interpreted as triangulations of $\mathcal{P}(T)$. If we allow variables $x_{ij}$ and$x_{kl}$ to commute only when $i, j, k, l$ are distinct, then the reduced form of $m[T]$ is unique and yields a canonical triangulation of $\mathcal{P}(T)$ in which each simplex corresponds to a noncrossing alternating forest.
Bijective Enumeration of Bicolored Maps of Given Vertex Degree Distribution
We derive a new formula for the number of factorizations of a full cycle into an ordered product of two permutations of given cycle types. For the first time, a purely combinatorial argument involving a bijective description of bicolored maps of specified vertex degree distribution is used. All the previous results in the field rely either partially or totally on a character theoretic approach. The combinatorial proof relies on a new bijection extending the one in [G. Schaeffer and E. Vassilieva. $\textit{J. Comb. Theory Ser. A}$, 115(6):903―924, 2008] that focused only on the number of cycles. As a salient ingredient, we introduce the notion of thorn trees of given vertex degree distribution which are recursive planar objects allowing simple description of maps of arbitrary genus. \par
Another bijection between $2$-triangulations and pairs of non-crossing Dyck paths
A $k$-triangulation of the $n$-gon is a maximal set of diagonals of the $n$-gon containing no subset of $k+1$ mutually crossing diagonals. The number of $k$-triangulations of the $n$-gon, determined by Jakob Jonsson, is equal to a $k \times k$ Hankel determinant of Catalan numbers. This determinant is also equal to the number of $k$ non-crossing Dyck paths of semi-length $n-2k$. This brings up the problem of finding a combinatorial bijection between these two sets. In FPSAC 2007, Elizalde presented such a bijection for the case $k=2$. We construct another bijection for this case that is stronger and simpler that Elizalde's. The bijection preserves two sets of parameters, degrees and generalized returns. As a corollary, we generalize Jonsson's formula for $k=2$ by counting the number of $2$-triangulations of the $n$-gon with a given degree at a fixed vertex.
$q$-Hook formula of Gansner type for a generalized Young diagram
The purpose of this paper is to present the $q$-hook formula of Gansner type for a generalized Young diagram in the sense of D. Peterson and R. A. Proctor. This gives a far-reaching generalization of a hook length formula due to J. S. Frame, G. de B. Robinson, and R. M. Thrall. Furthurmore, we give a generalization of P. MacMahon's identity as an application of the $q$-hook formula.
Cluster algebras of unpunctured surfaces and snake graphs
We study cluster algebras with principal coefficient systems that are associated to unpunctured surfaces. We give a direct formula for the Laurent polynomial expansion of cluster variables in these cluster algebras in terms of perfect matchings of a certain graph $G_{T,\gamma}$ that is constructed from the surface by recursive glueing of elementary pieces that we call tiles. We also give a second formula for these Laurent polynomial expansions in terms of subgraphs of the graph $G_{T,\gamma}$ .
A bijection between noncrossing and nonnesting partitions of types A and B
The total number of noncrossing partitions of type $\Psi$ is the $n$th Catalan number $\frac{1}{ n+1} \binom{2n}{n}$ when $\Psi =A_{n-1}$, and the binomial coefficient $\binom{2n}{n}$ when $\Psi =B_n$, and these numbers coincide with the correspondent number of nonnesting partitions. For type $A$, there are several bijective proofs of this equality; in particular, the intuitive map, which locally converts each crossing to a nesting, is one of them. In this paper we present a bijection between nonnesting and noncrossing partitions of types $A$ and $B$ that generalizes the type $A$ bijection that locally converts each crossing to a nesting.
Macdonald polynomials at $t=q^k$
We investigate the homogeneous symmetric Macdonald polynomials $P_{\lambda} (\mathbb{X} ;q,t)$ for the specialization $t=q^k$. We show an identity relying the polynomials $P_{\lambda} (\mathbb{X} ;q,q^k)$ and $P_{\lambda} (\frac{1-q}{1-q^k}\mathbb{X} ;q,q^k)$. As a consequence, we describe an operator whose eigenvalues characterize the polynomials $P_{\lambda} (\mathbb{X} ;q,q^k)$.
Rationality, irrationality, and Wilf equivalence in generalized factor order
Let $P$ be a partially ordered set and consider the free monoid $P^{\ast}$ of all words over $P$. If $w,w' \in P^{\ast}$ then $w'$ is a factor of $w$ if there are words $u,v$ with $w=uw'v$. Define generalized factor order on $P^{\ast}$ by letting $u \leq w$ if there is a factor $w'$ of $w$ having the same length as $u$ such that $u \leq w'$, where the comparison of $u$ and $w'$ is done componentwise using the partial order in $P$. One obtains ordinary factor order by insisting that $u=w'$ or, equivalently, by taking $P$ to be an antichain. Given $u \in P^{\ast}$, we prove that the language $\mathcal{F}(u)=\{w : w \geq u\}$ is accepted by a finite state automaton. If $P$ is finite then it follows that the generating function $F(u)=\sum_{w \geq u} w$ is rational. This is an analogue of a theorem of Björner and Sagan for generalized subword order. We also consider $P=\mathbb{P}$, the positive integers with the usual total order, so that $\mathbb{P}^{\ast}$ is the set of compositions. In this case one obtains a weight generating function $F(u;t,x)$ by substituting $tx^n$ each time $n \in \mathbb{P}$ appears in $F(u)$. We show that this generating function is also rational by using the transfer-matrix method. Words $u,v$ are said to be Wilf equivalent if $F(u;t,x)=F(v;t,x)$ and we can prove various Wilf equivalences combinatorially. Björner found a recursive formula for the Möbius function of ordinary factor order on $P^{\ast}$. It follows that one always has $\mu (u,w)=0, \pm […]
The absolute order on the hyperoctahedral group
The absolute order on the hyperoctahedral group $B_n$ is investigated. It is shown that every closed interval in this order is shellable, those closed intervals which are lattices are characterized and their zeta polynomials are computed. Moreover, using the notion of strong constructibility, it is proved that the order ideal generated by the Coxeter elements of $B_n$ is homotopy Cohen-Macaulay and the Euler characteristic of the order complex of the proper part of this ideal is computed. Finally, an example of a non Cohen-Macaulay closed interval in the absolute order on the group $D_4$ is given and the closed intervals of $D_n$ which are lattices are characterized.
Colored Tutte polynomials and composite knots
Surveying the results of three recent papers and some currently ongoing research, we show how a generalization of Brylawski's tensor product formula to colored graphs may be used to compute the Jones polynomial of some fairly complicated knots and, in the future, even virtual knots.
The $q=-1$ phenomenon for bounded (plane) partitions via homology concentration
Algebraic complexes whose "faces'' are indexed by partitions and plane partitions are introduced, and their homology is proven to be concentrated in even dimensions with homology basis indexed by fixed points of an involution, thereby explaining topologically two quite important instances of Stembridge's $q=-1$ phenomenon. A more general framework of invariant and coinvariant complexes with coefficients taken $\mod 2$ is developed, and as a part of this story an analogous topological result for necklaces is conjectured.
The Ladder Crystal
In this paper, we introduce a new model of the crystal $B(\Lambda _0)$ of $\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}_{\ell}}$. We briefly describe some of the properties of this crystal and compare it to the combinatorial model of Misra and Miwa.
Enumeration of the distinct shuffles of permutations
A shuffle of two words is a word obtained by concatenating the two original words in either order and then sliding any letters from the second word back past letters of the first word, in such a way that the letters of each original word remain spelled out in their original relative order. Examples of shuffles of the words $1234$ and $5678$ are, for instance, $15236784$ and $51236748$. In this paper, we enumerate the distinct shuffles of two permutations of any two lengths, where the permutations are written as words in the letters $1,2,3,\ldots ,m$ and $1,2,3,\ldots ,n$, respectively.
$m$-noncrossing partitions and $m$-clusters
Let $W$ be a finite crystallographic reflection group, with root system $\Phi$. Associated to $W$ there is a positive integer, the generalized Catalan number, which counts the clusters in the associated cluster algebra, the noncrossing partitions for $W$, and several other interesting sets. Bijections have been found between the clusters and the noncrossing partitions by Reading and Athanasiadis et al. There is a further generalization of the generalized Catalan number, sometimes called the Fuss-Catalan number for $W$, which we will denote $C_m(W)$. Here $m$ is a positive integer, and $C_1(W)$ is the usual generalized Catalan number. $C_m(W)$ counts the $m$-noncrossing partitions for $W$ and the $m$-clusters for $\Phi$. In this abstract, we will give an explicit description of a bijection between these two sets. The proof depends on a representation-theoretic reinterpretation of the problem, in terms of exceptional sequences of representations of quivers.
Words and polynomial invariants of finite groups in non-commutative variables
Let $V$ be a complex vector space with basis $\{x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n\}$ and $G$ be a finite subgroup of $GL(V)$. The tensor algebra $T(V)$ over the complex is isomorphic to the polynomials in the non-commutative variables $x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n$ with complex coefficients. We want to give a combinatorial interpretation for the decomposition of $T(V)$ into simple $G$-modules. In particular, we want to study the graded space of invariants in $T(V)$ with respect to the action of $G$. We give a general method for decomposing the space $T(V)$ into simple $G$-module in terms of words in a particular Cayley graph of $G$. To apply the method to a particular group, we require a surjective homomorphism from a subalgebra of the group algebra into the character algebra. In the case of the symmetric group, we give an example of this homomorphism from the descent algebra. When $G$ is the dihedral group, we have a realization of the character algebra as a subalgebra of the group algebra. In those two cases, we have an interpretation for the graded dimensions of the invariant space in term of those words.
Shortest path poset of finite Coxeter groups
We define a poset using the shortest paths in the Bruhat graph of a finite Coxeter group $W$ from the identity to the longest word in $W, w_0$. We show that this poset is the union of Boolean posets of rank absolute length of $w_0$; that is, any shortest path labeled by reflections $t_1,\ldots,t_m$ is fully commutative. This allows us to give a combinatorial interpretation to the lowest-degree terms in the complete $\textbf{cd}$-index of $W$.
Application of graph combinatorics to rational identities of type $A^\ast$
To a word $w$, we associate the rational function $\Psi_w = \prod (x_{w_i} - x_{w_{i+1}})^{-1}$. The main object, introduced by C. Greene to generalize identities linked to Murnaghan-Nakayama rule, is a sum of its images by certain permutations of the variables. The sets of permutations that we consider are the linear extensions of oriented graphs. We explain how to compute this rational function, using the combinatorics of the graph $G$. We also establish a link between an algebraic property of the rational function (the factorization of the numerator) and a combinatorial property of the graph (the existence of a disconnecting chain).
Unlabeled $(2+2)$-free posets, ascent sequences and pattern avoiding permutations
We present statistic-preserving bijections between four classes of combinatorial objects. Two of them, the class of unlabeled $(\textrm{2+2})$-free posets and a certain class of chord diagrams (or involutions), already appeared in the literature, but were apparently not known to be equinumerous. The third one is a new class of pattern avoiding permutations, and the fourth one consists of certain integer sequences called $\textit{ascent sequences}$. We also determine the generating function of these classes of objects, thus recovering a non-D-finite series obtained by Zagier for chord diagrams. Finally, we characterize the ascent sequences that correspond to permutations avoiding the barred pattern $3\bar{1}52\bar{4}$, and enumerate those permutations, thus settling a conjecture of Pudwell.
Automatic Classification of Restricted Lattice Walks
We propose an $\textit{experimental mathematics approach}$ leading to the computer-driven $\textit{discovery}$ of various conjectures about structural properties of generating functions coming from enumeration of restricted lattice walks in 2D and in 3D.
Linear time equivalence of Littlewood―Richardson coefficient symmetry maps
Benkart, Sottile, and Stroomer have completely characterized by Knuth and dual Knuth equivalence a bijective proof of the Littlewood―Richardson coefficient conjugation symmetry, i.e. $c_{\mu, \nu}^{\lambda} =c_{\mu^t,\nu^t}^{\lambda ^t}$. Tableau―switching provides an algorithm to produce such a bijective proof. Fulton has shown that the White and the Hanlon―Sundaram maps are versions of that bijection. In this paper one exhibits explicitly the Yamanouchi word produced by that conjugation symmetry map which on its turn leads to a new and very natural version of the same map already considered independently. A consequence of this latter construction is that using notions of Relative Computational Complexity we are allowed to show that this conjugation symmetry map is linear time reducible to the Schützenberger involution and reciprocally. Thus the Benkart―Sottile―Stroomer conjugation symmetry map with the two mentioned versions, the three versions of the commutative symmetry map, and Schützenberger involution, are linear time reducible to each other. This answers a question posed by Pak and Vallejo.
Enumeration of alternating sign matrices of even size (quasi)-invariant under a quarter-turn rotation
The aim of this work is to enumerate alternating sign matrices (ASM) that are quasi-invariant under a quarter-turn. The enumeration formula (conjectured by Duchon) involves, as a product of three terms, the number of unrestrited ASm's and the number of half-turn symmetric ASM's.
Universal cycles for permutation classes
We define a universal cycle for a class of $n$-permutations as a cyclic word in which each element of the class occurs exactly once as an $n$-factor. We give a general result for cyclically closed classes, and then survey the situation when the class is defined as the avoidance class of a set of permutations of length $3$, or of a set of permutations of mixed lengths $3$ and $4$.
Growth function for a class of monoids
In this article we study a class of monoids that includes Garside monoids, and give a simple combinatorial proof of a formula for the formal sum of all elements of the monoid. This leads to a formula for the growth function of the monoid in the homogeneous case, and can also be lifted to a resolution of the monoid algebra. These results are then applied to known monoids related to Coxeter systems: we give the growth function of the Artin-Tits monoids, and do the same for the dual braid monoids. In this last case we show that the monoid algebras of the dual braid monoids of type A and B are Koszul algebras.
Unital versions of the higher order peak algebras
We construct unital extensions of the higher order peak algebras defined by Krob and the third author in [Ann. Comb. 9 (2005), 411―430], and show that they can be obtained as homomorphic images of certain subalgebras of the Mantaci-Reutenauer algebras of type $B$. This generalizes a result of Bergeron, Nyman and the first author [Trans. AMS 356 (2004), 2781―2824].
Brauer-Schur functions
A new class of functions is studied. We define the Brauer-Schur functions $B^{(p)}_{\lambda}$ for a prime number $p$, and investigate their properties. We construct a basis for the space of symmetric functions, which consists of products of $p$-Brauer-Schur functions and Schur functions. We will see that the transition matrix from the natural Schur function basis has some interesting numerical properties.
The Hiring Problem and Permutations
The $\textit{hiring problem}$ has been recently introduced by Broder et al. in last year's ACM-SIAM Symp. on Discrete Algorithms (SODA 2008), as a simple model for decision making under uncertainty. Candidates are interviewed in a sequential fashion, each one endowed with a quality score, and decisions to hire or discard them must be taken on the fly. The goal is to maintain a good rate of hiring while improving the "average'' quality of the hired staff. We provide here an alternative formulation of the hiring problem in combinatorial terms. This combinatorial model allows us the systematic use of techniques from combinatorial analysis, e. g., generating functions, to study the problem. Consider a permutation $\sigma :[1,\ldots, n] \to [1,\ldots, n]$. We process this permutation in a sequential fashion, so that at step $i$, we see the score or quality of candidate $i$, which is actually her face value $\sigma (i)$. Thus $\sigma (i)$ is the rank of candidate $i$; the best candidate among the $n$ gets rank $n$, while the worst one gets rank $1$. We define $\textit{rank-based}$ strategies, those that take their decisions using only the relative rank of the current candidate compared to the score of the previous candidates. For these strategies we can prove general theorems about the number of hired candidates in a permutation of length $n$, the time of the last hiring, and the average quality of the last hired candidate, using techniques from the area of analytic combinatorics. […]
A kicking basis for the two column Garsia-Haiman modules
In the early 1990s, Garsia and Haiman conjectured that the dimension of the Garsia-Haiman module $R_{\mu}$ is $n!$, and they showed that the resolution of this conjecture implies the Macdonald Positivity Conjecture. Haiman proved these conjectures in 2001 using algebraic geometry, but the question remains to find an explicit basis for $R_{\mu}$ which would give a simple proof of the dimension. Using the theory of Orbit Harmonics developed by Garsia and Haiman, we present a "kicking basis" for $R_{\mu}$ when $\mu$ has two columns.
Riffle shuffles of a deck with repeated cards
We study the Gilbert-Shannon-Reeds model for riffle shuffles and ask 'How many times must a deck of cards be shuffled for the deck to be in close to random order?'. In 1992, Bayer and Diaconis gave a solution which gives exact and asymptotic results for all decks of practical interest, e.g. a deck of 52 cards. But what if one only cares about the colors of the cards or disregards the suits focusing solely on the ranks? More generally, how does the rate of convergence of a Markov chain change if we are interested in only certain features? Our exploration of this problem takes us through random walks on groups and their cosets, discovering along the way exact formulas leading to interesting combinatorics, an 'amazing matrix', and new analytic methods which produce a completely general asymptotic solution that is remarkable accurate.
Matroid Polytopes and Their Volumes
We express the matroid polytope $P_M$ of a matroid $M$ as a signed Minkowski sum of simplices, and obtain a formula for the volume of $P_M$. This gives a combinatorial expression for the degree of an arbitrary torus orbit closure in the Grassmannian $Gr_{k,n}$. We then derive analogous results for the independent set polytope and the associated flag matroid polytope of $M$. Our proofs are based on a natural extension of Postnikov's theory of generalized permutohedra.
Quasipolynomial formulas for the Kronecker coefficients indexed by two two―row shapes (extended abstract)
We show that the Kronecker coefficients indexed by two two―row shapes are given by quadratic quasipolynomial formulas whose domains are the maximal cells of a fan. Simple calculations provide explicitly the quasipolynomial formulas and a description of the associated fan. These new formulas are obtained from analogous formulas for the corresponding reduced Kronecker coefficients and a formula recovering the Kronecker coefficients from the reduced Kronecker coefficients. As an application, we characterize all the Kronecker coefficients indexed by two two-row shapes that are equal to zero. This allowed us to disprove a conjecture of Mulmuley about the behavior of the stretching functions attached to the Kronecker coefficients.
A preorder-free construction of the Kazhdan-Lusztig representations of $S_n$, with connections to the Clausen representations
We use the polynomial ring $\mathbb{C}[x_{1,1},\ldots,x_{n,n}]$ to modify the Kazhdan-Lusztig construction of irreducible $S_n$-modules. This modified construction produces exactly the same matrices as the original construction in [$\textit{Invent. Math}$ $\mathbf{53}$ (1979)], but does not employ the Kazhdan-Lusztig preorders. We also show that our modules are related by unitriangular transition matrices to those constructed by Clausen in [$\textit{J. Symbolic Comput.}$ $\textbf{11}$ (1991)]. This provides a $\mathbb{C}[x_{1,1},\ldots,x_{n,n}]$-analog of results of Garsia-McLarnan in [$\textit{Adv. Math.}$ $\textbf{69}$ (1988)].
Bijections between noncrossing and nonnesting partitions for classical reflection groups
We present $\textit{type preserving}$ bijections between noncrossing and nonnesting partitions for all classical reflection groups, answering a question of Athanasiadis and Reiner. The bijections for the abstract Coxeter types $B$, $C$ and $D$ are new in the literature. To find them we define, for every type, sets of statistics that are in bijection with noncrossing and nonnesting partitions, and this correspondence is established by means of elementary methods in all cases. The statistics can be then seen to be counted by the generalized Catalan numbers Cat$(W)$ when $W$ is a classical reflection group. In particular, the statistics of type $A$ appear as a new explicit example of objects that are counted by the classical Catalan numbers.
polymake and Lattice Polytopes
The $\mathtt{polymake}$ software system deals with convex polytopes and related objects from geometric combinatorics. This note reports on a new implementation of a subclass for lattice polytopes. The features displayed are enabled by recent changes to the $\mathtt{polymake}$ core, which will be discussed briefly.
Record statistics in integer compositions
A $\textit{composition}$ $\sigma =a_1 a_2 \ldots a_m$ of $n$ is an ordered collection of positive integers whose sum is $n$. An element $a_i$ in $\sigma$ is a strong (weak) $\textit{record}$ if $a_i> a_j (a_i \geq a_j)$ for all $j=1,2,\ldots,i-1$. Furthermore, the position of this record is $i$. We derive generating functions for the total number of strong (weak) records in all compositions of $n$, as well as for the sum of the positions of the records in all compositions of $n$, where the parts $a_i$ belong to a fixed subset $A$ of the natural numbers. In particular when $A=\mathbb{N}$, we find the asymptotic mean values for the number, and for the sum of positions, of records in compositions of $n$.
Geometry and complexity of O'Hara's algorithm
In this paper we analyze O'Hara's partition bijection. We present three type of results. First, we see that O'Hara's bijection can be viewed geometrically as a certain scissor congruence type result. Second, we present a number of new complexity bounds, proving that O'Hara's bijection is efficient in most cases and mildly exponential in general. Finally, we see that for identities with finite support, the map of the O'Hara's bijection can be computed in polynomial time, i.e. much more efficiently than by O'Hara's construction.
Chip-Firing And A Devil's Staircase
The devil's staircase ― a continuous function on the unit interval $[0,1]$ which is not constant, yet is locally constant on an open dense set ― is the sort of exotic creature a combinatorialist might never expect to encounter in "real life.'' We show how a devil's staircase arises from the combinatorial problem of parallel chip-firing on the complete graph. This staircase helps explain a previously observed "mode locking'' phenomenon, as well as the surprising tendency of parallel chip-firing to find periodic states of small period.
On the 2-adic order of Stirling numbers of the second kind and their differences
Let $n$ and $k$ be positive integers, $d(k)$ and $\nu_2(k)$ denote the number of ones in the binary representation of $k$ and the highest power of two dividing $k$, respectively. De Wannemacker recently proved for the Stirling numbers of the second kind that $\nu_2(S(2^n,k))=d(k)-1, 1\leq k \leq 2^n$. Here we prove that $\nu_2(S(c2^n,k))=d(k)-1, 1\leq k \leq 2^n$, for any positive integer $c$. We improve and extend this statement in some special cases. For the difference, we obtain lower bounds on $\nu_2(S(c2^{n+1}+u,k)-S(c2^n+u,k))$ for any nonnegative integer $u$, make a conjecture on the exact order and, for $u=0$, prove part of it when $k \leq 6$, or $k \geq 5$ and $d(k) \leq 2$. The proofs rely on congruential identities for power series and polynomials related to the Stirling numbers and Bell polynomials, and some divisibility properties.
Combinatorial Formulas for Macdonald and Hall-Littlewood Polynomials
A breakthrough in the theory of (type $A$) Macdonald polynomials is due to Haglund, Haiman and Loehr, who exhibited a combinatorial formula for these polynomials in terms of fillings of Young diagrams. Recently, Ram and Yip gave a formula for the Macdonald polynomials of arbitrary type in terms of the corresponding affine Weyl group. In this paper, we show that a Haglund-Haiman-Loehr type formula follows naturally from the more general Ram-Yip formula, via compression. Then we extend this approach to the Hall-Littlewood polynomials of type $C$, which are specializations of the corresponding Macdonald polynomials at $q=0$. We note that no analog of the Haglund-Haiman-Loehr formula exists beyond type $A$, so our work is a first step towards finding such a formula.
Bounds of asymptotic occurrence rates of some patterns in binary words related to integer-valued logistic maps
In this article, we investigate the asymptotic occurrence rates of specific subwords in any infinite binary word. We prove that the asymptotic occurrence rate for the subwords is upper- and lower-bounded in the same way for every infinite binary word, in terms of the asymptotic occurrence rate of the zeros. We also show that both of the bounds are best-possible by constructing, for each bound, a concrete infinite binary word such that the bound is reached. Moreover, we apply the result to analyses of recently-proposed pseudorandom number generators that are based on integer-valued variants of logistic maps.
Combinatorics of Positroids
Recently Postnikov gave a combinatorial description of the cells in a totally-nonnegative Grassmannian. These cells correspond to a special class of matroids called positroids. There are many interesting combinatorial objects associated to a positroid. We introduce some recent results, including the generalization and proof of the purity conjecture by Leclerc and Zelevinsky on weakly separated sets.
Branching rules in the ring of superclass functions of unipotent upper-triangular matrices
It is becoming increasingly clear that the supercharacter theory of the finite group of unipotent upper-triangular matrices has a rich combinatorial structure built on set-partitions that is analogous to the partition combinatorics of the classical representation theory of the symmetric group. This paper begins by exploring a connection to the ring of symmetric functions in non-commuting variables that mirrors the symmetric group's relationship with the ring of symmetric functions. It then also investigates some of the representation theoretic structure constants arising from the restriction, tensor products and superinduction of supercharacters.
Spanning forests, electrical networks, and a determinant identity
We aim to generalize a theorem on the number of rooted spanning forests of a highly symmetric graph to the case of asymmetric graphs. We show that this can be achieved by means of an identity between the minor determinants of a Laplace matrix, for which we provide two different (combinatorial as well as algebraic) proofs in the simplest case. Furthermore, we discuss the connections to electrical networks and the enumeration of spanning trees in sequences of self-similar graphs.
Type B plactic relations for $r$-domino tableaux
The recent work of Bonnafé et al. (2007) shows through two conjectures that $r$-domino tableaux have an important role in Kazhdan-Lusztig theory of type $B$ with unequal parameters. In this paper we provide plactic relations on signed permutations which determine whether given two signed permutations have the same insertion $r$-domino tableaux in Garfinkle's algorithm (1990). Moreover, we show that a particular extension of these relations can describe Garfinkle's equivalence relation on $r$-domino tableaux which is given through the notion of open cycles. With these results we enunciate the conjectures of Bonnafé et al. and provide necessary tool for their proofs.
On $k$-simplexes in $(2k-1)$-dimensional vector spaces over finite fields
We show that if the cardinality of a subset of the $(2k-1)$-dimensional vector space over a finite field with $q$ elements is $\gg q^{2k-1-\frac{1}{ 2k}}$, then it contains a positive proportional of all $k$-simplexes up to congruence.
A promotion operator on rigged configurations
In a recent paper, Schilling proposed an operator $\overline{\mathrm{pr}}$ on unrestricted rigged configurations $RC$, and conjectured it to be the promotion operator of the type $A$ crystal formed by $RC$. In this paper we announce a proof for this conjecture.
An immanant formulation of the dual canonical basis of the quantum polynomial ring
We show that dual canonical basis elements of the quantum polynomial ring in $n^2$ variables can be expressed as specializations of dual canonical basis elements of $0$-weight spaces of other quantum polynomial rings. Our results rely upon the natural appearance in the quantum polynomial ring of Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials, $R$-polynomials, and certain single and double parabolic generalizations of these.
Combinatorial Formula for the Hilbert Series of bigraded $S_n$-modules
We introduce a combinatorial way of calculating the Hilbert series of bigraded $S_n$-modules as a weighted sum over standard Young tableaux in the hook shape case. This method is based on Macdonald formula for Hall-Littlewood polynomial and extends the result of $A$. Garsia and $C$. Procesi for the Hilbert series when $q=0$. Moreover, we give the way of associating the fillings giving the monomial terms of Macdonald polynomials to the standard Young tableaux.
Permutations with Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomial $ P_id,w(q)=1+q^h$
Using resolutions of singularities introduced by Cortez and a method for calculating Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials due to Polo, we prove the conjecture of Billey and Braden characterizing permutations w with Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomial$ P_id,w(q)=1+q^h$ for some $h$.
Combinatorial formulas for ⅃-coordinates in a totally nonnegative Grassmannian, extended abstract, extended abstract
Postnikov constructed a decomposition of a totally nonnegative Grassmannian $(Gr _{kn})_≥0$ into positroid cells. We provide combinatorial formulas that allow one to decide which cell a given point in $(Gr _{kn})_≥0$ belongs to and to determine affine coordinates of the point within this cell. This simplifies Postnikov's description of the inverse boundary measurement map and generalizes formulas for the top cell given by Speyer and Williams. In addition, we identify a particular subset of Plücker coordinates as a totally positive base for the set of non-vanishing Plücker coordinates for a given positroid cell.
The poset perspective on alternating sign matrices
Alternating sign matrices (ASMs) are square matrices with entries 0, 1, or -1 whose rows and columns sum to 1 and whose nonzero entries alternate in sign. We put ASMs into a larger context by studying the order ideals of subposets of a certain poset, proving that they are in bijection with a variety of interesting combinatorial objects, including ASMs, totally symmetric self―complementary plane partitions (TSSCPPs), Catalan objects, tournaments, semistandard Young tableaux, and totally symmetric plane partitions. We use this perspective to prove an expansion of the tournament generating function as a sum over TSSCPPs which is analogous to a known formula involving ASMs.
The shifted plactic monoid (extended abstract)
We introduce a shifted analog of the plactic monoid of Lascoux and Schützenberger, the \emphshifted plactic monoid. It can be defined in two different ways: via the \emphshifted Knuth relations, or using Haiman's mixed insertion. Applications include: a new combinatorial derivation (and a new version of) the shifted Littlewood-Richardson Rule; similar results for the coefficients in the Schur expansion of a Schur P-function; a shifted counterpart of the Lascoux-Schützenberger theory of noncommutative Schur functions in plactic variables; a characterization of shifted tableau words; and more.
