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Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science |
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. <begin>otherlanguage*</begin>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 […]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 $A_2$-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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 $\mathsf{Ass} (a,b)$ .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 twisted <mathfrak>S</mathfrak>_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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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 $\textit{Fibonacci polynomials}$.
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.
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.
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.
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.