arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Amritanshu Prasad.
We determine the minimal polynomial of each element of the double cover $G$ of the symmetric or alternating group in every irreducible spin representation of $G$.
We prove a conjecture that arose in the context of a subspace enumeration problem over finite fields. We prove, more generally, a bibasic, double-sum identity, which extends a $q$-analogue of the (terminating) binomial theorem.
As frontier language models are increasingly deployed as autonomous agents pursuing complex, long-term objectives, there is increased risk of scheming: agents covertly pursuing misaligned goals. Prior work has focused on showing agents are capable of scheming, but their propensity to scheme in realistic scenarios remains underexplored. To understand when agents scheme, we decompose scheming incentives into agent factors and environmental factors. We develop realistic settings allowing us to systematically vary these factors, each with scheming opportunities for agents that pursue instrumentally convergent goals such as self-preservation, resource acquisition, and goal-guarding. We find only minimal instances of scheming despite high environmental incentives, and show this is unlikely due to evaluation awareness. While inserting adversarially-designed prompt snippets that encourage agency and goal-directedness into an agent's system prompt can induce high scheming rates, snippets used in real agent scaffolds rarely do. Surprisingly, in model organisms (Hubinger et al., 2023) built with these snippets, scheming behavior is remarkably brittle: removing a single tool can drop the scheming rate from 59% to 3%, and increasing oversight can raise rather than deter scheming by up to 25%. Our incentive decomposition enables systematic measurement of scheming propensity in settings relevant for deployment, which is necessary as agents are entrusted with increasingly consequential tasks.
A Kronecker coefficient is the multiplicity of an irreducible representation of a finite group $G$ in a tensor product of irreducible representations. We define Kronecker Hecke algebras and use them as a tool to study Kronecker coefficients in finite groups. We show that the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes in a finite group $G$ is equal to the sum of squares of Kronecker coefficients, and the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes that are closed under elementwise inversion is the sum of Kronecker coefficients weighted by Frobenius-Schur indicators. We use these tools to investigate which finite groups have multiplicity-free tensor products. We introduce the class of doubly real groups, and show that they are precisely the real groups which have multiplicity-free tensor products. We show that non-Abelian groups of odd order, non-Abelian finite simple groups, and most finite general linear groups do not have multiplicity-free tensor products.
We introduce a family of univariate polynomials indexed by integer partitions. At prime powers, they count the number of subspaces in a finite vector space that transform under a regular diagonal matrix in a specified manner. This enumeration formula is a combinatorial solution to a problem introduced by Bender, Coley, Robbins and Rumsey. At $1$, they count set partitions with specified block sizes. At $0$, they count standard tableaux of specified shape. At $-1$, they count standard shifted tableaux of a specified shape. These polynomials are generated by a new statistic on set partitions (called the interlacing number) as well as a polynomial statistic on standard tableaux. They allow us to express $q$-Stirling numbers of the second kind as sums over standard tableaux and as sums over set partitions. For partitions whose parts are at most two, these polynomials are the non-zero entries of the Catalan triangle associated to the $q$-Hermite orthogonal polynomial sequence. In particular, when all parts are equal to two, they coincide with the polynomials defined by Touchard that enumerate chord diagrams by the number of crossings.
We determine the eigenvalues with multiplicity of each element of an alternating group in any irreducible representation. This is equivalent to determining the decomposition of cyclic representations of alternating groups into irreducibles. We characterize pairs $(w, V)$, where $w$ is an element and $V$ is an irreducible representation of an alternating group such that $w$ admits a non-zero invariant vector in $V$. We also establish large new families of global conjugacy classes for alternating groups, thereby giving a new proof of a result of Heide and Zalessky on the existence of such classes.
We prove two conjectures regarding the representation growth of groups of type $A_2$. The first, conjectured by Avni, Klopsch, Onn and Voll, regards the uniformity of representation zeta functions over local complete discrete valuation rings. The second is the Larsen--Lubotzky conjecture on the representation growth of irreducible lattices in groups of type $A_2$ in positive characteristic assuming Serre's conjecture on the congruence subgroup problem.
We express the number of anti-invariant subspaces for a linear operator on a finite vector space in terms of the number of its invariant subspaces. When the operator is diagonalizable with distinct eigenvalues, our formula gives a finite-field interpretation for the entries of the $q$-Hermite Catalan matrix. We also obtain an interesting new proof of Touchard's formula for these entries.
We determine when a permutation with cycle type $μ$ admits a non-zero invariant vector in the irreducible representation $V_λ$ of the symmetric group. We find that a majority of pairs $(λ,μ)$ have this property, with only a few simple exceptions.
We use character polynomials to obtain a positive combinatorial interpretation of the multiplicity of the sign representation in irreducible polynomial representations of $GL_n(\mathbb{C})$ indexed by two-column and hook partitions. Our method also yields a positive combinatorial interpretation for the multiplicity of the trivial representation of $S_n$ in an irreducible polynomial representation indexed by a hook partition.