Noncrossing partitions and the shard intersection order
We define a new lattice structure (W,\preceq ) on the elements of a finite Coxeter group W. This lattice, called the \emphshard intersection order, is weaker than the weak order and has the noncrossing partition lattice \NC (W) as a sublattice. The new construction of \NC (W) yields a new proof that \NC (W) is a lattice. The shard intersection order is graded and its rank generating function is the W-Eulerian polynomial. Many order-theoretic properties of (W,\preceq ), like Möbius number, number of maximal chains, etc., are exactly analogous to the corresponding properties of \NC (W). There is a natural dimension-preserving bijection between simplices in the order complex of (W,\preceq ) (i.e. chains in(W,\preceq ) ) and simplices in a certain pulling triangulation of the W-permutohedron. Restricting the bijection to the order complex of \NC (W) yields a bijection to simplices in a pulling triangulation of the W-associahedron. The lattice (W,\preceq ) is defined indirectly via the polyhedral geometry of the reflecting hyperplanes of W\!. Indeed, most of the results of the paper are proven in the more general setting of simplicial hyperplane arrangements.
Blocks in Constrained Random Graphs with Fixed Average Degree
This work is devoted to the study of typical properties of random graphs from classes with structural constraints, like for example planar graphs, with the additional restriction that the average degree is fixed. More precisely, within a general analytic framework, we provide sharp concentration results for the number of blocks (maximal biconnected subgraphs) in a random graph from the class in question. Among other results, we discover that essentially such a random graph belongs with high probability to only one of two possible types: it either has blocks of at most logarithmic size, or there is a \emphgiant block that contains linearly many vertices, and all other blocks are significantly smaller. This extends and generalizes the results in the previous work [K. Panagiotou and A. Steger. Proceedings of the 20th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA '09), pp. 432-440, 2009], where similar statements were shown without the restriction on the average degree.
k-Parabolic Subspace Arrangements
In this paper, we study k-parabolic arrangements, a generalization of the k-equal arrangement for any finite real reflection group. When k=2, these arrangements correspond to the well-studied Coxeter arrangements. Brieskorn (1971) showed that the fundamental group of the complement of the type W Coxeter arrangement (over $\mathbb{C}$) is isomorphic to the pure Artin group of type W. Khovanov (1996) gave an algebraic description for the fundamental group of the complement of the 3-equal arrangement (over $\mathbb{R}$). We generalize Khovanov's result to obtain an algebraic description of the fundamental group of the complement of the 3-parabolic arrangement for arbitrary finite reflection group. Our description is a real analogue to Brieskorn's description.
The Discrete Fundamental Group of the Associahedron
The associahedron is an object that has been well studied and has numerous applications, particularly in the theory of operads, the study of non-crossing partitions, lattice theory and more recently in the study of cluster algebras. We approach the associahedron from the point of view of discrete homotopy theory, that is we consider 5-cycles in the 1-skeleton of the associahedron to be combinatorial holes, but 4-cycles to be contractible. We give a simple description of the equivalence classes of 5-cycles in the 1-skeleton and then identify a set of 5-cycles from which we may produce all other cycles. This set of 5-cycle equivalence classes turns out to be the generating set for the abelianization of the discrete fundamental group of the associahedron. In this paper we provide presentations for the discrete fundamental group and the abelianization of the discrete fundamental group. We also discuss applications to cluster algebras as well as generalizations to type B and D associahedra. \par
A Combinatorial Approach to Multiplicity-Free Richardson Subvarieties of the Grassmannian
We consider Buch's rule for K-theory of the Grassmannian, in the Schur multiplicity-free cases classified by Stembridge. Using a result of Knutson, one sees that Buch's coefficients are related to Möbius inversion. We give a direct combinatorial proof of this by considering the product expansion for Grassmannian Grothendieck polynomials. We end with an extension to the multiplicity-free cases of Thomas and Yong.
A further correspondence between $(bc,\bar{b})$-parking functions and $(bc,\bar{b})$-forests
For a fixed sequence of $n$ positive integers $(a,\bar{b}) := (a, b, b,\ldots, b)$, an $(a,\bar{b})$-parking function of length $n$ is a sequence $(p_1, p_2, \ldots, p_n)$ of positive integers whose nondecreasing rearrangement $q_1 \leq q_2 \leq \cdots \leq q_n$ satisfies $q_i \leq a+(i-1)b$ for any $i=1,\ldots, n$. A $(a,\bar{b})$-forest on $n$-set is a rooted vertex-colored forests on $n$-set whose roots are colored with the colors $0, 1, \ldots, a-1$ and the other vertices are colored with the colors $0, 1, \ldots, b-1$. In this paper, we construct a bijection between $(bc,\bar{b})$-parking functions of length $n$ and $(bc,\bar{b})$-forests on $n$-set with some interesting properties. As applications, we obtain a generalization of Gessel and Seo's result about $(c,\bar{1})$-parking functions [Ira M. Gessel and Seunghyun Seo, Electron. J. Combin. $\textbf{11}$(2)R27, 2004] and a refinement of Yan's identity [Catherine H. Yan, Adv. Appl. Math. $\textbf{27}$(2―3):641―670, 2001] between an inversion enumerator for $(bc,\bar{b})$-forests and a complement enumerator for $(bc,\bar{b})$-parking functions.
Enumeration of derangements with descents in prescribed positions
We enumerate derangements with descents in prescribed positions. A generating function was given by Guo-Niu Han and Guoce Xin in 2007. We give a combinatorial proof of this result, and derive several explicit formulas. To this end, we consider fixed point $\lambda$-coloured permutations, which are easily enumerated. Several formulae regarding these numbers are given, as well as a generalisation of Euler's difference tables. We also prove that except in a trivial special case, if a permutation $\pi$ is chosen uniformly among all permutations on $n$ elements, the events that $\pi$ has descents in a set $S$ of positions, and that $\pi$ is a derangement, are positively correlated.
Median clouds and a fast transposition median solver
The median problem seeks a permutation whose total distance to a given set of permutations (the base set) is minimal. This is an important problem in comparative genomics and has been studied for several distance measures such as reversals. The transposition distance is less relevant biologically, but it has been shown that it behaves similarly to the most important biological distances, and can thus give important information on their properties. We have derived an algorithm which solves the transposition median problem, giving all transposition medians (the median cloud). We show that our algorithm can be modified to accept median clouds as elements in the base set and briefly discuss the new concept of median iterates (medians of medians) and limit medians, that is the limit of this iterate.
New Hopf Structures on Binary Trees
The multiplihedra $\mathcal{M}_{\bullet} = (\mathcal{M}_n)_{n \geq 1}$ form a family of polytopes originating in the study of higher categories and homotopy theory. While the multiplihedra may be unfamiliar to the algebraic combinatorics community, it is nestled between two families of polytopes that certainly are not: the permutahedra $\mathfrak{S}_{\bullet}$ and associahedra $\mathcal{Y}_{\bullet}$. The maps $\mathfrak{S}_{\bullet} \twoheadrightarrow \mathcal{M}_{\bullet} \twoheadrightarrow \mathcal{Y}_{\bullet}$ reveal several new Hopf structures on tree-like objects nestled between the Hopf algebras $\mathfrak{S}Sym$ and $\mathcal{Y}Sym$. We begin their study here, showing that $\mathcal{M}Sym$ is a module over $\mathfrak{S}Sym$ and a Hopf module over $\mathcal{Y}Sym$. An elegant description of the coinvariants for $\mathcal{M}Sym$ over $\mathcal{Y}Sym$ is uncovered via a change of basis-using Möbius inversion in posets built on the $1$-skeleta of $\mathcal{M}_{\bullet}$. Our analysis uses the notion of an $\textit{interval retract}$ that should be of independent interest in poset combinatorics. It also reveals new families of polytopes, and even a new factorization of a known projection from the associahedra to hypercubes.
Perfectness of Kirillov―Reshetikhin crystals for nonexceptional types
For nonexceptional types, we prove a conjecture of Hatayama et al. about the prefectness of Kirillov―Reshetikhin crystals.
Counting Quiver Representations over Finite Fields Via Graph Enumeration
Let $\Gamma$ be a quiver on $n$ vertices $v_1, v_2, \ldots , v_n$ with $g_{ij}$ edges between $v_i$ and $v_j$, and let $\boldsymbol{\alpha} \in \mathbb{N}^n$. Hua gave a formula for $A_{\Gamma}(\boldsymbol{\alpha}, q)$, the number of isomorphism classes of absolutely indecomposable representations of $\Gamma$ over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ with dimension vector $\boldsymbol{\alpha}$. We use Hua's formula to show that the derivatives of $A_{\Gamma}(\boldsymbol{\alpha}, q)$ with respect to $q$, when evaluated at $q = 1$, are polynomials in the variables $g_{ij}$, and we can compute the highest degree terms in these polynomials. The formulas for these coefficients depend on the enumeration of certain families of connected graphs. This note simply gives an overview of these results; a complete account of this research is available on the arXiv and has been submitted for publication.
On the Monotone Column Permanent conjecture
We discuss some recent progress on the Monotone Column Permanent (MCP) conjecture. We use a general method for proving that a univariate polynomial has real roots only, namely by showing that a corresponding multivariate polynomial is stable. Recent connections between stability of polynomials and the strong Rayleigh property revealed by Brändén allows for a computationally feasible check of stability for multi-affine polynomials. Using this method we obtain a simpler proof for the $n=3$ case of the MCP conjecture, and a new proof for the $n=4$ case. We also show a multivariate version of the stability of Eulerian polynomials for $n \leq 5$ which arises as a special case of the multivariate MCP conjecture.
Refinements of the Littlewood-Richardson rule
We refine the classical Littlewood-Richardson rule in several different settings. We begin with a combinatorial rule for the product of a Demazure atom and a Schur function. Building on this, we also describe the product of a quasisymmetric Schur function and a Schur function as a positive sum of quasisymmetric Schur functions. Finally, we provide a combinatorial formula for the product of a Demazure character and a Schur function as a positive sum of Demazure characters. This last rule implies the classical Littlewood-Richardson rule for the multiplication of two Schur functions.
Permutations realized by shifts
A permutation $\pi$ is realized by the shift on $N$ symbols if there is an infinite word on an $N$-letter alphabet whose successive left shifts by one position are lexicographically in the same relative order as $\pi$. The set of realized permutations is closed under consecutive pattern containment. Permutations that cannot be realized are called forbidden patterns. It was shown in [J.M. Amigó, S. Elizalde and M. Kennel, $\textit{J. Combin. Theory Ser. A}$ 115 (2008), 485―504] that the shortest forbidden patterns of the shift on $N$ symbols have length $N+2$. In this paper we give a characterization of the set of permutations that are realized by the shift on $N$ symbols, and we enumerate them with respect to their length.
$k$-distant crossings and nestings of matchings and partitions
We define and consider $k$-distant crossings and nestings for matchings and set partitions, which are a variation of crossings and nestings in which the distance between vertices is important. By modifying an involution of Kasraoui and Zeng (Electronic J. Combinatorics 2006, research paper 33), we show that the joint distribution of $k$-distant crossings and nestings is symmetric. We also study the numbers of $k$-distant noncrossing matchings and partitions for small $k$, which are counted by well-known sequences, as well as the orthogonal polynomials related to $k$-distant noncrossing matchings and partitions. We extend Chen et al.'s $r$-crossings and enhanced $r$-crossings.
A new combinatorial identity for unicellular maps, via a direct bijective approach.
We give a bijective operation that relates unicellular maps of given genus to unicellular maps of lower genus, with distinguished vertices. This gives a new combinatorial identity relating the number $\epsilon_g(n)$ of unicellular maps of size $n$ and genus $g$ to the numbers $\epsilon _j(n)$'s, for $j \lt g$. In particular for each $g$ this enables to compute the closed-form formula for $\epsilon_g(n)$ much more easily than with other known identities, like the Harer-Zagier formula. From the combinatorial point of view, we give an explanation to the fact that $\epsilon_g(n)=R_g(n) \mathrm{Cat}(n)$, where $\mathrm{Cat}(n$) is the $n$-th Catalan number and $R_g$ is a polynomial of degree $3g$, with explicit interpretation.
Combinatorial invariant theory of projective reflection groups
We introduce the class of projective reflection groups which includes all complex reflection groups. We show that several aspects involving the combinatorics and the representation theory of complex reflection groups find a natural description in this wider setting.
A max-flow algorithm for positivity of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients
Littlewood-Richardson coefficients are the multiplicities in the tensor product decomposition of two irreducible representations of the general linear group $\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{C})$. They have a wide variety of interpretations in combinatorics, representation theory and geometry. Mulmuley and Sohoni pointed out that it is possible to decide the positivity of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients in polynomial time. This follows by combining the saturation property of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients (shown by Knutson and Tao 1999) with the well-known fact that linear optimization is solvable in polynomial time. We design an explicit $\textit{combinatorial}$ polynomial time algorithm for deciding the positivity of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. This algorithm is highly adapted to the problem and it is based on ideas from the theory of optimizing flows in networks.
Indecomposable permutations with a given number of cycles
A permutation $a_1a_2 \ldots a_n$ is $\textit{indecomposable}$ if there does not exist $p \lt n$ such that $a_1a_2 \ldots a_p$ is a permutation of $\{ 1,2, \ldots ,p\}$. We compute the asymptotic probability that a permutation of $\mathbb{S}_n$ with $m$ cycles is indecomposable as $n$ goes to infinity with $m/n$ fixed. The error term is $O(\frac{\log(n-m)}{ n-m})$. The asymptotic probability is monotone in $m/n$, and there is no threshold phenomenon: it degrades gracefully from $1$ to $0$. When $n=2m$, a slight majority ($51.1 \ldots$ percent) of the permutations are indecomposable. We also consider indecomposable fixed point free involutions which are in bijection with maps of arbitrary genus on orientable surfaces, for these involutions with $m$ left-to-right maxima we obtain a lower bound for the probability of being indecomposable.
Matrix Ansatz, lattice paths and rook placements
We give two combinatorial interpretations of the Matrix Ansatz of the PASEP in terms of lattice paths and rook placements. This gives two (mostly) combinatorial proofs of a new enumeration formula for the partition function of the PASEP. Besides other interpretations, this formula gives the generating function for permutations of a given size with respect to the number of ascents and occurrences of the pattern $13-2$, the generating function according to weak exceedances and crossings, and the $n^{\mathrm{th}}$ moment of certain $q$-Laguerre polynomials.
Characters of symmetric groups in terms of free cumulants and Frobenius coordinates
Free cumulants are nice and useful functionals of the shape of a Young diagram, in particular they give the asymptotics of normalized characters of symmetric groups $\mathfrak{S}(n)$ in the limit $n \to \infty$. We give an explicit combinatorial formula for normalized characters of the symmetric groups in terms of free cumulants. We also express characters in terms of Frobenius coordinates. Our formulas involve counting certain factorizations of a given permutation. The main tool are Stanley polynomials which give values of characters on multirectangular Young diagrams.
On wiring and tiling diagrams related to bases of tropical Plücker functions
We consider the class of bases $B$ of tropical Plücker functions on the Boolean $n$-cube such that $B$ can be obtained by a series of flips from the basis formed by the intervals of the ordered set of $n$ elements. We show that these bases are representable by special wiring diagrams and by certain arrangements generalizing rhombus tilings on a zonogon.
An Edge-Signed Generalization of Chordal Graphs, Free Multiplicities on Braid Arrangements, and Their Characterizations
In this article, we propose a generalization of the notion of chordal graphs to signed graphs, which is based on the existence of a perfect elimination ordering for a chordal graph. We give a special kind of filtrations of the generalized chordal graphs, and show a characterization of those graphs. Moreover, we also describe a relation between signed graphs and a certain class of multiarrangements of hyperplanes, and show a characterization of free multiarrangements in that class in terms of the generalized chordal graphs, which generalizes a well-known result by Stanley on free hyperplane arrangements. Finally, we give a remark on a relation of our results with a recent conjecture by Athanasiadis on freeness characterization for another class of hyperplane arrangements.
A generalization of $(q,t)$-Catalan and nabla operators
We introduce non-commutative analogs of $k$-Schur functions and prove that their images by the non-commutative nabla operator $\blacktriangledown$ is ribbon Schur positive, up to a global sign. Inspired by these results, we define new filtrations of the usual $(q,t)$-Catalan polynomials by computing the image of certain commutative $k$-Schur functions by the commutative nabla operator $\nabla$. In some particular cases, we give a combinatorial interpretation of these polynomials in terms of nested quantum Dick paths.
The cluster basis $\mathbb{Z}[x_{1,1},…,x_{3,3}]
We show that the set of cluster monomials for the cluster algebra of type $D_4$ contains a basis of the $\mathbb{Z}$-module $\mathbb{Z}[x_{1,1},\ldots ,x_{3,3}]$. We also show that the transition matrices relating this cluster basis to the natural and the dual canonical bases are unitriangular and nonnegative. These results support a conjecture of Fomin and Zelevinsky on the equality of the cluster and dual canonical bases. In the event that this conjectured equality is true, our results also imply an explicit factorization of each dual canonical basis element as a product of cluster variables.
Delannoy numbers and Legendre polytopes
We construct an $n$-dimensional polytope whose boundary complex is compressed and whose face numbers for any pulling triangulation are the coefficients of the powers of $(x-1)/2$ in the $n$-th Legendre polynomial. We show that the non-central Delannoy numbers count all faces in the lexicographic pulling triangulation that contain a point in a given open quadrant. We thus provide a geometric interpretation of a relation between the central Delannoy numbers and Legendre polynomials, observed over 50 years ago. The polytopes we construct are closely related to the root polytopes introduced by Gelfand, Graev, and Postnikov. \par
Cyclic Sieving, Promotion, and Representation Theory
We prove a collection of conjectures due to Abuzzahab-Korson-Li-Meyer, Reiner, and White regarding the cyclic sieving phenomenon as it applies to jeu-de-taquin promotion on rectangular tableaux. To do this, we use Kazhdan-Lusztig theory and a characterization of the dual canonical basis of $\mathbb{C}[x_{11}, \ldots , x_{nn}]$ due to Skandera. Afterwards, we extend our results to analyzing the fixed points of a dihedral action on rectangular tableaux generated by promotion and evacuation, suggesting a possible sieving phenomenon for dihedral groups. Finally, we give applications of this theory to cyclic sieving phenomena involving reduced words for the long elements of hyperoctohedral groups, handshake patterns, and noncrossing partitions.
Staircase Macdonald polynomials and the $q$-Discriminant
We prove that a $q$-deformation $\mathfrak{D}_k(\mathbb{X};q)$ of the powers of the discriminant is equal, up to a normalization, to a specialization of a Macdonald polynomial indexed by a staircase partition. We investigate the expansion of $\mathfrak{D}_k(\mathbb{X};q)$ on different bases of symmetric functions. In particular, we show that its expansion on the monomial basis can be explicitly described in terms of standard tableaux and we generalize a result of King-Toumazet-Wybourne about the expansion of the $q$-discriminant on the Schur basis.
The Sorting Order on a Coxeter Group
Let $(W,S)$ be an arbitrary Coxeter system. For each sequence $\omega =(\omega_1,\omega_2,\ldots) \in S^{\ast}$ in the generators we define a partial order― called the $\omega \mathsf{-sorting order}$ ―on the set of group elements $W_{\omega} \subseteq W$ that occur as finite subwords of $\omega$ . We show that the $\omega$-sorting order is a supersolvable join-distributive lattice and that it is strictly between the weak and strong Bruhat orders on the group. Moreover, the $\omega$-sorting order is a "maximal lattice'' in the sense that the addition of any collection of edges from the Bruhat order results in a nonlattice. Along the way we define a class of structures called $\mathsf{supersolvable}$ $\mathsf{antimatroids}$ and we show that these are equivalent to the class of supersolvable join-distributive lattices.
Quivers and the Euclidean algebra (Extended abstract)
We show that the category of representations of the Euclidean group $E(2)$ is equivalent to the category of representations of the preprojective algebra of the quiver of type $A_{\infty}$. Furthermore, we consider the moduli space of $E(2)$-modules along with a set of generators. We show that these moduli spaces are quiver varieties of the type considered by Nakajima. These identifications allow us to draw on known results about preprojective algebras and quiver varieties to prove various statements about representations of $E(2)$. In particular, we show that $E(2)$ has wild representation type but that if we impose certain combinatorial restrictions on the weight decompositions of a representation, we obtain only a finite number of indecomposable representations.
Perfect Matchings and Cluster Algebras of Classical Type
In this paper we give a graph theoretic combinatorial interpretation for the cluster variables that arise in most cluster algebras of finite type. In particular, we provide a family of graphs such that a weighted enumeration of their perfect matchings encodes the numerator of the associated Laurent polynomial while decompositions of the graphs correspond to the denominator. This complements recent work by Schiffler and Carroll-Price for a cluster expansion formula for the $A_n$ case while providing a novel interpretation for the $B_n$, $C_n$, and $D_n$ cases.
Quasisymmetric Schur functions
We introduce a new basis for the algebra of quasisymmetric functions that naturally partitions Schur functions, called quasisymmetric Schur functions. We describe their expansion in terms of fundamental quasisymmetric functions and determine when a quasisymmetric Schur function is equal to a fundamental quasisymmetric function. We conclude by describing a Pieri rule for quasisymmetric Schur functions that naturally generalizes the Pieri rule for Schur functions.
Invariant and coinvariant spaces for the algebra of symmetric polynomials in non-commuting variables
We analyze the structure of the algebra $\mathbb{K}\langle \mathbf{x}\rangle^{\mathfrak{S}_n}$ of symmetric polynomials in non-commuting variables in so far as it relates to $\mathbb{K}[\mathbf{x}]^{\mathfrak{S}_n}$, its commutative counterpart. Using the "place-action'' of the symmetric group, we are able to realize the latter as the invariant polynomials inside the former. We discover a tensor product decomposition of $\mathbb{K}\langle \mathbf{x}\rangle^{\mathfrak{S}_n}$ analogous to the classical theorems of Chevalley, Shephard-Todd on finite reflection groups. In the case $|\mathbf{x}|= \infty$, our techniques simplify to a form readily generalized to many other familiar pairs of combinatorial Hopf algebras.
A Combinatorial Model for $q$-Generalized Stirling and Bell Numbers
We describe a combinatorial model for the $q$-analogs of the generalized Stirling numbers in terms of bugs and colonies. Using both algebraic and combinatorial methods, we derive explicit formulas, recursions and generating functions for these $q$-analogs. We give a weight preserving bijective correspondence between our combinatorial model and rook placements on Ferrer boards. We outline a direct application of our theory to the theory of dual graded graphs developed by Fomin. Lastly we define a natural $p,q$-analog of these generalized Stirling numbers.
Double Schubert polynomials for the classical Lie groups
For each infinite series of the classical Lie groups of type $B$, $C$ or $D$, we introduce a family of polynomials parametrized by the elements of the corresponding Weyl group of infinite rank. These polynomials represent the Schubert classes in the equivariant cohomology of the corresponding flag variety. They satisfy a stability property, and are a natural extension of the (single) Schubert polynomials of Billey and Haiman, which represent non-equivariant Schubert classes. When indexed by maximal Grassmannian elements of the Weyl group, these polynomials are equal to the factorial analogues of Schur $Q$- or $P$-functions defined earlier by Ivanov.
Invariants in Non-Commutative Variables of the Symmetric and Hyperoctahedral Groups
We consider the graded Hopf algebra $NCSym$ of symmetric functions with non-commutative variables, which is analogous to the algebra $Sym$ of the ordinary symmetric functions in commutative variables. We give formulaes for the product and coproduct on some of the analogues of the $Sym$ bases and expressions for a shuffle product on $NCSym$. We also consider the invariants of the hyperoctahedral group in the non-commutative case and a state a few results.
Pattern-Avoidance in Binary Fillings of Grid Shapes (short version)
A $\textit{grid shape}$ is a set of boxes chosen from a square grid; any Young diagram is an example. This paper considers a notion of pattern-avoidance for $0-1$ fillings of grid shapes, which generalizes permutation pattern-avoidance. A filling avoids some patterns if none of its sub-shapes equal any of the patterns. We focus on patterns that are $\textit{pairs}$ of $2 \times 2$ fillings. For some shapes, fillings that avoid specific $2 \times 2$ pairs are in bijection with totally nonnegative Grassmann cells, or with acyclic orientations of bipartite graphs. We prove a number of results analogous to Wilf-equivalence for these objects ―- that is, we show that for certain classes of shapes, some pattern-avoiding fillings are equinumerous with others.
Nestings of Matchings and Permutations and North Steps in PDSAWs
We present a simple bijective proof of the fact that matchings of $[2n]$ with N nestings are equinumerous to $\textit{partially directed self avoiding walks}$ confined to the symmetric wedge defined by $y= \pm x$, with $n$ east steps and $N$ north steps. A very similar construction connects permutations with $N$ nestings and $\textit{PDSAWs}$ remaining below the $x$-axis, again with $N$ north steps. Furthermore, both bijections transport several combinatorially meaningful parameters.
Combinatorial Gelfand Models
A combinatorial construction of Gelfand models for the symmetric group, for its Iwahori-Hecke algebra and for the hyperoctahedral group is presented.
Enumeration of bilaterally symmetric 3-noncrossing partitions
Schützenberger's theorem for the ordinary RSK correspondence naturally extends to Chen et. al's correspondence for matchings and partitions. Thus the counting of bilaterally symmetric $k$-noncrossing partitions naturally arises as an analogue for involutions. In obtaining the analogous result for $3$-noncrossing partitions, we use a different technique to develop a $\mathsf{MAPLE}$ package for $2$-dimensional vacillating lattice walk enumeration problems. As an application, we find an interesting relation between two special bilaterally symmetric partitions.
Partitioned Cacti: a Bijective Approach to the Cycle Factorization Problem
In this paper we construct a bijection for partitioned 3-cacti that gives raise to a new formula for enumeration of factorizations of the long cycle into three permutations with given number of cycles.
Combinatorial properties of permutation tableaux
We give another construction of a permutation tableau from its corresponding permutation and construct a permutation-preserving bijection between $1$-hinge and $0$-hinge tableaux. We also consider certain alignment and crossing statistics on permutation tableaux that have previously been shown to be equidistributed by mapping them to patterns in related permutations. We give two direct maps on tableaux that prove the equidistribution of those statistics by exchanging some statistics and preserving the rest. Finally, we enumerate some sets of permutations that are restricted both by pattern avoidance and by certain parameters of their associated permutation tableaux.
On Plücker coordinates of a perfectly oriented planar network
Let $G$ be a perfectly oriented planar graph. Postnikov's boundary measurement construction provides a rational map from the set of positive weight functions on the edges of $G$ onto the appropriate totally nonnegative Grassmann cell. We establish an explicit combinatorial formula for Postnikov's map by expressing each Plücker coordinate of the image as a ratio of two polynomials in the edge weights, with positive integer coefficients. These polynomials are weight generating functions for certain subsets of edges in $G$.
The Rees product of the cubical lattice with the chain
We study enumerative and homological properties of the Rees product of the cubical lattice with the chain. We give several explicit formulas for the Möbius function. The last formula is expressed in terms of the permanent of a matrix and is given by a bijective proof.
Chip-Firing and Rotor-Routing on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ and on Trees
The sandpile group of a graph $G$ is an abelian group whose order is the number of spanning trees of $G$. We find the decomposition of the sandpile group into cyclic subgroups when $G$ is a regular tree with the leaves are collapsed to a single vertex. This result can be used to understand the behavior of the rotor-router model, a deterministic analogue of random walk studied first by physicists and more recently rediscovered by combinatorialists. Several years ago, Jim Propp simulated a simple process called rotor-router aggregation and found that it produces a near perfect disk in the integer lattice $\mathbb{Z}^2$. We prove that this shape is close to circular, although it remains a challenge to explain the near perfect circularity produced by simulations. In the regular tree, we use the sandpile group to prove that rotor-router aggregation started from an acyclic initial condition yields a perfect ball.
The quasiinvariants of the symmetric group
For $m$ a non-negative integer and $G$ a Coxeter group, we denote by $\mathbf{QI_m}(G)$ the ring of $m$-quasiinvariants of $G$, as defined by Chalykh, Feigin, and Veselov. These form a nested series of rings, with $\mathbf{QI_0}(G)$ the whole polynomial ring, and the limit $\mathbf{QI}_{\infty}(G)$ the usual ring of invariants. Remarkably, the ring $\mathbf{QI_m}(G)$ is freely generated over the ideal generated by the invariants of $G$ without constant term, and the quotient is isomorphic to the left regular representation of $G$. However, even in the case of the symmetric group, no basis for $\mathbf{QI_m}(G)$ is known. We provide a new description of $\mathbf{QI_m}(S_n)$, and use this to give a basis for the isotypic component of $\mathbf{QI_m}(S_n)$ indexed by the shape $[n-1,1]$.
