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arXiv · 2606.11005

On zero-sum polytopes: reciprocity, rigidity, and cyclic sieving

Dongchun Han·Xuan Wang·Hanbin Zhang·Shiwen Zhang
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Abstract

Let $G$ be a finite abelian group of order $n$, and let $\mathsf M(G,m)$ denote the set of zero-sum sequences over $G$ of length $m$. We introduce the zero-sum polytope $\mathcal P_G$, a rational polytope of dimension $n-1$, whose lattice points encode zero-sum sequences: \[ |\mathsf M(G,m)|=|m\mathcal P_G\cap \mathbb Z^n|. \] This naturally realizes the enumeration of zero-sum sequences as a problem in rational Ehrhart theory, which leads to a combinatorial reciprocity theorem identifying the negative evaluations of the corresponding counting quasipolynomial with zero-sum sequences of full support. Our main results establish a face-stratified rigidity for zero-sum polytopes: whenever two such polytopes have equal total lattice point counts at specific dilations, the dimension-wise open-face strata are equinumerous. Moreover, we study the natural $\operatorname{Aut}(G)$-action on $\mathcal P_G$, derive equivariant generating functions and reciprocity formulas, and obtain cyclic sieving phenomena for natural cyclic actions.

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Dongchun Han, Xuan Wang, Hanbin Zhang, Shiwen Zhang. 2026-06-09. On zero-sum polytopes: reciprocity, rigidity, and cyclic sieving. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.11005

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