We enumerate the number of $T$-splitting subspaces of dimension $m$ for an arbitrary operator $T$ on a $2m$-dimensional vector space over a finite field. When $T$ is regular split semisimple, comparison with an alternate method of enumeration leads to a new proof of the Touchard-Riordan formula for enumerating chord diagrams by their number of crossings.
Let $G$ be a finite group. We consider the problem of counting simultaneous conjugacy classes of $n$-tuples and simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting $n$-tuples in $G$. Let $α_{G,n}$ denote the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes of $n$-tuples, and $β_{G,n}$ the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting $n$-tuples in $G$. The generating functions $A_G(t) = \sum_{n\geq 0} α_{G,n}t^n,$ and $B_G(t) = \sum_{n\geq 0} β_{G,n}t^n$ are rational functions of $t$. We show that $A_G(t)$ determines and is completely determined by the class equation of $G$. We show that $α_{G,n}$ grows exponentially with growth factor equal to the cardinality of $G$, whereas $β_{G,n}$ grows exponentially with growth factor equal to the maximum cardinality of an abelian subgroup of $G$. The functions $A_G(t)$ and $B_G(t)$ may be regarded as combinatorial invariants of the finite group $G$. We study dependencies amongst these invariants and the notion of isoclinism for finite groups. We prove that the normalized functions $A_G(t/|G|)$ and $B_G(t/|G|)$ are invariants of isoclinism families.
Character polynomials are used to study the restriction of a polynomial representation of a general linear group to its subgroup of permutation matrices. A simple formula is obtained for computing inner products of class functions given by character polynomials. Character polynomials for symmetric and alternating tensors are computed using generating functions with Eulerian factorizations. These are used to compute character polynomials for Weyl modules, which exhibit a duality. By taking inner products of character polynomials for Weyl modules and character polynomials for Specht modules, stable restriction coefficients are easily computed. Generating functions of dimensions of symmetric group invariants in Weyl modules are obtained. Partitions with two rows, two columns, and hook partitions whose Weyl modules have non-zero vectors invariant under the symmetric group are characterized. A reformulation of the restriction problem in terms of a restriction functor from the category of strict polynomial functors to the category of finitely generated FI-modules is obtained.
For a finite group $G$, we consider the problem of counting simultaneous conjugacy classes of $n$-tuples and simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting $n$-tuples in $G$. Let $α_{G,n}$ denote the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes of $n$-tuples, and $β_{G,n}$ the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting $n$-tuples in $G$. The generating functions $A_G(t) = \sum_{n\geq 0} α_{G,n}t^n,$ and $B_G(t) = \sum_{n\geq 0} β_{G,n}t^n$ are rational functions of $t$. This paper concern studied of normalized functions $A_G(t/|G|)$ and $B_G(t/|G|)$ for finite $p$-groups of rank at most $5$.
We construct the polynomial induction functor, which is the right adjoint to the restriction functor from the category of polynomial representations of a general linear group to the category of representations of its Weyl group. This construction leads to a representation-theoretic proof of Littlewood's plethystic formula for the multiplicity of an irreducible representation of the symmetric group in such a restriction. The unimodality of certain bipartite partition functions follows.
We introduce the alternating Schur algebra $AS_F(n,d)$ as the commutant of the action of the alternating group $A_d$ on the $d$-fold tensor power of an $n$-dimensional $F$-vector space. When $F$ has characteristic different from $2$, we give a basis of $AS_F(n,d)$ in terms of bipartite graphs, and a graphical interpretation of the structure constants. We introduce the abstract Koszul duality functor on modules for the even part of any $\mathbf Z/2\mathbf Z$-graded algebra. The algebra $AS_F(n,d)$ is $\mathbf Z/2\mathbf Z$-graded, having the classical Schur algebra $S_F(n,d)$ as its even part. This leads to an approach to Koszul duality for $S_F(n,d)$-modules that is amenable to combinatorial methods. We characterize the category of $AS_F(n,d)$-modules in terms of $S_F(n,d)$-modules and their Koszul duals. We use the graphical basis of $AS_F(n,d)$ to study the dependence of the behavior of derived Koszul duality on $n$ and $d$.
Timed words are words where letters of the alphabet come with time stamps. We extend the definitions of semistandard tableaux, insertion, Knuth equivalence, and the plactic monoid to the setting of timed words. Using this, Greene's theorem is formulated and proved for timed words, and algorithms for the RSK correspondence are extended to real matrices.
Fix a partition $μ=(μ_1,\dotsc,μ_m)$ of an integer $k$ and positive integer $d$. For each $n>k$, let $χ^λ_μ$ denote the value of the irreducible character of $S_n$ at a permutation with cycle type $(μ_1,\dotsc,μ_m,1^{n-k})$. We show that the proportion of partitions $λ$ of $n$ such that $χ^λ_μ$ is divisible by $d$ approaches $1$ as $n$ approaches infinity.