Hecke group algebras as degenerate affine Hecke algebras
The Hecke group algebra $\operatorname{H} \mathring{W}$ of a finite Coxeter group $\mathring{W}$, as introduced by the first and last author, is obtained from $\mathring{W}$ by gluing appropriately its $0$-Hecke algebra and its group algebra. In this paper, we give an equivalent alternative construction in the case when $\mathring{W}$ is the classical Weyl group associated to an affine Weyl group $W$. Namely, we prove that, for $q$ not a root of unity, $\operatorname{H} \mathring{W}$ is the natural quotient of the affine Hecke algebra $\operatorname{H}(W)(q)$ through its level $0$ representation. The proof relies on the following core combinatorial result: at level $0$ the $0$-Hecke algebra acts transitively on $\mathring{W}$. Equivalently, in type $A$, a word written on a circle can be both sorted and antisorted by elementary bubble sort operators. We further show that the level $0$ representation is a calibrated principal series representation $M(t)$ for a suitable choice of character $t$, so that the quotient factors (non trivially) through the principal central specialization. This explains in particular the similarities between the representation theory of the classical $0$-Hecke algebra and that of the affine Hecke algebra at this specialization.
A Quantization of a theorem of Goulden and Jackson
A theorem of Goulden and Jackson which gives interesting formulae for character immanants also implies MacMahon's Master Theorem. We quantize Goulden and Jackson's theorem to give formulae for quantum character immanants in such a way as to obtain a known quantization of MacMahon's Master Theorem due to Garoufalidis-Lê-Zeilberger. In doing so, we also quantize formulae of Littlewood, Merris and Watkins concerning induced character immanants.
The complexity of computing Kronecker coefficients
Kronecker coefficients are the multiplicities in the tensor product decomposition of two irreducible representations of the symmetric group $S_n$. They can also be interpreted as the coefficients of the expansion of the internal product of two Schur polynomials in the basis of Schur polynomials. We show that the problem $\mathrm{KRONCOEFF}$ of computing Kronecker coefficients is very difficult. More specifically, we prove that $\mathrm{KRONCOEFF}$ is #$\mathrm{P}$-hard and contained in the complexity class $\mathrm{GapP}$. Formally, this means that the existence of a polynomial time algorithm for $\mathrm{KRONCOEFF}$ is equivalent to the existence of a polynomial time algorithm for evaluating permanents.
Skew domino Schensted algorithm and sign-imbalance
Using growth diagrams, we define a skew domino Schensted algorithm which is a domino analogue of the "Robinson-Schensted algorithm for skew tableaux'' due to Sagan and Stanley. The color-to-spin property of Shimozono and White is extended. As an application, we give a simple generating function for a weighted sum of skew domino tableaux whose special case is a generalization of Stanley's sign-imbalance formula. The generating function gives a method to calculate the generalized sign-imbalance formula.
Enumerating alternating tree families
We study two enumeration problems for $\textit{up-down alternating trees}$, i.e., rooted labelled trees $T$, where the labels $ v_1, v_2, v_3, \ldots$ on every path starting at the root of $T$ satisfy $v_1 < v_2 > v_3 < v_4 > \cdots$. First we consider various tree families of interest in combinatorics (such as unordered, ordered, $d$-ary and Motzkin trees) and study the number $T_n$ of different up-down alternating labelled trees of size $n$. We obtain for all tree families considered an implicit characterization of the exponential generating function $T(z)$ leading to asymptotic results of the coefficients $T_n$ for various tree families. Second we consider the particular family of up-down alternating labelled ordered trees and study the influence of such an alternating labelling to the average shape of the trees by analyzing the parameters $\textit{label of the root node}$, $\textit{degree of the root node}$ and $\textit{depth of a random node}$ in a random tree of size $n$. This leads to exact enumeration results and limiting distribution results.
Affine and toric arrangements
We extend the Billera―Ehrenborg―Readdy map between the intersection lattice and face lattice of a central hyperplane arrangement to affine and toric hyperplane arrangements. For toric arrangements, we also generalize Zaslavsky's fundamental results on the number of regions.
A combinatorial realization of Schur-Weyl duality via crystal graphs and dual equivalence graphs
For any polynomial representation of the special linear group, the nodes of the corresponding crystal may be indexed by semi-standard Young tableaux. Under certain conditions, the standard Young tableaux occur, and do so with weight $0$. Standard Young tableaux also parametrize the vertices of dual equivalence graphs. Motivated by the underlying representation theory, in this paper, we explain this connection by giving a combinatorial manifestation of Schur-Weyl duality. In particular, we put a dual equivalence graph structure on the $0$-weight space of certain crystal graphs, producing edges combinatorially from the crystal edges. The construction can be expressed in terms of the local characterizations given by Stembridge for crystal graphs and the author for dual equivalence graphs.
Families of prudent self-avoiding walks
A self-avoiding walk on the square lattice is $\textit{prudent}$, if it never takes a step towards a vertex it has already visited. Préa was the first to address the enumeration of these walks, in 1997. For 4 natural classes of prudent walks, he wrote a system of recurrence relations, involving the length of the walks and some additional "catalytic'' parameters. The generating function of the first class is easily seen to be rational. The second class was proved to have an algebraic (quadratic) generating function by Duchi (FPSAC'05). Here, we solve exactly the third class, which turns out to be much more complex: its generating function is not algebraic, nor even $D$-finite. The fourth class ―- general prudent walks ―- still defeats us. However, we design an isotropic family of prudent walks on the triangular lattice, which we count exactly. Again, the generating function is proved to be non-$D$-finite. We also study the end-to-end distance of these walks and provide random generation procedures.
New bijective links on planar maps
This article describes new bijective links on planar maps, which are of incremental complexity and present original features. The first two bijections $\Phi _{1,2}$ are correspondences on oriented planar maps. They can be considered as variations on the classical edge-poset construction for bipolar orientations on graphs, suitably adapted so as to operate only on the embeddings in a simple local way. In turn, $\Phi_{1,2}$ yield two new bijections $F_{1,2}$ between families of (rooted) maps. (i) By identifying maps with specific constrained orientations, $\Phi_2 \circ \Phi_1$ specialises to a bijection $F_1$ between 2-connected maps and irreducible triangulations; (ii) $F_1$ gives rise to a bijection $F_2$ between loopless maps and triangulations, observing that these decompose respectively into 2-connected maps and into irreducible triangulations in a parallel way.
Combinatorial interpretation and positivity of Kerov's character polynomials
Kerov's polynomials give irreducible character values of the symmetric group in term of the free cumulants of the associated Young diagram. Using a combinatorial approach with maps, we prove in this article a positivity result on their coefficients, which extends a conjecture of S. Kerov.
The Mukhin―Varchenko conjecture for type $A$
We present a generalisation of the famous Selberg integral. This confirms the $\mathfrak{g}=A_n$ case of a conjecture by Mukhin and Varchenko concerning the existence of a Selberg integral for each simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$.
Affine descents and the Steinberg torus
Let $W \ltimes L$ be an irreducible affine Weyl group with Coxeter complex $\Sigma$, where $W$ denotes the associated finite Weyl group and $L$ the translation subgroup. The Steinberg torus is the Boolean cell complex obtained by taking the quotient of $\Sigma$ by the lattice $L$. We show that the ordinary and flag $h$-polynomials of the Steinberg torus (with the empty face deleted) are generating functions over $W$ for a descent-like statistic first studied by Cellini. We also show that the ordinary $h$-polynomial has a nonnegative $\gamma$-vector, and hence, symmetric and unimodal coefficients. In the classical cases, we also provide expansions, identities, and generating functions for the $h$-polynomials of Steinberg tori.
Bijections for Permutation Tableaux
In this paper we propose a new bijection between permutation tableaux and permutations. This bijection shows how natural statistics on the tableaux are equidistributed to classical statistics on permutations: descents, RL-minima and pattern enumerations. We then use the bijection, and a related encoding of tableaux by words, to prove results about the enumeration of permutations with a fixed number of 31-2 patterns, and to define subclasses of permutation tableaux that are in bijection with set partitions. An extended version of this work is available in [6].
Total positivity for cominuscule Grassmannians
In this paper we explore the combinatorics of the non-negative part $(G/P)_{\geq 0}$ of a cominuscule Grassmannian. For each such Grassmannian we define Le-diagrams ― certain fillings of generalized Young diagrams which are in bijection with the cells of $(G/P)_{\geq 0}$. In the classical cases, we describe Le-diagrams explicitly in terms of pattern avoidance. We also define a game on diagrams, by which one can reduce an arbitrary diagram to a Le-diagram. We give enumerative results and relate our Le-diagrams to other combinatorial objects. Surprisingly, the totally non-negative cells in the open Schubert cell of the odd and even orthogonal Grassmannians are (essentially) in bijection with preference functions and atomic preference functions respectively.
Combinatorial Hopf Algebras and Towers of Algebras
Bergeron and Li have introduced a set of axioms which guarantee that the Grothendieck groups of a tower of algebras $\bigoplus_{n \geq 0}A_n$ can be endowed with the structure of graded dual Hopf algebras. Hivert and Nzeutzhap, and independently Lam and Shimozono constructed dual graded graphs from primitive elements in Hopf algebras. In this paper we apply the composition of these constructions to towers of algebras. We show that if a tower $\bigoplus_{n \geq 0}A_n$ gives rise to graded dual Hopf algebras then we must have $\dim (A_n)=r^nn!$ where $r = \dim (A_1)$.
Pattern avoidance in dynamical systems
Orbits generated by discrete-time dynamical systems have some interesting combinatorial properties. In this paper we address the existence of forbidden order patterns when the dynamics is generated by piecewise monotone maps on one-dimensional closed intervals. This means that the points belonging to a sufficiently long orbit cannot appear in any arbitrary order. The admissible patterns are then (the inverses of) those permutations avoiding the so-called forbidden root patterns in consecutive positions. The last part of the paper studies and enumerates forbidden order patterns in shift systems, which are universal models in information theory, dynamical systems and stochastic processes. In spite of their simple structure, shift systems exhibit all important features of low-dimensional chaos, allowing to export the results to other dynamical systems via order-isomorphisms. This paper summarizes some results from [1] and [11].
Nested Hilbert Schemes and the nested $q,t$-Catalan series
In this paper we study the tangent spaces of the smooth nested Hilbert scheme $\mathrm{Hilb}^{n,n-1}(\mathbb{A}^2)$ of points in the plane, and give a general formula for computing the Euler characteristic of a $\mathbb{T}^2$-equivariant locally free sheaf on $\mathrm{Hilb}^{n,n-1}(\mathbb{A}^2)$. Applying our result to a particular sheaf, we conjecture that the result is a polynomial in the variables $q$ and $t$ with non-negative integer coefficients. We call this conjecturally positive polynomial as the "nested $q,t$-Catalan series,'' for it has many conjectural properties similar to that of the $q,t$-Catalan series.
Equivalences for pattern avoiding involutions and classification
We complete the Wilf classification of signed patterns of length 5 for both signed permutations and signed involutions. New general equivalences of patterns are given which prove Jaggard's conjectures concerning involutions in the symmetric group avoiding certain patterns of length 5 and 6. In this way, we also complete the Wilf classification of $S_5$, $S_6$, and $S_7$ for both permutations and involutions.
Polyominoes determined by involutions
A permutomino of size n is a polyomino determined by particular pairs $(\pi_1, \pi_2)$ of permutations of length $n$, such that $\pi_1(i) \neq \pi_2(i)$, for $1 \leq i \leq n$. In this paper we consider the class of convex permutominoes which are symmetric with respect to the diagonal $x = y$. We determine the number of these permutominoes according to the dimension and we characterize the class of permutations associated to these objects as particular involutions of length $n$.
$q,t$-Fuß-Catalan numbers for complex reflection groups
In type $A$, the $q,t$-Fuß-Catalan numbers $\mathrm{Cat}_n^{(m)}(q,t)$ can be defined as a bigraded Hilbert series of a module associated to the symmetric group $\mathcal{S}_n$. We generalize this construction to (finite) complex reflection groups and exhibit some nice conjectured algebraic and combinatorial properties of these polynomials in $q$ and $t$. Finally, we present an idea how these polynomials could be related to some graded Hilbert series of modules arising in the context of rational Cherednik algebras. This is work in progress.
Flag enumerations of matroid base polytopes
In this paper, we study flag structures of matroid base polytopes. We describe faces of matroid base polytopes in terms of matroid data, and give conditions for hyperplane splits of matroid base polytopes. Also, we show how the $\textbf{cd}$-index of a polytope can be expressed when a polytope is cut by a hyperplane, and apply these to the $\textbf{cd}$-index of a matroid base polytope of a rank $2$ matroid.
Distances in random Apollonian network structures
In this paper, we study the distribution of distances in random Apollonian network structures (RANS), a family of graphs which has a one-to-one correspondence with planar ternary trees. Using multivariate generating functions that express all information on distances, and singularity analysis for evaluating the coefficients of these functions, we prove a Rayleigh limit distribution for distances to an outermost vertex, and show that the average value of the distance between any pair of vertices in a RANS of order $n$ is asymptotically $\sqrt{n}$.
Multi-triangulations as complexes of star polygons
A $k$-triangulation of a convex polygon is a maximal set of diagonals so that no $k+1$ of them mutually cross. $k$-triangulations have received attention in recent literature, with motivation coming from several interpretations of them. We present a new way of looking at $k$-triangulations, where certain star polygons naturally generalize triangles for $k$-triangulations. With this tool we give new, direct proofs of the fundamental properties of $k$-triangulations (number of edges, definition of flip). This interpretation also opens up new avenues of research that we briefly explore in the last section.
$n$-color overpartitions, lattice paths, and multiple basic hypergeometric series
We define two classes of multiple basic hypergeometric series $V_{k,t}(a,q)$ and $W_{k,t}(a,q)$ which generalize multiple series studied by Agarwal, Andrews, and Bressoud. We show how to interpret these series as generating functions for special restricted lattice paths and for $n$-color overpartitions with weighted difference conditions. We also point out that some specializations of our series can be written as infinite products, which leads to combinatorial identities linking $n$-color overpartitions with ordinary partitions or overpartitions.
On the link pattern distribution of quarter-turn symmetric FPL configurations
We present new conjectures on the distribution of link patterns for fully-packed loop (FPL) configurations that are invariant, or almost invariant, under a quarter turn rotation, extending previous conjectures of Razumov and Stroganov and of de Gier. We prove a special case, showing that the link pattern that is conjectured to be the rarest does have the prescribed probability. As a byproduct, we get a formula for the enumeration of a new class of quasi-symmetry of plane partitions.
Deodhar Elements in Kazhdan-Lusztig Theory
The Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials for finite Weyl groups arise in representation theory as well as the geometry of Schubert varieties. It was proved very soon after their introduction that they have nonnegative integer coefficients, but no simple all positive interpretation for them is known in general. Deodhar has given a framework, which generally involves recursion, to express the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials in a very attractive form. We use a new kind of pattern-avoidance that can be defined for general Coxeter groups to characterize when Deodhar's algorithm yields a non-recursive combinatorial formula for Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials $P_{x,w}(q)$ of finite Weyl groups. This generalizes results of Billey-Warrington which identified the $321$-hexagon-avoiding permutations, and Fan-Green which identified the fully-tight Coxeter groups. We also show that the leading coefficient known as $\mu (x,w)$ for these Kazhdan―Lusztig polynomials is always either $0$ or $1$. Finally, we generalize the simple combinatorial formula for the Kazhdan―Lusztig polynomials of the $321$-hexagon-avoiding permutations to the case when $w$ is hexagon avoiding and maximally clustered.
Graph weights arising from Mayer and Ree-Hoover theories of virial expansions
We study graph weights (i.e., graph invariants) which arise naturally in Mayer's theory and Ree-Hoover's theory of virial expansions in the context of a non-ideal gas. We give special attention to the Second Mayer weight $w_M(c)$ and the Ree-Hoover weight $w_{RH}(c)$ of a $2$-connected graph $c$ which arise from the hard-core continuum gas in one dimension. These weights are computed using signed volumes of convex polytopes naturally associated with the graph $c$. Among our results are the values of Mayer's weight and Ree-Hoover's weight for all $2$-connected graphs $b$ of size at most $8$, and explicit formulas for certain infinite families.
Enumeration of orientable coverings of a non-orientable manifold
In this paper we solve the known V.A. Liskovets problem (1996) on the enumeration of orientable coverings over a non-orientable manifold with an arbitrary finitely generated fundamental group. As an application we obtain general formulas for the number of chiral and reflexible coverings over the manifold. As a further application, we count the chiral and reflexible maps and hypermaps on a closed orientable surface by the number of edges. Also, by this method the number of self-dual and Petri-dual maps can be determined. This will be done in forthcoming papers by authors.
From Bruhat intervals to intersection lattices and a conjecture of Postnikov
We prove the conjecture of A. Postnikov that ($\mathrm{A}$) the number of regions in the inversion hyperplane arrangement associated with a permutation $w \in \mathfrak{S}_n$ is at most the number of elements below $w$ in the Bruhat order, and ($\mathrm{B}$) that equality holds if and only if $w$ avoids the patterns $4231$, $35142$, $42513$ and $351624$. Furthermore, assertion ($\mathrm{A}$) is extended to all finite reflection groups.
A bijection between shrubs and series-parallel posets
Motivated by the theory of operads, we introduce new combinatorial objects, called shrubs, that generalize forests of rooted trees. We show that the species of shrubs is isomorphic to the species of series-parallel posets.
$(\ell, 0)$-Carter Partitions and their crystal theoretic interpretation
In this paper we give an alternate combinatorial description of the "$(\ell,0)$-Carter partitions''. Our main theorem is the equivalence of our combinatoric and the one introduced by James and Mathas ($\textit{A q-analogue of the Jantzen-Schaper theorem}$). The condition of being an $(\ell,0)$-Carter partition is fundamentally related to the hook lengths of the partition. The representation-theoretic significance of their combinatoric on an $\ell$-regular partition is that it indicates the irreducibility of the corresponding Specht module over the finite Hecke algebra. We use our result to find a generating series which counts the number of such partitions, with respect to the statistic of a partition's first part. We then apply our description of these partitions to the crystal graph $B(\Lambda_0)$ of the basic representation of $\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}_{\ell}}$, whose nodes are labeled by $\ell$-regular partitions. Here we give a fairly simple crystal-theoretic rule which generates all $(\ell,0)$-Carter partitions in the graph of $B(\Lambda_0)$.
New combinatorial computational methods arising from pseudo-singletons
Since singletons are the connected sets, the species $X$ of singletons can be considered as the combinatorial logarithm of the species $E(X)$ of finite sets. In a previous work, we introduced the (rational) species $\widehat{X}$ of pseudo-singletons as the analytical logarithm of the species of finite sets. It follows that $E(X) = \exp (\widehat{X})$ in the context of rational species, where $\exp (T)$ denotes the classical analytical power series for the exponential function in the variable $T$. In the present work, we use the species $\widehat{X}$ to create new efficient recursive schemes for the computation of molecular expansions of species of rooted trees, of species of assemblies of structures, of the combinatorial logarithm species, of species of connected structures, and of species of structures with weighted connected components.
Algebraic shifting and strongly edge decomposable complexes
Let $\Gamma$ be a simplicial complex with $n$ vertices, and let $\Delta (\Gamma)$ be either its exterior algebraic shifted complex or its symmetric algebraic shifted complex. If $\Gamma$ is a simplicial sphere, then it is known that (a) $\Delta (\Gamma)$ is pure and (b) $h$-vector of $\Gamma$ is symmetric. Kalai and Sarkaria conjectured that if $\Gamma$ is a simplicial sphere then its algebraic shifting also satisfies (c) $\Delta (\Gamma) \subset \Delta (C(n,d))$, where $C(n,d)$ is the boundary complex of the cyclic $d$-polytope with $n$ vertices. We show this conjecture for strongly edge decomposable spheres introduced by Nevo. We also show that any shifted simplicial complex satisfying (a), (b) and (c) is the algebraic shifted complex of some simplicial sphere.
The continuous limit of large random planar maps
We discuss scaling limits of random planar maps chosen uniformly over the set of all $2p$-angulations with $n$ faces. This leads to a limiting space called the Brownian map, which is viewed as a random compact metric space. Although we are not able to prove the uniqueness of the distribution of the Brownian map, many of its properties can be investigated in detail. In particular, we obtain a complete description of the geodesics starting from the distinguished point called the root. We give applications to various properties of large random planar maps.
Average Redundancy for Known Sources: Ubiquitous Trees in Source Coding
Analytic information theory aims at studying problems of information theory using analytic techniques of computer science and combinatorics. Following Hadamard's precept, these problems are tackled by complex analysis methods such as generating functions, Mellin transform, Fourier series, saddle point method, analytic poissonization and depoissonization, and singularity analysis. This approach lies at the crossroad of computer science and information theory. In this survey we concentrate on one facet of information theory (i.e., source coding better known as data compression), namely the $\textit{redundancy rate}$ problem. The redundancy rate problem determines by how much the actual code length exceeds the optimal code length. We further restrict our interest to the $\textit{average}$ redundancy for $\textit{known}$ sources, that is, when statistics of information sources are known. We present precise analyses of three types of lossless data compression schemes, namely fixed-to-variable (FV) length codes, variable-to-fixed (VF) length codes, and variable-to-variable (VV) length codes. In particular, we investigate average redundancy of Huffman, Tunstall, and Khodak codes. These codes have succinct representations as $\textit{trees}$, either as coding or parsing trees, and we analyze here some of their parameters (e.g., the average path from the root to a leaf).
Point process stabilization methods and dimension estimation
We provide an overview of stabilization methods for point processes and apply these methods to deduce a central limit theorem for statistical estimators of dimension.
Error bounds in stochastic-geometric normal approximation
We provide normal approximation error bounds for sums of the form $\sum_x \xi_x$, indexed by the points $x$ of a Poisson process (not necessarily homogeneous) in the unit $d$-cube, with each term $\xi_x$ determined by the configuration of Poisson points near to $x$ in some sense. We consider geometric graphs and coverage processes as examples of our general results.
Concentration of measure and mixing for Markov chains
We consider Markovian models on graphs with local dynamics. We show that, under suitable conditions, such Markov chains exhibit both rapid convergence to equilibrium and strong concentration of measure in the stationary distribution. We illustrate our results with applications to some known chains from computer science and statistical mechanics.
The height of random binary unlabelled trees
This extended abstract is dedicated to the analysis of the height of non-plane unlabelled rooted binary trees. The height of such a tree chosen uniformly among those of size $n$ is proved to have a limiting theta distribution, both in a central and local sense. Moderate as well as large deviations estimates are also derived. The proofs rely on the analysis (in the complex plane) of generating functions associated with trees of bounded height.
The register function for lattice paths
The register function for binary trees is the minimal number of extra registers required to evaluate the tree. This concept is also known as Horton-Strahler numbers. We extend this definition to lattice paths, built from steps $\pm 1$, without positivity restriction. Exact expressions are derived for appropriate generating functions. A procedure is presented how to get asymptotics of all moments, in an almost automatic way; this is based on an earlier paper of the authors.
The Degree Distribution of Thickened Trees
We develop a combinatorial structure to serve as model of random real world networks. Starting with plane oriented recursive trees we substitute the nodes by more complex graphs. In such a way we obtain graphs having a global tree-like structure while locally looking clustered. This fits with observations obtained from real-world networks. In particular we show that the resulting graphs are scale-free, that is, the degree distribution has an asymptotic power law.
Degree distribution in random planar graphs
We prove that for each $k \geq 0$, the probability that a root vertex in a random planar graph has degree $k$ tends to a computable constant $d_k$, and moreover that $\sum_k d_k =1$. The proof uses the tools developed by Gimènez and Noy in their solution to the problem of the asymptotic enumeration of planar graphs, and is based on a detailed analysis of the generating functions involved in counting planar graphs. However, in order to keep track of the degree of the root, new technical difficulties arise. We obtain explicit, although quite involved expressions, for the coefficients in the singular expansions of interest, which allow us to use transfer theorems in order to get an explicit expression for the probability generating function $p(w)=\sum_k d_k w^k$. From the explicit expression for $p(w)$ we can compute the $d_k$ to any degree of accuracy, and derive asymptotic estimates for large values of $k$.
Constructions for Clumps Statistics.
We consider a component of the word statistics known as clump; starting from a finite set of words, clumps are maximal overlapping sets of these occurrences. This object has first been studied by Schbath with the aim of counting the number of occurrences of words in random texts. Later work with similar probabilistic approach used the Chen-Stein approximation for a compound Poisson distribution, where the number of clumps follows a law close to Poisson. Presently there is no combinatorial counterpart to this approach, and we fill the gap here. We also provide a construction for the yet unsolved problem of clumps of an arbitrary finite set of words. In contrast with the probabilistic approach which only provides asymptotic results, the combinatorial method provides exact results that are useful when considering short sequences.
Distribution of the Number of Encryptions in Revocation Schemes for Stateless Receivers
We study the number of encryptions necessary to revoke a set of users in the complete subtree scheme (CST) and the subset-difference scheme (SD). These are well-known tree based broadcast encryption schemes. Park and Blake in: Journal of Discrete Algorithms, vol. 4, 2006, pp. 215―238, give the mean number of encryptions for these schemes. We continue their analysis and show that the limiting distribution of the number of encryptions for these schemes is normal. This implies that the mean numbers of Park and Blake are good estimates for the number of necessary encryptions used by these schemes.
On square permutations
Severini and Mansour introduced $\textit{square polygons}$, as graphical representations of $\textit{square permutations}$, that is, permutations such that all entries are records (left or right, minimum or maximum), and they obtained a nice formula for their number. In this paper we give a recursive construction for this class of permutations, that allows to simplify the derivation of their formula and to enumerate the subclass of square permutations with a simple record polygon. We also show that the generating function of these permutations with respect to the number of records of each type is algebraic, answering a question of Wilf in a particular case.
Polynomial tails of additive-type recursions
Polynomial bounds and tail estimates are derived for additive random recursive sequences, which typically arise as functionals of recursive structures, of random trees, or in recursive algorithms. In particular they arise as parameters of divide and conquer type algorithms. We mainly focuss on polynomial tails that arise due to heavy tail bounds of the toll term and the starting distributions. Besides estimating the tail probability directly we use a modified version of a theorem from regular variation theory. This theorem states that upper bounds on the asymptotic tail probability can be derived from upper bounds of the Laplace―Stieltjes transforms near zero.
Small parts in the Bernoulli sieve
Sampling from a random discrete distribution induced by a 'stick-breaking' process is considered. Under a moment condition, it is shown that the asymptotics of the sequence of occupancy numbers, and of the small-parts counts (singletons, doubletons, etc) can be read off from a limiting model involving a unit Poisson point process and a self-similar renewal process on the half-line.
On the number of zero increments of random walks with a barrier
Continuing the line of research initiated in Iksanov and Möhle (2008) and Negadajlov (2008) we investigate the asymptotic (as $n \to \infty$) behaviour of $V_n$ the number of zero increments before the absorption in a random walk with the barrier $n$. In particular, when the step of the unrestricted random walk has a finite mean, we prove that the number of zero increments converges in distribution. We also establish a weak law of large numbers for $V_n$ under a regular variation assumption.
Evaluation of a Special Hankel Determinant of Binomial Coefficients
This paper makes use of the recently introduced technique of $\gamma$-operators to evaluate the Hankel determinant with binomial coefficient entries $a_k = (3 k)! / (2k)! k!$. We actually evaluate the determinant of a class of polynomials $a_k(x)$ having this binomial coefficient as constant term. The evaluation in the polynomial case is as an almost product, i.e. as a sum of a small number of products. The $\gamma$-operator technique to find the explicit form of the almost product relies on differential-convolution equations and establishes a second order differential equation for the determinant. In addition to $x=0$, product form evaluations for $x = \frac{3}{5}, \frac{3}{4}, \frac{3}{2}, 3$ are also presented. At $x=1$, we obtain another almost product evaluation for the Hankel determinant with $a_k = ( 3 k+1) ! / (2k+1)!k!$.
Random Records and Cuttings in Split Trees: Extended Abstract
We study the number of records in random split trees on $n$ randomly labelled vertices. Equivalently the number of random cuttings required to eliminate an arbitrary random split tree can be studied. After normalization the distributions are shown to be asymptotically $1$-stable. This work is a generalization of our earlier results for the random binary search tree which is one specific case of split trees. Other important examples of split trees include $m$-ary search trees, quadtrees, median of $(2k+1)$-trees, simplex trees, tries and digital search trees.
A variant of the Recoil Growth algorithm to generate multi-polymer systems
The Recoil Growth algorithm, proposed in 1999 by Consta $\textit{et al.}$, is one of the most efficient algorithm available in the literature to sample from a multi-polymer system. Such problems are closely related to the generation of self-avoiding paths. In this paper, we study a variant of the original Recoil Growth algorithm, where we constrain the generation of a new polymer to take place on a specific class of graphs. This makes it possible to make a fine trade-off between computational cost and success rate. We moreover give a simple proof for a lower bound on the irreducibility of this new algorithm, which applies to the original algorithm as well.
Analysis of an algorithm catching elephants on the Internet
The paper deals with the problem of catching the elephants in the Internet traffic. The aim is to investigate an algorithm proposed by Azzana based on a multistage Bloom filter, with a refreshment mechanism (called $\textit{shift}$ in the present paper), able to treat on-line a huge amount of flows with high traffic variations. An analysis of a simplified model estimates the number of false positives. Limit theorems for the Markov chain that describes the algorithm for large filters are rigorously obtained. The asymptotic behavior of the stochastic model is here deterministic. The limit has a nice formulation in terms of a $M/G/1/C$ queue, which is analytically tractable and which allows to tune the algorithm optimally.
Convergence to the coalescent and its relation to the time back to the most recent common ancestor
For the class of haploid exchangeable population models with non-overlapping generations and population size $N$ it is shown that, as $N$ tends to infinity, convergence of the time-scaled ancestral process to Kingman's coalescent and convergence in distribution of the scaled times back to the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) to the corresponding times back to the MRCA of the Kingman coalescent are equivalent. Extensions of this equivalence are derived for exchangeable population models being in the domain of attraction of a coalescent process with multiple collisions. The proofs are based on the property that the total rates of a coalescent with multiple collisions already determine the distribution of the coalescent. It is finally shown that similar results cannot be obtained for the full class of exchangeable coalescents allowing for simultaneous multiple collisions of ancestral lineages, essentially because the total rates do not determine the distribution of a general exchangeable coalescent.
Generating Functions of Stochastic L-Systems and Application to Models of Plant Development
If the interest of stochastic L-systems for plant growth simulation and visualization is broadly acknowledged, their full mathematical potential has not been taken advantage of. In this article, we show how to link stochastic L-systems to multitype branching processes, in order to characterize the probability distributions and moments of the numbers of organs in plant structure. Plant architectural development can be seen as the combination of two subprocesses driving the bud population dynamics, branching and differentiation. By writing the stochastic L-system associated to each subprocess, we get the generating function associated to the whole system by compounding the associated generating functions. The modelling of stochastic branching is classical, but to model differentiation, we introduce a new framework based on multivariate phase-type random vectors.
A functional limit law for the profile of plane-oriented recursive trees.
We give a functional limit law for the normalized profile of random plane-oriented recursive trees. The proof uses martingale convergence theorems in discrete and continuous-time. This complements results of Hwang (2007).
Hopcroft's automaton minimization algorithm and Sturmian words
This paper is concerned with the analysis of the worst case behavior of Hopcroft's algorithm for minimizing deterministic finite state automata. We extend a result of Castiglione, Restivo and Sciortino. They show that Hopcroft's algorithm has a worst case behavior for the automata recognizing Fibonacci words. We prove that the same holds for all standard Sturmian words having an ultimately periodic directive sequence (the directive sequence for Fibonacci words is $(1,1,\ldots)$).
Are even maps on surfaces likely to be bipartite?
It is well known that a planar map is bipartite if and only if all its faces have even degree (what we call an even map). In this paper, we show that rooted even maps of positive genus $g$ chosen uniformly at random are bipartite with probability tending to $4^{−g}$ when their size goes to infinity. Loosely speaking, we show that each of the $2g$ fundamental cycles of the surface of genus $g$ contributes a factor $\frac{1}{2}$ to this probability.We actually do more than that: we obtain the explicit asymptotic behaviour of the number of even maps and bipartite maps of given genus with any finite set of allowed face degrees. This uses a generalisation of the Bouttier-Di Francesco-Guitter bijection to the case of positive genus, a decomposition inspired by previous works of Marcus, Schaeffer and the author, and some involved manipulations of generating series counting paths. A special case of our results implies former conjectures of Gao.
Branching processes in random environment die slowly
Let $Z_n,n=0,1,\ldots,$ be a branching process evolving in the random environment generated by a sequence of iid generating functions $f_0(s),f_1(s),\ldots,$ and let $S_0=0$, $S_k=X_1+ \ldots +X_k,k \geq 1$, be the associated random walk with $X_i=\log f_{i-1}^{\prime}(1), \tau (m,n)$ be the left-most point of minimum of $\{S_k,k \geq 0 \}$ on the interval $[m,n]$, and $T=\min \{ k:Z_k=0\}$. Assuming that the associated random walk satisfies the Doney condition $P(S_n > 0) \to \rho \in (0,1), n \to \infty$, we prove (under the quenched approach) conditional limit theorems, as $n \to \infty$, for the distribution of $Z_{nt}, Z_{\tau (0,nt)}$, and $Z_{\tau (nt,n)}, t \in (0,1)$, given $T=n$. It is shown that the form of the limit distributions essentially depends on the location of $\tau (0,n)$ with respect to the point $nt$.
On subcritical multi-type branching process in random environment
We investigate a multi-type Galton-Watson process in a random environment generated by a sequence of independent identically distributed random variables. Suppose that the associated random walk constructed by the logarithms of the Perron roots of the reproduction mean matrices has negative mean and assuming some additional conditions, we find the asymptotics of the survival probability at time $n$ as $n \to \infty$.
Rate of Escape of Random Walks on Regular Languages and Free Products by Amalgamation of Finite Groups
We consider random walks on the set of all words over a finite alphabet such that in each step only the last two letters of the current word may be modified and only one letter may be adjoined or deleted. We assume that the transition probabilities depend only on the last two letters of the current word. Furthermore, we consider also the special case of random walks on free products by amalgamation of finite groups which arise in a natural way from random walks on the single factors. The aim of this paper is to compute several equivalent formulas for the rate of escape with respect to natural length functions for these random walks using different techniques.
A Note on the Transience of Critical Branching Random Walks on the Line
Gantert and Müller (2006) proved that a critical branching random walk (BRW) on the integer lattice is transient by analyzing this problem within the more general framework of branching Markov chains and making use of Lyapunov functions. The main purpose of this note is to show how the same result can be derived quite elegantly and even extended to the nonlattice case within the theory of weighted branching processes. This is done by an analysis of certain associated random weighted location measures which, upon taking expectations, provide a useful connection to the well established theory of ordinary random walks with i.i.d. increments. A brief discussion of the asymptotic behavior of the left- and rightmost particles in a critical BRW as time goes to infinity is provided in the final section by drawing on recent work by Hu and Shi (2008).
Plane recursive trees, Stirling permutations and an urn model
We exploit a bijection between plane recursive trees and Stirling permutations; this yields the equivalence of some results previously proven separately by different methods for the two types of objects as well as some new results. We also prove results on the joint distribution of the numbers of ascents, descents and plateaux in a random Stirling permutation. The proof uses an interesting generalized Pólya urn.
Analytic Combinatorics of the Mabinogion Urn
The Mabinogion urn is a simple model of the spread of influences amongst versatile populations. It corresponds to a non-standard urn with balls of two colours: each time a ball is drawn, it causes a ball of the other kind to switch its colour. The process stops once unanimity has been reached. This note provides analytic expressions describing the evolution of the Mabinogion urn, based on a time-reversal transformation applied to the classical Ehrenfest urn. Consequences include a precise asymptotic analysis of the stopping-time distribution―it is asymptotically normal in the "unfair'' case and akin to an extreme-value (double exponential) distribution in the "fair'' case―as well as a characterization of the exponentially small probability of reversing a majority.
Reduction formulae from the factorization Theorem of Littlewood-Richardson polynomials by King, Tollu and Toumazet
The factorization theorem by King, Tollu and Toumazet gives four different reduction formulae of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. One of them is the classical reduction formula of the first type while others are new. Moreover, the classical reduction formula of the second type is not a special case of KTT theorem. We give combinatorial proofs of reduction formulae in terms of tableaux or hives. The proofs for the cases $r=1, 2, n-2$ in terms of tableaux and the proof for the classical reduction formula of the second type in terms of hives are new.
A bijective proof of a factorization formula for Macdonald polynomials at roots of unity
We give a combinatorial proof of the factorization formula of modified Macdonald polynomials $\widetilde{H}_{\lambda} (X;q,t)$ when $t$ is specialized at a primitive root of unity. Our proof is restricted to the special case where $\lambda$ is a two columns partition. We mainly use the combinatorial interpretation of Haiman, Haglund and Loehr giving the expansion of $\widetilde{H}_{\lambda} (X;q,t)$ on the monomial basis.
Classification of bijections between 321- and 132-avoiding permutations
It is well-known, and was first established by Knuth in 1969, that the number of 321-avoiding permutations is equal to that of 132-avoiding permutations. In the literature one can find many subsequent bijective proofs confirming this fact. It turns out that some of the published bijections can easily be obtained from others. In this paper we describe all bijections we were able to find in the literature and we show how they are related to each other (via "trivial'' bijections). Thus, we give a comprehensive survey and a systematic analysis of these bijections. We also analyze how many permutation statistics (from a fixed, but large, set of statistics) each of the known bijections preserves, obtaining substantial extensions of known results. We also give a recursive description of the algorithmic bijection given by Richards in 1988 (combined with a bijection by Knuth from 1969). This bijection is equivalent to the celebrated bijection of Simion and Schmidt (1985), as well as to the bijection given by Krattenthaler in 2001, and it respects 11 statistics (the largest number of statistics any of the bijections respect).
Minimal Factorizations of Permutations into Star Transpositions
We give a compact expression for the number of factorizations of any permutation into a minimal number of transpositions of the form $(1 i)$. Our result generalizes earlier work of Pak ($\textit{Reduced decompositions of permutations in terms of star transpositions, generalized catalan numbers and k-ary trees}$, Discrete Math. $\textbf{204}$:329―335, 1999) in which substantial restrictions were placed on the permutation being factored.
A variation on the tableau switching and a Pak-Vallejo's conjecture
Pak and Vallejo have defined fundamental symmetry map as any Young tableau bijection for the commutativity of the Littlewood-Richardson coefficients $c_{\mu,\nu}^{\lambda}=c_{\nu, \mu}^{\lambda}$. They have considered four fundamental symmetry maps and conjectured that they are all equivalent (2004). The three first ones are based on standard operations in Young tableau theory and, in this case, the conjecture was proved by Danilov and Koshevoy (2005). The fourth fundamental symmetry, given by the author in (1999;2000) and reformulated by Pak and Vallejo, is defined by nonstandard operations in Young tableau theory and will be shown to be equivalent to the first one defined by the involution property of the Benkart-Sottile-Stroomer tableau switching. The proof of this equivalence provides, in the case the first tableau is Yamanouchi, a variation of the tableau switching algorithm which shows $\textit{switching}$ as an operation that takes two tableaux sharing a common border and moves them trough each other by decomposing the first tableau into a sequence of tableaux whose sequence of partition shapes defines a Gelfand-Tsetlin pattern. This property leads to a $\textit{jeu de taquin-chain sliding}$ on Littlewood-Richardson tableaux.
Subcritical pattern languages for and/or trees
Let $P_k(f)$ denote the density of and/or trees defining a boolean function $f$ within the set of and/or trees with fixed number of variables $k$. We prove that there exists constant $B_f$ such that $P_k(f) \sim B_f \cdot k^{-L(f)-1}$ when $k \to \infty$, where $L(f)$ denote the complexity of $f$ (i.e. the size of a minimal and/or tree defining $f$). This theorem has been conjectured by Danièle Gardy and Alan Woods together with its counterpart for distribution $\pi$ defined by some critical Galton-Watson process. Methods presented in this paper can be also applied to prove the analogous property for $\pi$.
On density of truth of the intuitionistic logic in one variable
In this paper we focus on the intuitionistic propositional logic with one propositional variable. More precisely we consider the standard fragment $\{ \to ,\vee ,\bot \}$ of this logic and compute the proportion of tautologies among all formulas. It turns out that this proportion is different from the analog one in the classical logic case.
On the density and the structure of the Peirce-like formulae
Within the language of propositional formulae built on implication and a finite number of variables $k$, we analyze the set of formulae which are classical tautologies but not intuitionistic (we call such formulae - Peirce's formulae). We construct the large family of so called simple Peirce's formulae, whose sequence of densities for different $k$ is asymptotically equivalent to the sequence $\frac{1}{ 2 k^2}$. We prove that the densities of the sets of remaining Peirce's formulae are asymptotically bounded from above by $\frac{c}{ k^3}$ for some constant $c \in \mathbb{R}$. The result justifies the statement that in the considered language almost all Peirce's formulae are simple. The result gives a partial answer to the question stated in the recent paper by H. Fournier, D. Gardy, A. Genitrini and M. Zaionc - although we have not proved the existence of the densities for Peirce's formulae, our result gives lower and upper bound for it (if it exists) and both bounds are asymptotically equivalent to $\frac{1}{ 2 k^2}$.
Boltzmann Oracle for Combinatorial Systems
Boltzmann random generation applies to well-defined systems of recursive combinatorial equations. It relies on oracles giving values of the enumeration generating series inside their disk of convergence. We show that the combinatorial systems translate into numerical iteration schemes that provide such oracles. In particular, we give a fast oracle based on Newton iteration.
A note on the fragmentation of a stable tree
We introduce a recursive algorithm generating random trees, which we identify as skeletons of a continuous, stable tree. We deduce a representation of a fragmentation process on these trees.
A Markov Chain Algorithm for determining Crossing Times through nested Graphs
According to the by now established theory developed in order to define a Laplacian or ― equivalently ― a Brownian motion on a nested fractal, one has to solve certain renormalization problems. In this paper, we present a Markov chain algorithm solving the problem for certain classes of simple fractals $K$ provided that there exists a unique Brownian motion and hence, a unique Laplacian on $K$.
The size of random fragmentation intervals
Two processes of random fragmentation of an interval are investigated. For each of them, there is a splitting probability at each step of the fragmentation process whose overall effect is to stabilize the global number of splitting events. More precisely, we consider two models. In the first model, the fragmentation stops which a probability $p$ witch can not depend on the fragment size. The number of stable fragments with sizes less than a given $t \geq 0$, denoted by $K(t)$, is introduced and studied. In the second one the probability to split a fragment of size $x$ is $p(x)=1-e^{-x}$. For this model we utilize the contraction method to show that the distribution of a suitably normalized version of the number of stable fragments converges in law. It's shown that the limit is the fixed-point solution (in the Wasserstein space) to a distributional equation. An explicit solution to the fixed-point equation is easily verified to be Gaussian.
Volume Laws for Boxed Plane Partitions and Area Laws for Ferrers Diagrams
We asymptotically analyse the volume random variables of general, symmetric and cyclically symmetric plane partitions fitting inside a box. We consider the respective symmetry class equipped with the uniform distribution. We also prove area limit laws for two ensembles of Ferrers diagrams. Most limit laws are Gaussian.
Expected values of statistics on permutation tableaux
Permutation tableaux are new objects that were introduced by Postnikov in the context of enumeration of the totally positive Grassmannian cells. They are known to be in bijection with permutations and recently, they have been connected to PASEP model used in statistical physics. Properties of permutation tableaux became a focus of a considerable research activity. In this paper we study properties of basic statistics defined on permutation tableaux. We present a simple and unified approach based on probabilistic techniques and use it to compute the expected values of basic statistics defined on permutation tableaux. We also provide a non―bijective and very simple proof that there are n! permutation tableaux of length n.
Limit laws for a class of diminishing urn models.
In this work we analyze a class of diminishing 2×2 Pólya-Eggenberger urn models with ball replacement matrix M given by $M= \binom{ -a \,0}{c -d}, a,d∈\mathbb{N}$ and $c∈\mathbb{N} _0$. We obtain limit laws for this class of 2×2 urns by giving estimates for the moments of the considered random variables. As a special instance we obtain limit laws for the pills problem, proposed by Knuth and McCarthy, which corresponds to the special case $a=c=d=1$. Furthermore, we also obtain limit laws for the well known sampling without replacement urn, $a=d=1$ and $c=0$, and corresponding generalizations, $a,d∈\mathbb{N}$ and $c=0$.
Minimal and maximal plateau lengths in Motzkin paths
The minimal length of a plateau (a sequence of horizontal steps, preceded by an up- and followed by a down-step) in a Motzkin path is known to be of interest in the study of secondary structures which in turn appear in mathematical biology. We will treat this and the related parameters maximal plateau length, horizontal segment and maximal horizontal segment as well as some similar parameters in unary-binary trees by a pure generating functions approach―-Motzkin paths are derived from Dyck paths by a substitution process. Furthermore, we provide a pretty general analytic method to obtain means and limiting distributions for these parameters. It turns out that the maximal plateau and the maximal horizontal segment follow a Gumbel distribution.
Degree distribution of random Apollonian network structures and Boltzmann sampling
Random Apollonian networks have been recently introduced for representing real graphs. In this paper we study a modified version: random Apollonian network structures (RANS), which preserve the interesting properties of real graphs and can be handled with powerful tools of random generation. We exhibit a bijection between RANS and ternary trees, that transforms the degree of nodes in a RANS into the size of particular subtrees. The distribution of degrees in RANS can thus be analysed within a bivariate Boltzmann model for the generation of random trees, and we show that it has a Catalan form which reduces to a power law with an exponential cutoff: $α ^k k^{-3/2}$, with $α = 8/9$. We also show analogous distributions for the degree in RANS of higher dimension, related to trees of higher arity.
One-sided Variations on Tries: Path Imbalance, Climbing, and Key Sampling
One-sided variations on path length in a trie (a sort of digital trees) are investigated: They include imbalance factors, climbing under different strategies, and key sampling. For the imbalance factor accurate asymptotics for the mean are derived for a randomly chosen key in the trie via poissonization and the Mellin transform, and the inverse of the two operations. It is also shown from an analysis of the moving poles of the Mellin transform of the poissonized moment generating function that the imbalance factor (under appropriate centering and scaling) follows a Gaussian limit law. The method extends to several variations of sampling keys from a trie and we sketch results of climbing under different strategies. The exact probability distribution is computed in one case, to demonstrate that such calculations can be done, at least in principle.
The average position of the first maximum in a sample of geometric random variables
We consider samples of n geometric random variables $(Γ _1, Γ _2, \dots Γ _n)$ where $\mathbb{P}\{Γ _j=i\}=pq^{i-1}$, for $1≤j ≤n$, with $p+q=1$. The parameter we study is the position of the first occurrence of the maximum value in a such a sample. We derive a probability generating function for this position with which we compute the first two (factorial) moments. The asymptotic technique known as Rice's method then yields the main terms as well as the Fourier expansions of the fluctuating functions arising in the expected value and the variance.
Tail Bounds for the Wiener Index of Random Trees
Upper and lower bounds for the tail probabilities of the Wiener index of random binary search trees are given. For upper bounds the moment generating function of the vector of Wiener index and internal path length is estimated. For the lower bounds a tree class with sufficiently large probability and atypically large Wiener index is constructed. The methods are also applicable to related random search trees.
On the Exit Time of a Random Walk with Positive Drift
We study a random walk with positive drift in the first quadrant of the plane. For a given connected region $\mathcal{C}$ of the first quadrant, we analyze the number of paths contained in $\mathcal{C}$ and the first exit time from $\mathcal{C}$. In our case, region $\mathcal{C}$ is bounded by two crossing lines. It is noted that such a walk is equivalent to a path in a tree from the root to a leaf not exceeding a given height. If this tree is the parsing tree of the Tunstall or Khodak variable-to-fixed code, then the exit time of the underlying random walk corresponds to the phrase length not exceeding a given length. We derive precise asymptotics of the number of paths and the asymptotic distribution of the exit time. Even for such a simple walk, the analysis turns out to be quite sophisticated and it involves Mellin transforms, Tauberian theorems, and infinite number of saddle points.
The Size of the rth Smallest Component in Decomposable Structures with a Restricted Pattern
In our previous work [paper1], we derived an asymptotic expression for the probability that a random decomposable combinatorial structure of size n in the \exp -\log class has a given restricted pattern. In this paper, under similar conditions, we provide the probability that a random decomposable combinatorial structure has a given restricted pattern and the size of its rth smallest component is bigger than k, for r,k given integers. Our studies apply to labeled and unlabeled structures. We also give several concrete examples.
Asynchronous Cellular Automata and Brownian Motion
This paper deals with some very simple interacting particle systems, \emphelementary cellular automata, in the fully asynchronous dynamics: at each time step, a cell is randomly picked, and updated. When the initial configuration is simple, we describe the asymptotic behavior of the random walks performed by the borders of the black/white regions. Following a classification introduced by Fatès \emphet al., we show that four kinds of asymptotic behavior arise, two of them being related to Brownian motion.
Distributional asymptotics in the analysis of algorithms: Periodicities and discretization
It is well known that many distributions that arise in the analysis of algorithms have an asymptotically fluctuating behaviour in the sense that we do not have 'full' convergence, but only convergence along suitable subsequences as the size of the input to the algorithm tends to infinity. We are interested in constructions that display such behaviour via an ordinarily convergent background process in the sense that the periodicities arise from this process by deterministic transformations, typically involving discretization as a decisive step. This leads to structural representations of the resulting family of limit distributions along subsequences, which in turn may give access to their properties, such as the tail behaviour (unsuccessful search in digital search trees) or the dependence on parameters of the algorithm (success probability in a selection algorithm).
Uniqueness of polynomial canonical representations
Let $P(z)$ and $Q(y)$ be polynomials of the same degree $k \geq 1$ in the complex variables $z$ and $y$, respectively. In this extended abstract we study the non-linear functional equation $P(z)=Q(y(z))$, where $y(z)$ is restricted to be analytic in a neighborhood of $z=0$. We provide sufficient conditions to ensure that all the roots of $Q(y)$ are contained within the range of $y(z)$ as well as to have $y(z)=z$ as the unique analytic solution of the non-linear equation. Our results are motivated from uniqueness considerations of polynomial canonical representations of the phase or amplitude terms of oscillatory integrals encountered in the asymptotic analysis of the coefficients of mixed powers and multivariable generating functions via saddle-point methods. Uniqueness shall prove important for developing algorithms to determine the Taylor coefficients of the terms appearing in these representations. The uniqueness of Levinson's polynomial canonical representations of analytic functions in several variables follows as a corollary of our one-complex variables results.
Online Bandwidth packing with symmetric distribution
We consider the following stochastic bin packing process: the items arrive continuously over time to a server and are packed into bins of unit size according to an online algorithm. The unpacked items form a queue. The items have random sizes with symmetric distribution. Our first contribution identifies some monotonicity properties of the queueing system that allow to derive bounds on the queue size for First Fit and Best Fit algorithms. As a direct application, we show how to compute the stability region under very general conditions on the input process. Our second contribution is a study of the queueing system under heavy load. We show how the monotonicity properties allow one to derive bounds for the speed at which the stationary queue length tends to infinity when the load approaches one. In the case of Best Fit, these bounds are tight. Our analysis shows connections between our dynamic model, average-case results on the classical bin packing problem and planar matching problems.
A new method for computing asymptotics of diagonal coefficients of multivariate generating functions
Let $\sum_{\mathbf{n} \in \mathbb{N}^d} F_{\mathbf{n}} \mathbf{x}^{\mathbf{n}}$ be a multivariate generating function that converges in a neighborhood of the origin of $\mathbb{C}^d$. We present a new, multivariate method for computing the asymptotics of the diagonal coefficients $F_{a_1n,\ldots,a_dn}$ and show its superiority over the standard, univariate diagonal method. Several examples are given in detail.
The height of watermelons with wall - Extended Abstract
We derive asymptotics for the moments of the height distribution of watermelons with $p$ branches with wall. This generalises a famous result by de Bruijn, Knuth and Rice on the average height of planted plane trees, and a result by Fulmek on the average height of watermelons with two branches.
Quantum random walks in one dimension via generating functions
We analyze nearest neighbor one-dimensional quantum random walks with arbitrary unitary coin-flip matrices. Using a multivariate generating function analysis we give a simplified proof of a known phenomenon, namely that the walk has linear speed rather than the diffusive behavior observed in classical random walks. We also obtain exact formulae for the leading asymptotic term of the wave function and the location probabilities.
Random permutations and their discrepancy process
Let $\sigma$ be a random permutation chosen uniformly over the symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_n$. We study a new "process-valued" statistic of $\sigma$, which appears in the domain of computational biology to construct tests of similarity between ordered lists of genes. More precisely, we consider the following "partial sums": $Y^{(n)}_{p,q} = \mathrm{card} \{1 \leq i \leq p : \sigma_i \leq q \}$ for $0 \leq p,q \leq n$. We show that a suitable normalization of $Y^{(n)}$ converges weakly to a bivariate tied down brownian bridge on $[0,1]^2$, i.e. a continuous centered gaussian process $X^{\infty}_{s,t}$ of covariance: $\mathbb{E}[X^{\infty}_{s,t}X^{\infty}_{s',t'}] = (min(s,s')-ss')(min(t,t')-tt')$.
Analysis of the total costs for variants of the Union-Find algorithm
We study the average behavior of variants of the UNION-FIND algorithm to maintain partitions of a finite set under the random spanning tree model. By applying the method of moments we can characterize the limiting distribution of the total costs of the algorithms "Quick Find Weighted'' and "Quick Find Biased'' extending the analysis of Knuth and Schönhage, Yao, and Chassaing and Marchand.
The Height of List-tries and TST
We characterize the asymptotics of heights of the trees of de la Briandais and the ternary search trees (TST) of Bentley and Sedgewick. Our proof is based on a new analysis of the structure of tries that distinguishes the bulk of the tree, called the $\textit{core}$, and the long trees hanging down the core, called the $\textit{spaghettis}$.
Combinatorial Dominance Guarantees for Heuristic Algorithms
An $f(n)$ $\textit{dominance bound}$ on a heuristic for some problem is a guarantee that the heuristic always returns a solution not worse than at least $f(n)$ solutions. In this paper, we analyze several heuristics for $\textit{Vertex Cover}$, $\textit{Set Cover}$, and $\textit{Knapsack}$ for dominance bounds. In particular, we show that the well-known $\textit{maximal matching}$ heuristic of $\textit{Vertex Cover}$ provides an excellent dominance bound. We introduce new general analysis techniques which apply to a wide range of problems and heuristics for this measure. Certain general results relating approximation ratio and combinatorial dominance guarantees for optimization problems over subsets are established. We prove certain limitations on the combinatorial dominance guarantees of polynomial-time approximation schemes (PTAS), and give inapproximability results for the problems above.
Why almost all satisfiable $k$-CNF formulas are easy
Finding a satisfying assignment for a $k$-CNF formula $(k \geq 3)$, assuming such exists, is a notoriously hard problem. In this work we consider the uniform distribution over satisfiable $k$-CNF formulas with a linear number of clauses (clause-variable ratio greater than some constant). We rigorously analyze the structure of the space of satisfying assignments of a random formula in that distribution, showing that basically all satisfying assignments are clustered in one cluster, and agree on all but a small, though linear, number of variables. This observation enables us to describe a polynomial time algorithm that finds $\textit{whp}$ a satisfying assignment for such formulas, thus asserting that most satisfiable $k$-CNF formulas are easy (whenever the clause-variable ratio is greater than some constant). This should be contrasted with the setting of very sparse $k$-CNF formulas (which are satisfiable $\textit{whp}$), where experimental results show some regime of clause density to be difficult for many SAT heuristics. One explanation for this phenomena, backed up by partially non-rigorous analytical tools from statistical physics, is the complicated clustering of the solution space at that regime, unlike the more "regular" structure that denser formulas possess. Thus in some sense, our result rigorously supports this explanation.
Expected number of locally maximal solutions for random Boolean CSPs
For a large number of random Boolean constraint satisfaction problems, such as random $k$-SAT, we study how the number of locally maximal solutions evolves when constraints are added. We give the exponential order of the expected number of these distinguished solutions and prove it depends on the sensitivity of the allowed constraint functions only. As a by-product we provide a general tool for computing an upper bound of the satisfiability threshold for any problem of a large class of random Boolean CSPs.
Randomized Optimization: a Probabilistic Analysis
In 1999, Chan proposed an algorithm to solve a given optimization problem: express the solution as the minimum of the solutions of several subproblems and apply the classical randomized algorithm for finding the minimum of $r$ numbers. If the decision versions of the subproblems are easier to solve than the subproblems themselves, then a faster algorithm for the optimization problem may be obtained with randomization. In this paper we present a precise probabilistic analysis of Chan's technique.
Optimal Prefix and Suffix Queries on Texts
In this paper, we study a restricted version of the position restricted pattern matching problem introduced and studied by Mäkinen and Navarro [Position-Restricted Substring Searching, LATIN 2006]. In the problem handled in this paper, we are interested in those occurrences of the pattern that lies in a suffix or in a prefix of the given text. We achieve optimal query time for our problem against a data structure which is an extension of the classic suffix tree data structure. The time and space complexity of the data structure is dominated by that of the suffix tree. Notably, the (best) algorithm by Mäkinen and Navarro, if applied to our problem, gives sub-optimal query time and the corresponding data structure also requires more time and space.
On the Ehrenfeucht-Mycielski Balance Conjecture
In 1992, A. Ehrenfeucht and J. Mycielski defined a seemingly pseudorandom binary sequence which has since been termed the EM-sequence. The balance conjecture for the EM-sequence, still open, is the conjecture that the sequence of EM-sequence initial segment averages converges to $1/2$. In this paper, we do not prove the balance conjecture but we do make some progress concerning it, namely, we prove that every limit point of the aforementioned sequence of averages lies in the interval $[1/4,3/4]$, improving the best previous result that every such limit point belongs to the interval $[0.11,0.89]$. Our approach is novel and exploits an analysis of the growth behavior as $n \to \infty$ of the rooted tree formed by the binary strings appearing at least twice as substrings of the length $n$ initial segment of the EM-sequence.
Counting occurrences for a finite set of words: an inclusion-exclusion approach
In this paper, we give the multivariate generating function counting texts according to their length and to the number of occurrences of words from a finite set. The application of the inclusion-exclusion principle to word counting due to Goulden and Jackson (1979, 1983) is used to derive the result. Unlike some other techniques which suppose that the set of words is reduced (i..e., where no two words are factor of one another), the finite set can be chosen arbitrarily. Noonan and Zeilberger (1999) already provided a MAPLE package treating the non-reduced case, without giving an expression of the generating function or a detailed proof. We give a complete proof validating the use of the inclusion-exclusion principle and compare the complexity of the method proposed here with the one using automata for solving the problem.
A Note on the Approximation of Perpetuities
We propose and analyze an algorithm to approximate distribution functions and densities of perpetuities. Our algorithm refines an earlier approach based on iterating discretized versions of the fixed point equation that defines the perpetuity. We significantly reduce the complexity of the earlier algorithm. Also one particular perpetuity arising in the analysis of the selection algorithm Quickselect is studied in more detail. Our approach works well for distribution functions. For densities we have weaker error bounds although computer experiments indicate that densities can also be well approximated.
HyperLogLog: the analysis of a near-optimal cardinality estimation algorithm
This extended abstract describes and analyses a near-optimal probabilistic algorithm, HYPERLOGLOG, dedicated to estimating the number of \emphdistinct elements (the cardinality) of very large data ensembles. Using an auxiliary memory of m units (typically, "short bytes''), HYPERLOGLOG performs a single pass over the data and produces an estimate of the cardinality such that the relative accuracy (the standard error) is typically about $1.04/\sqrt{m}$. This improves on the best previously known cardinality estimator, LOGLOG, whose accuracy can be matched by consuming only 64% of the original memory. For instance, the new algorithm makes it possible to estimate cardinalities well beyond $10^9$ with a typical accuracy of 2% while using a memory of only 1.5 kilobytes. The algorithm parallelizes optimally and adapts to the sliding window model.
On Correlation Polynomials and Subword Complexity
We consider words with letters from a $q-ary$ alphabet $\mathcal{A}$. The kth subword complexity of a word $w ∈\mathcal{A}^*$ is the number of distinct subwords of length $k$ that appear as contiguous subwords of $w$. We analyze subword complexity from both combinatorial and probabilistic viewpoints. Our first main result is a precise analysis of the expected $kth$ subword complexity of a randomly-chosen word $w ∈\mathcal{A}^n$. Our other main result describes, for $w ∈\mathcal{A}^*$, the degree to which one understands the set of all subwords of $w$, provided that one knows only the set of all subwords of some particular length $k$. Our methods rely upon a precise characterization of overlaps between words of length $k$. We use three kinds of correlation polynomials of words of length $k$: unweighted correlation polynomials; correlation polynomials associated to a Bernoulli source; and generalized multivariate correlation polynomials. We survey previously-known results about such polynomials, and we also present some new results concerning correlation polynomials.
Message passing for the coloring problem: Gallager meets Alon and Kahale
Message passing algorithms are popular in many combinatorial optimization problems. For example, experimental results show that \emphsurvey propagation (a certain message passing algorithm) is effective in finding proper k-colorings of random graphs in the near-threshold regime. In 1962 Gallager introduced the concept of Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes, and suggested a simple decoding algorithm based on message passing. In 1994 Alon and Kahale exhibited a coloring algorithm and proved its usefulness for finding a k-coloring of graphs drawn from a certain planted-solution distribution over k-colorable graphs. In this work we show an interpretation of Alon and Kahale's coloring algorithm in light of Gallager's decoding algorithm, thus showing a connection between the two problems - coloring and decoding. This also provides a rigorous evidence for the usefulness of the message passing paradigm for the graph coloring problem.
On expected number of maximal points in polytopes
We answer an old question: what are possible growth rates of the expected number of vector-maximal points in a uniform sample from a polytope.
Sorting using complete subintervals and the maximum number of runs in a randomly evolving sequence: Extended abstract.
We study the space requirements of a sorting algorithm where only items that at the end will be adjacent are kept together. This is equivalent to the following combinatorial problem: Consider a string of fixed length n that starts as a string of 0's, and then evolves by changing each 0 to 1, with the n changes done in random order. What is the maximal number of runs of 1's? We give asymptotic results for the distribution and mean. It turns out that, as in many problems involving a maximum, the maximum is asymptotically normal, with fluctuations of order $n^{1/2}$, and to the first order well approximated by the number of runs at the instance when the expectation is maximized, in this case when half the elements have changed to 1; there is also a second order term of order $n^{1/3}$. We also treat some variations, including priority queues and sock-sorting.
Lattice reduction in two dimensions: analyses under realistic probabilistic models
The Gaussian algorithm for lattice reduction in dimension 2 is precisely analysed under a class of realistic probabilistic models, which are of interest when applying the Gauss algorithm "inside'' the LLL algorithm. The proofs deal with the underlying dynamical systems and transfer operators. All the main parameters are studied: execution parameters which describe the behaviour of the algorithm itself as well as output parameters, which describe the geometry of reduced bases.
Hamming distance from irreducible polynomials over $\mathbb {F}_2$
We study the Hamming distance from polynomials to classes of polynomials that share certain properties of irreducible polynomials. The results give insight into whether or not irreducible polynomials can be effectively modeled by these more general classes of polynomials. For example, we prove that the number of degree $n$ polynomials of Hamming distance one from a randomly chosen set of $\lfloor 2^n/n \rfloor$ odd density polynomials, each of degree $n$ and each with non-zero constant term, is asymptotically $(1-e^{-4}) 2^{n-2}$, and this appears to be inconsistent with the numbers for irreducible polynomials. We also conjecture that there is a constant $c$ such that every polynomial has Hamming distance at most $c$ from an irreducible polynomial. Using exhaustive lists of irreducible polynomials over $\mathbb{F}_2$ for degrees $1 ≤ n ≤ 32$, we count the number of polynomials with a given Hamming distance to some irreducible polynomial of the same degree. Our work is based on this "empirical" study.
Coherent random permutations with record statistics
A two-parameter family of random permutations of $[n]$ is introduced, with distribution conditionally uniform given the counts of upper and lower records. The family interpolates between two versions of Ewens' distribution. A distinguished role of the family is determined by the fact that every sequence of coherent permutations $(π _n,n=1,2,\ldots)$ with the indicated kind of sufficiency is obtainable by randomisation of the parameters. Generating algorithms and asymptotic properties of the permutations follow from the representation via initial ranks.
Properties of Random Graphs via Boltzmann Samplers
This work is devoted to the understanding of properties of random graphs from graph classes with structural constraints. We propose a method that is based on the analysis of the behaviour of Boltzmann sampler algorithms, and may be used to obtain precise estimates for the maximum degree and maximum size of a biconnected block of a "typical'' member of the class in question. We illustrate how our method works on several graph classes, namely dissections and triangulations of convex polygons, embedded trees, and block and cactus graphs.
Analysis of a new skip list variant
For a skip list variant, introduced by Cho and Sahni, we analyse what is the analogue of horizontal plus vertical search cost in the original skip list model. While the average in Pugh's original version behaves like $Q \log_Q n$, with $Q = \frac{1}{q}$ a parameter, it is here given by $(Q+1) \log_Q n$.
Survival probability of a critical multi-type branching process in random environment
We study a multi-type branching process in i.i.d. random environment. Assuming that the associated random walk satisfies the Doney-Spitzer condition, we find the asymptotics of the survival probability at time $n$ as $n \to \infty$.
Polyominoes determined by permutations
In this paper we consider the class of $\textit{permutominoes}$, i.e. a special class of polyominoes which are determined by a pair of permutations having the same size. We give a characterization of the permutations associated with convex permutominoes, and then we enumerate various classes of convex permutominoes, including parallelogram, directed-convex, and stack ones.
Constrained exchangeable partitions
For a class of random partitions of an infinite set a de Finetti-type representation is derived, and in one special case a central limit theorem for the number of blocks is shown.
$S$-constrained random matrices
Let $S$ be a set of $d$-dimensional row vectors with entries in a $q$-ary alphabet. A matrix $M$ with entries in the same $q$-ary alphabet is $S$-constrained if every set of $d$ columns of $M$ contains as a submatrix a copy of the vectors in $S$, up to permutation. For a given set $S$ of $d$-dimensional vectors, we compute the asymptotic probability for a random matrix $M$ to be $S$-constrained, as the numbers of rows and columns both tend to infinity. If $n$ is the number of columns and $m=m_n$ the number of rows, then the threshold is at $m_n= \alpha_d \log (n)$, where $\alpha_d$ only depends on the dimension $d$ of vectors and not on the particular set $S$. Applications to superimposed codes, shattering classes of functions, and Sidon families of sets are proposed. For $d=2$, an explicit construction of a $S$-constrained matrix is given.
Analytic Combinatorics of Lattice Paths: Enumeration and Asymptotics for the Area
This paper tackles the enumeration and asymptotics of the area below directed lattice paths (walks on $\mathbb{N}$ with a finite set of jumps). It is a nice surprise (obtained via the "kernel method'') that the generating functions of the moments of the area are algebraic functions, expressible as symmetric functions in terms of the roots of the kernel. For a large class of walks, we give full asymptotics for the average area of excursions ("discrete'' reflected Brownian bridge) and meanders ("discrete'' reflected Brownian motion). We show that drift is not playing any role in the first case. We also generalise previous works related to the number of points below a path and to the area between a path and a line of rational slope.
Label-based parameters in increasing trees
Grown simple families of increasing trees are a subclass of increasing trees, which can be constructed by an insertion process. Three such tree families contained in the grown simple families of increasing trees are of particular interest: $\textit{recursive trees}$, $\textit{plane-oriented recursive trees}$ and $\textit{binary increasing trees}$. Here we present a general approach for the analysis of a number of label-based parameters in a random grown simple increasing tree of size $n$ as, e.g., $\textit{the degree of the node labeled j}$, $\textit{the subtree-size of the node labeled j}$, etc. Further we apply the approach to the random variable $X_{n,j,a}$, which counts the number of size-$a$ branches attached to the node labeled $j$ (= subtrees of size $a$ rooted at the children of the node labeled $j$) in a random grown simple increasing tree of size $n$. We can give closed formulæ for the probability distribution and the factorial moments. Furthermore limiting distribution results for $X_{n,j,a}$ are given dependent on the growth behavior of $j=j(n)$ compared to $n$.
Conditioned Galton-Watson trees do not grow
An example is given which shows that, in general, conditioned Galton-Watson trees cannot be obtained by adding vertices one by one, while this can be done in some important but special cases, as shown by Luczak and Winkler.
Around the root of random multidimensional quadtrees
We analyse the distribution of the root pattern of randomly grown multidimensional point quadtrees. In particular, exact, recursive and asymptotic formulas are given for the expected arity of the root.
A Cross Entropy Algorithm for Classification with $\delta$−Patterns
A classification strategy based on $\delta$-patterns is developed via a combinatorial optimization problem related with the maximal clique generation problem on a graph. The proposed solution uses the cross entropy method and has the advantage to be particularly suitable for large datasets. This study is tailored for the particularities of the genomic data.
Bipartite Random Graphs and Cuckoo Hashing
The aim of this paper is to extend the analysis of Cuckoo Hashing of Devroye and Morin in 2003. In particular we make several asymptotic results much more precise. We show, that the probability that the construction of a hash table succeeds, is asymptotically $1-c(\varepsilon)/m+O(1/m^2)$ for some explicit $c(\varepsilon)$, where $m$ denotes the size of each of the two tables, $n=m(1- \varepsilon)$ is the number of keys and $\varepsilon \in (0,1)$. The analysis rests on a generating function approach to the so called Cuckoo Graph, a random bipartite graph. We apply a double saddle point method to obtain asymptotic results covering tree sizes, the number of cycles and the probability that no complex component occurs.
Explicit computation of the variance of the number of maxima in hypercubes
We present a combinatorial approach of the variance for the number of maxima in hypercubes. This leads to an explicit expression, in terms of Multiple Zeta Values, of the dominant term in the asymptotic expansion of this variance.Moreover, we get an algorithm to compute this expansion, and show that all coefficients occuring belong to the $\mathbb{Q}$-algebra generated by Multiple Zeta Values, and by Euler's constant $\gamma$.
Extended Rate, more GFUN
We present a software package that guesses formulas for sequences of, for example, rational numbers or rational functions, given the first few terms. Thereby we extend and complement Christian Krattenthaler’s program $\mathtt{Rate}$ and the relevant parts of Bruno Salvy and Paul Zimmermann’s $\mathtt{GFUN}$.
Limit distribution of the size of the giant component in a web random graph
Consider random graph with $N+ 1$ vertices as follows. The degrees of vertices $1,2,\ldots, N$ are the independent identically distributed random variables $\xi_1, \xi_2, \ldots , \xi_N$ with distribution $\mathbf{P}\{\xi_1 \geq k\}=k^{− \tau},$ $k= 1,2,\ldots,$ $\tau \in (1,2)$,(1) and the vertex $N+1$ has degree $0$, if the sum $\zeta_N=\xi_1+ \ldots +\xi_N$ is even, else degree is $1$. From (1) we get that $p_k=\mathbf{P}\{\xi_1=k\}=k^{−\tau}−(k+ 1)^{−\tau}$, $k= 1,2,\ldots$ Let $G(k_1, \ldots , k_N)$ be a set of graphs with $\xi_1=k_1,\ldots, \xi_N=k_N$. If $g$ is a realization of random graph then $\mathbf{P}\{g \in G(k_1, \ldots , k_N)\}=p_{k_1} \cdot \ldots \cdot p_{k_N}$. The probability distribution on the set of graph is defined such that for a vector $(k_1, \ldots, k_N)$ all graphs, lying in $G(k_1, \ldots , k_N)$, are equiprobable. Studies of the past few years show that such graphs are good random graph models for Internet and other networks topology description (see, for example, H. Reittu and I. Norros (2004)).To build the graph, we have $N$ numbered vertices and incident to vertex $i \xi_i$ stubs, $i= 1, \ldots , N$.All stubs need to be connected to another stub to construct the graph. The stubs are numbered in an arbitrary order from $1$ to $\zeta_N$. Let $\eta_{(N)}$ be the maximum degree of the vertices.
Samples of geometric random variables with multiplicity constraints
We investigate the probability that a sample $\Gamma=(\Gamma_1,\Gamma_2,\ldots,\Gamma_n)$ of independent, identically distributed random variables with a geometric distribution has no elements occurring exactly $j$ times, where $j$ belongs to a specified finite $\textit{'forbidden set'}$ $A$ of multiplicities. Specific choices of the set $A$ enable one to determine the asymptotic probabilities that such a sample has no variable occuring with multiplicity $b$, or which has all multiplicities greater than $b$, for any fixed integer $b \geq 1$.
Trees with product-form random weights
We consider growing random recursive trees in random environment, in which at each step a new vertex is attached according to a probability distribution that assigns the tree vertices masses proportional to their random weights.The main aim of the paper is to study the asymptotic behavior of the mean numbers of outgoing vertices as the number of steps tends to infinity, under the assumption that the random weights have a product form with independent identically distributed factors.
Efficient estimation of the cardinality of large data sets
Giroire has recently proposed an algorithm which returns the $\textit{approximate}$ number of distinct elements in a large sequence of words, under strong constraints coming from the analysis of large data bases. His estimation is based on statistical properties of uniform random variables in $[0,1]$. In this note we propose an optimal estimation, using Kullback information and estimation theory.
Structure of Stable Sand Piles Model
In this paper we study a variant of the Sand Piles Model, where the evolution rule consists of the falling down of one grain to a random column and an avalanche to reach a stable configuration. We prove that the infinite set of all stable configurations have a lattice structure which is a sublattice of Young lattice. At the end, based on a discussion about avalanches, we construct a generating tree of this model and show its strongtly recursive structure.
Spanning trees of finite Sierpiński graphs
We show that the number of spanning trees in the finite Sierpiński graph of level $n$ is given by $\sqrt[4]{\frac{3}{20}} (\frac{5}{3})^{-n/2} (\sqrt[4]{540})^{3^n}$. The proof proceeds in two steps: First, we show that the number of spanning trees and two further quantities satisfy a $3$-dimensional polynomial recursion using the self-similar structure. Secondly, it turns out, that the dynamical behavior of the recursion is given by a $2$-dimensional polynomial map, whose iterates can be computed explicitly.
Left and right length of paths in binary trees or on a question of Knuth
We consider extended binary trees and study the common right and left depth of leaf $j$, where the leaves are labelled from left to right by $0, 1, \ldots, n$, and the common right and left external pathlength of binary trees of size $n$. Under the random tree model, i.e., the Catalan model, we characterize the common limiting distribution of the suitably scaled left depth and the difference between the right and the left depth of leaf $j$ in a random size-$n$ binary tree when $j \sim \rho n$ with $0< \rho < 1$, as well as the common limiting distribution of the suitably scaled left external pathlength and the difference between the right and the left external pathlength of a random size-$n$ binary tree.
Average depth in a binary search tree with repeated keys
Random sequences from alphabet $\{1, \ldots,r\}$ are examined where repeated letters are allowed. Binary search trees are formed from these, and the average left-going depth of the first $1$ is found. Next, the right-going depth of the first $r$ is examined, and finally a merge (or 'shuffle') operator is used to obtain the average depth of an arbitrary node, which can be expressed in terms of the left-going and right-going depths. The variance of each of these parameters is also found.
On the number of decomposable trees
A tree is called $k$-decomposable if it has a spanning forest whose components are all of size $k$. Analogously, a tree is called $T$-decomposable for a fixed tree $T$ if it has a spanning forest whose components are all isomorphic to $T$. In this paper, we use a generating functions approach to derive exact and asymptotic results on the number of $k$-decomposable and $T$-decomposable trees from a so-called simply generated family of trees - we find that there is a surprisingly simple functional equation for the counting series of $k$-decomposable trees. In particular, we will study the limit case when $k$ goes to $\infty$. It turns out that the ratio of $k$-decomposable trees increases when $k$ becomes large.
An extension to overpartitions of Rogers-Ramanujan identities for even moduli
We investigate class of well-poised basic hypergeometric series $\tilde{J}_{k,i}(a;x;q)$, interpreting these series as generating functions for overpartitions defined by multiplicity conditions. We also show how to interpret the $\tilde{J}_{k,i}(a;1;q)$ as generating functions for overpartitions whose successive ranks are bounded, for overpartitions that are invariant under a certain class of conjugations, and for special restricted lattice paths. We highlight the cases $(a,q) \to (1/q,q)$, $(1/q,q^2)$, and $(0,q)$, where some of the functions $\tilde{J}_{k,i}(a;x;q)$ become infinite products. The latter case corresponds to Bressoud's family of Rogers-Ramanujan identities for even moduli.
Accessible and Deterministic Automata: Enumeration and Boltzmann Samplers
We present a bijection between the set $\mathcal{A}_n$ of deterministic and accessible automata with $n$ states on a $k$-letters alphabet and some diagrams, which can themselves be represented as partitions of the set $[\![ 1..(kn+1) ]\!]$ into $n$ non-empty parts. This combinatorial construction shows that the asymptotic order of the cardinality of $\mathcal{A}_n$ is related to the Stirling number $\{^{kn}_n\}$. Our bijective approach also yields an efficient random sampler of automata with $n$ states, of complexity $O(n^{3/2})$, using the framework of Boltzmann samplers.
Density of truth in modal logics
The aim of this paper is counting the probability that a random modal formula is a tautology. We examine $\{ \to,\Box \}$ fragment of two modal logics $\mathbf{S5}$ and $\mathbf{S4}$ over the language with one propositional variable. Any modal formula written in such a language may be interpreted as a unary binary tree. As it is known, there are finitely many different formulas written in one variable in the logic $\mathbf{S5}$ and this is the key to count the proportion of tautologies of $\mathbf{S5}$ among all formulas. Although the logic $\mathbf{S4}$ does not have this property, there exist its normal extensions having finitely many non-equivalent formulas.
Mixed Powers of Generating Functions
Given an integer $m \geq 1$, let $\| \cdot \|$ be a norm in $\mathbb{R}^{m+1}$ and let $\mathbb{S}_+^m$ denote the set of points $\mathbf{d}=(d_0,\ldots,d_m)$ in $\mathbb{R}^{m+1}$ with nonnegative coordinates and such that $\| \mathbf{d} \|=1$. Consider for each $1 \leq j \leq m$ a function $f_j(z)$ that is analytic in an open neighborhood of the point $z=0$ in the complex plane and with possibly negative Taylor coefficients. Given $\mathbf{n}=(n_0,\ldots,n_m)$ in $\mathbb{Z}^{m+1}$ with nonnegative coordinates, we develop a method to systematically associate a parameter-varying integral to study the asymptotic behavior of the coefficient of $z^{n_0}$ of the Taylor series of $\prod_{j=1}^m \{f_j(z)\}^{n_j}$, as $\| \mathbf{n} \| \to \infty$. The associated parameter-varying integral has a phase term with well specified properties that make the asymptotic analysis of the integral amenable to saddle-point methods: for many $\mathbf{d} \in \mathbb{S}_+^m$, these methods ensure uniform asymptotic expansions for $[z^{n_0}] \prod_{j=1}^m \{f_j(z)\}^{n_j}$ provided that $\mathbf{n}/ \| \mathbf{n} \|$ stays sufficiently close to $\mathbf{d}$ as $\| \mathbf{n} \| \to \infty$. Our method finds applications in studying the asymptotic behavior of the coefficients of a certain multivariable generating functions as well as in problems related to the Lagrange inversion formula for instance in the context random planar maps.
Statistical Properties of Similarity Score Functions
In computational biology, a large amount of problems, such as pattern discovery, deals with the comparison of several sequences (of nucleotides, proteins or genes for instance). Very often, algorithms that address this problem use score functions that reflect a notion of similarity between the sequences. The most efficient methods take benefit from theoretical knowledge of the classical behavior of these score functions such as their mean, their variance, and sometime their asymptotic distribution in a given probabilistic model. In this paper, we study a recent family of score functions introduced in Mancheron 2003, which allows to compare two words having the same length. Here, the similarity takes into account all matches and mismatches between two sequences and not only the longest common subsequence as in the case of classical algorithms such as BLAST or FASTA. Based on generating functions, we provide closed formulas for the mean and the variance of these functions in an independent probabilistic model. Finally, we prove that every function in this family asymptotically behaves as a Gaussian random variable.
LOGLOG counting for the estimation of IP traffic
In this paper, we discuss the problem of estimating the number of "elephants'' in a stream of IP packets. First, the problem is formulated in the context of multisets. Next, we explore some of the theoretical space complexity of this problem, and it is shown that it cannot be solved with less than $\Omega (n)$ units of memory in general, $n$ being the number of different elements in the multiset. Finally, we describe an algorithm, based on Durand-Flajolet's LOGLOG algorithm coupled with a thinning of the packet stream, which returns an estimator of the number of elephants using a small amount of memory. This algorithm allows a good estimation for particular families of random multiset. The mean and variance of this estimator are computed. The algorithm is then tested on synthetic data.
Random assignment and shortest path problems
We explore a similarity between the $n$ by $n$ random assignment problem and the random shortest path problem on the complete graph on $n+1$ vertices. This similarity is a consequence of the proof of the Parisi formula for the assignment problem given by C. Nair, B. Prabhakar and M. Sharma in 2003. We give direct proofs of the analogs for the shortest path problem of some results established by D. Aldous in connection with his $\zeta (2)$ limit theorem for the assignment problem.
An invariance principle for random planar maps
We show a new invariance principle for the radius and other functionals of a class of conditioned `Boltzmann-Gibbs'-distributed random planar maps. It improves over the more restrictive case of bipartite maps that was discussed in Marckert and Miermont (2006). As in the latter paper, we make use of a bijection between planar maps and a class of labelled multitype trees, due to Bouttier et al. (2004). We also rely on an invariance principle for multitype spatial Galton-Watson trees, which is proved in a companion paper.
Some exactly solvable models of urn process theory
We establish a fundamental isomorphism between discrete-time balanced urn processes and certain ordinary differential systems, which are nonlinear, autonomous, and of a simple monomial form. As a consequence, all balanced urn processes with balls of two colours are proved to be analytically solvable in finite terms. The corresponding generating functions are expressed in terms of certain Abelian integrals over curves of the Fermat type (which are also hypergeometric functions), together with their inverses. A consequence is the unification of the analyses of many classical models, including those related to the coupon collector's problem, particle transfer (the Ehrenfest model), Friedman's "adverse campaign'' and Pólya's contagion model, as well as the OK Corral model (a basic case of Lanchester's theory of conflicts). In each case, it is possible to quantify very precisely the probable composition of the urn at any discrete instant. We study here in detail "semi-sacrificial'' urns, for which the following are obtained: a Gaussian limiting distribution with speed of convergence estimates as well as a characterization of the large and extreme large deviation regimes. We also work out explicitly the case of $2$-dimensional triangular models, where local limit laws of the stable type are obtained. A few models of dimension three or greater, e.g., "autistic'' (generalized Pólya), cyclic chambers (generalized Ehrenfest), generalized coupon-collector, and triangular urns, are […]
On the spectral dimension of random trees
We determine the spectral dimensions of a variety of ensembles of infinite trees. Common to the ensembles considered is that sample trees have a distinguished infinite spine at whose vertices branches can be attached according to some probability distribution. In particular, we consider a family of ensembles of $\textit{combs}$, whose branches are linear chains, with spectral dimensions varying continuously between $1$ and $3/2$. We also introduce a class of ensembles of infinite trees, called $\textit{generic random trees}$, which are obtained as limits of ensembles of finite trees conditioned to have fixed size $N$, as $N \to \infty$. Among these ensembles is the so-called uniform random tree. We show that generic random trees have spectral dimension $d_s=4/3$.
Computing generating functions of ordered partitions with the transfer-matrix method
An ordered partition of $[n]:=\{1,2,\ldots, n\}$ is a sequence of disjoint and nonempty subsets, called blocks, whose union is $[n]$. The aim of this paper is to compute some generating functions of ordered partitions by the transfer-matrix method. In particular, we prove several conjectures of Steingrímsson, which assert that the generating function of some statistics of ordered partitions give rise to a natural $q$-analogue of $k!S(n,k)$, where $S(n,k)$ is the Stirling number of the second kind.
The first ascent of size $d$ or more in compositions
A composition of a positive integer $n$ is a finite sequence of positive integers $a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_k$ such that $a_1+a_2+ \cdots +a_k=n$. Let $d$ be a fixed nonnegative integer. We say that we have an ascent of size $d$ or more at position $i$, if $a_{i+1}\geq a_i+d$. We study the average position, initial height and end height of the first ascent of size $d$ or more in compositions of $n$ as $n \to \infty$.
On the non-randomness of modular arithmetic progressions: a solution to a problem by V. I. Arnold
We solve a problem by V. I. Arnold dealing with "how random" modular arithmetic progressions can be. After making precise how Arnold proposes to measure the randomness of a modular sequence, we show that this measure of randomness takes a simplified form in the case of arithmetic progressions. This simplified expression is then estimated using the methodology of dynamical analysis, which operates with tools coming from dynamical systems theory. In conclusion, this study shows that modular arithmetic progressions are far from behaving like purely random sequences, according to Arnold's definition.
Multivariate generalizations of the Foata-Schützenberger equidistribution
A result of Foata and Schützenberger states that two statistics on permutations, the number of inversions and the inverse major index, have the same distribution on a descent class. We give a multivariate generalization of this property: the sorted vectors of the Lehmer code, of the inverse majcode, and of a new code (the inverse saillance code), have the same distribution on a descent class, and their common multivariate generating function is a flagged ribbon Schur function.
Walking Cautiously Into the Collatz Wilderness: Algorithmically, Number Theoretically, Randomly
Building on theoretical insights and rich experimental data of our preprints, we present here new theoretical and experimental results in three interrelated approaches to the Collatz problem and its generalizations: \emphalgorithmic decidability, random behavior, and Diophantine representation of related discrete dynamical systems, and their \emphcyclic and divergent properties.
The Diameter of the Minimum Spanning Tree of a Complete Graph
Let $X_1,\ldots,X_{n\choose 2}$ be independent identically distributed weights for the edges of $K_n$. If $X_i \neq X_j$ for$ i \neq j$, then there exists a unique minimum weight spanning tree $T$ of $K_n$ with these edge weights. We show that the expected diameter of $T$ is $Θ (n^{1/3})$. This settles a question of [Frieze97].
Complete k-ary trees and generalized meta-Fibonacci sequences
We show that a family of generalized meta-Fibonacci sequences arise when counting the number of leaves at the largest level in certain infinite sequences of k-ary trees and restricted compositions of an integer. For this family of generalized meta-Fibonacci sequences and two families of related sequences we derive ordinary generating functions and recurrence relations.
A coupon collector's problem with bonuses
In this article, we study a variant of the coupon collector's problem introducing a notion of a \emphbonus. Suppose that there are c different types of coupons made up of bonus coupons and ordinary coupons, and that a collector gets every coupon with probability 1/c each day. Moreover suppose that every time he gets a bonus coupon he immediately obtains one more coupon. Under this setting, we consider the number of days he needs to collect in order to have at least one of each type. We then give not only the expectation but also the exact distribution represented by a gamma distribution. Moreover we investigate their limits as the Gumbel (double exponential) distribution and the Gauss (normal) distribution.
A probabilistic analysis of a leader election algorithm
A leader election algorithm is an elimination process that divides recursively into tow subgroups an initial group of n items, eliminates one subgroup and continues the procedure until a subgroup is of size 1. In this paper the biased case is analyzed. We are interested in the cost of the algorithm e. the number of operations needed until the algorithm stops. Using a probabilistic approach, the asymptotic behavior of the algorithm is shown to be related to the behavior of a hitting time of two random sequences on [0,1].
Concentration Properties of Extremal Parameters in Random Discrete Structures
The purpose of this survey is to present recent results concerning concentration properties of extremal parameters of random discrete structures. A main emphasis is placed on the height and maximum degree of several kinds of random trees. We also provide exponential tail estimates for the height distribution of scale-free trees.
Structure of spaces of rhombus tilings in the lexicograhic case
Rhombus tilings are tilings of zonotopes with rhombohedra. We study a class of \emphlexicographic rhombus tilings of zonotopes, which are deduced from higher Bruhat orders relaxing the unitarity condition. Precisely, we fix a sequence $(v_1, v_2,\dots, v_D)$ of vectors of $ℝ^d$ and a sequence $(m_1, m_2,\dots, m_D)$ of positive integers. We assume (lexicographic hypothesis) that for each subsequence $(v_{i1}, v_{i2},\dots, v_{id})$ of length $d$, we have $det(v_{i1}, v_{i2},\dots, v_{id}) > 0$. The zonotope $Z$ is the set $\{ Σα _iv_i 0 ≤α _i ≤m_i \}$. Each prototile used in a tiling of $Z$ is a rhombohedron constructed from a subsequence of d vectors. We prove that the space of tilings of $Z$ is a graded poset, with minimal and maximal element.
An upper bound for the chromatic number of line graphs
It was conjectured by Reed [reed98conjecture] that for any graph $G$, the graph's chromatic number $χ (G)$ is bounded above by $\lceil Δ (G) +1 + ω (G) / 2\rceil$ , where $Δ (G)$ and $ω (G)$ are the maximum degree and clique number of $G$, respectively. In this paper we prove that this bound holds if $G$ is the line graph of a multigraph. The proof yields a polynomial time algorithm that takes a line graph $G$ and produces a colouring that achieves our bound.
Improper colouring of (random) unit disk graphs
For any graph $G$, the $k$-improper chromatic number $χ ^k(G)$ is the smallest number of colours used in a colouring of $G$ such that each colour class induces a subgraph of maximum degree $k$. We investigate the ratio of the $k$-improper chromatic number to the clique number for unit disk graphs and random unit disk graphs to extend results of [McRe99, McD03] (where they considered only proper colouring).
$K_{\ell}^{-}$-factors in graphs
Let $K_ℓ^-$ denote the graph obtained from $K_ℓ$ by deleting one edge. We show that for every $γ >0$ and every integer $ℓ≥4$ there exists an integer $n_0=n_0(γ ,ℓ)$ such that every graph $G$ whose order $n≥n_0$ is divisible by $ℓ$ and whose minimum degree is at least $(\frac{ℓ^2-3ℓ+1}{/ ℓ(ℓ-2)}+γ )n$ contains a $K_ℓ^-$-factor, i.e. a collection of disjoint copies of $K_ℓ^-$ which covers all vertices of $G$. This is best possible up to the error term $γn$ and yields an approximate solution to a conjecture of Kawarabayashi.
Mader Tools
The deep theorem of Mader concerning the number of internally disjoint H-paths is a very powerfull tool. Nevertheless its use is very difficult, because one has to deal with a very reach family of separators. This paper shows several ways to strengthen Mader's theorem by certain additional restrictions of the appearing separators.
Multigraph decomposition into multigraphs with two underlying edges
Due to some intractability considerations, reasonable formulation of necessary and sufficient conditions for decomposability of a general multigraph G into a fixed connected multigraph H, is probably not feasible if the underlying simple graph of H has three or more edges. We study the case where H consists of two underlying edges. We present necessary and sufficient conditions for H-decomposability of G, which hold when certain size parameters of G lies within some bounds which depends on the multiplicities of the two edges of H. We also show this result to be "tight" in the sense that even a slight deviation of these size parameters from the given bounds results intractability of the corresponding decision problem.
Degree-correlation of Scale-free graphs
Barabási and Albert [1] suggested modeling scale-free networks by the following random graph process: one node is added at a time and is connected to an earlier node chosen with probability proportional to its degree. A recent empirical study of Newman [5] demonstrates existence of degree-correlation between degrees of adjacent nodes in real-world networks. Here we define the \textitdegree correlation―-correlation of the degrees in a pair of adjacent nodes―-for a random graph process. We determine asymptotically the joint probability distribution for node-degrees, $d$ and $d'$, of adjacent nodes for every $0≤d≤ d'≤n^1 / 5$, and use this result to show that the model of Barabási and Albert does not generate degree-correlation. Our theorem confirms the result in [KR01], obtained by using the mean-field heuristic approach.
Density of universal classes of series-parallel graphs
A class of graphs $\mathcal{C}$ ordered by the homomorphism relation is universal if every countable partial order can be embedded in $\mathcal{C}$. It was shown in [ZH] that the class $\mathcal{C_k}$ of $k$-colorable graphs, for any fixed $k≥3$, induces a universal partial order. In [HN1], a surprisingly small subclass of $\mathcal{C_3}$ which is a proper subclass of $K_4$-minor-free graphs $(\mathcal{G/K_4)}$ is shown to be universal. In another direction, a density result was given in [PZ], that for each rational number $a/b ∈[2,8/3]∪ \{3\}$, there is a $K_4$-minor-free graph with circular chromatic number equal to $a/b$. In this note we show for each rational number $a/b$ within this interval the class $\mathcal{K_{a/b}}$ of $0K_4$-minor-free graphs with circular chromatic number $a/b$ is universal if and only if $a/b ≠2$, $5/2$ or $3$. This shows yet another surprising richness of the $K_4$-minor-free class that it contains universal classes as dense as the rational numbers.
Packing triangles in low degree graphs and indifference graphs
We consider the problems of finding the maximum number of vertex-disjoint triangles (VTP) and edge-disjoint triangles (ETP) in a simple graph. Both problems are NP-hard. The algorithm with the best approximation guarantee known so far for these problems has ratio $3/2 + ɛ$, a result that follows from a more general algorithm for set packing obtained by Hurkens and Schrijver in 1989. We present improvements on the approximation ratio for restricted cases of VTP and ETP that are known to be APX-hard: we give an approximation algorithm for VTP on graphs with maximum degree 4 with ratio slightly less than 1.2, and for ETP on graphs with maximum degree 5 with ratio 4/3. We also present an exact linear-time algorithm for VTP on the class of indifference graphs.
Excluded subposets in the Boolean lattice
We are looking for the maximum number of subsets of an n-element set not containing 4 distinct subsets satisfying $A ⊂B, C ⊂B, C ⊂D$. It is proved that this number is at least the number of the $\lfloor \frac{n }{ 2}\rfloor$ -element sets times $1+\frac{2}{ n}$, on the other hand an upper bound is given with 4 replaced by the value 2.
Infinite limits and folding
We study infinite limits of graphs generated by the duplication model for biological networks. We prove that with probability 1, the sole nontrivial connected component of the limits is unique up to isomorphism. We describe certain infinite deterministic graphs which arise naturally from the model. We characterize the isomorphism type and induced subgraph structure of these infinite graphs using the notion of dismantlability from the theory of vertex pursuit games, and graph homomorphisms.
Finding a Strong Stable Set or a Meyniel Obstruction in any Graph
A strong stable set in a graph $G$ is a stable set that contains a vertex of every maximal clique of $G$. A Meyniel obstruction is an odd circuit with at least five vertices and at most one chord. Given a graph $G$ and a vertex $v$ of $G$, we give a polytime algorithm to find either a strong stable set containing $v$ or a Meyniel obstruction in $G$. This can then be used to find in any graph, a clique and colouring of the same size or a Meyniel obstruction.
NBC Complexes of Convex Geometries
We introduce a notion of a $\textit{broken circuit}$ and an $\textit{NBC complex}$ for an (abstract) convex geometry. Based on these definitions, we shall show the analogues of the Whitney-Rota's formula and Brylawski's decomposition theorem for broken circuit complexes on matroids for convex geometries. We also present an Orlik-Solomon type algebra on a convex geometry, and show the NBC generating theorem.
Packing Three-Vertex Paths in a Subcubic Graph
In our paper we consider the $P_3$-packing problem in subcubic graphs of different connectivity, improving earlier results of Kelmans and Mubayi. We show that there exists a $P_3$-packing of at least $\lceil 3n/4\rceil$ vertices in any connected subcubic graph of order $n>5$ and minimum vertex degree $\delta \geq 2$, and that this bound is tight. The proof is constructive and implied by a linear-time algorithm. We use this result to show that any $2$-connected cubic graph of order $n>8$ has a $P_3$-packing of at least $\lceil 7n/9 \rceil$ vertices.
Largest cliques in connected supermagic graphs
A graph $G=(V,E)$ is said to be $\textit{magic}$ if there exists an integer labeling $f: V \cup E \to [1, |V \cup E|]$ such that $f(x)+f(y)+f(xy)$ is constant for all edges $xy \in E$. Enomoto, Masuda and Nakamigawa proved that there are magic graphs of order at most $3n^2+o(n^2)$ which contain a complete graph of order $n$. Bounds on Sidon sets show that the order of such a graph is at least $n^2+o(n^2)$. We close the gap between those two bounds by showing that, for any given graph $H$ of order $n$, there are connected magic graphs of order $n^2+o(n^2)$ containing $H$ as an induced subgraph. Moreover it can be required that the graph admits a supermagic labelling $f$, which satisfies the additional condition $f(V)=[1,|V|]$.
Nonrepetitive colorings of graphs
A vertex coloring of a graph $G$ is $k \textit{-nonrepetitive}$ if one cannot find a periodic sequence with $k$ blocks on any simple path of $G$. The minimum number of colors needed for such coloring is denoted by $\pi _k(G)$ . This idea combines graph colorings with Thue sequences introduced at the beginning of 20th century. In particular Thue proved that if $G$ is a simple path of any length greater than $4$ then $\pi _2(G)=3$ and $\pi_3(G)=2$. We investigate $\pi_k(G)$ for other classes of graphs. Particularly interesting open problem is to decide if there is, possibly huge, $k$ such that $\pi_k(G)$ is bounded for planar graphs.
On the enumeration of uniquely reducible double designs
A double $2$-$(v,k,2 \lambda)$ design is a design which is reducible into two $2$-$(v,k,\lambda)$ designs. It is called uniquely reducible if it has, up to equivalence, only one reduction. We present properties of uniquely reducible double designs which show that their total number can be determined if only the designs with non-trivial automorphisms are classified with respect to their automorphism group. As an application, after proving that a reducible $2$-$(21,5,2)$ design is uniquely reducible, we establish that the number of all reducible $2$-$(21,5,2)$ designs is $1 746 461 307$.
Labeling planar graphs with a condition at distance two
An $L(2,1)$-labeling of a graph is a mapping $c:V(G) \to \{0,\ldots,K\}$ such that the labels assigned to neighboring vertices differ by at least $2$ and the labels of vertices at distance two are different. Griggs and Yeh [SIAM J. Discrete Math. 5 (1992), 586―595] conjectured that every graph $G$ with maximum degree $\Delta$ has an $L(2,1)$-labeling with $K \leq \Delta^2$. We verify the conjecture for planar graphs with maximum degree $\Delta \neq 3$.
Quadratic LYM-type inequalities for intersecting Sperner families
Let $\mathcal{F}\subseteq 2^{[n]}$ be a intersecting Sperner family (i.e. $A \not\subset B, A \cap B \neq \emptyset$ for all $A,B \in \mathcal{F}$) with profile vector $(f_i)_{i=0 \ldots n}$ (i.e. $f_i=|\mathcal{F} \cap \binom{[n]}{i}|$). We present quadratic inequalities in the $f_i$'s which sharpen the previously known linear $\mathrm{LYM}$-type inequalities.
Fast separation in a graph with an excluded minor
Let $G$ be an $n$-vertex $m$-edge graph with weighted vertices. A pair of vertex sets $A,B \subseteq V(G)$ is a $\frac{2}{3} - \textit{separation}$ of $\textit{order}$ $|A \cap B|$ if $A \cup B = V(G)$, there is no edge between $A \backslash B$ and $B \backslash A$, and both $A \backslash B$ and $B \backslash A$ have weight at most $\frac{2}{3}$ the total weight of $G$. Let $\ell \in \mathbb{Z}^+$ be fixed. Alon, Seymour and Thomas [$\textit{J. Amer. Math. Soc.}$ 1990] presented an algorithm that in $\mathcal{O}(n^{1/2}m)$ time, either outputs a $K_\ell$-minor of $G$, or a separation of $G$ of order $\mathcal{O}(n^{1/2})$. Whether there is a $\mathcal{O}(n+m)$ time algorithm for this theorem was left as open problem. In this paper, we obtain a $\mathcal{O}(n+m)$ time algorithm at the expense of $\mathcal{O}(n^{2/3})$ separator. Moreover, our algorithm exhibits a tradeoff between running time and the order of the separator. In particular, for any given $\epsilon \in [0,\frac{1}{2}]$, our algorithm either outputs a $K_\ell$-minor of $G$, or a separation of $G$ with order $\mathcal{O}(n^{(2-\epsilon )/3})$ in $\mathcal{O}(n^{1+\epsilon} +m)$ time.
Supermodularity on chains and complexity of maximum constraint satisfaction
In the maximum constraint satisfaction problem ($\mathrm{Max \; CSP}$), one is given a finite collection of (possibly weighted) constraints on overlapping sets of variables, and the goal is to assign values from a given finite domain to the variables so as to maximise the number (or the total weight) of satisfied constraints. This problem is $\mathrm{NP}$-hard in general so it is natural to study how restricting the allowed types of constraints affects the complexity of the problem. In this paper, we show that any $\mathrm{Max \; CSP}$ problem with a finite set of allowed constraint types, which includes all constants (i.e. constraints of the form $x=a$), is either solvable in polynomial time or is $\mathrm{NP}$-complete. Moreover, we present a simple description of all polynomial-time solvable cases of our problem. This description uses the well-known combinatorial property of supermodularity.
Permutations with short monotone subsequences
We consider permutations of $1,2,...,n^2$ whose longest monotone subsequence is of length $n$ and are therefore extremal for the Erdős-Szekeres Theorem. Such permutations correspond via the Robinson-Schensted correspondence to pairs of square $n \times n$ Young tableaux. We show that all the bumping sequences are constant and therefore these permutations have a simple description in terms of the pair of square tableaux. We deduce a limit shape result for the plot of values of the typical such permutation, which in particular implies that the first value taken by such a permutation is with high probability $(1+o(1))n^2/2$.
Weak Positional Games on Hypergraphs of Rank Three
In a weak positional game, two players, Maker and Breaker, alternately claim vertices of a hypergraph until either Maker wins by getting a complete edge or all vertices are taken without this happening, a Breaker win. For the class of almost-disjoint hypergraphs of rank three (edges with up to three vertices only and edge-intersections on at most one vertex) we show how to find optimal strategies in polynomial time. Our result is based on a new type of decomposition theorem which might lead to a better understanding of weak positional games in general.
Decomposable graphs and definitions with no quantifier alternation
Let $D(G)$ be the minimum quantifier depth of a first order sentence $\Phi$ that defines a graph $G$ up to isomorphism in terms of the adjacency and the equality relations. Let $D_0(G)$ be a variant of $D(G)$ where we do not allow quantifier alternations in $\Phi$. Using large graphs decomposable in complement-connected components by a short sequence of serial and parallel decompositions, we show examples of $G$ on $n$ vertices with $D_0(G) \leq 2 \log^{\ast}n+O(1)$. On the other hand, we prove a lower bound $D_0(G) \geq \log^{\ast}n-\log^{\ast}\log^{\ast}n-O(1)$ for all $G$. Here $\log^{\ast}n$ is equal to the minimum number of iterations of the binary logarithm needed to bring $n$ below $1$.
Hypertree-Width and Related Hypergraph Invariants
We study the notion of hypertree-width of hypergraphs. We prove that, up to a constant factor, hypertree-width is the same as a number of other hypergraph invariants that resemble graph invariants such as bramble-number, branch-width, linkedness, and the minimum number of cops required to win Seymour and Thomas's robber and cops game.
Monotone Boolean Functions with s Zeros Farthest from Threshold Functions
Let $T_t$ denote the $t$-threshold function on the $n$-cube: $T_t(x) = 1$ if $|\{i : x_i=1\}| \geq t$, and $0$ otherwise. Define the distance between Boolean functions $g$ and $h$, $d(g,h)$, to be the number of points on which $g$ and $h$ disagree. We consider the following extremal problem: Over a monotone Boolean function $g$ on the $n$-cube with $s$ zeros, what is the maximum of $d(g,T_t)$? We show that the following monotone function $p_s$ maximizes the distance: For $x \in \{0,1\}^n$, $p_s(x)=0$ if and only if $N(x) < s$, where $N(x)$ is the integer whose $n$-bit binary representation is $x$. Our result generalizes the previous work for the case $t=\lceil n/2 \rceil$ and $s=2^{n-1}$ by Blum, Burch, and Langford [BBL98-FOCS98], who considered the problem to analyze the behavior of a learning algorithm for monotone Boolean functions, and the previous work for the same $t$ and $s$ by Amano and Maruoka [AM02-ALT02].
Pairwise Intersections and Forbidden Configurations
Let $f_m(a,b,c,d)$ denote the maximum size of a family $\mathcal{F}$ of subsets of an $m$-element set for which there is no pair of subsets $A,B \in \mathcal{F}$ with $|A \cap B| \geq a$, $|\bar{A} \cap B| \geq b$, $|A \cap \bar{B}| \geq c$, and $|\bar{A} \cap \bar{B}| \geq d$. By symmetry we can assume $a \geq d$ and $b \geq c$. We show that $f_m(a,b,c,d)$ is $\Theta (m^{a+b-1})$ if either $b > c$ or $a,b \geq 1$. We also show that $f_m(0,b,b,0)$ is $\Theta (m^b)$ and $f_m(a,0,0,d)$ is $\Theta (m^a)$. This can be viewed as a result concerning forbidden configurations and is further evidence for a conjecture of Anstee and Sali. Our key tool is a strong stability version of the Complete Intersection Theorem of Ahlswede and Khachatrian, which is of independent interest.
A sufficient condition for bicolorable hypergraphs
In this note we prove Sterboul's conjecture, that provides a sufficient condition for the bicolorability of hypergraphs.
The game of arboricity
Using a fixed set of colors $C$, Ann and Ben color the edges of a graph $G$ so that no monochromatic cycle may appear. Ann wins if all edges of $G$ have been colored, while Ben wins if completing a coloring is not possible. The minimum size of $C$ for which Ann has a winning strategy is called the $\textit{game arboricity}$ of $G$, denoted by $A_g(G)$. We prove that $A_g(G) \leq 3k$ for any graph $G$ of arboricity $k$, and that there are graphs such that $A_g(G) \geq 2k-2$. The upper bound is achieved by a suitable version of the activation strategy, used earlier for the vertex coloring game. We also provide other strategie based on induction.
Directed One-Trees
We identify the class of directed one-trees and prove the so-called min-max theorem for them. As a consequence, we establish the equality of directed tree-width and a new measure, $d$-width, on this class of graphs. In addition, we prove a property of all directed one-trees and use this property to create an $O(n^2)$ recognition algorithm and an $O(n^2)$ algorithm for solving the Hamiltonian cycle problem on directed one-trees.
Removing Even Crossings
An edge in a drawing of a graph is called $\textit{even}$ if it intersects every other edge of the graph an even number of times. Pach and Tóth proved that a graph can always be redrawn such that its even edges are not involved in any intersections. We give a new, and significantly simpler, proof of a slightly stronger statement. We show two applications of this strengthened result: an easy proof of a theorem of Hanani and Tutte (not using Kuratowski's theorem), and the result that the odd crossing number of a graph equals the crossing number of the graph for values of at most $3$. We begin with a disarmingly simple proof of a weak (but standard) version of the theorem by Hanani and Tutte.
On the 3/4-Conjecture for Fix-Free Codes
In this paper we concern ourself with the question, whether there exists a fix-free code for a given sequence of codeword lengths. We focus mostly on results which shows the $\frac{3 }{ 4}$-conjecture for special kinds of lengths sequences.
Color critical hypergraphs and forbidden configurations
The present paper connects sharpenings of Sauer's bound on forbidden configurations with color critical hypergraphs. We define a matrix to be \emphsimple if it is a $(0,1)-matrix$ with no repeated columns. Let $F$ be $a k× l (0,1)-matrix$ (the forbidden configuration). Assume $A$ is an $m× n$ simple matrix which has no submatrix which is a row and column permutation of $F$. We define $forb(m,F)$ as the best possible upper bound on n, for such a matrix $A$, which depends on m and $F$. It is known that $forb(m,F)=O(m^k)$ for any $F$, and Sauer's bond states that $forb(m,F)=O(m^k-1)$ fore simple $F$. We give sufficient condition for non-simple $F$ to have the same bound using linear algebra methods to prove a generalization of a result of Lovász on color critical hypergraphs.
Minor-monotone crossing number
The minor crossing number of a graph $G$, $rmmcr(G)$, is defined as the minimum crossing number of all graphs that contain $G$ as a minor. We present some basic properties of this new minor-monotone graph invariant. We give estimates on mmcr for some important graph families using the topological structure of graphs satisfying \$mcr(G) ≤k$.
Linear choosability of graphs
A proper vertex coloring of a non oriented graph $G=(V,E)$ is linear if the graph induced by the vertices of two color classes is a forest of paths. A graph $G$ is $L$-list colorable if for a given list assignment $L=\{L(v): v∈V\}$, there exists a proper coloring $c$ of $G$ such that $c(v)∈L(v)$ for all $v∈V$. If $G$ is $L$-list colorable for every list assignment with $|L(v)|≥k$ for all $v∈V$, then $G$ is said $k$-choosable. A graph is said to be lineary $k$-choosable if the coloring obtained is linear. In this paper, we investigate the linear choosability of graphs for some families of graphs: graphs with small maximum degree, with given maximum average degree, planar graphs... Moreover, we prove that determining whether a bipartite subcubic planar graph is lineary 3-colorable is an NP-complete problem.
Hadamard matrices of order 36 and double-even self-dual [72,36,12] codes
Before this work, at least 762 inequivalent Hadamard matrices of order 36 were known. We found 7238 Hadamard matrices of order 36 and 522 inequivalent [72,36,12] double-even self-dual codes which are obtained from all 2-(35,17,8) designs with an automorphism of order 3 and 2 fixed points and blocks.
Deterministic Random Walks on the Integers
We analyze the one-dimensional version of Jim Propp's $P$-machine, a simple deterministic process that simulates a random walk on $\mathbb{Z}$. The "output'' of the machine is astonishingly close to the expected behavior of a random walk, even on long intervals of space and time.
Chromatic Turán problems and a new upper bound for the Turán density of $\mathcal{K}_4^-$
We consider a new type of extremal hypergraph problem: given an $r$-graph $\mathcal{F}$ and an integer $k≥2$ determine the maximum number of edges in an $\mathcal{F}$-free, $k$-colourable $r$-graph on $n$ vertices. Our motivation for studying such problems is that it allows us to give a new upper bound for an old problem due to Turán. We show that a 3-graph in which any four vertices span at most two edges has density less than $\frac{33}{ 100}$, improving previous bounds of $\frac{1}{ 3}$ due to de Caen [1], and $\frac{1}{ 3}-4.5305×10^-6$ due to Mubayi [9].
On the $L(p,1)$-labelling of graphs
In this paper we improve the best known bound for the $L(p,1)$-labelling of graphs with given maximal degree.
Representations of Edge Intersection Graphs of Paths in a Tree
Let $\mathcal{P}$ be a collection of nontrivial simple paths in a tree $T$. The edge intersection graph of $\mathcal{P}$, denoted by EPT($\mathcal{P}$), has vertex set that corresponds to the members of $\mathcal{P}$, and two vertices are joined by an edge if the corresponding members of $\mathcal{P}$ share a common edge in $T$. An undirected graph $G$ is called an edge intersection graph of paths in a tree, if $G = EPT(\mathcal{P})$ for some $\mathcal{P}$ and $T$. The EPT graphs are useful in network applications. Scheduling undirected calls in a tree or assigning wavelengths to virtual connections in an optical tree network are equivalent to coloring its EPT graph. It is known that recognition and coloring of EPT graphs are NP-complete problems. However, the EPT graphs restricted to host trees of vertex degree 3 are precisely the chordal EPT graphs, and therefore can be colored in polynomial time complexity. We prove a new analogous result that weakly chordal EPT graphs are precisely the EPT graphs with host tree restricted to degree 4. This also implies that the coloring of the edge intersection graph of paths in a degree 4 tree is polynomial. We raise a number of intriguing conjectures regarding related families of graphs.
Colouring random geometric graphs
A random geometric graph $G_n$ is obtained as follows. We take $X_1, X_2, \ldots, X_n ∈\mathbb{R}^d$ at random (i.i.d. according to some probability distribution ν on $\mathbb{R}^d$). For $i ≠j$ we join $X_i$ and $X_j$ by an edge if $║X_i - X_j ║< r(n)$. We study the properties of the chromatic number $χ _n$ and clique number $ω _n$ of this graph as n becomes large, where we assume that $r(n) →0$. We allow any choice $ν$ that has a bounded density function and $║. ║$ may be any norm on $ℝ^d$. Depending on the choice of $r(n)$, qualitatively different types of behaviour can be observed. We distinguish three main cases, in terms of the key quantity $n r^d$ (which is a measure of the average degree). If $r(n)$ is such that $\frac{nr^d}{ln n} →0$ as $n →∞$ then $\frac{χ _n}{ ω _n} →1$ almost surely. If n $\frac{r^d }{\ln n} →∞$ then $\frac{χ _n }{ ω _n} →1 / δ$ almost surely, where $δ$ is the (translational) packing density of the unit ball $B := \{ x ∈ℝ^d: ║x║< 1 \}$ (i.e. $δ$ is the proportion of $d$-space that can be filled with disjoint translates of $B$). If $\frac{n r^d }{\ln n} →t ∈(0,∞)$ then $\frac{χ _n }{ ω _n}$ tends almost surely to a constant that can be bounded in terms of $δ$ and $t$. These results extend earlier work of McDiarmid and Penrose. The proofs in fact yield separate expressions for $χ _n$ and $ω _n$. We are also able to prove a conjecture by Penrose. This states that when […]
Negative results on acyclic improper colorings
Raspaud and Sopena showed that the oriented chromatic number of a graph with acyclic chromatic number $k$ is at most $k2^{k-1}$. We prove that this bound is tight for $k \geq 3$. We also show that some improper and/or acyclic colorings are $\mathrm{NP}$-complete on a class $\mathcal{C}$ of planar graphs. We try to get the most restrictive conditions on the class $\mathcal{C}$, such as having large girth and small maximum degree. In particular, we obtain the $\mathrm{NP}$-completeness of $3$-$\mathrm{ACYCLIC \space COLORABILITY}$ on bipartite planar graphs with maximum degree $4$, and of $4$-$\mathrm{ACYCLIC \space COLORABILITY}$ on bipartite planar graphs with maximum degree $8$.
Spanning paths in hypercubes
Given a family $\{u_i,v_i\}_{i=1}^k$ of pairwise distinct vertices of the $n$-dimensional hypercube $Q_n$ such that the distance of $u_i$ and $v_i$ is odd and $k \leq n-1$, there exists a family $\{P_i\}_{i=1}^k$ of paths such that $u_i$ and $v_i$ are the endvertices of $P_i$ and $\{V(P_i)\}_{i=1}^k$ partitions $V(Q_n)$. This holds for any $n \geq 2$ with one exception in the case when $n=k+1=4$. On the other hand, for any $n \geq 3$ there exist $n$ pairs of vertices satisfying the above condition for which such a family of spanning paths does not exist. We suggest further generalization of this result and explore a relationship to the problem of hamiltonicity of hypercubes with faulty vertices.
On the Minimum Number of Completely 3-Scrambling Permutations
A family $\mathcal{P} = \{\pi_1, \ldots , \pi_q\}$ of permutations of $[n]=\{1,\ldots,n\}$ is $\textit{completely}$ $k$-$\textit{scrambling}$ [Spencer, 1972; Füredi, 1996] if for any distinct $k$ points $x_1,\ldots,x_k \in [n]$, permutations $\pi_i$'s in $\mathcal{P}$ produce all $k!$ possible orders on $\pi_i (x_1),\ldots, \pi_i(x_k)$. Let $N^{\ast}(n,k)$ be the minimum size of such a family. This paper focuses on the case $k=3$. By a simple explicit construction, we show the following upper bound, which we express together with the lower bound due to Füredi for comparison. $\frac{2}{ \log _2e} \log_2 n \leq N^{\ast}(n,3) \leq 2\log_2n + (1+o(1)) \log_2 \log _2n$. We also prove the existence of $\lim_{n \to \infty} N^{\ast}(n,3) / \log_2 n = c_3$. Determining the value $c_3$ and proving the existence of $\lim_{n \to \infty} N^{\ast}(n,k) / \log_2 n = c_k$ for $k \geq 4$ remain open.
Hamiltonian Chains in Hypergraphs
Hamiltionian chain is a generalisation of hamiltonian cycles for hypergraphs. Among the several possible ways of generalisations this is probably the most strong one, it requires the strongest structure. Since there are many interesting questions about hamiltonian cycles in graphs, we can try to answer these questions for hypergraphs, too. In the present article we give a survey on results about such questions.
Relaxed Two-Coloring of Cubic Graphs
We show that any graph of maximum degree at most $3$ has a two-coloring, such that one color-class is an independent set while the other color induces monochromatic components of order at most $189$. On the other hand for any constant $C$ we exhibit a $4$-regular graph, such that the deletion of any independent set leaves at least one component of order greater than $C$. Similar results are obtained for coloring graphs of given maximum degree with $k+ \ell$ colors such that $k$ parts form an independent set and $\ell$ parts span components of order bounded by a constant. A lot of interesting questions remain open.
Counting Polyominoes on Twisted Cylinders
We improve the lower bounds on Klarner's constant, which describes the exponential growth rate of the number of polyominoes (connected subsets of grid squares) with a given number of squares. We achieve this by analyzing polyominoes on a different surface, a so-called $\textit{twisted cylinder}$ by the transfer matrix method. A bijective representation of the "states'' of partial solutions is crucial for allowing a compact representation of the successive iteration vectors for the transfer matrix method.
Local chromatic number and topology
The local chromatic number of a graph, introduced by Erdős et al., is the minimum number of colors that must appear in the closed neighborhood of some vertex in any proper coloring of the graph. This talk would like to survey some of our recent results on this parameter. We give a lower bound for the local chromatic number in terms of the lower bound of the chromatic number provided by the topological method introduced by Lovász. We show that this bound is tight in many cases. In particular, we determine the local chromatic number of certain odd chromatic Schrijver graphs and generalized Mycielski graphs. We further elaborate on the case of $4$-chromatic graphs and, in particular, on surface quadrangulations.
Hamiltonian cycles in torical lattices
We establish sufficient conditions for a toric lattice $T_{m,n}$ to be Hamiltonian. Also, we give some asymptotics for the number of Hamiltonian cycles in $T_{m,n}$.
Enumeration of walks reaching a line
We enumerate walks in the plane $\mathbb{R}^2$, with steps East and North, that stop as soon as they reach a given line; these walks are counted according to the distance of the line to the origin, and we study the asymptotic behavior when the line has a fixed slope and moves away from the origin. When the line has a rational slope, we study a more general class of walks, and give exact as well as asymptotic enumerative results; for this, we define a nice bijection from our walks to words of a rational language. For a general slope, asymptotic results are obtained; in this case, the method employed leads us to find asymptotic results for a wider class of walks in $\mathbb{R}^m$.
Acyclic Coloring of Graphs of Maximum Degree $\Delta$
An acyclic coloring of a graph $G$ is a coloring of its vertices such that: (i) no two neighbors in $G$ are assigned the same color and (ii) no bicolored cycle can exist in $G$. The acyclic chromatic number of $G$ is the least number of colors necessary to acyclically color $G$, and is denoted by $a(G)$. We show that any graph of maximum degree $\Delta$ has acyclic chromatic number at most $\frac{\Delta (\Delta -1) }{ 2}$ for any $\Delta \geq 5$, and we give an $O(n \Delta^2)$ algorithm to acyclically color any graph of maximum degree $\Delta$ with the above mentioned number of colors. This result is roughly two times better than the best general upper bound known so far, yielding $a(G) \leq \Delta (\Delta -1) +2$. By a deeper study of the case $\Delta =5$, we also show that any graph of maximum degree $5$ can be acyclically colored with at most $9$ colors, and give a linear time algorithm to achieve this bound.
On the number of series parallel and outerplanar graphs
We show that the number $g_n$ of labelled series-parallel graphs on $n$ vertices is asymptotically $g_n \sim g \cdot n^{-5/2} \gamma^n n!$, where $\gamma$ and $g$ are explicit computable constants. We show that the number of edges in random series-parallel graphs is asymptotically normal with linear mean and variance, and that the number of edges is sharply concentrated around its expected value. Similar results are proved for labelled outerplanar graphs.
Every $3$-connected, essentially $11$-connected line graph is hamiltonian
Thomassen conjectured that every $4$-connected line graph is hamiltonian. A vertex cut $X$ of $G$ is essential if $G-X$ has at least two nontrivial components. We prove that every $3$-connected, essentially $11$-connected line graph is hamiltonian. Using Ryjáček's line graph closure, it follows that every $3$-connected, essentially $11$-connected claw-free graph is hamiltonian.
Maximal sets of integers not containing $k+1$ pairwise coprimes and having divisors from a specified set of primes
We find the formula for the cardinality of maximal set of integers from $[1,\ldots,n]$ which does not contain $k+1$ pairwise coprimes and has divisors from a specified set of primes. This formula is defined by the set of multiples of the generating set, which does not depend on $n$.
Balanced Avoidance Games on Random Graphs
We introduce and study balanced online graph avoidance games on the random graph process. The game is played by a player we call Painter. Edges of the complete graph with $n$ vertices are revealed two at a time in a random order. In each move, Painter immediately and irrevocably decides on a balanced coloring of the new edge pair: either the first edge is colored red and the second one blue or vice versa. His goal is to avoid a monochromatic copy of a given fixed graph $H$ in both colors for as long as possible. The game ends as soon as the first monochromatic copy of $H$ has appeared. We show that the duration of the game is determined by a threshold function $m_H = m_H(n)$. More precisely, Painter will asymptotically almost surely (a.a.s.) lose the game after $m = \omega (m_H)$ edge pairs in the process. On the other hand, there is an essentially optimal strategy, that is, if the game lasts for $m = o(m_H)$ moves, then Painter will a.a.s. successfully avoid monochromatic copies of H using this strategy. Our attempt is to determine the threshold function for certain graph-theoretic structures, e.g., cycles.
A Min-Max theorem about the Road Coloring Conjecture
The Road Coloring Conjecture is an old and classical conjecture e posed in Adler and Weiss (1970); Adler et al. (1977). Let $G$ be a strongly connected digraph with uniform out-degree $2$. The Road Coloring Conjecture states that, under a natural (necessary) condition that $G$ is "aperiodic'', the edges of $G$ can be colored red and blue such that "universal driving directions'' can be given for each vertex. More precisely, each vertex has one red and one blue edge leaving it, and for any vertex $v$ there exists a sequence $s_v$ of reds and blues such that following the sequence from $\textit{any}$ starting vertex in $G$ ends precisely at the vertex $v$. We first generalize the conjecture to a min-max conjecture for all strongly connected digraphs. We then generalize the notion of coloring itself. Instead of assigning exactly one color to each edge we allow multiple colors to each edge. Under this relaxed notion of coloring we prove our generalized Min-Max theorem. Using the Prime Number Theorem (PNT) we further show that the number of colors needed for each edge is bounded above by $O(\log n / \log \log n)$, where $n$ is the number of vertices in the digraph.
Improving the Gilbert-Varshamov bound for $q$-ary codes
Given positive integers $q$, $n$ and $d$, denote by $A_q(n,d)$ the maximum size of a $q$-ary code of length $n$ and minimum distance $d$. The famous Gilbert-Varshamov bound asserts that $A_q(n,d+1) \geq q^n / V_q(n,d)$, where $V_q(n,d)=\sum_{i=0}^d \binom{n}{i}(q-1)^i$ is the volume of a $q$-ary sphere of radius $d$. Extending a recent work of Jiang and Vardy on binary codes, we show that for any positive constant $\alpha$ less than $(q-1)/q$ there is a positive constant $c$ such that for $d \leq \alpha n, A_q(n,d+1) \geq c \frac{q^n}{ V_q(n,d)}n$. This confirms a conjecture by Jiang and Vardy.
Matchings and Hamilton cycles in hypergraphs
It is well known that every bipartite graph with vertex classes of size $n$ whose minimum degree is at least $n/2$ contains a perfect matching. We prove an analogue of this result for uniform hypergraphs. We also provide an analogue of Dirac's theorem on Hamilton cycles for $3$-uniform hypergraphs: We say that a $3$-uniform hypergraph has a Hamilton cycle if there is a cyclic ordering of its vertices such that every pair of consecutive vertices lies in a hyperedge which consists of three consecutive vertices. We prove that for every $\varepsilon > 0$ there is an $n_0$ such that every $3$-uniform hypergraph of order $n \geq n_0$ whose minimum degree is at least $n/4+ \varepsilon n$ contains a Hamilton cycle. Our bounds on the minimum degree are essentially best possible.
On infinite permutations
We define an infinite permutation as a sequence of reals taken up to the order, or, equivalently, as a linear ordering of a finite or countable set. Then we introduce and characterize periodic permutations; surprisingly, for each period $t$ there is an infinite number of distinct $t$-periodic permutations. At last, we introduce a complexity notion for permutations analogous to subword complexity for words, and consider the problem of minimal complexity of non-periodic permutations. Its answer is different for the right infinite and the bi-infinite case.
Random Inscribing Polytopes
For convex bodies $K$ with $\mathcal{C}^2$ boundary in $\mathbb{R}^d$, we provide results on the volume of random polytopes with vertices chosen along the boundary of $K$ which we call $\textit{random inscribing polytopes}$. In particular, we prove results concerning the variance and higher moments of the volume, as well as show that the random inscribing polytopes generated by the Poisson process satisfy central limit theorem.
Equivalent Subgraphs of Order $3$
It is proved that any graph of order $14n/3 + O(1)$ contains a family of n induced subgraphs of order $3$ such that they are vertex-disjoint and equivalent to each other.
An extremal problem on trees and database theory
We consider an extremal problem on labelled directed trees and applications to database theory. Among others, we will show explicit keysystems on an underlying set of size $n$, that cannot be represented by a database of less than $2^{n(1-c\cdot \log \log n / \log n)}$ rows.
On the Frobenius’ Problem of three numbers
Given $k$ natural numbers $\{a_1, \ldots ,a_k\} \subset \mathbb{N}$ with $1 \leq a_1 < a_2 < \ldots < a_k$ and $\mathrm{gcd} (a_1, \ldots ,a_k)=1$, let be $R(a_1, \ldots ,a_k) = \{ \lambda_1 a_1+ \cdots + \lambda_k a_k | \space \lambda_i \in \mathbb{N}, i=1 \div k\}$ and $\overline{R}(a_1, \ldots ,a_k) = \mathbb{N} \backslash R (a_1, \ldots ,a_k)$. It is easy to see that $| \overline{R}(a_1, \ldots ,a_k)| < \infty$. The $\textit{Frobenius Problem}$ related to the set $\{a_1, \ldots ,a_k\}$ consists on the computation of $f(a_1, \ldots ,a_k)=\max \overline{R} (a_1, \ldots ,a_k)$, also called the $\textit{Frobenius number}$, and the cardinal $| \overline{R}(a_1, \ldots ,a_k)|$. The solution of the Frobenius Problem is the explicit computation of the set $\overline{R} (a_1,\ldots ,a_k)$. In some cases it is known a sharp upper bound for the Frobenius number. When $k=3$ this bound is known to be $$F(N)=\max\limits_{\substack{0 \lt a \lt b \lt N \\ \mathrm{gcd}(a,b,N)=1}} f(a,b,N)= \begin{cases} 2(\lfloor N/2 \rfloor -1)^2-1 & \textrm{if } N \equiv 0 (\mod 2),\\ 2 \lfloor N/2 \rfloor (\lfloor N/2 \rfloor -1) -1 & \textrm{if } N \equiv 1 (\mod 2).\\ \end{cases}$$ This bound is given in [Dixmier1990]. In this work we give a geometrical proof of this bound which allows us to give the solution of the Frobenius problem for all the sets $\{\alpha ,\beta ,N\}$ such that $f(\alpha ,\beta ,N)=F(N)$.
Discrepancy of Products of Hypergraphs
For a hypergraph $\mathcal{H} = (V,\mathcal{E})$, its $d$―fold symmetric product is $\Delta^d \mathcal{H} = (V^d,\{ E^d | E \in \mathcal{E} \})$. We give several upper and lower bounds for the $c$-color discrepancy of such products. In particular, we show that the bound $\textrm{disc}(\Delta^d \mathcal{H},2) \leq \textrm{disc}(\mathcal{H},2)$ proven for all $d$ in [B. Doerr, A. Srivastav, and P. Wehr, Discrepancy of Cartesian products of arithmetic progressions, Electron. J. Combin. 11(2004), Research Paper 5, 16 pp.] cannot be extended to more than $c = 2$ colors. In fact, for any $c$ and $d$ such that $c$ does not divide $d!$, there are hypergraphs having arbitrary large discrepancy and $\textrm{disc}(\Delta^d \mathcal{H},c) = \Omega_d(\textrm{disc}(\mathcal{H},c)^d)$. Apart from constant factors (depending on $c$ and $d$), in these cases the symmetric product behaves no better than the general direct product $\mathcal{H}^d$, which satisfies $\textrm{disc}(\mathcal{H}^d,c) = O_{c,d}(\textrm{disc}(\mathcal{H},c)^d)$.
A Probabilistic Counting Lemma for Complete Graphs
We prove the existence of many complete graphs in almost all sufficiently dense partitions obtained by an application of Szemerédi's Regularity Lemma. More precisely, we consider the number of complete graphs $K_{\ell}$ on $\ell$ vertices in $\ell$-partite graphs where each partition class consists of $n$ vertices and there is an $\varepsilon$-regular graph on $m$ edges between any two partition classes. We show that for all $\beta > $0, at most a $\beta^m$-fraction of graphs in this family contain less than the expected number of copies of $K_{\ell}$ provided $\varepsilon$ is sufficiently small and $m \geq Cn^{2-1/(\ell-1)}$ for a constant $C > 0$ and $n$ sufficiently large. This result is a counting version of a restricted version of a conjecture by Kohayakawa, Łuczak and Rödl and has several implications for random graphs.
Cycles intersecting edge-cuts of prescribed sizes
We prove that every cubic bridgeless graph $G$ contains a $2$-factor which intersects all (minimal) edge-cuts of size $3$ or $4$. This generalizes an earlier result of the authors, namely that such a $2$-factor exists provided that $G$ is planar. As a further extension, we show that every graph contains a cycle (a union of edge-disjoint circuits) that intersects all edge-cuts of size $3$ or $4$. Motivated by this result, we introduce the concept of a coverable set of integers and discuss a number of questions, some of which are related to classical problems of graph theory such as Tutte's $4$-flow conjecture or the Dominating circuit conjecture.
On minimal blocking sets of the generalized quadrangle $Q(4, q)$
The generalized quadrangle $Q(4,q)$ arising from the parabolic quadric in $PG(4,q)$ always has an ovoid. It is not known whether a minimal blocking set of size smaller than $q^2 + q$ (which is not an ovoid) exists in $Q(4,q)$, $q$ odd. We present results on smallest blocking sets in $Q(4,q)$, $q$ odd, obtained by a computer search. For $q = 5,7,9,11$ we found minimal blocking sets of size $q^2 + q - 2$ and we discuss their structure. By an exhaustive search we excluded the existence of a minimal blocking set of size $q^2 + 3$ in $Q(4,7)$.
Kernel perfect and critical kernel imperfect digraphs structure
A kernel $N$ of a digraph $D$ is an independent set of vertices of $D$ such that for every $w \in V(D)-N$ there exists an arc from $w$ to $N$. If every induced subdigraph of $D$ has a kernel, $D$ is said to be a kernel perfect digraph. Minimal non-kernel perfect digraph are called critical kernel imperfect digraph. If $F$ is a set of arcs of $D$, a semikernel modulo $F$, $S$ of $D$ is an independent set of vertices of $D$ such that for every $z \in V(D)- S$ for which there exists an $Sz-$arc of $D-F$, there also exists an $zS-$arc in $D$. In this talk some structural results concerning critical kernel imperfect and sufficient conditions for a digraph to be a critical kernel imperfect digraph are presented.
Non-Determinism and Nash Equilibria for Sequential Game over Partial Order
In sequential games of traditional game theory, backward induction guarantees existence of Nash equilibrium by yielding a sub-game perfect equilibrium. But if payoffs range over a partially ordered set instead of the reals, then the backward induction predicate does no longer imply the Nash equilibrium predicate. Non-determinism is a solution: a suitable non-deterministic backward induction function returns a non-deterministic strategy profile which is a non-deterministic Nash equilibrium. The main notions and results in this article are constructive, conceptually simple and formalised in the proof assistant Coq.
Classical Combinatory Logic
Combinatory logic shows that bound variables can be eliminated without loss of expressiveness. It has applications both in the foundations of mathematics and in the implementation of functional programming languages. The original combinatory calculus corresponds to minimal implicative logic written in a system "à la Hilbert''. We present in this paper a combinatory logic which corresponds to propositional classical logic. This system is equivalent to the system $λ ^{Sym}_{Prop}$ of Barbanera and Berardi.
The call-by-value λµ∧∨-calculus
In this paper, we introduce the $λ μ ^{∧∨}$ - call-by-value calculus and we give a proof of the Church-Rosser property of this system. This proof is an adaptation of that of Andou (2003) which uses an extended parallel reduction method and complete development.
Undecidable problems concerning densities of languages
In this paper we prove that the question whether a language presented by a context free grammar has density, is undecidable. Moreover we show that there is no algorithm which, given two unambiguous context free grammars on input, decides whether the language defined by the first grammar has a relative density in the language defined by the second one. Our techniques can be extended to show that this problem is undecidable even for languages given by grammars from $LL(k)$ (for sufficiently large fixed $k ∈ \mathbb{N} )$.
On-line coloring of $I_s$-free graphs
An on-line vertex coloring algorithm receives vertices of a graph in some externally determined order. Each new vertex is presented together with a set of the edges connecting it to the previously presented vertices. As a vertex is presented, the algorithm assigns it a color which cannot be changed afterwards. The on-line coloring problem was addressed for many different classes of graphs defined in terms of forbidden structures. We analyze the class of $I_s$-free graphs, i.e., graphs in which the maximal size of an independent set is at most $s-1$. An old Szemerédi's result implies that for each on-line algorithm A there exists an on-line presentation of an $I_s$-free graph $G$ forcing A to use at least $\frac{s}{2}χ ^{(G)}$ colors. We prove that any greedy algorithm uses at most $\frac{s}{2}χ^{(G)}$ colors for any on-line presentation of any $I_s$-free graph $G$. Since the class of co-planar graphs is a subclass of $I_5$-free graphs all greedy algorithms use at most $\frac{5}{2}χ (G)$ colors for co-planar $G$'s. We prove that, even in a smaller class, this is an almost tight bound.
On-line Adaptive Chain Covering of Upgrowing Posets
We analyze on-line chain partitioning problem and its variants as a two-person game. One person (Spoiler) builds an on-line poset presenting one point at time. The other one (Algorithm) assigns new point to a chain. Kierstead gave a strategy for Algorithm showing that width w posets can be on-line chain partitioned into $\frac{{5}^{w-1}}{4}$ chains. Felsner proved that if Spoiler presents an upgrowing poset, i.e., each new point is maximal at the moment of its arrival then there is a strategy for Algorithm using at most $\binom{w+1}{2}$ chains and it is best possible. An adaptive variant of this problem allows Algorithm to assign to the new point a set of chains and than to remove some of them (but not all) while covering next points. Felsner stated a hypothesis that in on-line adaptive chain covering of upgrowing posets Algorithm may use smaller number of chains than in non-adaptive version. In this paper we provide an argument suggesting that it is true. We present a class of upgrowing posets in which Spoiler has a strategy forcing Algorithm to use at least $\binom{w+1}{2}$ chains (in non-adaptive version) and Algorithm has a strategy using at most $O(w\sqrt{w})$ chains in adaptive version.
Solving equations over small unary algebras
We consider the problem of solving a system of polynomial equations over fixed algebra $A$ which we call MPolSat($A$). We restrict ourselves to unary algebras and give a partial characterization of complexity of MPolSat($A$). We isolate a preorder $P(A)$ to show that when $A$ has at most 3 elements then MPolSat($A$) is in $P$ when width of $P(A)$ is at most 2 and is NP-complete otherwise. We show also that if $P ≠ NP$ then the class of unary algebras solvable in polynomial time is not closed under homomorphic images.
Random Boolean expressions
We examine how we can define several probability distributions on the set of Boolean functions on a fixed number of variables, starting from a representation of Boolean expressions by trees. Analytic tools give us a systematic way to prove the existence of probability distributions, the main challenge being the actual computation of the distributions. We finally consider the relations between the probability of a Boolean function and its complexity.
A tight upper bound on the size of the antidictionary of a binary string
A tight upper bound of the size of the antidictionary of a binary string is presented. And it is shown that the size of the antidictionary of a binary sting is always smaller than or equal to that of its dictionary. Moreover, an algorithm to reconstruct its dictionary from its antidictionary is given.
Analytic combinatorics for a certain well-ordered class of iterated exponential terms
The aim of this paper is threefold: firstly, to explain a certain segment of ordinals in terms which are familiar to the analytic combinatorics community, secondly to state a great many of associated problems on resulting count functions and thirdly, to provide some weak asymptotic for the resulting count functions. We employ for simplicity Tauberian methods. The analytic combinatorics community is encouraged to provide (maybe in joint work) sharper results in future investigations.
Application of data compression methods to hypothesis testing for ergodic and stationary processes
We show that data compression methods (or universal codes) can be applied for hypotheses testing in a framework of classical mathematical statistics. Namely, we describe tests, which are based on data compression methods, for the three following problems: i) identity testing, ii) testing for independence and iii) testing of serial independence for time series. Applying our method of identity testing to pseudorandom number generators, we obtained experimental results which show that the suggested tests are quite efficient.
Distribution-sensitive set multi-partitioning
Given a set $\mathcal{S}$ with real-valued members, associated with each member one of two possible types; a multi-partitioning of $\mathcal{S}$ is a sequence of the members of $\mathcal{S}$ such that if $x,y \in \mathcal{S}$ have different types and $x < y$, $x$ precedes $y$ in the multi-partitioning of $\mathcal{S}$. We give two distribution-sensitive algorithms for the set multi-partitioning problem and a matching lower bound in the algebraic decision-tree model. One of the two algorithms can be made stable and can be implemented in place. We also give an output-sensitive algorithm for the problem.
The distribution of ascents of size $d$ or more in samples of geometric random variables
We consider words or strings of characters $a_1a_2a_3 \ldots a_n$ of length $n$, where the letters $a_i \in \mathbb{Z}$ are independently generated with a geometric probability $\mathbb{P} \{ X=k \} = pq^{k-1}$ where $p+q=1$. Let $d$ be a fixed nonnegative integer. We say that we have an ascent of size $d$ or more if $a_{i+1} \geq a_i+d$. We determine the mean, variance and limiting distribution of the number of ascents of size $d$ or more in a random geometrically distributed word.
The master ring problem
We consider the $\textit{master ring problem (MRP)}$ which often arises in optical network design. Given a network which consists of a collection of interconnected rings $R_1, \ldots, R_K$, with $n_1, \ldots, n_K$ distinct nodes, respectively, we need to find an ordering of the nodes in the network that respects the ordering of every individual ring, if one exists. Our main result is an exact algorithm for MRP whose running time approaches $Q \cdot \prod_{k=1}^K (n_k/ \sqrt{2})$ for some polynomial $Q$, as the $n_k$ values become large. For the $\textit{ring clearance problem}$, a special case of practical interest, our algorithm achieves this running time for rings of $\textit{any}$ size $n_k \geq 2$. This yields the first nontrivial improvement, by factor of $(2 \sqrt{2})^K \approx (2.82)^K$, over the running time of the naive algorithm, which exhaustively enumerates all $\prod_{k=1}^K (2n_k)$ possible solutions.
Classification of large Pólya-Eggenberger urns with regard to their asymptotics
This article deals with Pólya generalized urn models with constant balance in any dimension. It is based on the algebraic approach of Pouyanne (2005) and classifies urns having "large'' eigenvalues in five classes, depending on their almost sure asymptotics. These classes are described in terms of the spectrum of the urn's replacement matrix and examples of each case are treated. We study the cases of so-called cyclic urns in any dimension and $m$-ary search trees for $m \geq 27$.
Analysis of biclusters with applications to gene expression data
For a given matrix of size $n \times m$ over a finite alphabet $\mathcal{A}$, a bicluster is a submatrix composed of selected columns and rows satisfying a certain property. In microarrays analysis one searches for largest biclusters in which selected rows constitute the same string (pattern); in another formulation of the problem one tries to find a maximally dense submatrix. In a conceptually similar problem, namely the bipartite clique problem on graphs, one looks for the largest binary submatrix with all '1'. In this paper, we assume that the original matrix is generated by a memoryless source over a finite alphabet $\mathcal{A}$. We first consider the case where the selected biclusters are square submatrices and prove that with high probability (whp) the largest (square) bicluster having the same row-pattern is of size $\log_Q^2 n m$ where $Q^{-1}$ is the (largest) probability of a symbol. We observe, however, that when we consider $\textit{any}$ submatrices (not just $\textit{square}$ submatrices), then the largest area of a bicluster jumps to $A_n$ (whp) where $A$ is an explicitly computable constant. These findings complete some recent results concerning maximal biclusters and maximum balanced bicliques for random bipartite graphs.
Distributional analysis of Robin Hood linear probing hashing with buckets
This paper presents the first distributional analysis of a linear probing hashing scheme with buckets of size $b$. The exact distribution of the cost of successful searches for a $b \alpha$ -full table is obtained, and moments and asymptotic results are derived. With the use of the Poisson transform distributional results are also obtained for tables of size $m$ and $n$ elements. A key element in the analysis is the use of a new family of numbers that satisfies a recurrence resembling that of the Bernoulli numbers. These numbers may prove helpful in studying recurrences involving truncated generating functions, as well as in other problems related with buckets.
Analysis of the multiplicity matching parameter in suffix trees
In a suffix tree, the multiplicity matching parameter (MMP) $M_n$ is the number of leaves in the subtree rooted at the branching point of the $(n+1)$st insertion. Equivalently, the MMP is the number of pointers into the database in the Lempel-Ziv '77 data compression algorithm. We prove that the MMP asymptotically follows the logarithmic series distribution plus some fluctuations. In the proof we compare the distribution of the MMP in suffix trees to its distribution in tries built over independent strings. Our results are derived by both probabilistic and analytic techniques of the analysis of algorithms. In particular, we utilize combinatorics on words, bivariate generating functions, pattern matching, recurrence relations, analytical poissonization and depoissonization, the Mellin transform, and complex analysis.
Two-anticoloring of planar and related graphs
An $\textit{anticoloring}$ of a graph is a coloring of some of the vertices, such that no two adjacent vertices are colored in distinct colors. We deal with the anticoloring problem with two colors for planar graphs, and, using Lipton and Tarjan's separation algorithm, provide an algorithm with some bound on the error. In the particular cases of graphs which are strong products of two paths or two cycles, we provide an explicit optimal solution.
Asymptotics of Riordan arrays
The machinery of Riordan arrays has been used recently by several authors. We show how meromorphic singularity analysis can be used to provide uniform bivariate asymptotic expansions, in the central regime, for a generalization of these arrays. We show how to do this systematically, for various descriptions of the array. Several examples from recent literature are given.
Position of the maximum in a sequence with geometric distribution
As a sequel to [arch04], the position of the maximum in a geometrically distributed sample is investigated. Samples of length n are considered, where the maximum is required to be in the first d positions. The probability that the maximum occurs in the first $d$ positions is sought for $d$ dependent on n (as opposed to d fixed in [arch04]). Two scenarios are discussed. The first is when $d=αn$ for $0 < α ≤ 1$, where Mellin transforms are used to obtain the asymptotic results. The second is when $1 ≤ d = o(n)$.
Cache efficient simple dynamic programming
New cache-oblivious and cache-aware algorithms for simple dynamic programming based on Valiant's context-free language recognition algorithm are designed, implemented, analyzed, and empirically evaluated with timing studies and cache simulations. The studies show that for large inputs the cache-oblivious and cache-aware dynamic programming algorithms are significantly faster than the standard dynamic programming algorithm.
Algorithmic and combinatoric aspects of multiple harmonic sums
Ordinary generating series of multiple harmonic sums admit a full singular expansion in the basis of functions $\{(1-z)^α \log^β (1-z)\}_{α ∈ℤ, β ∈ℕ}$, near the singularity $z=1$. A constructive proof of this result is given, and, by combinatoric aspects, an explicit evaluation of Taylor coefficients of functions in some polylogarithmic algebra is obtained. In particular, the asymptotic expansion of multiple harmonic sums is easily deduced.
A repertoire for additive functionals of uniformly distributed m-ary search trees
Using recent results on singularity analysis for Hadamard products of generating functions, we obtain the limiting distributions for additive functionals on $m$-ary search trees on $n$ keys with toll sequence $(i) n^α$ with $α ≥ 0 (α =0$ and $α =1$ correspond roughly to the space requirement and total path length, respectively); $(ii) ln \binom{n} {m-1}$, which corresponds to the so-called shape functional; and $(iii) $$1$$_{n=m-1}$, which corresponds to the number of leaves.
Analysis of the average depth in a suffix tree under a Markov model
In this report, we prove that under a Markovian model of order one, the average depth of suffix trees of index n is asymptotically similar to the average depth of tries (a.k.a. digital trees) built on n independent strings. This leads to an asymptotic behavior of $(\log{n})/h + C$ for the average of the depth of the suffix tree, where $h$ is the entropy of the Markov model and $C$ is constant. Our proof compares the generating functions for the average depth in tries and in suffix trees; the difference between these generating functions is shown to be asymptotically small. We conclude by using the asymptotic behavior of the average depth in a trie under the Markov model found by Jacquet and Szpankowski ([JaSz91]).
The Lyapunov tortoise and the dyadic hare
We study a gcd algorithm directed by Least Significant Bits, the so―called LSB algorithm, and provide a precise average―case analysis of its main parameters [number of iterations, number of shifts, etc...]. This analysis is based on a precise study of the dynamical systems which provide a continuous extension of the algorithm, and, here, it is proved convenient to use both a 2―adic extension and a real one. This leads to the framework of products of random matrices, and our results thus involve a constant $γ$ which is the Lyapunov exponent of the set of matrices relative to the algorithm. The algorithm can be viewed as a race between a dyadic hare with a speed of 2 bits by step and a "real'' tortoise with a speed equal to $γ /\textit{log} \ 2 \sim 0.05$ bits by step. Even if the tortoise starts before the hare, the hare easily catches up with the tortoise [unlike in Aesop's fable [Ae]\ldots], and the algorithm terminates.
Distribution of inter-node distances in digital trees
We investigate distances between pairs of nodes in digital trees (digital search trees (DST), and tries). By analytic techniques, such as the Mellin Transform and poissonization, we describe a program to determine the moments of these distances. The program is illustrated on the mean and variance. One encounters delayed Mellin transform equations, which we solve by inspection. Interestingly, the unbiased case gives a bounded variance, whereas the biased case gives a variance growing with the number of keys. It is therefore possible in the biased case to show that an appropriately normalized version of the distance converges to a limit. The complexity of moment calculation increases substantially with each higher moment; A shortcut to the limit is needed via a method that avoids the computation of all moments. Toward this end, we utilize the contraction method to show that in biased digital search trees the distribution of a suitably normalized version of the distances approaches a limit that is the fixed-point solution (in the Wasserstein space) of a distributional equation. An explicit solution to the fixed-point equation is readily demonstrated to be Gaussian.
Rapidly mixing chain and perfect sampler for logarithmic separable concave distributions on simplex
In this paper, we are concerned with random sampling of an n dimensional integral point on an $(n-1)$ dimensional simplex according to a multivariate discrete distribution. We employ sampling via Markov chain and propose two "hit-and-run'' chains, one is for approximate sampling and the other is for perfect sampling. We introduce an idea of alternating inequalities and show that a logarithmic separable concave function satisfies the alternating inequalities. If a probability function satisfies alternating inequalities, then our chain for approximate sampling mixes in $\textit{O}(n^2 \textit{ln}(Kɛ^{-1}))$, namely $(1/2)n(n-1) \textit{ln}(K ɛ^{-1})$, where $K$ is the side length of the simplex and $ɛ (0<ɛ<1)$ is an error rate. On the same condition, we design another chain and a perfect sampler based on monotone CFTP (Coupling from the Past). We discuss a condition that the expected number of total transitions of the chain in the perfect sampler is bounded by $\textit{O}(n^3 \textit{ln}(Kn))$.
Performance of binary exponential backoff CSMA in WiFi and optimal routing in mobile ad hoc networks
In this paper we show that the CSMA IEEE 802.11 protocol (Wifi) provides packet access delays asymptotics in power law. This very feature allows us to specify optimal routing via polynomial algorithm while the general case is NP-hard.
Analysis of tree algorithm for collision resolution
For the tree algorithm introduced by [Cap79] and [TsMi78] let $L_N$ denote the expected collision resolution time given the collision multiplicity $N$. If $L(z)$ stands for the Poisson transform of $L_N$, then we show that $L_N - L(N) ≃ 1.29·10^-4 \cos (2 π \log _2 N + 0.698)$.
Human and constructive proof of combinatorial identities: an example from Romik
It has become customary to prove binomial identities by means of the method for automated proofs as developed by Petkovšek, Wilf and Zeilberger. In this paper, we wish to emphasize the role of "human'' and constructive proofs in contrast with the somewhat lazy attitude of relaying on "automated'' proofs. As a meaningful example, we consider the four formulas by Romik, related to Motzkin and central trinomial numbers. We show that a proof of these identities can be obtained by using the method of coefficients, a human method only requiring hand computations.
The profile of unlabeled trees
We consider the number of nodes in the levels of unlabeled rooted random trees and show that the joint distribution of several level sizes (where the level number is scaled by $\sqrt{n}$) weakly converges to the distribution of the local time of a Brownian excursion evaluated at the times corresponding to the level numbers. This extends existing results for simply generated trees and forests to the case of unlabeled rooted trees.
Order statistics and estimating cardinalities of massive data sets
We introduce a new class of algorithms to estimate the cardinality of very large multisets using constant memory and doing only one pass on the data. It is based on order statistics rather that on bit patterns in binary representations of numbers. We analyse three families of estimators. They attain a standard error of $\frac{1}{\sqrt{M}}$ using $M$ units of storage, which places them in the same class as the best known algorithms so far. They have a very simple internal loop, which gives them an advantage in term of processing speed. The algorithms are validated on internet traffic traces.
The number of planar graphs and properties of random planar graphs
We show an asymptotic estimate for the number of labelled planar graphs on $n$ vertices. We also find limit laws for the number of edges, the number of connected components, and other parameters in random planar graphs.
And/or tree probabilities of Boolean functions
We consider two probability distributions on Boolean functions defined in terms of their representations by $\texttt{and/or}$ trees (or formulas). The relationships between them, and connections with the complexity of the function, are studied. New and improved bounds on these probabilities are given for a wide class of functions, with special attention being paid to the constant function $\textit{True}$ and read-once functions in a fixed number of variables.
Some results for monotonically labelled simply generated trees
We consider simply generated trees, where the nodes are equipped with weakly monotone labellings with elements of $\{1, 2, \ldots, r\}$, for $r$ fixed. These tree families were introduced in Prodinger and Urbanek (1983) and studied further in Kirschenhofer (1984), Blieberger (1987), and Morris and Prodinger (2005). Here we give distributional results for several tree statistics (the depth of a random node, the ancestor-tree size and the Steiner-distance of $p$ randomly chosen nodes, the height of the $j$-st leaf, and the number of nodes with label $l$), which extend the existing results and also contain the corresponding results for unlabelled simply generated trees as the special case $r=1$.
A hooray for Poisson approximation
We give several examples for Poisson approximation of quantities of interest in the analysis of algorithms: the distribution of node depth in a binary search tree, the distribution of the number of losers in an election algorithm and the discounted profile of a binary search tree. A simple and well-known upper bound for the total variation distance between the distribution of a sum of independent Bernoulli variables and the Poisson distribution with the same mean turns out to be very useful in all three cases.
The number of distinct values of some multiplicity in sequences of geometrically distributed random variables
We consider a sequence of $n$ geometric random variables and interpret the outcome as an urn model. For a given parameter $m$, we treat several parameters like what is the largest urn containing at least (or exactly) $m$ balls, or how many urns contain at least $m$ balls, etc. Many of these questions have their origin in some computer science problems. Identifying the underlying distributions as (variations of) the extreme value distribution, we are able to derive asymptotic equivalents for all (centered or uncentered) moments in a fairly automatic way.
Pattern distribution in various types of random trees
Let $\mathcal{T}_n$ denote the set of unrooted unlabeled trees of size $n$ and let $\mathcal{M}$ be a particular (finite) tree. Assuming that every tree of $\mathcal{T}_n$ is equally likely, it is shown that the number of occurrences $X_n$ of $\mathcal{M}$ as an induced sub-tree satisfies $\mathbf{E} X_n \sim \mu n$ and $\mathbf{V}ar X_n \sim \sigma^2 n$ for some (computable) constants $\mu > 0$ and $\sigma \geq 0$. Furthermore, if $\sigma > 0$ then $(X_n - \mathbf{E} X_n) / \sqrt{\mathbf{V}ar X_n}$ converges to a limiting distribution with density $(A+Bt^2)e^{-Ct^2}$ for some constants $A,B,C$. However, in all cases in which we were able to calculate these constants, we obtained $B=0$ and thus a normal distribution. Further, if we consider planted or rooted trees instead of $T_n$ then the limiting distribution is always normal. Similar results can be proved for planar, labeled and simply generated trees.
Near optimality of the discrete persistent access caching algorithm
Renewed interest in caching techniques stems from their application to improving the performance of the World Wide Web, where storing popular documents in proxy caches closer to end-users can significantly reduce the document download latency and overall network congestion. Rules used to update the collection of frequently accessed documents inside a cache are referred to as cache replacement algorithms. Due to many different factors that influence the Web performance, the most desirable attributes of a cache replacement scheme are low complexity and high adaptability to variability in Web access patterns. These properties are primarily the reason why most of the practical Web caching algorithms are based on the easily implemented Least-Recently-Used (LRU) cache replacement heuristic. In our recent paperJelenković and Radovanović (2004c), we introduce a new algorithm, termed Persistent Access Caching (PAC), that, in addition to desirable low complexity and adaptability, somewhat surprisingly achieves nearly optimal performance for the independent reference model and generalized Zipf's law request probabilities. Two drawbacks of the PAC algorithm are its dependence on the request arrival times and variable storage requirements. In this paper, we resolve these problems by introducing a discrete version of the PAC policy (DPAC) that, after a cache miss, places the requested document in the cache only if it is requested at least $k$ times among the last $m$, $m \geq k$, […]
Profiles of random trees: plane-oriented recursive trees
We summarize several limit results for the profile of random plane-oriented recursive trees. These include the limit distribution of the normalized profile, asymptotic bimodality of the variance, asymptotic approximations of the expected width and the correlation coefficients of two level sizes. We also unveil an unexpected connection between the profile of plane-oriented recursive trees (with logarithmic height) and that of random binary trees (with height proportional to the square root of tree size).
Quadratic exact-size and linear approximate-size random generation of planar graphs
This extended abstract introduces a new algorithm for the random generation of labelled planar graphs. Its principles rely on Boltzmann samplers as recently developed by Duchon, Flajolet, Louchard, and Schaeffer. It combines the Boltzmann framework, a judicious use of rejection, a new combinatorial bijection found by Fusy, Poulalhon and Schaeffer, as well as a precise analytic description of the generating functions counting planar graphs, which was recently obtained by Giménez and Noy. This gives rise to an extremely efficient algorithm for the random generation of planar graphs. There is a preprocessing step of some fixed small cost. Then, for each generation, the time complexity is quadratic for exact-size uniform sampling and linear for approximate-size sampling. This greatly improves on the best previously known time complexity for exact-size uniform sampling of planar graphs with $n$ vertices, which was a little over $\mathcal{O}(n^7)$.
Cache miss analysis of WHT algorithms
On modern computers memory access patterns and cache utilization are as important, if not more important, than operation count in obtaining high-performance implementations of algorithms. In this work, the memory behavior of a large family of algorithms for computing the Walsh-Hadamard transform, an important signal processing transform related to the fast Fourier transform, is investigated. Empirical evidence shows that the family of algorithms exhibit a wide range of performance, despite the fact that all algorithms perform the same number of arithmetic operations. Different algorithms, while having the same number of memory operations, access memory in different patterns and consequently have different numbers of cache misses. A recurrence relation is derived for the number of cache misses and is used to determine the distribution of cache misses over the space of WHT algorithms.
Convex hull for intersections of random lines
The problem of finding the convex hull of the intersection points of random lines was studied in Devroye and Toussaint, 1993 and Langerman, Golin and Steiger, 2002, and algorithms with expected linear time were found. We improve the previous results of the model in Devroye and Toussaint, 1993 by giving a universal algorithm for a wider range of distributions.
Asymptotic analysis of a nonlinear AIMD algorithm
The Additive-Increase-Multiplicative Decrease (AIMD) algorithm is an effective technique for controlling competitive access to a shared resource. Let $N$ be the number of users and let $x_i(t)$ be the amount of the resource in possession of the $i$-th user. The allocations $x_i(t)$ increase linearly until the aggregate demand $\sum_i x_i(t)$ exceeds a given nominal capacity, at which point a user is selected at a random time and its allocation reduced from $x_i(t)$ to $x_i(t)/ \gamma$ , for some given parameter $\gamma >1$. In our new, generalized version of AIMD, the choice of users to have their allocations cut is determined by a selection rule whereby the probabilities of selection are proportional to $x_i^{\alpha} (t)/ \sum_j x_j^{\alpha}$, with $\alpha$ a parameter of the policy. Variations of parameters allows one to adjust fairness under AIMD (as measured for example by the variance of $x_i(t)$) as well as to provide for differentiated service. The primary contribution here is an asymptotic, large-$N$ analysis of the above nonlinear AIMD algorithm within a baseline mathematical model that leads to explicit formulas for the density function governing the allocations $x_i(t)$ in statistical equilibrium. The analysis yields explicit formulas for measures of fairness and several techniques for supplying differentiated service via AIMD.
Near―perfect non-crossing harmonic matchings in randomly labeled points on a circle
Consider a set $S$ of points in the plane in convex position, where each point has an integer label from $\{0,1,\ldots,n-1\}$. This naturally induces a labeling of the edges: each edge $(i,j)$ is assigned label $i+j$, modulo $n$. We propose the algorithms for finding large non―crossing $\textit{harmonic}$ matchings or paths, i. e. the matchings or paths in which no two edges have the same label. When the point labels are chosen uniformly at random, and independently of each other, our matching algorithm with high probability (w.h.p.) delivers a nearly―perfect matching, a matching of size $n/2 - O(n^{1/3}\ln n)$.
Average profiles, from tries to suffix-trees
We build upon previous work of Fayolle (2004) and Park and Szpankowski (2005) to study asymptotically the average internal profile of tries and of suffix-trees. The binary keys and the strings are built from a Bernoulli source $(p,q)$. We consider the average number $p_{k,\mathcal{P}}(\nu)$ of internal nodes at depth $k$ of a trie whose number of input keys follows a Poisson law of parameter $\nu$. The Mellin transform of the corresponding bivariate generating function has a major singularity at the origin, which implies a phase reversal for the saturation rate $p_{k,\mathcal{P}}(\nu)/2^k$ as $k$ reaches the value $2\log(\nu)/(\log(1/p)+\log(1/q))$. We prove that the asymptotic average profiles of random tries and suffix-trees are mostly similar, up to second order terms, a fact that has been experimentally observed in Nicodème (2003); the proof follows from comparisons to the profile of tries in the Poisson model.
Distance graphs with maximum chromatic number
Let $D$ be a finite set of integers. The distance graph $G(D)$ has the set of integers as vertices and two vertices at distance $d ∈D$ are adjacent in $G(D)$. A conjecture of Xuding Zhu states that if the chromatic number of $G (D)$ achieves its maximum value $|D|+1$ then the graph has a clique of order $|D|$. We prove that the chromatic number of a distance graph with $D=\{ a,b,c,d\}$ is five if and only if either $D=\{1,2,3,4k\}$ or $D=\{ a,b,a+b,a+2b\}$ with $a \equiv 0 (mod 2)$ and $b \equiv 1 (mod 2)$. This confirms Zhu's conjecture for $|D|=4$.
Crooked Maps in Finite Fields
We consider the maps $f:\mathbb{F}_{2^n} →\mathbb{F}_{2^n}$ with the property that the set $\{ f(x+a)+ f(x): x ∈F_{2^n}\}$ is a hyperplane or a complement of hyperplane for every $a ∈\mathbb{F}_{2^n}^*$. The main goal of the talk is to show that almost all maps $f(x) = Σ_{b ∈B}c_b(x+b)^d$, where $B ⊂\mathbb{F}_{2^n}$ and $Σ_{b ∈B}c_b ≠0$, are not of that type. In particular, the only such power maps have exponents $2^i+2^j$ with $gcd(n, i-j)=1$. We give also a geometrical characterization of this maps.
Matroid matching with Dilworth truncation
Let $H=(V,E)$ be a hypergraph and let $k≥ 1$ and$ l≥ 0$ be fixed integers. Let $\mathcal{M}$ be the matroid with ground-set $E s.t. a$ set $F⊆E$ is independent if and only if each $X⊆V$ with $k|X|-l≥ 0$ spans at most $k|X|-l$ hyperedges of $F$. We prove that if $H$ is dense enough, then $\mathcal{M}$ satisfies the double circuit property, thus the min-max formula of Dress and Lovász on the maximum matroid matching holds for $\mathcal{M}$ . Our result implies the Berge-Tutte formula on the maximum matching of graphs $(k=1, l=0)$, generalizes Lovász' graphic matroid (cycle matroid) matching formula to hypergraphs $(k=l=1)$ and gives a min-max formula for the maximum matroid matching in the 2-dimensional rigidity matroid $(k=2, l=3)$.
Pebble Game Algorithms and (k,l)-Sparse Graphs
A multi-graph $G$ on n vertices is $(k,l)$-sparse if every subset of $n'≤n$ vertices spans at most $kn'-l$ edges, $0 ≤l < 2k$. $G$ is tight if, in addition, it has exactly $kn - l$ edges. We characterize $(k,l)$-sparse graphs via a family of simple, elegant and efficient algorithms called the $(k,l)$-pebble games. As applications, we use the pebble games for computing components (maximal tight subgraphs) in sparse graphs, to obtain inductive (Henneberg) constructions, and, when $l=k$, edge-disjoint tree decompositions.
On the Grone-Merris conjecture
Grone and Merris [GM94] conjectured that the Laplacian spectrum of a graph is majorized by its conjugate vertex degree sequence. We prove that this conjecture holds for a class of graphs including trees. We also show that this conjecture and its generalization to graphs with Dirichlet boundary conditions are equivalent.
The Windy Postman Problem on Series-Parallel Graphs
The windy postman problem is the NP-hard problem of finding the minimum cost of a tour traversing all edges of an undirected graph, where the cost of traversal of an edge depends on the direction. Given an undirected graph $G$, we consider the polyhedron $O(G)$ induced by the linear programming relaxation of a well-known integer programming formulation of the problem. We say that $G$ is windy postman perfect if $O(G)$ is integral. There exists a polynomial-time algorithm, based on the ellipsoid method, to solve the windy postman problem for the class of windy postman perfect graphs. Eulerian graphs and trees are windy postman perfect. By considering a family of polyhedra related to $O(G)$, we prove that series-parallel graphs are windy postman perfect, therefore solving a conjecture of [Win1987a].
Connected τ -critical hypergraphs of minimal size
A hypergraph $\mathscr{H}$ is $τ$ -critical if $τ (\mathscr{H}-E) < τ (\mathscr{H})$ for every edge $E ∈\mathscr{H}$, where $τ (\mathscr{H})$ denotes the transversal number of $\mathscr{H}$. It can be shown that a connected $τ$ -critical hypergraph $\mathscr{H}$ has at least $2τ (\mathscr{H})-1$ edges; this generalises a classical theorem of Gallai on $χ$ -vertex-critical graphs with connected complements. In this paper we study connected $τ$ -critical hypergraphs $\mathscr{H}$ with exactly $2τ (\mathscr{H)}-1$ edges. We prove that such hypergraphs have at least $2τ (\mathscr{H})-1$ vertices, and characterise those with $2τ (\mathscr{H})-1$ vertices using a directed odd ear decomposition of an associated digraph. Using Seymour's characterisation of $χ$ -critical 3-chromatic square hypergraphs, we also show that a connected square hypergraph $\mathscr{H}$ with fewer than $2τ (\mathscr{H})$ edges is $τ$ -critical if and only if it is $χ$ -critical 3-chromatic. Finally, we deduce some new results on $χ$ -vertex-critical graphs with connected complements.
A characterization of extremal graphs with no matching-cut
A graph is called (matching-)immune if it has no edge cut that is also a matching. Farley and Proskurowski proved that for all immune graphs $G=(V,E)$, $|E|≥\lceil 3(|V|-1)/2\rceil$ , and constructed a large class of immune graphs that attain this lower bound for every value of $|V(G)|$, called $ABC$ graphs. They conjectured that every immune graph that attains this lower bound is an $ABC$ graph. We present a proof of this conjecture.
Packing non-returning A-paths algorithmically
In this paper we present an algorithmic approach to packing A-paths. It is regarded as a generalization of Edmonds' matching algorithm, however there is the significant difference that here we do not build up any kind of alternating tree. Instead we use the so-called 3-way lemma, which either provides augmentation, or a dual, or a subgraph which can be used for contraction. The method works in the general setting of packing non-returning A-paths. It also implies an ear-decomposition of criticals, as a generalization of the odd ear-decomposition of factor-critical graph.
Number conserving cellular automata: new results on decidability and dynamics
This paper is a survey on our recent results about number conserving cellular automata. First, we prove the linear time decidability of the property of number conservation. The sequel focuses on dynamical evolutions of number conserving cellular automata.
On undecidability of equicontinuity classification for cellular automata
Equicontinuity classification is a popular classification of cellular automata based on their dynamical behavior. In this paper we prove that most of its classes are undecidable.
Formalizing the transformations of a cognitive universe
In an effort to continue the pioneering work of Harary in USA and Flament in France, we have undertaken to develop, on an experimental basis, a formalized theory of systems of beliefs and their modifications. This theory uses the psycho-social concepts of theories of cognitive consistency and of the tools of discrete mathematics, such as rewriting and intervals within graphs. The axioms and rewriting rules are elaborated from experimental data, and we demonstrate that the system we have built has the property of termination. This result is in accordance with experimental observations that show that every subject having an inconsistent system of beliefs (i.e., one containing contradictions) makes this system evolve towards consistency to reach a simple, consistent reference framework.
Experimental study of Elementary Cellular Automata dynamics using the density parameter
Classifying cellular automata in order to capture the notion of chaos algorithmically is a challenging problem than can be tackled in many ways.We here give a classification based on the computation of a macroscopic parameter, the $d$-spectrum, and show how our classifying scheme can be used to separate the chaotic ECA from the non-chaotic ones.
A Reciprocity Theorem for Monomer-Dimer Coverings
The problem of counting monomer-dimer coverings of a lattice is a longstanding problem in statistical mechanics.It has only been exactly solved for the special case of dimer coverings in two dimensions ([Ka61], [TF61]). In earlier work, Stanley [St85] proved a reciprocity principle governing the number $N(m,n)$ of dimer coverings of an $m$ by $n$ rectangular grid (also known as perfect matchings), where $m$ is fixed and $n$ is allowed to vary. As reinterpreted by Propp [P01], Stanley's result concerns the unique way of extending $N(m,n)$ to $n<0$ so that the resulting bi-infinite sequence, $N(m,n)$ for $n \in \mathbb{Z}$, satisfies a linear recurrence relation with constant coefficients. In particular, Stanley shows that $N(m,n)$ is always an integer satisfying the relation $N(m,-2-n) = \varepsilon_{m,n} N(m,n)$ where $\varepsilon_{m,n}=1$ unless $m \equiv 2(\mod 4)$ and $n$ is odd, in which case $\varepsilon_{m,n}=-1$. Furthermore, Propp's method was applicable to higher-dimensional cases.This paper discusses similar investigations of the numbers $M(m,n)$, of monomer-dimer coverings, or equivalently (not necessarily perfect) matchings of an $m$ by $n$ rectangular grid. We show that for each fixed $m$ there is a unique way of extending $M(m,n)$ to $n<0$ so that the resulting bi-infinite sequence, $M(m,n)$ for $n \in \mathbb{Z}$, satisfies a linear recurrence relation with constant coefficients.We show that $M(m,n)$, a priori a rational number, is always an integer, using a […]
Cellular Lines: An Introduction
This paper provides a definition of a cellular line in a cellular array that is independent of the notion of a line in $\mathfrak{R}^2$.It also presents a way of determining whether or not a cell set is a cellular line.Brief statements about existence, uniqueness, and properties of cellular lines are included.
Enumeration of convex polyominoes using the ECO method
ECO is a method for the enumeration of classes of combinatorial objects based on recursive constructions of such classes. In the first part of this paper we present a construction for the class of convex polyominoes based on the ECO method. Then we translate this construction into a succession rule. The final goal of the paper is to determine the generating function of convex polyominoes according to the semi-perimeter, and it is achieved by applying an idea introduced in [11].
Results and conjectures on the Sandpile Identity on a lattice
In this paper we study the identity of the Abelian Sandpile Model on a rectangular lattice.This configuration can be computed with the burning algorithm, which, starting from the empty lattice, computes a sequence of configurations, the last of which is the identity.We extend this algorithm to an infinite lattice, which allows us to prove that the first steps of the algorithm on a finite lattice are the same whatever its size.Finally we introduce a new configuration, which shares the intriguing properties of the identity, but is easier to study.
Evidence for intermittency in a granular medium: experiments and simulations.
We present the first experimental demonstration of intermittency in a granular medium. The medium consists of magnets embedded within spheres. These spheres are placed in a horizontal Petri dish where they roll by virtue of an alternating, homogenous magnetic field. Due to collisions with the wall, clustering leads to self-organization into ring pieces circulating along the wall. The intermi ttent behaviour consists of an aperiodical alternation of this circular motion with a gaslike state extended over the entire dish. Molecular dynamic simulations agree with observations
Cellular Automata for Simulating Molecular Self-Assembly
We present a lattice gas technique for simulating molecular self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers in aqueous environments. Water molecules, hydrocarbons tail-groups and amphiphilic head-groups are explicitly represented on a three dimensional discrete lattice. Molecules move on the lattice proportional to their continuous momentum. Collision rules preserve momentum and kinetic energy. Potential energy from molecular interactions are also included explicitly. Non-trivial thermodynamics of large scale and long time dynamics are studied. In this paper we specifically demonstrate how, from a random initial distribution, micelles are formed, and grow until they destabilize and divide. Eventually a steady state of growing and dividing micelles is formed.
Optimal Nonlinear Prediction of Random Fields on Networks
It is increasingly common to encounter time-varying random fields on networks (metabolic networks, sensor arrays, distributed computing, etc.).This paper considers the problem of optimal, nonlinear prediction of these fields, showing from an information-theoretic perspective that it is formally identical to the problem of finding minimal local sufficient statistics.I derive general properties of these statistics, show that they can be composed into global predictors, and explore their recursive estimation properties.For the special case of discrete-valued fields, I describe a convergent algorithm to identify the local predictors from empirical data, with minimal prior information about the field, and no distributional assumptions.
Dynamics of the Picking transformation on integer partitions
This paper studies a conservative transformation defined on families of finite sets. It consists in removing one element from each set and adding a new set composed of the removed elements. This transformation is conservative in the sense that the union of all sets of the family always remains the same.We study the dynamical process obtained when iterating this deterministic transformation on a family of sets and we focus on the evolution of the cardinalities of the sets of the family. This point of view allows to consider the transformation as an application defined on the set of all partitions of a fixed integer (which is the total number of elements in the sets).We show that iterating this particular transformation always leads to a heterogeneous distribution of the cardinalities, where almost all integers within an interval are represented.We also tackle some issues concerning the structure of the transition graph which sums up the whole dynamics of this process for all partitions of a fixed integer.
A symbolic projection of Langton's Ant
The Langton's ant is studied from the point of view of topological dynamical systems. A new approach which associate a subshift to the system is proposed.The transition rule is generalized to the family of bi-regular graphs $\Gamma(k,d)$ and the dependence of the dynamical system on $k$ and $d$ is analyzed. A classification of the $\Gamma (k,d)$ graphs based on the dynamical properties of the subshift is established. Also a hierarchy is defined on the graphs through the subset relation of the respective subshifts. The analysis are worked out by establishing an algebraic characterization of the forbidden words of the subshift.